Yahoo! News: World News

---

• Crimea votes to join Russia, Obama orders sanctions
• U.N. says west of Central African Republic 'cleansed' of Muslims
• Exclusive: Syria to miss deadline to destroy 12 chemical arms sites-sources at OPCW
• Two dead in Venezuela violence as protests drag on
• Niger extradites Gaddafi's son Saadi to Libya
• Congo warlord verdict a test for flagging international court
• U.S. senator launches bill to go slow on LNG exports despite Ukraine
• Obama urges Putin in phone call to accept terms of diplomatic solution for Ukraine
• U.S. sanctions on Russia won't hurt Japan at present scope: Amari
• Obama warns on Crimea, orders sanctions over Russian moves in Ukraine
• U.S. mulls how to use natgas resources in Ukraine crisis: top official
• With Crimean appeal, Putin goes head-to-head with West over Ukraine
• Ukraine's Tymoshenko calls for tough action from west on Crimea
• Netherlands freezes hundreds of millions in Ukrainian assets: report
• Cruise ship rescues Cuban migrants adrift at sea
• For US forces in Africa, spy drones in short supply
• Lawsuit: Univision newscaster's book had false ID
• Obama: West won't let Kremlin carve up Ukraine
• Identities sought of 21 men killed at Pearl Harbor
• Obama tells Putin Russia's moves are violation
• Abu Ghaith urged Qaeda recruits to 'pledge' to bin Laden: witness
• US lines up Russia sanctions, opposes Crimea secession
• American tells of meeting bin Laden before 9/11
• Wounded France hopes to keep 6 Nations dream alive
• Crimea to vote to split from Ukraine, join Russia
• Stuard leads Puerto Rico Open by 1
• Top Asian News at 11:00 p.m. GMT
• Man nabbed on suspicion of terrorism at UK airport
• Florida court: Immigrant can't get law license
• Immigration report sparks British coalition row
• Ukraine's Tymoshenko condemns Crimea referendum plan
• France says warship deal with Russia still alive
• Power says Crimea referendum risks escalation
• EPA chief says new U.S. energy rules won't hobble business
• Syria war may last 10 more years
• Top Asian News at 10:30 p.m. GMT

Crimea votes to join Russia, Obama orders sanctions Posted: 06 Mar 2014 04:57 PM PST By Alissa de Carbonnel and Luke Baker SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Crimea's parliament voted to join Russia on Thursday and its Moscow-backed government set a referendum in 10 days' time in a dramatic escalation of the crisis over the Ukrainian region that drew a sharp riposte from U.S. President Barack Obama. Obama ordered sanctions on those responsible for Moscow's military intervention in Ukraine, including bans on travel to the United States and freezing of their U.S. assets. He echoed European Union leaders and the pro-Western government in Ukraine in declaring that the proposed referendum would violate international law. The sudden acceleration of moves to bring Crimea, which has an ethnic Russian majority and has effectively been seized by Russian forces, formally under Moscow's rule came as EU leaders held an emergency summit groping for ways to pressure Russia to back down and accept mediation.

U.N. says west of Central African Republic 'cleansed' of Muslims Posted: 06 Mar 2014 12:28 PM PST By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Most Muslims have been driven out of the western half of conflict-torn Central African Republic, where thousands of civilians risk of being killed "right before our eyes," the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said on Thursday. The bleak warning came as the country's foreign minister pleaded with the U.N. Security Council to urgently approve a U.N. peacekeeping force to stop the killing. "Since early December we have effectively witnessed a 'cleansing' of the majority of the Muslim population in western CAR," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres told a meeting of the 15-nation U.N. Security Council on the crisis in the impoverished and landlocked country. The council is considering a U.N. proposal for a nearly 12,000-strong peacekeeping force to stop the country from sliding toward what a top U.N. rights official called "ethnic-religious cleansing." If approved, the U.N. force would likely not be operational before late summer.

Exclusive: Syria to miss deadline to destroy 12 chemical arms sites-sources at OPCW Posted: 06 Mar 2014 01:05 PM PST By Anthony Deutsch THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Syria will miss a major deadline next week in the program to destroy its chemical weapons production facilities, sources at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said on Thursday. Syria declared 12 production facilities to the OPCW and has until March 15 to destroy them under a deal agreed with the United States and Russia. Damascus has already missed several deadlines laid out in the agreement. "That will definitely be missed," said an official involved in discussions with Syria, referring to the March 15 deadline.

Two dead in Venezuela violence as protests drag on Posted: 06 Mar 2014 01:13 PM PST Demonstrators have for weeks staged rallies and set up barricades to demand the resignation of President Nicolas Maduro, leading to clashes with security forces and government supporters. Motorcycle drivers clearing a barricade in the middle-class neighborhood of Los Ruices were attacked by residents from nearby buildings who threw rocks and later shot at them, National Guard Gen. Manuel Quevedo told Reuters. The motorcyclist who was killed, Jose Cantillo, who was in his early twenties, was shot in the neck, Quevedo said. "Make no mistake, the National Guard and the armed forces are going to continue patrolling the streets to restore order," he said in an interview at the scene of the events.

Niger extradites Gaddafi's son Saadi to Libya Posted: 06 Mar 2014 11:26 AM PST By Ulf Laessing and Feras Bosalum TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi's son Saadi, his special forces commander who fled abroad during Libya's 2011 revolution, was imprisoned in Tripoli on Thursday after Niger agreed to send him back from house arrest there. Saadi, who had a brief career as soccer player in Italy and often lived the playboy life during his father's rule, is the first of Gaddafi's sons the central government has managed to arrest since the former dictator was overthrown. Gaddafi's more prominent son Saif al-Islam, long viewed as his heir, has been held captive by fighters in western Libya who refuse to hand him over to a government they deem too weak to secure and try him.

Congo warlord verdict a test for flagging international court Posted: 06 Mar 2014 01:27 PM PST By Thomas Escritt AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court passes judgment on alleged Congo warlord Germain Katanga on Friday in a key test of the prosecutors' ability to bring solid cases and win convictions at the Hague-based tribunal. The court, launched in 2002 to try crimes against humanity, has handed down only two verdicts so far - a conviction and an acquittal -- while at least five cases have collapsed for lack of sufficient evidence before or during trial proceedings. Friday's case stems from a bloody conflict in the resource-rich Ituri region of northeast Congo in the early 2000s. Katanga was charged with 10 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for an attack on a village there called Bogoro by a militia group he allegedly commanded, the Patriotic Resistance Force.

U.S. senator launches bill to go slow on LNG exports despite Ukraine Posted: 06 Mar 2014 04:51 PM PST By Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Edward Markey introduced a bill on Thursday to make the Obama administration's approval of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports more complicated, saying expedited permits will not help Ukraine and Europe manage Russia's control of fuel supply. As Russia has tightened its grip on Ukraine's Crimea region this week, a slew of Republican U.S. lawmakers, including House Speaker John Boehner, have called on the Obama administration to speed up LNG approvals in order to protect Ukraine and Europe from Moscow's control over natural gas shipments via pipeline.

Obama urges Putin in phone call to accept terms of diplomatic solution for Ukraine Posted: 06 Mar 2014 04:51 PM PST President Barack Obama urged Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday to accept the terms of a potential diplomatic solution to the Ukraine crisis in a phone call that lasted an hour. In their second phone conversation in the past six days, Obama emphasized to Putin that Russia's incursion into Ukraine was a violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, the White House said.

U.S. sanctions on Russia won't hurt Japan at present scope: Amari Posted: 06 Mar 2014 04:51 PM PST U.S. sanctions on Russia over its military intervention into Ukraine will not hurt the Japanese economy as they are currently constituted, Economy Minister Akira Amari said on Friday. "At the present scope, there won't be an impact on the Japanese economy," Amari told a regular news conference when asked about U.S. measures against Moscow. President Barack Obama on Thursday ordered U.S. sanctions on people responsible for Moscow's military intervention in Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula, including travel bans and freezing of their U.S. assets, and said a referendum by the region to join Russia would violate international law.

Obama warns on Crimea, orders sanctions over Russian moves in Ukraine Posted: 06 Mar 2014 04:51 PM PST By Steve Holland and Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Thursday ordered sanctions on people responsible for Moscow's military intervention in Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula, including travel bans and freezing of their U.S. assets, and said a referendum by the region to join Russia would violate international law. U.S. officials said a list of people targeted by the sanctions had not yet been drawn up but that Russian President Vladimir Putin was not going to be one of them. White House spokesman Jay Carney said he was not aware of a limit on the number of people listed. Obama spoke to Putin for an hour on Thursday and said the situation could be solved diplomatically in a way that addressed the interests of Russia, Ukraine and the international community, the White House said.

U.S. mulls how to use natgas resources in Ukraine crisis: top official Posted: 06 Mar 2014 04:51 PM PST By Patricia Zengerle and Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON (Reuters) - There are discussions going on at high levels within the U.S. government on how to use U.S. natural gas resources as the country addresses the crisis in Ukraine, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns said on Thursday. U.S. Senator Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican, asked Burns if "it would be fair to say" there are active discussions at such levels about how to use natural gas to ease European reluctance to enact sanctions over the Ukraine crisis, and to help Ukraine.

With Crimean appeal, Putin goes head-to-head with West over Ukraine Posted: 06 Mar 2014 04:51 PM PST By Elizabeth Piper MOSCOW (Reuters) - Almost certainly orchestrated by Vladimir Putin, Crimea's appeal to join Russia pits the president directly against the West in a standoff that has increasingly high stakes and unpredictable consequences. The vote by Crimea's parliament gives Putin the upper hand in the crisis over Ukraine, but risks antagonizing pro-Western leaders in Kiev who have refused to resort to military action or fan tensions in Ukraine's Russian-speaking south and east. Ukraine's leaders had no doubt who was behind the latest moves in Crimea, including a call for a referendum to decide if the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula, which has an ethnic Russian majority, should return to its former Soviet master.

Ukraine's Tymoshenko calls for tough action from west on Crimea Posted: 06 Mar 2014 04:51 PM PST Leading Ukrainian politician Yulia Tymoshenko on Thursday called for Europe to take strong action over Crimea's attempt to join Russia, warning that otherwise Moscow would move to take over the rest of Ukraine and destabilize the continent. Speaking hours after the parliament of the Ukrainian region of Crimea voted to join Russia, a visibly emotional Tymoshenko warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin would take advantage of any weakness by the West. "If we allow Russia on March 16 to hold a referendum at gunpoint on the annexation of Crimea we will lose Ukraine and stability throughout the whole world," Tymoshenko told a meeting of the European People's Party, the largest bloc in the European parliament.

Netherlands freezes hundreds of millions in Ukrainian assets: report Posted: 06 Mar 2014 04:51 PM PST AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Netherlands has frozen hundreds of millions of euros (dollars) in Ukrainian assets, Dutch media reported Thursday night, citing the finance minister. Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem told the ANP news agency the assets were suspect. The Dutch media reports did not provide any details. A Finance Ministry official could not immediately be reached for comment. (Reporting By Anthony Deutsch; Editing by Chris Reese)

Cruise ship rescues Cuban migrants adrift at sea Posted: 06 Mar 2014 04:39 PM PST GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands (AP) — The government of the Cayman Islands says 24 Cuban migrants rescued by a cruise ship appear to be in good health.

For US forces in Africa, spy drones in short supply Posted: 06 Mar 2014 04:35 PM PST The US military faces a chronic shortage of surveillance aircraft in Africa needed to track extremists on the continent, particularly in the Sahel region, a top general said Thursday. Only seven percent of the military's requirements for reconnaissance and surveillance planes -- including drones and other aircraft -- were met last year in Africa, said General David Rodriguez, head of US Africa Command. "It's up to 11 percent now," the four-star general told the Senate Armed Services Committee. US troops and hardware are not permanently assigned to AFRICOM, which must request aircraft and resources from other regional commands, such as US Central Command, which oversees forces in the Middle East, Central Asia and parts of North Africa and South Asia.

Lawsuit: Univision newscaster's book had false ID Posted: 06 Mar 2014 04:34 PM PST MIAMI (AP) — A Guatemalan man claims in a lawsuit that Univision news host Jorge Ramos wrongly identified him as an U.S. immigration agent in a 2005 book about a fatal migrant smuggling venture, prompting death threats and forcing the man and his family to leave Guatemala.

Obama: West won't let Kremlin carve up Ukraine Posted: 06 Mar 2014 04:28 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama ordered the West's first sanctions in response to Russia's military takeover of Crimea on Thursday, declaring his determination not to let the Kremlin carve up Ukraine. He asserted that a hastily scheduled referendum on Crimea seceding and becoming part of Russia would violate international law.

Identities sought of 21 men killed at Pearl Harbor Posted: 06 Mar 2014 04:21 PM PST CONCORD, New Hampshire (AP) — The remains of 21 American sailors killed in Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and buried as unknowns should be identified and returned to their families, a group of U.S. senators said Thursday.

Obama tells Putin Russia's moves are violation Posted: 06 Mar 2014 04:15 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says President Barack Obama has told Russian President Vladimir Putin that his country's actions are a violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Abu Ghaith urged Qaeda recruits to 'pledge' to bin Laden: witness Posted: 06 Mar 2014 04:08 PM PST By Bernard Vaughan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden's son-in-law, Suleiman Abu Ghaith, urged al Qaeda recruits en route to a training camp in Afghanistan to pledge their lives to bin Laden a few months before September 11, 2001, a government witness told jurors on Thursday. Sahim Alwan, 41, of Lackawanna, New York, testified in federal court in New York that Abu Ghaith spoke to the al Qaeda recruits months before hijacked jets attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing 3,000 people.

US lines up Russia sanctions, opposes Crimea secession Posted: 06 Mar 2014 04:06 PM PST The United States on Thursday imposed visa bans and set the stage for wider sanctions against Russia, warning any move to split the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine would break international law. President Barack Obama spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin to explain the measures, which he said were in response to Russia's "violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity." Obama further stiffened the US response to Russia's incursion into Ukraine as his Secretary of State John Kerry worked in Europe for a diplomatic way out of the worst East-West crisis in decades.

American tells of meeting bin Laden before 9/11 Posted: 06 Mar 2014 04:01 PM PST NEW YORK (AP) — An American who trained at an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan in the spring of 2001 before losing his nerve testified Thursday how he encountered Osama bin Laden and the terror group's spokesman at a safe house — and that bin Laden hinted that a suicide attack on U.S. soil was in the works.

Wounded France hopes to keep 6 Nations dream alive Posted: 06 Mar 2014 03:58 PM PST Even after its heaviest Six Nations defeat in five years, France is still in the title race.

Crimea to vote to split from Ukraine, join Russia Posted: 06 Mar 2014 03:33 PM PST SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine lurched toward breakup Thursday as lawmakers in Crimea unanimously declared they wanted to join Russia and would put the decision to voters in 10 days. President Barack Obama condemned the move and the West answered with the first real sanctions against Russia.

Stuard leads Puerto Rico Open by 1 Posted: 06 Mar 2014 03:07 PM PST RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico (AP) — Brian Stuard birdied seven of his first 12 holes in windy conditions to take the first-round lead in the Puerto Rico Open on Thursday.

Top Asian News at 11:00 p.m. GMT Posted: 06 Mar 2014 03:03 PM PST PINGSHAN COUNTY, China (AP) — Huge chunks of concrete and broken machinery are all that is left of a cement plant that once spewed clouds of pollution over China's most polluted province, Hebei. Demolished in December, the factory was one of 35 closed or torn down in Pingshan county as part of the government's drive to clear up China's notoriously smoggy skies. Combatting pollution has shot up the agenda of the ruling Communist Party, which for years pushed for rapid economic development with little concern about the environmental impact. Under public pressure to reduce the air pollution that blankets Beijing and cities across China, the country's leaders are rebalancing their priorities.

Man nabbed on suspicion of terrorism at UK airport Posted: 06 Mar 2014 02:51 PM PST LONDON (AP) — British authorities say they've arrested a man at a London's airport over suspicions that he was training for terrorism overseas.

Florida court: Immigrant can't get law license Posted: 06 Mar 2014 02:49 PM PST TALLAHASSEE, Florida (AP) — Immigrants in America illegally can't be given a license to practice law in Florida, a question that was raised when a man who moved to Florida from Mexico when he was 9 years old sought a license, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

Immigration report sparks British coalition row Posted: 06 Mar 2014 02:44 PM PST Britain's coalition government was bitterly divided over immigration on Thursday after the Conservative minister in charge of the issue accused Business Secretary Vince Cable from the Liberal Democrats of asserting "falsehoods" about the impact of immigrant labour. The row between Immigration Minister James Brokenshire and Cable erupted as an official government study concluded there was "relatively little evidence" that migrant workers had taken the jobs of Britons when the economy was strong. But it also found there was little evidence that immigrants from the European Union had an impact on the employment of British workers, although it was a "relatively recent phenomenon" and "this does not imply that impacts do not occur in some circumstances". Cable, a leading figure in the junior coalition partners, on Thursday told business leaders he was "intensely relaxed" about mass immigration and condemned "scare stories" about the issue.

Ukraine's Tymoshenko condemns Crimea referendum plan Posted: 06 Mar 2014 02:41 PM PST Ukrainian opposition icon Yulia Tymoshenko, recently freed after a two-year jail term, on Thursday slammed a decision by Crimean lawmakers to vote on whether to join Russia as illegitimate and unconstitutional. The lawmakers said they would put the question of secession from Ukraine to a referendum in Crimea on March 16, further escalating tensions over the ex-Soviet state. "I would like to ask you whether one can have an open, fair and democratic referendum under Kalashnikov guns?" Tymoshenko told reporters in Dublin at a convention of the European People's Party (EPP). She said the referendum was violating Ukraine's constitution as any territorial question must be decided by a national vote.

France says warship deal with Russia still alive Posted: 06 Mar 2014 02:39 PM PST French President Francois Hollande said a controversial sale of two state-of-the art warships by France to Russia was still on course despite Moscow's widely opposed stand over Crimea. The 2011 sale of the Mistral warships, worth one billion euros ($1.4 billion), was already a deep source of concern for France's NATO and European Union allies, coming only a few years after Russia's invasion of Georgia. But despite the threat of another war involving Russia, Hollande, who was in Brussels at a European summit on the Ukrainian crisis, said France's commitment to deliver the military vessels was still alive. Experts consider the addition of the Mistral to Russia's ageing fleet as a major leap forward in the Kremlin's ability to act quickly with lethal force.

Power says Crimea referendum risks escalation Posted: 06 Mar 2014 02:36 PM PST UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations says a referendum on whether Crimea should remain part of Ukraine or join Russia would be illegal and "highly destabilizing, and would further polarize the situation and gravely enhance the risk of escalation."

EPA chief says new U.S. energy rules won't hobble business Posted: 06 Mar 2014 02:36 PM PST By Ernest Scheyder HOUSTON (Reuters) - Carbon regulations can be crafted to help offset climate change without "shutting down business in its tracks," U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy said at a major energy conference on Thursday. McCarthy's speech in Houston to IHS CERAWeek, the largest meeting of energy executives in the world, was the first by an EPA administrator since the conference began 33 years ago. "We don't have to choose between a healthy environment and a healthy economy," McCarthy, who has run the EPA for nearly a year, said about new rules she said would be proposed by this summer. "We know conventional fuels like coal and natural gas are going to continue to play a critical role in a diverse U.S. energy mix." The Houston visit came about a week after McCarthy toured North Dakota, trying to convince the state's coal, oil and ethanol producers that her agency was not trying to burden their industries with onerous regulations.

Syria war may last 10 more years Posted: 06 Mar 2014 02:34 PM PST The brutal war in Syria could grind on for a decade as Iran and Russia prop up President Bashar al-Assad's regime and jihadist groups flood the battlefield, experts warned Thursday. Assad has chosen a deliberate "Machiavellian strategy" of standing by while militant groups such as al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant flourish, leaving the US-backed moderate opposition fighting on two fronts, lawmakers were told. "It's now clear that Assad's fall is not the inevitability that many analysts believed a year ago," said analyst Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, referring to former confident predictions by the US administration that Assad's days were numbered. "The major role jihadists now play has deterred Western countries and others from throwing significant weight behind the opposition," argued Gartenstein-Ross, an expert with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

Top Asian News at 10:30 p.m. GMT Posted: 06 Mar 2014 02:33 PM PST PINGSHAN COUNTY, China (AP) — Huge chunks of concrete and broken machinery are all that is left of a cement plant that once spewed clouds of pollution over China's most polluted province, Hebei. Demolished in December, the factory was one of 35 closed or torn down in Pingshan county as part of the government's drive to clear up China's notoriously smoggy skies. Combatting pollution has shot up the agenda of the ruling Communist Party, which for years pushed for rapid economic development with little concern about the environmental impact. Under public pressure to reduce the air pollution that blankets Beijing and cities across China, the country's leaders are rebalancing their priorities.

You are subscribed to email updates from World News Headlines - Yahoo News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610