Eurasia News

Italian diplomat to take over U.N. Kosovo mission

PRISTINA (Reuters) – The United Nations is expected to name Italian diplomat Lamberto Zannier this week as the new head of its Kosovo mission, a senior U.N. official said on Tuesday. Zannier takes over from German diplomat Joachim Ruecker as part of a planned “reconfiguration” of the mission after Kosovo …

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Suspected sectarian attack kills four in Pakistan

KOHAT, Pakistan (Reuters) – Suspected pro-Taliban militants shot and killed four Shi’ite Muslims in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday in what appeared to be the second deadly sectarian attack in two days. Pakistan has a bloody history of violence between militants from the majority Sunni community and minority Shi’ites and a …

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Russia comes in from Cold, Medvedev says in Berlin

BERLIN (Reuters) – President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday in Berlin that Russia has “come in from the Cold” and will become an organic part of European civilization but wants to be treated fairly by its partners. On his first European trip as president, Medvedev said he wanted a broader …

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Russia ends plutonium output at key weapons plant

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia has closed down the final reactor of a plutonium production plant on Thursday as part of a deal with the United States to cut the risk of atomic materials from Cold-War-era bomb feeding nuclear proliferation. The reactor known as ADE-5 was founded by Soviet leader Josef …

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Danes working with Pakistanis investigating blast

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – A Danish team has arrived in Pakistan to work with agents investigating a suicide car-bomb attack on Denmark’s embassy which al Qaeda said it carried out in revenge for the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad. The attack on the embassy on Monday killed six people …

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Turkish army working with Iran on PKK strikes

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey’s military is cooperating with Iran by sharing information and coordinating strikes against PKK guerrillas in northern Iraq, a senior Turkish general said on Thursday. “We haven’t done it (coordinated strikes) for one or two months but we would do it if necessary,” General Ilker Basbug, head …

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U.N. Kosovo mission awaiting word on power handover

PRISTINA (Reuters) – U.N. authorities in Kosovo expect instructions within days on how to proceed after June 15, when Albanians hope to receive a raft of new powers under their first state constitution, a U.N. spokesman said on Wednesday. U.N. veto holder Russia is blocking the transfer of powers from …

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