Section: KXAN (USA)
Pope’s blessing, Netanyahu’s silence: Key UN summit moments
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Pope Francis, Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Barack Obama and even celebrities like Daniel Craig and Shakira dropped by a whirlwind U.N. summit that drew more than 150 world leaders, a record, and ended Saturday afternoon. Here are some notable moments: ___ “May the Almighty bless this assembly, and may its...
Smaller-weapons pullback begins in Ukraine
SCHASTYE, Ukraine (AP) — Separatist rebels and Ukrainian forces have begun pulling back smaller-caliber weapons from the front line, a step toward de-escalating a war that has killed more than 8,000 people. Under an agreement reached week, tanks, artillery pieces and mortars with a caliber of less than 120 millimeters are to be pulled back at...
Germany marks 25 years of unity, facing new challenges
BERLIN (AP) — Germany marks a quarter-century as a reunited nation on Saturday, with two leaders from the formerly communist east heading a country that increasingly asserts itself as Europe’s political heavyweight — and now faces a new challenge in a refugee influx that will demand deep reserves of resourcefulness and patience. West and...
Russian, Ukrainian leaders hold talks in Paris
PARIS (AP) — A summit reviving a European push to bring peace to eastern Ukraine ended Friday with a call for the delay of contentious rebel plans to hold local elections this month and for both sides to begin a promised withdrawal of smaller-caliber weapons. Russian President Vladimir Putin met Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, French...
The Latest: Activists: Syrian troops, IS in intense fighting
MOSCOW (AP) — The latest developments as Russia and other nations counter Islamic State militants in Syria. All times local: 5:30 p.m. Activists are reporting intense fighting between Syrian troops and members of the Islamic State group in the contested eastern city of Deir el-Zour. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says IS...
The Latest: Somalia urges ‘Marshall Plan’ for reconstruction
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The latest developments from the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, where world leaders are grappling with a multitude of global crises, including the fight against terrorism — the Islamic State in particular — and easing the refugee crisis in the Middle East and North Africa (all times local): ___ 6:45...
Malaysian officials collect more possible plane debris
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The latest on the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: 9:30 p.m. The Indian Ocean island of Madagascar, which is in line with the same currents as Reunion, is on the lookout for potential airplane debris from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Col. Philibert Ratovonirina, a spokesman for Madagascar’s...
Investigators say plane debris possibly from Flight MH370
WASHINGTON (AP) — Air safety investigators have a “high degree of confidence” that aircraft debris found in the Indian Ocean is of a wing component unique to the Boeing 777, the same model as the Malaysia Airlines plane that disappeared last year, a U.S. official said Wednesday. Air safety investigators — one of them a Boeing investigator —have...
US ranked in bottom half of latest Global Peace Index
(MEDIA GENERAL) – The nonprofit Institute for Economics and Peace released its annual report on the world’s most peaceful countries. Iceland took the top spot, while the United States, though higher than last year, still sits in the bottom half of the rankings The institute ranks 162 countries around the globe on factors ranging from levels...
Pope, thousands brave rain for Easter in St. Peter’s Square
VATICAN CITY (AP) — In an Easter peace wish, Pope Francis on Sunday praised the framework nuclear agreement with Iran as an opportunity to make the world safer, while expressing deep worry about bloodshed in Libya, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa. Cautious hope ran through Francis’ “Urbi et Orbi” Easter message, a kind...
