What’s Russia’s next move?

March 17, 2014 - Daily News Briefing

After weeks of escalating tensions, the Ukraine crisis is cooling off, at least for now.

Subscribe Now to read this post!

To read this post and thousands more articles, subscribe today!

The head of the referendum committee in Ukraine’s Crimea region said more than 95 percent of voters approved splitting off and joining Russia. Mikhail Malishev said Sunday’s initial result came after more than 50 percent of the ballots had been counted. The vote was denounced by the West and the acting Ukrainian government as illegitimate. The European Union condemned the referendum as illegal and is taking steps to increase sanctions against Russia over what many believe is a planned annexation of the bordering peninsula.

Even before someone at the controls calmly said the last words heard from the missing Malaysian jetliner, one of the Boeing 777’s communications systems had already been disabled, authorities said Sunday, adding to suspicions that one or both of the pilots were involved in disappearance of the flight. The jet took off from Kuala Lumpur in the wee hours of March 8, headed to Beijing.

With rebels fleeing into neighboring Lebanon, Syrian government troops and Hezbollah fighters captured a strategic town near the frontier Sunday, ousting opposition fighters from their last stronghold in the vital border area. Yabroud was a major smuggling hub for the rebels trying to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad. The town’s fall is the latest in a string of strategic gains by Assad’s forces.

At least 16 people were killed in stampedes for government jobs in Nigeria when hundreds of thousands were invited to apply for fewer than 5,000 positions, officials and activists said Sunday. Interior Minister Abba Moro held the applicants responsible, saying they “lost their lives through their impatience.” Activists blamed his ministry and called for him to be fired.

St. Patrick’s Day festivities were in full swing Sunday, but political tensions lingered in the northeastern US. Boston Mayor Martin Walsh wasn’t marching in his city’s parade Sunday after talks broke down that would have allowed a gay group to march. Today New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio will become the first mayor in decades to sit out the traditional march because parade organizers refuse to let participants carry pro-gay signs.

Egypt’s crackdown on Islamists has jailed 16,000 people over the past eight months in the country’s biggest roundup in nearly two decades, according to previously unreleased figures from security officials. Rights activists say reports of abuses in prisons are mounting, with prisoners describing systematic beatings and miserable conditions for dozens packed into tiny cells.

The parents of a Japanese woman abducted by North Korea in 1977 have met their Korean-born granddaughter for the first time. The Japanese Foreign Ministry confirmed Sunday that Shigeru Yokota and his wife, Sakie, spent time with Kim Un-kyong over several days last week in Ulan Bator, Mongolia. Kim is 26 years old, Japanese media said. The meeting could be a small step toward resuming official government talks between Japan and North Korea.

Compiled from wire service reports

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

Compiled from wire service reports

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

Subscribe Now to read this post!

Are you sure?

Forgot to add folder?

Tags Error