Washington, April 22 (IANS) US Secretary of State John Kerry has urged Russia to “take concrete steps” to help implement the agreement aimed at defusing tensions in Ukraine. In his telephone talk with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Kerry urged Russia Monday to publicly call on “separatists to vacate illegal buildings and checkpoints, accept amnesty, […]
United Nations, April 22 (IANS) Approximately 80 percent of the chemical weapons materials have been shipped out of Syria or destroyed, a UN spokesperson said Monday. Sigrid Kaag, the special coordinator of the Joint Mission of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the United Nations, had issued a statement announcing the […]
Havana, April 22 (IANS) At least five people were killed and 42 injured when a passenger vehicle overturned Monday in Cuba’s Holguin province, the country’s National Information Agency (NIA) said. The accident occurred when a dairy truck had a slight friction with the passenger vehicle on the road between the cities of Moa and Holguin, […]
Quito (Ecuador), April 22 (IANS) Ecuador and Costa Rica signed an agreement to delineate maritime boundary between the two nations here Monday, capping over three decades of negotiations on the matter, Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said. “The signing represents a valuable example of understanding and the beginning of a stage of cooperation,” Xinhua quoted […]
United Nations, April 22 (IANS) Top UN officials have cautioned that Syria’s newly announced presidential elections have a risk of undermining efforts to achieve a political solution to the country’s three-year-old conflict, a UN spokesperson said here Monday. “The secretary-general and the Joint Special Representative, Lakhdar Brahimi, have repeatedly warned that the holding of elections […]
Moscow, April 22 (IANS) Ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych Monday called for immediate dialogue between Kiev and eastern regions, urging the withdrawal of armed forces from those territories. “Blood cannot be washed away. Stop!” Xinhua quoted Yanukovych as saying in a statement released in Russia’s southwest city of Rostov-on-Don, where he has taken refuge, adding […]
Amman, April 22 (IANS) Jordan summoned the Israeli ambassador here Monday over recent clashes in the al-Aqsa Mosque, the state media reported. Jordan, which oversees the east Jerusalem mosque, denounced ” radical Israeli attempts” to break into the mosque, under the protection of the Israeli army, Xinhua reported. The kingdom also condemned the arrest of […]
Jindo (South Korea), April 22 (IANS) As 17 bodies were pulled out Tuesday morning out of the submerged vessel following overnight search operations, the toll in the accident reached 104. Divers began conducting underwater search operations from around 6.30 a.m. local time. So far, 104 people have been confirmed dead, with 198 still missing. The […]
Tokyo, April 22 (IANS) About 150 Japanese lawmakers from a non-partisan group Tuesday morning visited the Yasukuni Shrine during the spring festival. The notorious shrine, which honours Japan’s war dead including 14 Class-A convicted WWII criminals, is seen as a symbol of Japan’s past militarism. Japanese Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Yoshitaka Shindo also paid […]
Sydney, April 22 (IANS) Planned air search activities had been suspended for Tuesday due to poor weather conditions, Xinhua quoted the Joint Agency Coordination Center (JACC) as saying. Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 went missing in March as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing carrying 239 people.