Russia accuses US of hijacking preparations for Syria talks
Russia accuses US of hijacking preparations for Syria talks
VIENNA (AP) — Russia accused the United States on Thursday of hijacking preparatory talks for a weekend meeting of nearly 20 nations focused on ending the Syrian war. The charge was denied by U.S. officials, who expressed surprise Moscow did not show up.
The dispute appeared to focus on the leading role the U.S. assumed in the talks prior to the main Syria meeting Saturday, and was significant in reflecting the tensions between the two main players whose diplomatic muscle is key to hopes of progress.
At the first Vienna round Oct. 30, the U.S., Russia, Iran and more than a dozen other nations agreed to launch a new peace effort involving Syria’s government and opposition groups.
Still differences persist about major issues including what role if any President Bashar Assad should play in a transition from war to peace. Moscow and Washington played up the meeting itself as a major achievement in managing to bring all sides to one table.
Amid offensive, Iraqi Kurds cut Islamic State supply line
SINJAR, Iraq (AP) — Supported by U.S.-led airstrikes, Kurdish Iraqi troops Thursday seized part of a highway used as a vital supply line for the Islamic State, a key initial step in a major offensive to retake the strategic town of Sinjar from the militants.
The town was overrun by the extremists as they rampaged across Iraq in August 2014, leading to the killing, enslavement and flight of thousands of people from the minority Yazidi community. The U.S. later launched an air campaign against the Islamic State militants.
Hours into Thursday’s operation, the Kurdish Regional Security Council said its forces controlled a section of Highway 47, which passes by Sinjar and indirectly links the militants’ two biggest strongholds — Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in northern Iraq — as a route for goods, weapons and fighters.
Nephews of Venezuelan first lady indicted in US court
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Two nephews of Venezuela’s powerful first lady were indicted in New York after being arrested in Haiti on charges of conspiring to smuggle 800 kilograms of cocaine into the U.S.
The arrest of Efrain Campos and Francisco Flores likely will exacerbate already tense relations between the U.S. and Venezuela and add fuel to U.S. accusations of drug trafficking at the highest levels of President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist administration.
Campos and Flores were arrested Tuesday, flown to the United States and were expected to appear Thursday in a federal court in New York, according to a U.S. law enforcement official who insisted on anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the case.
Hong Kong tycoon buys 7-year-old daughter $77M in diamonds
HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong billionaire tycoon paid a total of $77 million at auctions in Geneva for two large and rare colored diamonds for his 7-year-old daughter Josephine — and renamed them after her, his office said Thursday.
Joseph Lau was the top bidder for the 12.03-carat “Blue Moon” diamond that sold Wednesday night for a record-setting $48.5 million, said a spokeswoman for Lau, who declined to give her name. Sotheby’s said the buyer promptly renamed the pricier gem “The Blue Moon of Josephine.”
Lau also was the buyer of a 16.08-carat vivid pink diamond that sold for $28.5 million and auctioned by Christie’s the night before, she said. The buyer renamed that diamond “Sweet Josephine,” Christie’s said.