Time to end Ukraine's east-west divide

February 19, 2014 - Daily News Briefing

Ukraine is deeply divided.

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Defiant protesters shouted “Glory to Ukraine” as burning tents lit up the night sky after thousands of riot police moved against the sprawling protest camp in the center of Kiev on Tuesday. The police, armed with stun grenades and water cannons, attacked the camp after at least 13 people – including six officers – died and hundreds were injured in street clashes. The violence was the deadliest in nearly three months of antigovernment protests that have paralyzed Ukraine’s capital in a struggle over the nation’s identity.

Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf appeared Tuesday for the first time in front of a court tasked with deciding whether he committed high treason, a sharp blow for a man who was once the most powerful in Pakistan. The appearance is also a blow to the prestige of the country’s powerful military establishment. Pakistan has undergone three military-led coups since its inception in 1947, and the institution and its leaders have often been perceived as above the law.

A new wave of car bombs ripped through commercial areas in the Iraqi capital and areas to the south Tuesday, killing at least 33 people and wounding dozens in the latest coordinated militant assault, officials said. The blasts came as a firebrand Shiite cleric delivered a blistering criticism of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in a rare televised address. Muqtada al-Sadr also reiterated his earlier declaration that he was retiring from politics. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosives-laden parked cars that detonated Tuesday.

Boosting the federal minimum wage as President Obama and congressional Democrats are proposing would increase earnings for more than 16.5 million people by 2016 but also cut employment by roughly 500,000 jobs, Congress’s nonpartisan budget analyst said Tuesday. In a report containing ammunition for both supporters and opponents of the Democratic election-year proposal, the Congressional Budget Office said gradually raising the minimum from $7.25 hourly to $10.10 would lift 900,000 people above the federal poverty level by 2016. That is out of 45 million who would otherwise live in poverty without an increase.

Iran drew a red line on Tuesday in Vienna on how far it would go at landmark nuclear talks, saying as the meeting opened that it would not buckle to pressure from the US and five other world powers to scrap any of its nuclear facilities. The statement by Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi suggested tough talks ahead, constituting a rejection of a central demand by the six countries.

India’s Supreme Court on Tuesday commuted the death sentences to life in prison for three men convicted of playing minor roles in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The three have served more than 20 years on death row in Vellore Prison in southern Tamil Nadu state. They denied knowing anything about the plot to kill Gandhi as he was campaigning in May 1991 for a return to the prime ministerial office.

A speedy winter storm that blew through parts of the Great Lakes and eastern US on Tuesday is expected to leave a trail of warmer weather and rain that should provide a respite for residents weary of weeks of bitter cold but also create the potential for flooding and collapsing roofs in some areas.

Opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez emerged from days of hiding and surrendered to police before thousands of supporters on Tuesday, saying he hopes his arrest awakens Venezuela to the corruption and economic disaster caused by 15 years of socialist rule. Speaking with a megaphone to more than 5,000 people, Lopez said that he doesn’t fear going to jail to defend his beliefs and constitutional right to peacefully protest against President Nicolas Maduro.

The National Labor Relations Board opened a closely watched hearing Tuesday in Chicago on a bid by Northwestern University football players to form what would be the first union for college athletes in US history. The key question is whether college football players qualify as employees. If they do, under US law they would have the right to unionize.

A magnitude-6.5 earthquake struck northeast of Barbados early Tuesday, jolting thousands from their sleep but causing no reported damage or casualties. It also was felt in the nearby French Caribbean island of Martinique.

Hungarian Jewish leaders say they have found 103 Torah scrolls taken from Hungary during the Holocaust in a Russian library. Negotiations are under way with Russian officials to restore the scrolls and possibly display them in international exhibits. Torah is a handmade copy on parchment scrolls of the first five books of the Old Testament.

Compiled from wire service reports

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