Section: KXAN (USA)
Ukraine says IS sympathizers tried to get to Europe
MOSCOW (AP) — Ukraine’s security service says it has uncovered a plot to smuggle Islamic State sympathizers to Western Europe. The SBU said in a statement Wednesday that it has sent an undercover agent posing as an IS sympathizer wanting to get to Western Europe to an apartment in the eastern city of Kharkiv. The agency said a citizen “of a...
The Latest: German firefighter admits refugee home arson
GENEVA (AP) — The Latest on Europe’s migration crisis (all times local): 4:05 p.m. A 25-year-old firefighter has confessed to an arson attack on a German home for asylum-seekers, saying he thought of all refugees as criminals. The man told the Hagen state court, as his trial for attempted murder opened Tuesday, that he set fire to gasoline...
Russia highlights ties with China ahead of Putin’s trip
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s foreign minister says President Vladimir Putin’s planned trip to China will give powerful new impulse to ties between the two nations. Speaking Tuesday at a Moscow conference, Sergey Lavrov described expanding ties with China as Russia’s top foreign policy priority. Lavrov said the two nations share...
EU court adviser: Sanctions on Russian firms legally valid
LUXEMBOURG (AP) — A senior adviser to the European Court of Justice says European Union economic sanctions imposed on Russian companies are valid in the main under the EU’s common security and defense policy. Advocate General Melchior Wathelet issued the opinion Tuesday in response to a challenge the Russian oil and gas producer Rosneft...
EU leader Juncker to visit Russia in hint of diplomatic thaw
MOSCOW (AP) — European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is coming to Russia next month in what would be the most high-profile EU visit since Russia annexed Crimea two years ago, but both sides are downplaying the prospects of a more meaningful diplomatic thaw. Like the United States, the European Union has effectively frozen ties with...
NATO urged to show stronger resolve on Russia, up spending
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly has urged alliance members to stand up to Russia’s military assertiveness and to decide to better share the burden of collective defense when they hold a summit in July. Assembly President, U.S. Congressman Michael R. Turner, on Monday said that “Russia’s aggressiveness comes...
Fire at Ukrainian home for the elderly kills 17, injures 5
MOSCOW (AP) — Ukraine’s emergency services say a pre-dawn fire has swept through a private home for the elderly, killing 17 people and injuring five others. No cause has yet been determined for the fire that broke out Sunday at the home for 35 residents in Litochki, a village 42 kilometers (25 miles) north of Kiev, the capital. Photographs...
Putin visits Orthodox monastic community at Mount Athos
KARYES, Greece (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived at the northern Greek peninsula of Mount Athos, on a visit to the autonomous Orthodox Christian monastic community here. Putin flew from Athens to the northern city of Thessaloniki Saturday morning, went by road near Mt.Athos and then took a boat — the only means to reach the...
Ex-NATO chief, PM named as adviser to Ukraine’ president
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A former NATO Secretary-General and Danish prime minister has been named an adviser to Ukraine’s president. Anders said on Twitter Saturday that he will do his “utmost to promote security, economic reforms and stronger EU ties.” A statement on Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s website did not specify on...
Savchenko: I could run for president if Ukrainians want it
MOSCOW (AP) — Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko who came home on Wednesday after two years in Russian custody says she would run for president if that’s what Ukrainians desire. Savchenko was pardoned by President Vladimir Putin and flown home in a prisoner swap after she was sentenced to 22 years in prison in March for the involvement in...
