Wednesday, February 19, 2014

KIEV, Ukraine — The security authorities in Ukraine offered the first indication on Wednesday that the deadly political violence afflicting Kiev had spread far beyond the city limits, announcing a crackdown on what the Interior Ministry called “extremist groups” that had torched buildings and seized weapons nationwide.

The Interior Ministry announcement of an “anti-terrorist operation” across the country came a day after Kiev was gripped with the most lethal mayhem since protests erupted in November, leaving at least 25 dead including nine police officers. The Health Ministry said that 241 people had been wounded.

The violence turned a protest encampment in Kiev’s central Independence Square into a flaming war zone that sharply escalated the political crisis that has convulsed the former Soviet republic of 46 million for the past three months. The crisis raised East-West tensions over Ukraine’s future, with Russia denouncing the protesters as Nazi-like coup plotters and the European Union threatening severe sanctions against Ukrainian government leaders.

“In many regions of the country, municipal buildings, offices of the Interior Ministry, state security and the prosecutor general, army units and arms depots, are being seized,” Oleksandr Yakimenko, the head of the SBU, the Ukraine state security service, said in a statement quoted by Reuters.

“Courtrooms are being burned down, vandals are destorying private apartments, killing peaceful citizens,” he said in the statement. Mr. Yakimenko said the past 24 hours had shown “a growing escalation of violent confrontation and widespread use of weapons by extremist oriented groups.”

In Kiev on Wednesday, protesters stoked what they are calling a “ring of fire” separating themselves from the riot police in a desperate effort to defend the remnants of a stage on Independence Square that has been a focal point of their protests.

Men staggering with exhaustion dismantled the tents and field kitchens from the protest movement’s earlier and more peaceful phase and hauled their remnants onto the fires. They piled on mattresses, sleeping bags, tent frames, foam pads and whatever else looked flammable, burning their own encampment in a final act of defiance.

The Interior Ministry said all the police officers killed on Tuesday had died from gunshot wounds, although witnesses said it appeared that several officers had been trapped in a burning armored vehicle.

As the scope of the violence became clear, Russia, President Viktor F. Yanukovych’s most important ally in the crisis, issued a blistering statement blaming the “criminal activities of radical opposition forces” for causing the bloodshed and denouncing European countries for refusing to acknowledge that. When the protests began late last year, they opposed the government’s rejection of a trade agreement with the European Union.

The statement on Wednesday from the Foreign Ministry described the violence as an attempted coup and even used the phrase “brown revolution,” an allusion to the Nazi rise to power in Germany in 1933.

The ministry said Russia would use “all our influence to restore peace and calm.”

President Vladimir V. Putin’s spokesman said that the Russian leader had spoken by telephone with Mr. Yanukovych and expressed support for a swift settlement, but said it was up to Ukraine’s government to resolve it without external interference. “In the president’s view, all responsibility for what is happening in Ukraine rests with the extremists,” Dmitri S. Peskov, the spokesman, told reporters, according to the news agency Interfax.

On the other side of the barricades in Kiev, scores of exhausted riot police officers, their faces covered in soot, sat slumped on the sidewalk on Khreshchatyk Street, the main artery leading to Independence Square. Reinforcements poured in, massing in European Square, a large roundabout that sits astride main roads leading to the center of the city. One of these was clogged with around a dozen military-style dump trucks, armored cars and other vehicles.

But it was unclear whether the authorities had mustered sufficient force to complete the operation they began on Tuesday to clear Independence Square. The security forces did, however, strengthen their grip on the Ukrainian House, a large modern building that had been occupied by protesters. Police officers carted out sacks filled with documents and others with garbage.

The Interior Ministry’s announcement of a nationwide crackdown came after witnesses and unofficial news reports from outside the capital said protesters had seized provincial administrative buildings in several regions, including Lviv, a bastion of anti-Yanukovych sentiment in western Ukraine near the border with Poland.

The Ukrainian riot police stood back from burning barricades around Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine, early Wednesday. Sergey Dolzhenko/European Pressphoto Agency

Andriy Porodko, a 29-year-old antigovernment activist in Lviv, said by telephone that protesters had taken control of the central government’s main offices in the region, resuming an occupation that had ended last Sunday, and had also raided the local headquarters of the state prosecutor, the Ukrainian security service and several district police stations.

Most ominously, said Mr. Porodko, who last month organized a blockade of an Interior Ministry garrison on the outskirts of Lviv, around 1,000 protesters had stormed the garrison, which serves as the headquarters of the Interior Ministry’s western regional command, seizing control of barracks and weapons stores. In addition, a local journalist said that around 140 guns were seized from Lviv’s central police station.

In Kiev, the fires kept security forces and their vehicles away from the stage as police seemed unwilling to risk driving through the blazes. It was unclear how long the debris of the protesters’ tent camp could fuel the bonfires sufficiently to prevent an assault by security forces.

The flames from the barricades defended the entrances to the square where riot police officers were pressing forward but not streets leading from the plaza. The authorities appeared to be attempting to push the protesters out through those exits.

Protesters began pounding with clubs on utility poles and makeshift shields, creating a rhythmic din.

With the center of the city engulfed in thick, acrid smoke and filled with the deafening noise of grenades, fireworks and occasional gunfire, what began as a peaceful protest in late November against Mr. Yanukovych’s decision to spurn a trade deal with Europe and tilt toward Russia became on Tuesday a pyre of violent chaos.

The violence was likely to resonate for weeks, months or even years around this fragile and bitterly divided nation. It also exposed the impotence, in this dispute, of the United States and the European Union, which had engaged in a week of fruitless efforts to mediate a peaceful settlement.

Doubts about the influence of Russia were also shredded, as the Krmlin portrayed the protesters as American-backed “terrorists” and, in thinly coded messages, urged Mr. Yanukovych to crack down.

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. telephoned Mr. Yanukovych to “express grave concern regarding the crisis on the streets” of Kiev and urged him “to pull back government forces and to exercise maximum restraint,” the vice president’s office said in a statement on Tuesday.

Secretary of State John Kerry urged Mr. Yanukovych to stop the bloodshed. “We call on President Yanukovych and the Ukrainian government to de-escalate the situation immediately, and resume dialogue with the opposition on a peaceful path forward. Ukraine’s deep divisions will not be healed by spilling more innocent blood,” he said in a statement.

The German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, warned the Ukrainian government that it could face sanctions.

Ukraine should expect Europe to reconsider its position on imposing sanctions on individuals,” Mr. Steinmeier said in a statement on Tuesday night. The bloodshed erupted only hours after Mr. Steinmeier had received the two main opposition leaders, Vitali Klitschko and Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, in Berlin, where they also met Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The State Department, in an alert to American citizens, said that travel into and out of the center of Kiev was restricted and described the situation as “currently very fluid.” It also warned that roving gangs had attacked journalists and protesters and committed other random acts of violence in Kiev and other cities.

“U.S. citizens whose residences or hotels are located in the vicinity of the protests are cautioned to leave those areas or prepare to remain indoors, possibly for several days, should clashes occur,” the notice said. “Further violent clashes between police and protesters in Kiev and other cities are possible. The location and nature of demonstrations and methods employed by the police can change quickly and without warning.”

Mr. Yanukovych had repeatedly pledged not to use force to disperse protesters, but after meeting Mr. Putin at the opening of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, he had clearly changed his mind. The fighting also broke out only a day after Russia threw a new financial lifeline to Mr. Yanukovych’s government by buying $2 billion in Ukrainian government bonds.

The Russian aid appeared to signal confidence that important votes in Parliament expected this week, to amend the Constitution and form a new cabinet, would go in Russia’s favor.

Ukraine: Deadly clashes around parliament in Kiev

The BBC's David Stern said it is not clear what sparked the latest clashes

Ukraine's protests

Violent clashes have erupted during anti-government protests in Ukraine's capital, Kiev, with at least nine people, including two policemen, dead.

In the worst violence in weeks, police used rubber bullets and stun grenades as thousands of protesters marching on parliament.
A deadline set by the security forces for the violence to end has passed with no immediate sign of police action.
The clashes came as MPs were due to debate changes to the constitution.
The proposals would curb the powers of President Viktor Yanukovych, but the opposition say they were blocked from submitting their draft, meaning no debate could take place.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she was "deeply worried" by the escalation of violence, and urged politicians to "address the root causes".
Russia blamed the upsurge in violence on "connivance by Western politicians and European structures" and their refusal to consider the "aggressive actions" of radical factions within the protest movement.
Officer shot dead Ukraine's unrest began in November, when Mr Yanukovych rejected a deal with the EU in favour of closer ties with Russia.
The mood had calmed in recent days, but protest camps remain on the streets and the opposition - which insists the president must resign - had warned the government it risked inflaming tensions if it failed to act.

Anti-government protesters throw stones towards police during a rally near Ukraine's house of parliament in Kiev

In pictures: Kiev clashes

On Tuesday, thousands of protesters tried to march on the parliament building to put pressure on the government to address constitutional reform. But the march was blocked by lines of police vehicles.

The BBC's David Stern in Kiev says it is unclear what sparked the clashes - protesters and police have blamed each other.
Unlike in previous weeks, violence took place in a number of locations, our correspondent adds.
Some protesters ripped up cobblestones to throw at police. Others threw smoke bombs. Police fired stun and smoke grenades, and rubber bullets.
Protesters also attacked the headquarters of President Yanukovych's Party of the Regions, temporarily smashing their way in and setting it on fire before being forced out by police.
One person - believed to be an employee - was found dead inside.
The bodies of three protesters were found inside a building close to parliament. Another three bodies were seen lying in the street.
The interior ministry said two policemen had died of gunshot wounds.

Anti-government protesters attack an office of the pro-presidential Party of the Regions in Kiev, February 18, 2014.

Demonstrators smashed their way into an office of President Yanukovych's Party of the Regions

Riot police and protesters in Kiev, Ukraine (18 Feb 2014)

The clashes are the worst seen in Kiev in weeks

Red Cross workers help an injured policeman in Kiev, Ukraine (18 Feb 2014)

A number of police and security force personnel were injured - and a policeman was killed - in the unrest

Dozens of protesters and security personnel are also reported to have been injured.
The heads of the security services and internal affairs ministry gave the protesters a deadline of 18:00 local time (16:00 GMT) to put an end to the clashes, warning they would "use all the possible methods" to end it.
The entire Kiev metro has been shut down, and police have converged on the edges of Independence Square, the site of the main protest camp since November.
Protest leader Vitaly Klitschko urged women and children to leave the square, saying they could not "exclude the possibility of use of force".
But the deadline came and went with no apparent sign of security force action.
US 'appalled' Inside parliament on Tuesday morning, there were scuffles as the opposition tried to submit a draft resolution on reinstating the 2004 constitution.

Constitutional proposal

Opposition's draft proposal in essence calls for a return to 2004 constitution that shifted key powers from president to parliament
2004 constitution repealed in 2010, shortly after President Yanukovych came to power
Reforms would see president stripped of powers to appoint PM, cabinet members and regional governors - and possibly snap elections
Ruling party is reportedly amenable to the proposal in theory, but says it needs to be discussed by non-governmental organisations and sent to Council of Europe's Venice Commission for Review

The changes would mean President Yanukovych losing some of the powers he has gained since his election in 2010, including the power to appoint the prime minister and most cabinet members. They could also lead to snap presidential elections.

Opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk said the move was being blocked by President Yanukovych, saying his party members "show no desire whatsoever to end the political crisis".
MPs who support the president say the proposals have not been thoroughly discussed, and that more time is needed.
The speaker of parliament, Volodymyr Rybak, said parliament would not meet on Wednesday, but that opposition leaders would meet the president for further talks.
Several countries have expressed their alarm and concern at the sudden escalation of the crisis.

Friday, February 14, 2014

Venezuela

Anti-Maduro protests persist in Venezuela, dozens jailed

Fri Feb 14, 2014 7:02pm EST

Riot police use water to disperse opposition demonstrators as they block the city's main highway during a protest against Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas February 14, 2014. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

By Andrew Cawthorne and Diego Ore
CARACAS (Reuters) - President Nicolas Maduro's government kept dozens of student protesters behind bars on Friday as unrest still rumbled across Venezuela following this week's violence at political rallies that killed three.
Demonstrators gathered again in various cities, blocking roads and burning tires in some cases, to denounce the repression of protests and make a litany of complaints against Maduro ranging from rampant crime to shortages of basic products.
"We're going to stay out in the streets for the same reasons as yesterday and the day before: inflation, insecurity and a repressive state that refuses to release our colleagues," student Marcos Matta, 22, told Reuters, in Caracas.
Defying the president's prohibition of demonstrations, about 500 people gathered in Caracas' Altamira Square, a heartland of past opposition protests, to chant slogans and wave banners.
Maduro, a 51-year-old former union activist and bus driver, accuses his foes of seeking a coup against him similar to one that briefly toppled his predecessor Hugo Chavez in 2002.
However, there is no sign the street demonstrations threaten to oust him, nor that the military, whose role was crucial to Chavez's 36-hour unseating, will turn against Maduro.
The protests might in fact give him a chance to unite competing factions within the ruling Socialist Party, divide the opposition where many moderates oppose the street tactics, and distract Venezuelans' attention from economic problems.
Maduro has called supporters onto the streets of Caracas for Saturday and insisted unauthorized rallies will be stopped

Venezuela student protest ends in deadly violence

A demonstrator jumps on shield wall formed by riot police during a protest against the government in Caracas on 12 February, 2014

Police were out in force at the anti-government rally in Caracas on Wednesday

At least three people were shot dead as violence erupted during anti-government protests in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, on Wednesday.

The violence broke out after some 10,000 demonstrators had gone home following a mainly peaceful rally.
Two people died after gunmen on motorbikes opened fire on the remaining crowd. A third died in later clashes.
The march was the latest in a series of mass protests against the policies of President Nicolas Maduro.
Chaotic scenes A crowd of demonstrators, many of them students, marched to the federal prosecutor's office to demand the release of 13 protesters who they say were illegally detained in previous marches.

Opposition protest in Caracas, Venezuela (12 Feb 2014)

Thousands heeded the call by student and opposition groups to protest on Wednesday

A woman with the symbol of the student protests, a white hand, painted on her face marches with fellow demonstrators to the General Prosecutors building in Caracas, Venezuela, on Wednesday 12 February, 2014

The violence broke out after a mainly peacefully rally in the capital, Caracas

Demonstrators throw rocks at riot police during clashes between opposition protesters with security forces and pro-government supporters during a protest against the government in Caracas on 12 February, 2014

But a small group of protesters stayed on after the march and clashed with police

A small group of protesters stayed behind after the end of the main march and clashed with the security forces.
It was at that time that a number of armed men on motorcycles shot at the crowd, triggering a stampede.
Anti-government protester Bassil da Costa, 24, was hit by a bullet and killed.
Also shot in the ensuing chaos was government activist Juan Montoya, who is believed to have been taking part in a rival, pro-government rally.
It is not clear whether the two victims were hit by the men on motorcycles or by other assailants.
The president of Venezuela's National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, blamed the killing of Mr Montoya on "fascists", without further clarifying who they might be.
A third man was shot dead during anti-government protests in the east of the capital.
'No coup d'etat' President Nicolas Maduro condemned the incidents, which he blamed on a "neo-fascist upsurge".

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro attends an event to celebrate Youth Day in La Victoria on 12 February, 2014

President Nicolas Maduro said those who committed acts of violence would not go unpunished

The president called for peace, but stressed that those who engaged in violence would not go unpunished.
"There will be no coup d'etat in Venezuela, you can be absolutely sure of that, let the whole world know that," he said in a TV and radio broadcast.
Opposition politicians meanwhile called for new protests.
"Just as we condemn the violent incidents, we say to all Venezuelan families that we have to remain ready to continue fighting, calmly but with determination," Caracas mayor Antonio Ledezma said.
"You have to know, Mr Maduro, that whatever you do, what started today will not stop until change is achieved in peace and with democracy for all Venezuelans," he added.
Growing discontent The march on Wednesday was the latest in a series of anti-government demonstrations in which protesters have demanded the resignation of President Maduro.

Protesters with their mouths covered with tape protest the detention of four students in Caracas (8 February 2014)

There have been a series of mass demonstrations against the government over the past weeks

Students in the western states of Tachira and Merida have been at the forefront of the protests, saying they are fed up with the lack of security and the poor state of Venezuela's economy.
Venezuela has one of the highest murder rates in the world and is deeply politically polarised, with the opposition blaming the government for the country's economic troubles.
The country has the highest inflation rate in the region at 56.2% in 2013, according to official figures.
It is also beset by shortages, with shoppers often having to search a number of supermarkets for staples such as milk and toilet paper.
The government has blamed the shortages on "saboteurs" and "profit-hungry corrupt businessmen".

Bosnia Erzegobina

Bosnia Erzegobina

2014-02-07

Bosnian protests: A Balkan Spring?

By Tim Judah Balkan affairs analyst

Cars burn as anti-government protesters clash with police in Sarajevo February 7, 2014.

Police have condemned the protesters as "hooligans"

For years the best description of the political situation in Bosnia-Hercegovina has been "stagnant but stable".

Now, with astonishing speed, analysts are already talking about a "Bosnian Spring".
In Tuzla, Mostar, Zenica and Sarajevo, government buildings have been set on fire and there have been demonstrations across much of the rest of the country. Hundreds have been injured, including policemen.
Politicians have condemned "hooligans" for the violence but many are frightened.
Pictures have gone viral of cars, allegedly belonging to politicians, which have been tipped into a canal in Zenica.
The trouble began in the northern town of Tuzla on Wednesday. Workers from several factories which were privatised and which have now gone bankrupt united to demand action over jobs, unpaid salaries and pensions.
The workers were joined by students and political activists. After they began stoning the local court, violence broke out.

An anti-government protester throws a flare at riot police during clashes in Sarajevo February 7, 2014.

Unemployment is high in Bosnia-Hercegovina

Bosnia's four-year war ended in 1995, and since then there have been few protests over social issues.
Up to 2006, there was progress in making Bosnia something of a more functional state. But ever since, Bosnian politics have been in a state of utter stalemate and like the rest of the western Balkans, the country has been hit hard by years of economic crisis.
Bankruptcies Unemployment is running at 27.5%, and none of the economic indicators point to anything like a serious recovery.
Old socialist-era industries, which dominated towns like Tuzla, were often left as shells after the war. Privatisations were often corrupt, with well-connected people buying companies to strip of them of their assets to make a quick profit - before declaring them bankrupt.
For years, Bosnians have fumed about their politicians - whom they almost universally believe to be corrupt.

People help an injured policeman as anti-government protesters clash with police in Sarajevo February 7, 2014

Tens of police officers were injured in Friday's protests

But the war left people apathetic, frightened and cynical.
Indeed, the war years left such deep traumas that anger about the way politicians have prospered while standards of living have declined has been suppressed out of fear of a return to conflict.
Dysfunctional state Bosnia's basic political problem is that the war left its people with a dysfunctional state.
The country is divided into two main parts. Half the country is the Serbian-dominated Republika Srpska, whose leader Milorad Dodik wants it to become an independent state.
The other half is called the Federation and is comprised of ten cantons, which are either dominated by Bosniaks (who used to be called Bosnian Muslims) or Bosnian Croats. Each canton has its own government, which is then superimposed over local, city and town councils.
Finally, one town, Brcko, is an autonomous entity.

Anti-government protesters clash with riot police in Sarajevo February 7, 2014

This week's protests mark the worst unrest since the end of the Bosnian war

With only some 3.8m people, it is sometimes said that what Bosnia really needs is actually just a mayor, but ethnic divisions mean it has proved impossible to change the situation.
Indeed, ever since 2009 Bosnia's leaders have been preoccupied with the so-called "Sejdic-Finci question," which while important in and of itself, is of no relevance to most people, who are worried about schools, jobs and health care.
Under the terms of the Dayton peace accords, which ended the war in 1995, certain key jobs, such as being a member of the country's tripartite presidency, are reserved for Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks only.
This was successfully challenged at the European Court of Human Rights by Jakob Finci and Dervo Sejdic, who are Jewish and Roma respectively.
Neglected economy Ever since then, European and American officials have tried everything to cajole Bosnia's leaders to adapt the constitution - but they have had no success.
However, issues such as these have sucked the air out of political debate - meaning that the economy is always neglected.
All Balkan countries, including Croatia, which joined the European Union last year, have been hit by the economic crisis and share many of the same problems.
But in Bosnia the legacies of the war mean that few even hope for change anymore. For this reason, anger has been simmering for years, but now it has boiled over.

Protesters walk out of a damaged government building in Tuzla February 7, 2014.

The protests broke out in the northern town of Tuzla

But will the protests actually change anything?
Two important points. Firstly, social protests in summer in Sarajevo fizzled out very quickly, despite much excitement.
Secondly, up to now, the protests are mostly a Bosniak affair.
While the protesters have been avowedly anti-nationalist, so far they have not spread to the Republika Srpska or to predominantly Croat areas, even though economically everyone in Bosnia faces exactly the same problems.
Big year This year three big events are on the Bosnian calendar. It will hold elections, its mostly (but not entirely) Bosniak-supported football team will play in the World Cup, and Sarajevo will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the event that changed the world - the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June 1914 which sparked the First World War.
It is still far too early to say whether 2014 will one day be remembered as the year that changed Bosnia. But today hope is running high.
"My impression is that there is no going back now," says Dusica Ikic-Cook, a business administrator in Tuzla.
"I believe we will get results, even if only in the Federation to kill this huge administration which is sucking up all our money."

Anti-government protesters clash with police in Sarajevo February 7, 2014

So far the protests have not spread to Serb areas

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Ukraine government resigns, parliament scraps anti-protest laws amid crisis

2014-01-28 Ukraine government resigns, parliament scraps anti-protest laws amid crisis

2014-01-29 Ex-president warns Ukraine 'on brink of civil war'

Ukraine's first post-independence president has warned the country is on the "brink of civil war" as parliament debates an amnesty for protesters.

Leonid Kravchuk, president from 1991 to 1994, opened the debate in parliament by urging everyone involved to "act with the greatest responsibility".
President Viktor Yanukovych wants any amnesty to be conditional on protesters leaving official buildings - a proposal rejected by the opposition.
Opponents want Mr Yanukovych to resign.
Hundreds of anti-government protesters - many wearing helmets and carrying baseball bats and other makeshift weapons - have taken to the streets in Kiev again, a BBC correspondent in the city reports.
They won significant concessions on Tuesday after parliament scrapped a controversial anti-protest law and Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and his cabinet resigned.

Monday, January 27, 2014

100 hotspots-2

1. Stalingrad Volgogrand
    2013-12-29&30

2. Congo

    2013-12-30

3.Egypt

2013-12-30
_2014-01-04

4.Syria-Lebanon

   2013-12-30

5. Syria
2013-12-30

6. SouthSoudan
   2013-12-30

7. Turkey
2013-12-31

8. Somalia
   2014-01-01 6 killed by car bombs in Somali capital
   2014-01-02 11 killed Hotel in Somali capital Mogadishu hit by car bombs

9. Kenya

2014-01-02 Injuries in grenade attack at Kenya's Diani resort BBC

10. Lebanon

2014-01-02 Beirut blast kills at least five in Hezbollah stronghold BBC

2014-01-04 Al-Qaeda's commander in Lebanon Majid al-Majid 'dies'

11. Bangladesh

2014-01-04 Bangladesh polling stations torched on eve of election

12. Armenia - Azerbaizan

2014-01-27 Azeri Troops Clash With Armenia Forces

13. Ukraine

2014-01-28 Ukraine government resigns, parliament scraps anti-protest laws amid crisis

2014-02-19 Ukraine: Deadly clashes around parliament in Kiev

2014-02-19 Ukraine Puts ‘Extremists’ on Notice After Deadly Clashes

14. Bosnia - Erzegobina

2014-02-07 Bosnian protests: A Balkan Spring?

15. Venezuela

2014-02-14 Anti-Maduro protests persist in Venezuela, dozens jailed

Armenia Azerbaijan

2014-01-27 Azeri Troops Clash With Armenia Forces

Azeri Troops Clash With Armenia Forces as Foreign Ministers Meet

By Zulfugar Agayev and Sara Khojoyan Jan 24, 2014 1:30 AM PT

Azerbaijan said its troops clashed with Armenian forces near the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region as the countries’ foreign ministers prepared to meet.
An Armenian unit attacked Azeri positions this morning and was forced to retreat after a brief exchange of fire, the Defense Ministry in the Azeri capital, Baku, said on its website. Foreign Ministers Eduard Nalbandian of Armenia and Elmar Mammadyarov of Azerbaijan will meet today in Paris to continue talks after the two nations’ presidents met in November in Vienna for the first time in two years.
Escalating border skirmishes have killed at least two soldiers and left two civilians wounded in the past four days. Armenia took over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous enclave about the size of Rhode Island, and seven adjacent districts from Azerbaijan in a war after the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991. More than 30,000 people were killed and more than a million displaced before Russia brokered a cease-fire in 1994.
Azerbaijan, which last month signed $45 billion contracts with a BP Plc-led group to pipe natural-gas to Europe, has repeatedly threatened to use force to regain control of the territory should peace efforts fail.
To contact the reporters on this story: Zulfugar Agayev in Baku at zagayev@bloomberg.net; Sara Khojoyan in Yerevan at skhojoyan@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Hellmuth Tromm at htromm@bloomberg.net

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Bangladesh

2014-01-04 Bangladesh polling stations torched on eve of election

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Lebanon

2014-01-02 Beirut blast kills at least five in Hezbollah stronghold BBC

2014-01-04 Al-Qaeda's commander in Lebanon Majid al-Majid 'dies'

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Video|2:02

Scenes as Clashes Continue in Ukraine

Map: Satellite Images of the Protests in Kiev