Putin to troops: Go back to home bases

Putin to troops: Go back to home bases

MOSCow

In what could be an attempt to ease tensions with the West and avoid more sanctions, President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops deployed near Ukraine to return to their home bases Monday.

Putin also praised the launch of a dialogue between Ukraine’s government and its opponents even as fighting continued in parts of the country ahead of Sunday’s presidential election.

The seemingly conciliatory approach suggested that Putin may believe he has achieved his key goal of maintaining Russian influence over eastern Ukraine without having to send in troops.

Emergency workers race to protect town

OBRENOVAC, Serbia

Serbia ordered the evacuation Monday of this town and 11 others along the raging Sava River, but Bratislava Pavlovic won’t budge, even as water rising six feet in an hour lapped outside her third-floor apartment.

“I grew up in this town,” the 58-year-old postal worker said. “I was born and raised here.”

The worst rainfall in more than a century has flooded large swathes of Bosnia and Serbia, threatening Serbia’s main power plant and unleashing landslides that have swept away homes and unearthed land mines left over from the region’s war, along with warning signs pinpointing their locations.

At least 35 people have died and thousands have been forced to flee their homes.

Martial law declared

BANGKOK

Thailand’s army declared martial law in a surprise announcement before dawn today that it said was aimed at keeping the country stable after six months of sometimes violent political unrest. The military denied a coup d’etat was underway.

The move effectively places the army in charge of public security nationwide. It comes one day after the Southeast Asian country’s caretaker prime minister refused to step down and follows six months of anti-government demonstrations that have failed to oust the government.

S. Korean president: Disband coast guard

SEOUL, South Korea

South Korea’s president pledged Monday to disband the coast guard amid mounting criticism of its failure to save hundreds of passengers trapped last month in a sinking ferry. Critics said President Park Geun-hye was trying to shift attention from her mishandling of one of South Korea’s deadliest disasters in decades.

The country’s coast guard is a nonmilitary agency and does not patrol the maritime frontier with North Korea, which is done by the navy.

The agency has faced withering criticism that it acted slowly and unprofessionally in botched rescue and search efforts. The April 16 sinking has left more than 300 people dead or missing.

Cleric convicted in NY terror trial

NEW YORK

An Egyptian Islamic cleric whose fiery sermons before and after Sept. 11 attracted extremists to his London mosque was convicted Monday by jurors who followed a trail of evidence linking him to a kidnapping in Yemen that killed four hostages and efforts to create an al-Qaida training camp in America.

The 56-year-old cleric, Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, was found guilty in federal court in Manhattan just weeks after al-Qaida’s spokesman after the Sept. 11 attacks was convicted.

Jury foreman Howard Bailynson said jurors kept emotions about terrorism away, following the facts and relying on layers of government witnesses linking Mustafa to the 1998 kidnapping, including proof that a satellite phone bought by Mustafa ended up in Yemen in the hands of the hostage-takers.

Associated Press