Section: San Francisco Chronicle (USA)
Ukrainian leader lifts objections to vote on regional power
[…] Poroshenko on Monday met a parliamentary commission that is drafting amendments to the country’s main law and said in a televised meeting that if the commission decides that such a vote is necessary he would not stand in the way of a referendum. …read more Source: San Francisco...
Pope Francis expresses cautious hope in Easter message
VATICAN CITY — 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 of...
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. Francis made his first public comments about the recent framework for an accord,...
Crash piles pressure on Lufthansa’s CEO Spohr
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 in France has heaped intense pressure on Lufthansa’s CEO Carsten Spohr, who in less than a year at the helm has had to grapple with big financial losses, labor unrest and tough competition from lower-cost carriers. The crash has stained Lufthansa’s strong safety reputation...
Russia’s role in Ukraine seen shifting to training rebels
Visits by The Associated Press to training grounds like those near Yenakieyeve and interviews with dozens of rebels reveal that Russian armed forces spearheaded some of the major separatist offensives, then swiftly withdrew. NATO and an independent London-based Russian scholar estimate that Russia has several hundred military trainers in eastern...
Russian trawler with 132 crew sinks, at least 43 dead
The Interfax news agency said shifting ice in the waters may have played a role. Besides Russia, Interfax said crew members came from Latvia, Ukraine, Myanmar and Vanuatu. …read more Source: San Francisco...
American farmer among the winners in sanctions-hit Russia
[…] sanctions have largely cut off state firms from international lending, making refinancing difficult, costly and a burden on the government. […] Evgeny Gavrilenkov, chief economist at state-owned Sberbank, Russia’s largest lender, argued that sanctions have inadvertently helped Russia’s main oil and financial companies...
French eye cockpit entry, psychological screening rules
PARIS (AP) — French aviation investigators said Tuesday they will examine “systemic weaknesses” like cockpit entry rules and psychological screening procedures that could have led to the Germanwings crash, while Lufthansa said its insurers set aside $300 million to deal with possible fallout from the disaster. The French aviation...
NATO chief seeks closer cooperation with the European Union
Jens Stoltenberg told a European Parliament hearing Monday that NATO and the EU should combine efforts to make member countries more “resilient” to the so-called hybrid brand of warfare that Western governments accuse Russia of waging in Ukraine. …read more Source: San Francisco...
Rebel leader: Kiev blocks solution for eastern Ukraine
DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — A rebel leader in eastern Ukraine has accused the Kiev government of blocking a political solution for the conflict that has claimed more than 6,000 lives. Andrei Purgin said in an interview with The Associated Press on Monday that the Minsk deal, brokered by Western leaders in February, has been “blocked” by...
