WORLD DIGEST || EU sanctions target Putin’s inner circle

EU sanctions target Putin’s inner circle

BRUSSELS

The European Union on Thursday slapped travel bans and asset freezes on 12 more people, closing in on President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle to punish him in the escalating crisis over the Russian annexation of the Crimea peninsula.

The move brought the number of Russians and Ukrainians facing EU sanctions to 33, and French President Francois Hollande said it included a lot of crossover with the people the United States is targeting with similar measures.

“We added 12 people, in concert with the Americans,” Hollande said.

The 28-nation bloc said the names of the sanctioned would be published today. “Some of them are really high-ranking,” said EU President Herman Van Rompuy.

The EU leaders also tasked its executive commission to prepare a raft of economic sanctions that could be imposed if one of the biggest political crises in Europe since the Cold War worsens further.

Senate raises pressure on CIA

WASHINGTON

Adding heat on the CIA, the Senate will investigate a computer network that contained a still-secret review of U.S. terror interrogations that led to dueling criminal referrals to the Justice Department and a dramatic collapse in relations between the nation’s spy agencies and the lawmakers entrusted with their oversight.

In letters to the heads of the CIA and Justice Department, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the CIA’s decision to search the Senate intelligence committee’s network and computers without approval was “absolutely indefensible” and carried serious implications for the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches.

Police: Teen climbs to top of WTC

NEW YORK

A teenage thrill-chaser slipped through a fence, eluded a security guard and climbed to the top of 1 World Trade Center, authorities said Thursday as concerns swirled about a seemingly audacious breach at what is supposed to be one of the world’s most secure sites.

Justin Casquejo, a 16-year-old described by a friend as an adventure-seeker who loves to climb precarious places, spent about two hours early Sunday atop the symbolic and unfinished 1,776-foot tower, authorities said. He’s not accused of doing any damage, but the alleged escapade stirred what-ifs about the notion of someone being able to infiltrate the nation’s tallest skyscraper.

Casquejo was being held without bail after an arraignment Monday on a criminal trespassing charge. His lawyer, Pamela Griffith, declined to comment. Nobody answered the door Thursday at his Weehawken, N.J., home, and an effort to reach him through someone who answered a possible phone number for him wasn’t immediately successful.

Gunmen open fire in Kabul luxury hotel

KABUL

Gunmen opened fire in a luxury hotel frequented by foreigners in the Afghan capital Thursday, but no guests or staff members were wounded, and security forces surrounded the men, killing three and trapping a fourth, officials said.

The standoff began Thursday night, and bursts of gunfire could be heard from inside the Serena hotel as Afghan troops cordoned off the area.

A hotel worker named Gulam Ali told his brother over his cellphone that all the guests and staff members had taken refuge in the basement.

Associated Press