Section: San Francisco Chronicle (USA)
News of the Day from Across the Globe, March 4
On Thursday, the communist nation’s rubber-stamp parliament, the National People’s Congress, will begin its yearly session. the dual sessions do telegraph the general national agenda for the coming year. South Sudan’s rebels on Tuesday warned that peace talks with the government could fail if the government does not make...
Obama, EU leaders discuss new Russia sanctions over Ukraine
In a video conference, Obama and the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the EU said they would support and strengthen the role of Europe’s OSCE security organization to monitor the so-called Minsk agreements that led to last month’s cease-fire between Ukraine’s army and Russian-backed separatists. In the wake of the...
MH17 next of kin finally view wreckage of downed flight
GILZE-RIJEN AIR BASE, Netherlands (AP) — The relatives of those killed when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was downed over eastern Ukraine visited a Dutch air base Tuesday to view the wreckage of the plane. The wreckage was brought back to the Netherlands, where civil and criminal investigations are underway to establish the cause of the disaster...
Hunger-striking Ukrainian pilot’s health stable, Russia says
MOSCOW (AP) — A top Russian prison official says the jailed Ukrainian military pilot who has been on a hunger strike for nearly three months is in a stable condition. The comments came a day after the presidents of Ukraine, France and Germany appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to release Savchenko, who was captured by Russia-backed...
AP PHOTOS: Top pictures from Europe and Africa
LONDON (AP) — As the war between Russia-backed separatists and the Ukraine government still raged in eastern Ukraine, another shocking news story involving Russia developed last week: the killing of Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov on a bridge in Moscow. Elsewhere, students lit flares during a strike in Madrid, police forced their way into a Madrid...
EU condemns Russia over Nemtsov funeral bans
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has strongly condemned Russia for banning Polish and Latvian officials from entering the country to attend slain Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov’s funeral. In the wake of the fighting in eastern Ukraine and Moscow’s annexation last year of the Crimean Peninsula, the EU has imposed visa bans on 151...
Mourners view body of slain opposition leader Boris Nemtsov
MOSCOW (AP) — One by one, thousands of mourners and dignitaries filed past the white-lined coffin of slain Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov on Tuesday, many offering flowers as they paid their last respects to one of the most prominent figures of Russia’s beleaguered opposition. Many opposition supporters suspect the killing was ordered by the...
China state media harden stance against Western values
BEIJING — Western values are a “ticket to hell,” a newspaper published by China’s Communist Party said in a recent editorial that held up Ukraine and some Arab countries as examples of outside ideas causing turmoil. In the two-plus years since President Xi Jinping took the helm of the ruling Communist Party, state media have become more...
Russia, Ukraine reach gas deal to avoid cuts this month
BRUSSELS (AP) — Russia and Ukraine reached an agreement late Monday to ensure natural gas supplies to war-torn Ukraine for the month of March, averting possible cuts that could have hit supplies to the European Union. Under the deal sealed in Brussels, Ukraine’s Naftogaz will pre-pay and order sufficient quantities of gas to ensure all...
Key witness can’t identify suspects in Moscow assassination
MOSCOW — The 23-year-old Ukrainian model who was with slain opposition leader Boris Nemtsov tearfully recounted Monday their last dinner in a chic Red Square restaurant and their walk onto a nearby bridge — but said she did not see the gunman who pulled the trigger. While state-run and Kremlin-controlled media focused on a theory that the killing...
