MOSCOW/ AP The Ukrainian government says one soldier has been killed and several troops wounded in the country’s east in what seems to be a violation of a recently brokered armistice. Both sides in the deadly conflict between government forces and Russia-backed separatists had agreed to observe a cease-fire with the start of the Orthodox Easter and May Day ...
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Brussels Airport departure hall reopens after attacks
BRUSSELS /Â AP The Brussels Airport is reopening its departure hall for the first time since deadly extremist attacks on March 22. The airport had already resumed some flights but passengers had been using a temporary check-in tent because of extensive damage to the departure hall from the twin suicide bombings that killed 16 people. Passengers on select flights will ...
Read More »French far-right father-daughter feud disrupts tradition
PARIS/ AP Jean-Marie Le Pen, a founder and the decades-long leader of France’s far-right National Front, declared Sunday that his daughter, the party president who has expelled him, will lose next year’s presidential race if she fails to unify the party. The bitter division between the 87-year-old and his daughter Marine Le Pen, 47, played out Sunday with the ...
Read More »4 die in attack on Aden top cop
Aden / AFP Four Yemeni guards were killed in a bombing that targeted the convoy of Aden’s police chief, officials said, the second such attack on him in the southern city this week. A bomb-laden car in Aden’s Mansura district exploded as General Shallal Shayae’s convoy passed, damaging military vehicles and prompting clashes between his guards and Al-Qaeda suspects ...
Read More »Refugee influx spurs German justice to tackle Syrian war crimes
Berlin / AFP Germany will on Tuesday start its first war crimes trial over atrocities in Syria, as a mass refugee influx brings not only witnesses and victims but also suspects into the country. Aria L., a 21-year-old German national and suspected extremist, posted on Facebook photos of himself posing next to two decapitated heads in Syria—and his case ...
Read More »Trump backers yell foul over loss at Arizona GOP
PHOENIX / AFP Texas Sen. Ted Cruz pulled out a strategic victory at the Arizona Republican Party convention, nailing down a large majority of delegates to the national convention amid cheating accusations from backers of businessman Donald Trump. The Cruz slate won virtually all of the 28 at-large national delegates and roughly split the 27 delegates selected by congressional ...
Read More »Britain flirts with economic insanity
Countries usually don’t knowingly commit economic suicide, but in Britain millions seem ready to give it a try. On June 23, the United Kingdom will vote to decide whether to quit the European Union, the 28-nation economic bloc with a population of 508 million and a gross domestic product of almost $17 trillion. Let’s not be coy: Leaving the EU ...
Read More »Ill-conceived plans script Venezuela’s power woes
The economic recession triggered by the drop of oil prices and the El Nino weather phenomenon, which has caused the country’s hydroelectric dams to run low, have combined to bring the once-booming Venezuela to its knee. Venezuela’s revenue, highly dependent on oil exports, has dropped from $80 billion in 2013 to between $20 billion and $25 billion in 2015, ...
Read More »Meet the big spenders on Research & Development
Justin Fox Amazon.com and Facebook had great earnings reports this week. They also reported spending a lot of money on the future. Capital spending was up 35 percent at Amazon and 125 percent at Facebook in the first quarter compared with the same quarter last year. Research and development spending was up 28 percent at Amazon and 26 percent ...
Read More »Why we fear spiders more than climate change
People tend to fear spiders and snakes more than they do electrical sockets or fireworks, even though the latter present a far greater danger. This might help explain why humans have such a hard time seeing the threat of climate change. Evolutionary psychologists argue that much of human behavior can be understood only by studying our ancient ancestors. Through 99 ...
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