Thanks to http://gandalf.ddo.jp/ for audio and text Wednesday, March 19th, 2014 From Washington, this is VOA news. Russia signs treaty with Crimea. Search widens again for missing Malaysian airliner. I'm Ray Kouguell reporting from Washington. The Kremlin has declared Crimea a part of Russia. VOA's Steve Herman reports from Kyiv on Russian President Vladimir Putin's move. Much to the dismay of the interim government here in Kyiv, which could only watch helplessly, Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow signed a treaty that will incorporate the Ukrainian province of Crimea into Russia. This comes less than a month after Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych fled the capital after his forces killed protesters. During an address to Russia's parliament, which was nationally televised live in both Russia and Ukraine, Mr. Putin condemned the Kyiv leaders who replaced Mr. Yanukovych, saying they have abused the rights of ethnic Russians in Crimea. Mr. Putin also declared Kyiv the cradle of Russian civilization and expressed hope Russia and Ukraine can continue to coexist. Steve Herman, VOA news, Kyiv. White House spokesman Jay Carney condemned Russia's latest action, saying it clearly violates international law and disregards Ukraine's constitution and sovereignty. Russian and Ukrainian news media, quoting a Ukrainian military spokesman, say the Russian forces had attacked Ukrainian troops at a base in Crimea's main city Simferopol, killing one serviceman. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says Russia is going down a "dangerous path" by annexing Crimea from Ukraine. He is warning that no NATO ally will recognize what he calls an illegal and illegitimate action. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was in Poland Tuesday and called the Russian annexation a "land grab" and that its logic for taking over Crimea is "flawed." Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says it presents a security problem to the entire region. The search is now 11 days old, but military personnel from 26 countries appear to be no closer to finding the missing Malaysian passenger jet. Malaysian authorities say the search for the Boeing 777 airliner with 239 aboard was expanded to cover more than seven million square kilometers. It extends from Central Asia in the north to the vast waters of the Indian Ocean to the south. Thailand's military released new radar information Tuesday that could support earlier reports that the Malaysia Airlines jet made a sharp turn to the west toward the Strait of Malacca after its last contact was recorded early March 8th north of Malaysia. A suicide bomber attacked a busy market in northern Afghanistan Tuesday, ending up with the deaths of at least 15 civilians. VOA's Sharon Behn has details. A man driving a rickshaw into a crowded market Tuesday detonated the bomb, killing or wounding scores of civilians in the northern province of Faryab. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place near a security checkpoint, but the Taliban and allied militants are known to operate in the area. A lawmaker from Faryab, Naqibullah Fayeq, said the suicide bomber killed only innocent bystanders. He says the very sad part of this attack is that all those killed were women, children and workers. President Hamid Karzai blamed the attack on those working for "foreign interests," but did not elaborate. Sharon Behn, VOA news, Islamabad. U.S. officials have told the Syrian embassy in Washington to suspend operations. They say any Syrian diplomats who are not U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents must leave the country. The order also affects Syria's two honorary consulates in the U.S. U.S. special envoy for Syria Daniel Rubinstein says the Syrian embassy had stopped providing consular services and in light of what he said were "the atrocities committed by the Assad regime against the Syrian people." Iran and the six world powers have launched a new round of nuclear talks, the latest discussions opening Tuesday in Vienna after what a spokesman for the EU's foreign policy chief described as a "constructive" meeting between Catherine Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. The talks are expected to end today. The U.S. military concluded a contractor's deadly attack inside a naval office building last year in Washington would have been prevented if the government had taken a closer look at his background before handing him a security clearance. The contract worker gunned down 12 people before being fatally shot by police last September at the Navy Yard, located several blocks from the U.S. Capitol. I'm Ray Kouguell, VOA news. Details on these and other stories on our website on the Internet at voanews.com.
Thanks to http://gandalf.ddo.jp/ for audio and text
Monday, March 24th, 2014
From Washington, this is VOA news. Ukrainian unity rally in Kyiv. Malaysian airliner still missing. I'm Ray Kouguell reporting from Washington.
Ukrainian protesters Sunday gathered in Kyiv's Independence Square calling for unity just a day after Russian forces seized the last major Ukrainian military base in Crimea.
The demonstrators gathered to hear pro-Ukraine speeches, display flags and place flowers at the site of a makeshift memorial to those who died in recent weeks protesting the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
In the eastern city of Donetsk, pro-Russian protesters gathered around an administration building, calling for the resignation of the local governor, who is loyal to Kyiv.
With an overwhelming Russian force massed along its eastern borders, Ukraine is bracing for still further incursions.
Acting Foreign Minister Andrii Deshchytsia spoke on U.S. television ABC This Week: "We are ready to respond, and you know, the Ukrainian government is trying to use all peaceful means and diplomatic means to stop Russians."
Meanwhile, NATO's top commander addressed the situation in a speech in Brussels. U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove said Russia has used snap military exercises as an excuse to amass its troops along the Ukrainian border.
World leaders began arriving in the Netherlands Sunday ahead of a two-day nuclear summit expected to be overshadowed by the crisis in Ukraine.
Delegations from 53 countries will be taking part in the summit that begins at The Hague. They will meet on reducing and securing nuclear supplies, as well as keeping them out of extremists' hands.
The search for the missing Malaysian passenger jet proved futile again Sunday, despite a new French report of possible debris from the plane's wreckage floating in the Indian Ocean.
Malaysian Ministry of Transport issued a statement saying the floating debris images came from near where Australian and Chinese satellites had captured images of large objects last week during their search for the passenger jet.
Planes and ships spent the day fruitlessly searching for the airliner in the southern Indian Ocean, where the debris was spotted earlier.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott says they still hope to find the missing jet.
"It's still too early to be definite, but obviously we have now had a number of very credible leads and there is increasing hope, no more than hope, no more than hope, that we might be on the road to discovering what did happen to this ill-fated aircraft."
The Boeing 777 disappeared March 8th while traveling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board.
Turkey shot down a Syrian warplane during fighting between Syrian rebels and government troops near the border.
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the Syrian plane violated Turkish airspace. Syrian state TV says the plane was pursuing rebels in Syrian territory.
A Syrian military source said the pilot was able to eject. A military spokesman described Turkey's action as "blatant aggression."
Meanwhile, Mr. Erdogan has rejected accusations of intolerance following his decision to ban Twitter.
At a campaign rally in Istanbul Sunday, Mr. Erdogan told the crowd, "I cannot understand how sensible people still defend Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. They run all kinds of lies."
His crackdown comes after links to wiretapped recordings suggesting corruption were posted on Twitter, causing Mr. Erdogan's government major embarrassment before local elections March 30th.
Despite the blockage, many in Turkey are finding ways to continue tweeting.
Gunmen entered a church service near Kenya's port city of Mombasa Sunday, opened fire on worshippers, killing at least four people. There is no claim of responsibility.
A massive landslide in the northwestern U.S. state of Washington killed three people and left 18 others unaccounted for.
Authorities say a wall of mud, trees and rocks cascaded down a mountainside in a rural area north of Seattle on Saturday, demolishing as many as 30 houses in its path. Eight people were injured.
The mudslide is blamed on groundwater saturation after recent heavy rainfalls.
And U.S. first lady Michelle Obama says she would not have accomplished what she has if it were not for her parents' investment in her education.
Mrs. Obama, a Harvard-educated lawyer, made her comments in Beijing Sunday where she hosted a discussion on education.
I'm Ray Kouguell, VOA news. More on the Internet at voanews.com.
Thanks to http://gandalf.ddo.jp/ for audio and text
Monday, September 29th, 2014
From Washington, this is VOA news. Coming up, numerous hurt in Hong Kong demonstrations. The latest on the Ebola outbreak. Hello everyone, I'm Steve Norman.
Riot police in Hong Kong continued to face off with pro-democracy protesters, firing volleys of tear gas as the protest spread early on Monday. At least 26 people were injured in those clashes.
The demonstrators are part of a mass civil disobedience movement calling for less political intervention from Beijing in the former British colony Here in the U.S., President Obama said Sunday that he and the country's intelligence leadership underestimated the extent to which extremist groups like the Islamic State were organizing in weakened Syria.
In an interview with CBS news, Mr. Obama also said Washington miscalculated the Iraqi military's ability to fight the militants alone.
Airstrikes by a U.S.-led coalition continued on Sunday against Islamic State targets, hitting oil refineries near Syria's border with Turkey.
The Wall Street Journal reporting Sunday that doctors are in short supply and countries are scrambling to find more resources for the Ebola outbreak.
The newspaper also reported the existing bed capacity for Ebola patients in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea is about 820, short of the !2,900 beds that are currently needed, according to the World Health Organization.
Libya's internationally-recognized parliament swore in Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni's government on Saturday.
The al-Thinni government is based in the city of Tobruk after it fled Tripoli following an Islamic militia from the city of Misrata seizing the capital.
Get more news at voanews.com. This is VOA news.
A car bomb exploded Sunday in Yemen at a hospital run by Houthi insurgents, with authorities reporting a significant number of casualties.
That attack occurred in Maarib province, about 175 kilometers northeast of the capital Sana'a.
The field hospital has been used by the Houthis to treat their wounded from battles with rival Sunni Islamist leading up to the Houthi takeover last week of the capital.
The bomb blast occurred as 100s of Yemenis took to the streets Sunday in Sana'a demanding that the Houthi insurgents leave.
The U.S. State Department said the United States is stepping up efforts to work with the international community to pursue sanctions against individuals who are threatening Yemen's peace, stability and security if they do not immediately stop such activities.
African conflicts such as the sectarian strife in the CAR highlighted over the weekend at the U.N. General Assembly in New York. More now from VOA's Margaret Besheer.
At the General Assembly annual debate, the Central African Republic's transitional President, Catherine Samba-Panza, spoke of the sectarian violence that has displaced !100,000s in her country this year.
She welcomed the deployment this month of !7,000 U.N. peacekeepers.
On Thursday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hosted a high-level meeting on the conflict in South Sudan. President Salva Kiir failed to show up at the session, but touched on the political problems between himself and rival Riek Machar, telling the General Assembly that his rival had staged a coup.
Margaret Besheer, VOA news, the United Nations.
More than !18,000 Indian Americans gave Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi a rousing reception Sunday as he spoke in New York's Madison Square Garden.
India's new leader assured the Indian expatriates that his government will not do anything to let them down. Mr. Modi said that there is an atmosphere of hope and enthusiasm in his country.
He won election in May, but his trip to the United States is a marked turnaround from 2005, when the U.S. denied him a visa for his alleged complicity in sectarian violence in his home state of Gujarat.
Russia's foreign secretary says relations between Moscow and Washington need, in his words, a "new reset" referring to President Obama's efforts to improve ties with Russia in the early days of his administration.
In a Russian television interview on Sunday, Sergei Lavrov blamed the United States for the strained ties between the 2 countries.
Washington and the European Union have accused Moscow of supporting a pro-Russian rebellion in eastern Ukraine and have imposed financial sanctions, which have been repeatedly tightened since Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.
From Washington, this is VOA news. Major economic powers suspend Russia from the Group of 8 bloc, and Ukraine orders a total military pullout from the Crimean peninsula. I'm Michael Lipin reporting from Washington.
President Barack Obama and leaders of other major economic powers have agreed to suspend Russia from a major international coalition in response to its annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.
Mr. Obama met with the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Canada and Japan and the Netherlands on Monday. Together those nations make up the Group of 7 industrialized economies.
In a joint statement, the G7 leaders said they were suspending Russia's participation in the expanded Group of 8 industrial nations until Moscow changes course on Ukraine.
Ukraine's interim government has ordered its troops to withdraw completely from Crimea, where Russian forces have taken control of major Ukrainian military installations in recent days.
Ukraine's acting President, Oleksandr Turchynov, said he ordered the pullout in response to Russian threats against the lives of Ukrainian service members and their families.
Ukrainian leaders also fear Russia will try to occupy parts of their country's mainland.
VOA correspondent Steve Herman reports from Kyiv.
While there are hopes that an emergency Group of 7 meeting in The Hague can use diplomacy to defuse the crisis, Ukrainian officials say their country's northern, southern and eastern borders are increasingly under threat but their military is ready to defend the homeland. Ukraine National Security and Defense Council Secretary Andriy Parubiy says there are about !100,000 members of Russia's military poised along Ukraine borders. The cabinet minister contends that despite assurances from Russian officials that they are engaged in routine drills, in reality those forces are on full alert.
Parubiy also says the interim government has given Russia an ultimatum to free Ukrainian officers who are being held in Crimea after Russian forces seized nearly 200 Ukrainian military installations.
Steve Herman, VOA news, Kyiv.
Malaysia says a new analysis of satellite data indicates its missing passenger jet crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.
Malaysian authorities made the announcement on Monday, saying they believe there were no survivors from the 239 people where were on board the Malaysia Airlines plane that vanished on March 8th.
The news came as an Australian Navy ship tried to locate several objects seen by aircraft searching for the missing plane in Indian Ocean waters, southwest of Australia.
The United States has criticized an Egyptian court's decision to impose death sentences against 529 members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood movement, calling the moving shocking.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Monday it seems impossible that the 100s of defendants could be tried in accordance with international standards in only 2 days.
VOA's Elizabeth Arrott has more from Cairo.
The condemned were convicted of killing a policeman, attacking others and destroying property.
The sentencing came after just 2 court sessions and before the defendants lawyers say they were permitted to make their case.
The majority was condemned in absentia, with fewer than 200 of those on trial in court, 16 suspects were acquitted.
An appeal is permitted, and given the rushed circumstances of the trial, human rights and legal experts believe the verdict is unlikely to stand.
Even members of the government-linked National Council for Human Rights condemned the verdict. Member Nasser Amin wrote on Twitter the court ruling "will be overturned as soon as the defendants demand a retrial."
Elizabeth Arrott, VOA news, Cairo.
An investigative reporter has helped Ghana's police to break up a forced prostitution ring in the African nation and rescue 6 Vietnamese women.
The ring, allegedly run by 2 Chinese men, was broken up this month thanks in part to the reporting of local newspaper, The New Crusading Guide.
And week 4 of the Oscar Pistorius trial began on Monday with police reading text messages from the athlete's girlfriend who said she sometimes was afraid of Pistorius.
Police say Reeva Steenkamp sent a message less than 3 weeks before Pistorius fatally shot her. They said the message was, "I'm scared of you sometimes and how you snap at me and of how you will react to me."
You can find more on those stories by checking our website at voanews.com. That's where we're updating the news from around the world 24 hours a day. I'm Michael Lipin reporting from Washington.
From Washington, this is VOA news. Chinese families of missing Malaysian airliner passengers protest vehemently. President Obama warns Russia against further moves into Ukraine. I'm Ray Kouguell reporting from Washington.
Angry relatives of the passengers on board the missing Malaysian jetliner protested in front of the Malaysian embassy in Beijing Tuesday as the search for the plane was suspended due to bad weather.
About 100 Chinese family members held signs and demanded to know the "truth" about the plane, which Malaysian authorities have concluded crashed into a remote area of the southern Indian Ocean.
2/3s of the 239 people on board the plane were from China, and many of their family members say they will not believe the Malaysian government's conclusions until officials provide proof.
Australian Defense Minister David Johnston says the search area is an extremely challenging environment: "Remember-- this part of the world, this Southern Ocean has shipwrecked many many sailors in our history in Western Australian. It is rough, sea state 7, you know, there are 20, 30 meter waves, it is very very dangerous, even for big Panamax-class ships."
Satellites and planes have spotted possible debris from the aircraft, but so far there has been no confirmed discovery of any pieces.
President Obama says he is concerned Russia may be poised to encroach further into Ukraine.
White House correspondent Luis Ramirez is traveling with the President and has this report from The Hague.
President Obama's warning came at the end of a nuclear summit where the Ukraine crisis overshadowed discussions about preventing nuclear terrorism.
At a press conference after the summit, Mr. Obama told reporters he is concerned about reports that Russia is massing troops along the Ukrainian border. He said those troops have a right to be on their own soil, but warned they should go no further.
"Obviously, the facts on the ground are that the Russian military controls Crimea. There are a number of individuals inside of Crimea that are supportive of that process. There's no expectation that they will be dislodged by force."
Using military force to remove Russia is not an option that Mr. Obama and U.S. partners have discussed here.
Luis Ramirez, VOA news, The Hague.
President Obama says the United States and its European allies have plans for further sanctions on Russia if needed.
The 1st President of Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk, warns that if Russia invades the mainland of his country, there could be catastrophic results. VOA's Steve Herman has more.
The man who served as independent Ukraine's 1st leader is warning that war will spread far beyond his country if Russian troops move across the border.
Leonid Kravchuk, speaking with VOA news in the Ukrainian capital, says he still hopes international pressure can prevent further aggression after Russia took control of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.
Kravchuk says Russian President Vladimir Putin "will not be satisfied only with Ukraine that will not be the stopping point, and this can be the beginning of the Third World War."
Kravchuk, President from 1991 to 1994, is calling for the West to impose tougher sanctions because of Russia's actions and the military threat it poses.
Steve Herman, VOA news, Kyiv.
President Obama is calling for an end to the National Security Agency's massive collection and storage of data of Americans' phone calls.
Under a plan unveiled Tuesday, the government would have to obtain permission from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to obtain data from phone companies on calls connected to suspected terrorists.
The leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and almost 700 members of the group went on trial Tuesday on charges including murder and inciting violence.
A few hours after it started, the trial of Mohamed Badie and the others was adjourned until April 28th, when judgment and sentencing is expected.
North Korea fired 2 medium-range Rondog missiles today into the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea in Korea.
The South Korean Yonhap news agency says the missiles fired have a rage of about 1,300 kilometers. The report says the missiles flew about 450 kilometers.
The United States and Russia may be at odds over Ukraine, but they are still cooperating in space.
A Russian Soyuz rocket took off from Kazakhstan Tuesday to fly 2 cosmonauts and a U.S. astronaut to the International Space Station.
They will spend the next 6 months aboard the station carrying out a series of scientific experiments.
The current space station crew-- a Russian, an American and a Japanese astronaut-- will return home in May.
Weekly Address: Bringing our Workplace Policies into the 21st Century
WASHINGTON, DC — In this week's address, the President previewed Monday's first-ever White House Summit on Working Families where he will bring together businesses leaders and workers to discuss the challenges that working parents face every day and lift up solutions that are good for these families and American businesses.
Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
June 21, 2014
Hi, everybody. As President, my top priority is rebuilding an economy where everybody who works hard has the chance to get ahead.
That's what I'll spend some time talking about on Monday, at the White House Summit on Working Families. We're bringing together business leaders and workers to talk about the challenges that working parents face every day, and how we can address them together.
Take paid family leave. Many jobs don't offer adequate leave to care for a new baby or an ailing parent, so workers can't afford to be there when their family needs them the most. That's wrong. And it puts us way behind the times. Only three countries in the world report that they don't offer paid maternity leave. Three. And the United States is one of them. It's time to change that. A few states have acted on their own to give workers paid family leave, but this should be available to everyone, because all Americans should be able to afford to care for a family member in need.
Childcare is another challenge. Most working families I know can't afford thousands a year for childcare, but often that's what it costs. That leaves parents scrambling just to make sure their kids are safe while they're at work -- forget about giving them the high-quality early childhood education that helps kids succeed in life.
Then there's the issue of flexibility -- the ability to take a few hours off for a parent-teacher conference or to work from home when your kid is sick. Most workers want it, but not enough of them have it. What's more, it not only makes workers happier -- studies show that flexibility can make workers more productive and reduce worker turnover and absenteeism. That's good for business.
At a time when women make up about half of America's workforce, outdated workplace policies that make it harder for mothers to work hold our entire economy back. But these aren't just problems for women. Men also care about who's watching their kids. They're rearranging their schedules to make it to soccer games and school plays. Lots of sons help care for aging parents. And plenty of fathers would love to be home for their new baby's first weeks in the world.
In fact, in a new study, nearly half of all parents -- women and men -- report that they've said no to a job, not because they didn't want it, but because it would be too hard on their families. When that many talented, hard-working people are forced to choose between work and family, something's wrong. Other countries are making it easier for people to have both. We should too, if we want American businesses to compete and win in the global economy.
Family leave. Childcare. Flexibility. These aren't frills -- they're basic needs. They shouldn't be bonuses -- they should be the bottom line.
The good news is, some businesses are embracing family-friendly policies, because they know it's key to attracting and retaining talented employees. And I'm going to keep highlighting the businesses that do. Because I take this personally. I take it personally as the son and grandson of some strong women who worked hard to support my sister and me. As the husband of a brilliant woman who struggled to balance work and raising our young ladies when my job often kept me away. And as the father of two beautiful girls, whom I want to be there for as much as I possibly can -- and whom I hope will be able to have families and careers of their own one day.
We know from our history that our economy grows best from the middle-out; that our country does better when everybody participates; when everyone's talents are put to use; when we all have a fair shot. That's the America I believe in. That's the America I'll keep fighting for every day. Thanks, and have a great weekend.
Thanks to http://gandalf.ddo.jp/ for audio and text
Tuesday, June 17th, 2014
From Washington, this is VOA news. Coming up, the latest on tensions in Iraq. Crises worsening while aid cooperation remains underfunded.
President Obama is sending 275 U.S. military personnel to Iraq to help provide security to the embassy in Baghdad and to U.S. personnel.
While Mr. Obama has ruled out sending ground forces back into Iraq, he met with his national security team Monday to consider other options, including cooperation, that is, with Iran.
On U.S.-Iran cooperation, David Schenker, director of the Programs on Arab Politics at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, spoke with AP: "the administration is looking to Iran as part of a solution to the ISIL problem. In fact, Iran is part of the problem. It will not be, I think in any productive way, part of the solution."
Pentagon says it has no plans to enter into military cooperation with Iranians in any action in Iraq.
The Somali militant group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for an attack on a Kenyan town that killed at least 48 people.
A statement posted to a pro-Shabab website says gunmen attacked hotels, police stations, banks and other public places in the coastal town of Mpeketoni.
Al-Shabab says the attack was retaliation for the slaying of Muslim clerics in the Kenyan city of Mombasa.
The group blames Kenyan security forces for the killings -- an accusation Kenyan officials have denied.
Officials in Nigeria say more than 20 people were killed when gunmen believed to be Boko Haram militants attacked a village in the country's northeast.
Residents in the town of Daku say gunmen surrounded the village market on Sunday and fired indiscriminately at people in the market.
The violence is the latest to hit Nigeria's troubled northeastern region.
Militants from Boko Haram are holding more than 200 schoolgirls they kidnapped from the nearby town of Chibok in mid-April.
A senior [U.S. official] U.N. official, that is, says millions of people caught in crises are unable to get the aid they need due to a lack of funding. Lisa Schlein has details from the U.N. in Geneva.
The United Nations has appealed for a record $16.9 billion to assist 54 million people in 28 countries this year. Nearly half the year has passed and only 30 percent of that money, or $5.2 billion, has been received.
U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos says people should do the math and they will see the difficulties aid agencies face.
She cites Syria, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan as the three top-level crises. She says Syria is the biggest of the three, with more than nine million internally displaced people and nearly three million refugees in neighboring countries in need of help.
Lisa Schlein, for VOA news, Geneva.
Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko says he has ordered the army to take "decisive actions" this week to regain control of the Ukrainian-Russian frontier.
In an address on Monday to top security officials, Mr. Poroshenko said he expects the military push to last more than a week and he said it will pave the way for a truce and peace talks with pro-Russian separatists.
The Poroshenko address came hours after Russian energy giant, Gazprom, cut natural gas shipments to its energy dependent neighbor after Kyiv dismissed and missed a deadline to pay down a nearly $2 billion energy debt.
Gazprom said Ukraine must now pay in advance for any natural gas.
Pakistan's military says air strikes have killed at least 28 militants in the North Waziristan tribal agency a day after the army announced the start of a comprehensive operation in the region.
Pakistan said most of those killed were fighters of the fugitive Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan entrenched along the Afghan border.
During a speech to parliament on Monday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif laid out his reasons for abandoning peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban and ordering the military offensive.
Mr. Sharif said efforts to establish peace through dialogue have not succeeded.
The International Monetary Fund says the U.S. economy will grow two percent this year.
This is slightly faster than last year, but well below earlier predictions from the IMF.
Economists say unusually foul winter weather crippled business activity and made the world's biggest economy shrink in a bit in the first three months of the year.
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