A crucial moment for Mr. Putin

July 28, 2014 - Daily News Briefing

Without direct Russian intervention, the rebellion in eastern Ukraine will be lost. With it, more would be lost.

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Fire crews were battling two fast-moving wildfires in California that threatened many homes and forced hundreds of evacuations, officials said.

A fire in the Sacramento region had mushroomed to about 4,000 acres by late Saturday, while a blaze that began in the afternoon around Yosemite National Park threatened a small community.

Heavy clashes between Libyan soldiers loyal to a renegade general and Islamist-led militias killed 38 people – including civilians – in the country's restive east, health officials said Sunday, as fighting between rival militias around the capital's international airport raged on. Rockets fired during the fighting hit civilian homes, causing casualties and wounding dozens of people, health officials said.

Forces loyal to Gen. Khalifa Hifter battled militias in the eastern city of Benghazi in clashes that started Saturday and continued through early Sunday morning, a security official said. Commando forces regained control of four military camps captured by Islamist militias in the past few days, the official said. The fighting killed eight of the militias' fighters including the brother of an alleged leader of an al-Qaeda-inspired group, the official and a militia website statement said.

The shipwrecked Costa Concordia cruise liner has completed its final journey, reaching Genoa's port, where it will be scrapped.

Pulled by tugboats and nudged by winds, the wreck was eased Sunday into the port. The Concordia liner struck a reef when its captain sailed too close to Giglio Island off Tuscany's coast Jan. 13, 2012, and capsized, killing 32 people.

The United States released satellite images Sunday that it says back up its claims that rockets have been fired from Russia into eastern Ukraine and heavy artillery for separatists has also crossed the border.

A four-page document released from the State Department seems to show blast marks from where rockets were launched and craters where they landed. Officials said the images, sourced from the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, show heavy weapons fired between July 21 and July 26 – after the July 17 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.

Hamas on Sunday agreed to observe a 24-hour truce in Gaza after initially rejecting a similar Israeli offer, as fighting resumed and the two sides wrangled over the terms of a lull that international diplomats had hoped could be expanded into a more sustainable truce.

After Israel announced a 24-hour truce late Saturday, Palestinian militants fired rockets deep into Israel, prompting it to resume an offensive aimed at destroying rocket launchers and cross-border attack tunnels used by Hamas, the Islamic militant group ruling the coastal strip.

The man accused of fatally shooting his caseworker and grazing his psychiatrist at a suburban Philadelphia hospital complex has been charged with murder. Richard Plotts was arraigned late Saturday at his hospital bedside after emerging from sedation.

The Delaware County District Attorney's Office said authorities with a search warrant found handguns Friday night in the home of Richard Plotts, 49, in Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania.

Months after Russia annexed Crimea and stepped up support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, Europe and the United States are still searching for a way to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to change course.

Targeted economic sanctions and threats of tougher ones have yet to alter what western officials say is Moscow's growing backing for the rebels, including the shelling of Ukrainian military targets in southeast Ukraine from inside Russian territory and alleged plans to boost weapons supplies.

Vincenzo Nibali won the Tour de France on Sunday, becoming the first Italian in 16 years to triumph in cycling's greatest race by chiseling a lead over his main rivals a few seconds at a time and dominating them in the mountains.

The 29-year-old Sicilian, who called himself "a flag-bearer of anti-doping" during the race, finished in a bunch behind Marcel Kittel, who won the 21st stage in a sprint finish.