Avoiding a pretext for aggression

March 05, 2014 - Daily News Briefing

The Ukraine crisis is not over.

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Vladimir Putin talked tough but cooled tensions in the Ukraine crisis in his first comments since its president fled, saying Russia has no intention “to fight the Ukrainian people” but reserved the right to use force. As the Russian president held court Tuesday in his personal residence, US Secretary of State John Kerry met with Kiev’s fledgling government and Moscow agreed to sit down with NATO. Although nerves remained on edge in Crimea, with Russian troops firing warning shots to ward off Ukrainian soldiers, global markets catapulted higher on tentative signals that the Kremlin was not seeking to escalate the conflict. Kerry brought moral support and a $1 billion aid package to a Ukraine fighting to fend off bankruptcy.

Litterbugs, beware: Nepal is making new rules to persuade trekkers to clean up after themselves on Mt. Everest, in the hopes of clearing the tons of rubbish now clogging the world’s highest peak. Starting this spring, Nepali officials at Everest base camp will check that each climber descends the mountain with approximately 18 pounds of trash – the amount the government estimates an exhausted climber discards along the route.

US home prices rose in January after three months of declines. A tight supply of homes might have helped boost prices and offset sales slowed by cold weather. Real estate data provider CoreLogic says prices rose 0.9 percent in January after dipping 0.1 percent in December. Over the past 12 months, home prices have risen 12 percent, the biggest year-over-year gain in more than eight years.

Michelle Burger, a neighbor of Oscar Pistorius who took the stand on the second day of a South African murder trial watched around the world, remained calm through intense questioning in Pretoria by the chief defense lawyer. In a final exchange with the lead prosecutor on Tuesday, however, emotion washed over her as she recalled what she described as the terrified screams of a woman early on Valentine’s Day last year. Burger lives roughly 200 yards from Pistorius’ s house, where his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, died in what the world-class runner said was an accidental shooting.

Possession of less than one ounce of marijuana would no longer be a criminal offense in the nation’s capital under a bill approved by the D.C. Council. Smoking marijuana in public would still be illegal, and the law would not apply on federal property such as the National Mall. The council approved it Tuesday by a 10-to-1 vote.

RadioShack said it plans to close as many as 1,100 stores in the US and reported a wider quarterly loss after a disappointing holiday season. Chief executive officer Joseph Magnacca said that the store closings would leave RadioShack with more than 4,000 US stores, including more than 900 dealer franchise locations. The company didn’t indicate how many jobs would be affected.

Dish Network and Disney have reached a landmark deal that envisions the day when Dish will offer a Netflix-like TV service to people who’d rather stream TV over the Internet than put a satellite receiver on their roof. The deal paves the way for Dish to offer live local broadcasts from ABC TV stations and programming from ABC Family, Disney Channel, ESPN, and ESPN2 over mobile devices, set-top boxes, and other means, similar to how Netflix’s video streams are delivered today.

China says the vicious slashing spree that killed 29 people in a southern city was the work of separatists linked to international terrorism, but the assailants’ low-tech weapons – nothing more than long knives – have led some analysts to suspect they didn’t get outside help. Officials have blamed secessionists from far-western Xinjiang for Saturday’s attack at a train station in Kunming, more than 900 miles to the southeast.

Egypt’s military chief, Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, gave his strongest indication yet that he intends to run for president, saying Tuesday that he “can’t turn his back” on public demands. Sisi is considered almost certain to win if he runs for president.

Facebook is in talks to buy Titan Aerospace to step up its efforts to provide Internet access to remote parts of the world, according to reports in the technology blog Techcrunch and financial news outlet CNBC. Both websites cited anonymous sources who were familiar with the deal and put a purchase price at $60 million.

New Zealand’s indigenous Maori king has refused to meet with Prince William and wife Kate when they visit the country next month, saying officials organizing the royal couple’s schedule didn’t allow enough time. Officials had offered up to 90 minutes for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to visit King Tuheitia at his sacred meeting house.

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.

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