News in Brief
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia’s defense minister, in a newspaper interview published on Wednesday as NATO began a two-day summit, criticized the United States and the U.S.-led military alliance for moving up forces and bases close to the Russian border.
"I have long wanted to give American colleagues a globe so they can look at it and explain why the declared ‘enemies of America,’ are located in the Middle East and the Far East and all their military bases and forces are snuggled up to Russian borders,” Sergei Shoigu was quoted as saying in the interview with Italian newspaper Il Giornale.
Shoigu appeared to be referring to the U.S. missile defense shield, which Washington says is intended to protect against attacks by Iran. Elements of that system are located in eastern Europe, near Russia’s western borders.
He said that NATO expanded eastwards to Russian borders in spite of promises given to Soviet leaders during German unification.
Shoigu also said Russia was ready to return to the idea of supplying advanced S-300 ground-to-air missiles to Syria but Damascus had not made any requests to Russia.
"Today, after the aggression of the United States, Great Britain and France against Syria, showing the need for a modern air defense system for Syrians, we are ready to return to looking at this question,” Shoigu was quoted as saying.
***
PARIS (Reuters) -- Time is running dangerously low for Britain to reach an agreement on its post-Brexit relations with Europe, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Wednesday.
Speaking at a financial services conference in Paris, Le Maire said that London’s detailed Brexit proposals last week were positive but uncertainty remained.
"Time is running out, and the ongoing uncertainty is no good for anyone, in particular for business,” Le Maire said. "We want an agreement with the UK but let’s be clear: this agreement has to fully respect the EU’s integrity and rules.”
He added that for financial services that meant "the only way forward is one based on reviewed and improved equivalence mechanisms.”
***
LONDON (AP) -- Facebook is facing its first financial penalty for allowing the data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica to forage through the personal data of millions of unknowing Facebook users.
A UK government office announced its intention to fine Facebook 500,000 pounds ($663,000), the maximum possible, for failing to safeguard that user information.
The penalty is a pittance for Facebook. But it would represent the first tangible punishment for the company's privacy scandal, which tarnished its reputation, temporarily pushed down its shares and forced CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify before Congress, but otherwise had few lasting repercussions.
Cambridge Analytica, a London firm financed by wealthy Republican Party donors, worked for the 2016 Trump campaign and for a while employed Steve Bannon, who managed President Donald Trump's campaign and later became a White House adviser.
***
SUN PRAIRIE, Wis. (AP) -- A police lieutenant in a suburb of Madison, Wisconsin, says no deaths have been reported after an explosion rocked the downtown area but that authorities will be searching buildings.
Lt. Kevin Konopacki says two firefighters and a police officer were injured Tuesday in Sun Prairie when the blast occurred. He says some civilians suffered minor injuries but none needed to be hospitalized.
He didn't know the exact number of civilians hurt.
The explosion happened after a contractor struck a natural gas main. Firefighters and police in the community of about 30,000 had responded and Konopacki says an evacuation was underway when the blast occurred.
A WE Energies spokeswoman says workers for a contractor apparently punctured a natural gas main, sending gas leaking into a building ahead of the explosion.
***
CHIANG RAI, Thailand (Reuters) -- The 12 boys and their soccer coach rescued from inside a flooded Thai cave lost an average of 2 kg during their 17-day ordeal but were generally in good condition and showed no signs of stress, a senior health official said on Wednesday.
Thais reacted with relief, gratitude and exhilaration after the last group of the "Wild Boars" soccer team was rescued from the Tham Luang cave, near the border with Myanmar, on Tuesday night, ending an ordeal that gripped Thailand and the world.
They were taken by helicopter to a hospital about 70 km away to join their team mates in quarantine for the time being.
"From our assessment, they are in good condition and not stressed. The children were well taken care of in the cave. Most of the boys lost an average of 2 kg," Thongchai Lertwilairattanapong, an inspector for Thailand's health department, told reporters.
Parents of the first four boys freed on Sunday have been able to visit them but had to wear protective suits and stand 2 meters away as a precaution.
***
MUNICH (Dispatches) -- A German woman was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for her part in the murders of 10 people during a seven-year campaign of violence by a neo-Nazi gang.
The Higher Regional Court in Munich ruled that Beate Zschaepe was part of the National Socialist Underground (NSU), whose members killed eight Turks, a Greek and a German policewoman.
Zschaepe had denied taking part in the murders with two men, Uwe Boehnhardt and Uwe Mundlos. They killed themselves in 2011 when police discovered the gang by chance. During the trial she said through her lawyer that she felt morally guilty for not stopping them.
The NSU attacks were the most violent of their kind in Germany since the end of the far-left Red Army Faction's two-decade killing spree in 1991, which left at least 34 dead.
"I have long wanted to give American colleagues a globe so they can look at it and explain why the declared ‘enemies of America,’ are located in the Middle East and the Far East and all their military bases and forces are snuggled up to Russian borders,” Sergei Shoigu was quoted as saying in the interview with Italian newspaper Il Giornale.
Shoigu appeared to be referring to the U.S. missile defense shield, which Washington says is intended to protect against attacks by Iran. Elements of that system are located in eastern Europe, near Russia’s western borders.
He said that NATO expanded eastwards to Russian borders in spite of promises given to Soviet leaders during German unification.
Shoigu also said Russia was ready to return to the idea of supplying advanced S-300 ground-to-air missiles to Syria but Damascus had not made any requests to Russia.
"Today, after the aggression of the United States, Great Britain and France against Syria, showing the need for a modern air defense system for Syrians, we are ready to return to looking at this question,” Shoigu was quoted as saying.
***
PARIS (Reuters) -- Time is running dangerously low for Britain to reach an agreement on its post-Brexit relations with Europe, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Wednesday.
Speaking at a financial services conference in Paris, Le Maire said that London’s detailed Brexit proposals last week were positive but uncertainty remained.
"Time is running out, and the ongoing uncertainty is no good for anyone, in particular for business,” Le Maire said. "We want an agreement with the UK but let’s be clear: this agreement has to fully respect the EU’s integrity and rules.”
He added that for financial services that meant "the only way forward is one based on reviewed and improved equivalence mechanisms.”
***
LONDON (AP) -- Facebook is facing its first financial penalty for allowing the data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica to forage through the personal data of millions of unknowing Facebook users.
A UK government office announced its intention to fine Facebook 500,000 pounds ($663,000), the maximum possible, for failing to safeguard that user information.
The penalty is a pittance for Facebook. But it would represent the first tangible punishment for the company's privacy scandal, which tarnished its reputation, temporarily pushed down its shares and forced CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify before Congress, but otherwise had few lasting repercussions.
Cambridge Analytica, a London firm financed by wealthy Republican Party donors, worked for the 2016 Trump campaign and for a while employed Steve Bannon, who managed President Donald Trump's campaign and later became a White House adviser.
***
SUN PRAIRIE, Wis. (AP) -- A police lieutenant in a suburb of Madison, Wisconsin, says no deaths have been reported after an explosion rocked the downtown area but that authorities will be searching buildings.
Lt. Kevin Konopacki says two firefighters and a police officer were injured Tuesday in Sun Prairie when the blast occurred. He says some civilians suffered minor injuries but none needed to be hospitalized.
He didn't know the exact number of civilians hurt.
The explosion happened after a contractor struck a natural gas main. Firefighters and police in the community of about 30,000 had responded and Konopacki says an evacuation was underway when the blast occurred.
A WE Energies spokeswoman says workers for a contractor apparently punctured a natural gas main, sending gas leaking into a building ahead of the explosion.
***
CHIANG RAI, Thailand (Reuters) -- The 12 boys and their soccer coach rescued from inside a flooded Thai cave lost an average of 2 kg during their 17-day ordeal but were generally in good condition and showed no signs of stress, a senior health official said on Wednesday.
Thais reacted with relief, gratitude and exhilaration after the last group of the "Wild Boars" soccer team was rescued from the Tham Luang cave, near the border with Myanmar, on Tuesday night, ending an ordeal that gripped Thailand and the world.
They were taken by helicopter to a hospital about 70 km away to join their team mates in quarantine for the time being.
"From our assessment, they are in good condition and not stressed. The children were well taken care of in the cave. Most of the boys lost an average of 2 kg," Thongchai Lertwilairattanapong, an inspector for Thailand's health department, told reporters.
Parents of the first four boys freed on Sunday have been able to visit them but had to wear protective suits and stand 2 meters away as a precaution.
***
MUNICH (Dispatches) -- A German woman was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for her part in the murders of 10 people during a seven-year campaign of violence by a neo-Nazi gang.
The Higher Regional Court in Munich ruled that Beate Zschaepe was part of the National Socialist Underground (NSU), whose members killed eight Turks, a Greek and a German policewoman.
Zschaepe had denied taking part in the murders with two men, Uwe Boehnhardt and Uwe Mundlos. They killed themselves in 2011 when police discovered the gang by chance. During the trial she said through her lawyer that she felt morally guilty for not stopping them.
The NSU attacks were the most violent of their kind in Germany since the end of the far-left Red Army Faction's two-decade killing spree in 1991, which left at least 34 dead.