Section: San Francisco Chronicle (USA)
News of the day from across the globe, Aug. 19
Indonesian search teams Tuesday found the so-called black boxes from a commercial aircraft that went down in the remote eastern province of Papua, but low clouds were hampering efforts to remove bodies from the mountainous site of the crash, which killed all 54 people aboard, officials said. Search teams reached the crash site Tuesday afternoon,...
9 dead as shelling increases in eastern Ukraine
DONETSK, Ukraine — A night-long artillery exchange in eastern Ukraine between government troops and Russia-backed rebels claimed nine lives on Monday, casting doubt on the already shaky cease-fire. The fighting between Russia-backed separatist rebels and Ukrainian government troops in the country’s industrial heartland eased after a truce...
Ukraine moves to purge its Soviet symbols
KIEV, Ukraine — When Ukraine broke from the Soviet Union in 1991, it never bothered to clear away the hammers and sickles that marked it as a workers’ paradise. […] it is making a belated effort to declare independence from the communist past — and workers are racing through the country to take down old Soviet symbols. The latest...
In Crimea, a Disputed Beach Is a Symbol of Corruption
GURZUF, Crimea — On a sweltering summer day, Crimea’s burly prime minister, Sergei Aksyonov, stood in a black suit on a contested public beach in this resort town, once a famous retreat for artists like Anton Chekhov. The prime minister, who was appointed by Russia President Vladimir Putin tried to speak over the din created by about 100...
Ukraine: 4 OSCE vehicles destroyed in apparent arson
MOSCOW (AP) — The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s mission in eastern Ukraine says four of its armored cars were destroyed in an apparent arson attack. It was unclear who carried out the attack in Donetsk, the main rebel-held city. The white sport utility vehicles were parked outside the hotel that houses the OSCE...
12 killed in siege of Mali hotel by militants
BAMAKO, Mali — Mali’s special forces early Saturday rescued four people who hid in a hotel for nearly 24 hours after Islamic extremists stormed the building and launched a rare attack far from their northern strongholds that killed 10 people, officials said. Three attackers were also killed in the fighting. The four rescued U.N. employees...
News of the day from across the globe, July 27
Militants took control of a large police base in a remote part of northeastern Afghanistan after some 100 police and border guards surrendered following three days of fighting, security officials said Sunday. Bailout negotiators from the European Commission, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund had been due to start arriving...
News of the day from across the globe, July 20
In remarks made to NBC’s “Meet the Press,” British Prime Minister David Cameron said his country needs to take a greater role in destroying the Islamic State group in Syria — his most direct signal to date that he will seek to expand Britain’s role in supporting the United States and its allies. The Friday assault blamed on Islamic...
3 nations mark year since downing of Malaysian jet
Hundreds of family members and friends of the 298 passengers and crew killed when MH17 was blown out of the skies above rebel-held Eastern Ukraine rose to give Aljuned a standing ovation at a moving Dutch commemoration service for the victims. Ukrainian and Western authorities say the plane was downed, most likely by mistake, by a missile fired...
Collapse of barracks in Russia kills 23 soldiers
MOSCOW — A late-night barracks collapse killed 23 people and wounded at least 19 others in south-central Russia, as soldiers at a training center for airborne forces were crushed in their beds by a cascade of concrete and metal, the Russian Defense Ministry said Monday. Officials announced the death toll Monday after finishing an all-night...
