Section: KXAN (USA)
EU leaders to debate stance on Russia at Brussels summit
BRUSSELS (AP) — Just as European Union leaders get ready to consider a tougher approach toward Russia, Vladimir Putin may have outfoxed them. On Tuesday, Russian warplanes halted their airstrikes on Syria’s besieged city of Aleppo in preparation for a temporary truce that Moscow has announced. On Wednesday, Putin is due in Berlin to discuss...
German, Russian, Ukrainian, French leaders to meet in Berlin
BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office says she will host a meeting with the Russian, Ukrainian and French presidents on Wednesday to discuss efforts toward peace in eastern Ukraine. A German government statement Tuesday said that Merkel invited Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and French...
Lithuania wants Gorbachev to testify in war crimes trial
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — A Lithuanian court has called former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to testify in a mass trial related to the 1991 crackdown on the country’s independence movement. Gorbachev and Russian authorities haven’t answered previous requests so it’s unlikely he would comply with Monday’s request from the...
Notorious warlord killed in bombing in eastern Ukraine
MOSCOW (AP) — Separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine say a notorious warlord has been killed in a bombing in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk. The separatist Donetsk News Agency said on Sunday that Arsen Pavlov, also known as Motorola, was killed in Donetsk when a bomb exploded in an elevator in an apartment building where he was staying. He is one...
EU mulls more Syria sanctions as political efforts falter
LUXEMBOURG (AP) — European Union foreign ministers are debating whether to extend sanctions against the Syrian regime as political efforts to secure a cease-fire falter. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Monday that ministers could add more Syrians accused of rights abuses or war crimes to the sanction list, saying “for sure, that...
Diplomats forge new track to end Syria violence but no truce
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — New ideas proposed, more talks prepared and no quick resolution in sight for Syria’s agony. A U.S.-hosted meeting of major world and regional powers made only piecemeal headway on creating a new, multilateral track for ending the beleaguered country’s grinding war. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry...
Ahead of Syria talks, Kerry visits Rwanda genocide memorial
KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — There are no names, no stories on the embankment where a quarter-million Rwandans are buried in a mass grave, memorialized by a simple word: “Remembrance.” But as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday bowed his head at the Kigali memorial for victims of this African nation’s 1994 genocide, it was impossible not...
Russia envoy: Tensions with US are probably worst since 1973
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia’s U.N. ambassador said that tensions with the United States are probably the worst since the 1973 Mideast war. But Vitaly Churkin said Friday that Cold War relations between the Soviet Union and Russia more than 40 years ago were different than U.S.-Russia relations today. “The general situation I think is...
Russian Patriarch’s visit to queen stirs some complaints
LONDON (AP) — The head of Russia’s Orthodox Church begins a four-day visit to Britain Saturday that includes an audience with Queen Elizabeth II, but his visit has stirred some resistance because of his strong support of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Patriarch Kirill is set to be in London to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the...
Amid tensions, Putin, Hollande, Merkel to hold Ukraine talks
PARIS (AP) — Despite growing diplomatic tensions over Syria, the leaders of Russia, France and Germany may meet “very soon” in Berlin to revive peace efforts for Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by telephone Wednesday with French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Hollande’s office said in a...
