News from WN Network

Blizzard pummels northern Japan 2014-03-07
The Hindu

A blizzard struck northern Japan on Friday with authorities warning of...

photo: WN / Janice Sabnal

US, EU step up pressure on Russia, Crimea 2014-03-07
The Hindu

A move by the Crimean authorities to rejoin Russia and go ahead with a referendum on the issue next week was dismissed as illegitimate by the United States on Thursday as the crisis in Ukraine continued. US President Barack Obama said the referendum scheduled for March 16 in Crimea would violate the...

photo: Creative Commons / Vmenkov

2 dead in Venezuela clash at barricade 2014-03-06
Houston Chronicle

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A National Guardsman and a civilian were killed Thursday in a clash between residents of a Caracas neighborhood and armed men who tried to remove a barricade, Venezuelan officials said. National Assembly...

photo: AP / Fernando Llano

Report: CIA Spied on U.S. Senate Staffers 2014-03-06
Mashable

The CIA allegedly spied on the computers of U.S. Senate staffers who worked on a years-long report into the agency's post-9/11 detention and interrogation practices, as first reported by McClatchy. Agency employees allegedly searched computers of Senate Intelligence Committee staffers to find out...

photo: AP / J. Scott Applewhite

Pussy Riot members attacked in Russian region 2014-03-06
Boston Herald

MOSCOW — Two members of the punk band Pussy Riot have been attacked by unidentified men on a trip to campaign for prisoners' rights. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria...

photo: AP / Misha Japaridze

Tunisia lifts state of emergency, three years after revolt 2014-03-06
Daily Press

TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia has lifted a state of emergency three years after it was imposed, in a largely symbolic move to show security is improving in the North African state. Since the 2011 uprising that ousted autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisian security...

photo: AP / Grace Kassab

Membership of Japan's yakuza crime gangs falls to all-time low 2014-03-06
The Guardian

Police say number of people in organised crime syndicates fell below 60,000 for first time on record last year Members of the largest yakuza group, the Yamaguchi-gumi, at a funeral in the 1980s. Photograph: AP The number of people belonging to Japan's notorious yakuza crime groups fell to...

photo: AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye

Crimea will remain in Ukraine, says new PM 2014-03-06
Newstrack India

Tweet Johannesburg, Mar. 6 (ANI): Ukraine's new Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has said embattled Crimea must remain part of Ukraine. In his first interview since taking office last week, Yatsenyuk Crimea said Crimea will however be granted more local...

photo: Creative Commons / ВО Свобода

Vladimir Putin Nominated For Nobel Peace Prize 2014-03-06
Business Insider

Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in a news conference after an EU-Russia Summit in Brussels January 28, 2014. Putin said on Tuesday it would honor its obligations to lend Ukraine $15 billion and reduce its gas prices even if the opposition formed the next government. Russian President...

photo: AP / Alexei Druzhinin

Russia, West try to hammer out Ukraine diplomacy 2014-03-05
Times Union

PARIS (AP) — Facing off in Europe's capitals, Russia and the West began trying to build the elements of a diplomatic solution to Europe's gravest crisis since the Cold War — even as the West appeared increasingly resigned to an entrenched Russian presence in Crimea. NATO hit back by putting Russia...

photo: Public Domain / State Department