Ukraine battles persist ahead of cease-fire deadline
By BALINT SZLANKO Fierce fighting surged in east Ukraine as Russian-backed separatists mounted a major and sustained new push Friday to capture a strategic railway hub ahead of a weekend…
Treaties
Ukraine president presses for quick cease-fire
Ukraine’s president pushed Saturday for a quick cease-fire in his country’s troubled east, insisting that the conflict must be resolved and not “frozen,” and pressed Kiev’s case to be supplied…
Rockets kill 21 in Ukraine city as rebel offensive begins
By PETER LEONARD Indiscriminate rocket fire slammed into a market, schools and homes Saturday in the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, killing at least 21 people, authorities said. Ukraine’s top…
2014 frustrates US hopes for Israeli-Palestinian peace
By LARA JAKES Secretary of State John Kerry is ending 2014 much in the same way he started it, frustrated in efforts to push Israel and Palestinians toward peace. With…
UN COMMITTEE BLASTS VATICAN ON SEX AB– USE, ABORTION
By NICOLE WINFIELD Kirsten Sandberg, center, chairperson of the U.N. human rights committee on the rights of the child, talks to committee members Maria Herczog, right, and Benyam Mezmur during…
JORDANIANS WORRY ABOUT FALLOUT FROM MIDEAST PEACE
By JAMAL HALABY Jordanian lawmakers attend the second day of a heated debate on the U.S. push for a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians, under the domed parliament chamber…
FIGHTING REPORTED IN S. SUDAN DESPITE CEASE-FIRE
By ILYA GRIDNEFF Nhail Deng Nhail, 2nd left, the head of South Sudan’s negotiating team, and top negotiator for the rebel’s side, Taban Deng Gai, right, a general in South…
VATICAN FACING UN SHOWDOWN ON SEX AB– USE RECORD
By NICOLE WINFIELD and JOHN HEILPRIN FILE – In this Feb. 8, 2012 file photo Monsignor Charles Scicluna, the Holy See’s chief sex crimes prosecutor, meets journalists in Rome. The…