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Libya violence: U.N. calls for sanctions
8/28/2014 1:42:11 AM
- U.N. Security Council resolution includes sanctions for those involved in violence in Libya
- It demands an immediate ceasefire and end to fighting in Libya
- The Pentagon believes Egypt and the United Arab Emirates carried out airstrikes in Libya
- Egyptian leaders have denied the claim and a UAE minister has dismissed it
(CNN) -- The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution on Libya on Wednesday that calls for an immediate ceasefire and includes sanctions for those involved in violence there.
The Security Council's move came amid worsening conflict in Libya -- and a day after the Pentagon said it believes Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have been conducting secret airstrikes in the North African nation.
That claim has been denied by Egyptian leaders and apparently dismissed by a UAE minister.
The allegation was first made at the weekend by militants from an alliance of Islamist and Misrata militias -- known as the Libya Dawn forces -- who have been battling rival moderate militias from the western city of Zintan.
The alliance wrested control of Tripoli International Airport from the Zintan militia groups Saturday night after airstrikes targeting locations held by their own forces.
The claims of outside military intervention have sparked fears that Libya has become the latest arena in a regional battle for influence between Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE on one hand and Turkey and Qatar on the other.
Libya continues to be beset by instability -- politically, militarily and otherwise -- nearly three years after the revolution that toppled former strongman leader Moammar Gadhafi. That has included extensive violence, much of it involving increasingly powerful militias that have outgunned the nation's central government.
Late last month, the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, the United Nations and other international organizations and businesses evacuated their staffs due to the unrest.
The U.N. resolution calls for an end to the fighting and for those responsible to be held accountable.
It also urges "all parties to engage in an inclusive Libyan-led political dialogue in order to help restore stability, and to forge consensus around the next steps in Libya's transition."
The resolution does not mention any claims of bombing by outside forces.
U.S. urges political process
Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, confirmed at a briefing Tuesday that the United States believes that airstrikes were undertaken in recent days by the UAE and Egypt inside Libya but declined to give further details.
Asked if the Pentagon supported independent action by the UAE and Egypt in Libya, he said it, like the U.S. government, wants Libya's problems to be resolved "peacefully, and through good governance and politics and not violence, and that we discourage other nations from taking a part in Libya's issues through violence."
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki gave a similar message, saying, "We understand that there were airstrikes undertaken in recent days by the UAE and Egypt."
She pointed to a joint statement issued Monday by the U.S., UK, French, German and Italian governments which calls for an immediate ceasefire in Libya by all sides and engagement in the democratic process.
"We believe outside interference in Libya exacerbates current divisions and undermines Libya's democratic transition," the statement concludes.
The United States doesn't believe there is a military solution in Libya, Psaki said. "The political process is what the focus needs to be on. And, hence, the concern that we have."
In a tweet later Tuesday, Psaki appeared to seek to clarify her earlier remarks. "Comment today on Libya intended to refer to countries reportedly involved, not speak for them," she said.
Egypt 'has no forces in Libya'
Egypt has repeatedly denied any military involvement in Libya.
"Egypt is not involved in any military activity and it does not have any military presence on Libyan territories," Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said Tuesday.
"We respect the Libyan people's will represented by the parliament and all its decisions."
Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Badr Abdellatty told CNN on Monday that suggestions Egypt was involved in recent airstrikes are "nonsense."
A day earlier, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi also denied any Egyptian involvement in Libya, according to the official Egyptian news agency, MENA.
He told newspaper chiefs that are no Egyptian aircraft or forces in Libya and that no Egyptian aircraft took any military action inside Libyan territory.
El-Sisi added that Egypt, like its neighbors, is interested in the safety and security of Libya and has been consulting with Algeria and Tunisia and others over political action to achieve stability there.
The UAE has not given an official response to the allegation it was involved in airstrikes.
But UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash appeared to dismiss the initial claim by Libyan Islamists in remarks on Twitter, translated by CNN.
"The attempt to drag the UAE into the Libyan issue is an escape from facing the results of the elections and the legitimacy that it brought about and the desire of the majority in Libya for stability and security," he said in one tweet.
His comment referred to elections in June that brought a new anti-Islamist government to power in Libya. However, the new administration has so far proved ill-equipped to quell the violence plaguing Libya.
CNN's Barbara Starr, Jamie Crawford, Richard Roth and Becky Anderson contributed to this report.
Escobar's former hit man released
8/28/2014 4:29:10 AM
John Jairo Velasquez, who was drug lord Pablo Escobar's hit man, has been released from prison. CNN's Rafael Romo reports.
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Miley's 'homeless' date faces arrest
8/28/2014 3:28:04 AM
- An arrest warrant was issued for Jesse Helt in 2011, a corrections official says
- Helt stopped checking in with probation officer after criminal trespass conviction, he says
- Cyrus: "You've chosen to go after Jesse instead of covering" the youth homelessness issue
- Helt could spend a year in jail for his probation violation, the official says
(CNN) -- The young man Miley Cyrus chose to represent homeless youths at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday faces arrest in Oregon, a corrections official said.
An arrest warrant was issued for Jesse Helt, 22, when he stopped checking in with his probation officer for a criminal trespass conviction in November 2011, said Polk County, Oregon, Community Corrections Director Martin Silbernagel.
"Reportedly, he has returned to the Polk County area," Silbernagel said. "We will be attempting to serve him his warrant, at which time he will be taken into custody."
Polk County sheriff's deputies are not actively searching for Helt because of a staff shortage, but they would arrest him if they encounter him, spokesman Dean Bender said Wednesday.
Helt took center stage at Sunday's VMA broadcast to accept the best video of 2014 award "on behalf of the 1.6 million runaways and homeless youths in the United States who are starving, lost and scared for their lives right now."
Cyrus, whose "Wrecking Ball" video was being honored, appeared to be near tears as she watched Helt, who said he was homeless, read the acceptance speech calling attention to the large population of homeless young people in Los Angeles.
"I've survived in shelters all over this city," he said. "I've cleaned your hotel rooms. I've been an extra in your movies. I've been an extra in your life. Though I may have been invisible to you on the streets, I have a lot of the same dreams that brought many of you here tonight."
Along with raising awareness of the problem of young people living on the streets of Los Angeles, Helt's story caught the attention of corrections officials in northwest Oregon, where he grew up and where his mother lives.
If police find Helt, who some media reports said returned to Salem, Oregon, to visit his mother, he will be taken before a judge to decide whether he will spend up to a year in jail or be allowed to resume his probation, Silbernagel said.
Helt was initially arrested in October 2010 on burglary, criminal mischief and criminal trespass charges. The burglary count was dismissed, but he was convicted of the mischief and trespass counts, Bender said.
The media never fails to disappoint. You've chosen to go after Jesse instead of covering the issue of youth homelessness :(
— Miley Ray Cyrus (@MileyCyrus) August 26, 2014 "The media never fails to disappoint. You've chosen to go after Jesse instead of covering the issue of youth homelessness :(" Cyrus said on Twitter after online reports of his arrest warrant were first published Tuesday.
"While the media obsesses over one homeless mans legal issue, let's help the other 1.6 million homeless youth http://www.prizeo.com/miley," Cyrus said in an Instagram posting.
In a video posted on her Facebook page, she instructs fans to donate through a Prizeo fundraising site to My Friend's Place, a Los Angeles-area charity that provides support for homeless people ages 12 to 25.
2014 MTV VMA highlights: Blue Ivy takes the stage, Miley Cyrus grows up
CNN's Carolyn Sung contributed to this report.
Libya paying price for Mideast divide?
8/28/2014 3:21:19 AM
- The New York Times reports the UAE and Egypt launched air strikes in Libya
- Egypt, the UAE deny the reports, but the U.S. says it understands they did strike
- Amid the threat of ISIS, some regional powers fear extremists in Libya, says H.A. Hellyer
- Libyans are caught between supporters of Islamist groups, those who fear them, he says
Editor's note: H.A. Hellyer is a non-resident fellow in Foreign Policy at the Washington DC-based think tank Brookings Institution and the Royal United Services Institution in London. A Research Associate at Harvard University's Kennedy School, you can follow him on Twitter @hahellyer. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely the author's.
(CNN) -- A New York Times article has reported that the United Arab Emirates and Egypt have launched airstrikes in Libya against militias, without coordinating with their ally, the United States of America.
Both Egypt and the United Arab Emirates continue to deny that they were responsible for the strikes, while American officials insist otherwise.
Yet, political cover could have been fairly easily provided if Egypt and the UAE had wanted to strike with less fallout. Allegations they carried out the strikes come against backdrop of international concern over radical Islamism in Iraq and Syria, which have led to U.S. airstrikes already, in co-ordination with the Iraqi government.
Some of the Libyan Islamist militias openly express sympathy for ISIS counterparts in Iraq and Syria, and a newly elected Libyan government already calling for at least some kind of international intervention to restore order, although they've stopped short of openly calling for military strikes.
Any airstrikes, however, taking place without the consent of the national government of a country, could only be described as violating state sovereignty. Of course, the Libyan state has been characterized as close to, if not already in the throes of, complete failure for the last three years.
H.A. Hellyer
The Gadhafi regime over three decades ensured there was no state to speak of, but only institutions closely associated with him and his coterie. When he fell, the revolutionary forces had the awesome challenge of building a state where there had been none -- and in the past three years, they have been unable to succeed in accomplishing that fundamental goal.
In the midst of that void, different groups have tried to acquire as much power on Libyan territory as possible. It is difficult to describe the differences in simple terms -- there are regional and tribal divides, as well as support for Islamist militants and conservative, non-secularist but also non-Islamist, opposition to them. Secularist groups, unlike in Tunisia, for example, do not particularly exist in Libya -- Libyan society at large is tremendously religiously conservative.
Some of that conservatism expresses itself in support for Islamist groups that range from the Libyan chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood, and more extreme groupings like Ansar al-Sharia who have articulated sympathy for ISIS.
Representatives of non-Islamist groups swept recent parliamentary elections, which indicate they have substantially more popularity than the pro-Islamist camp at present. Unfortunately, both Islamists and non-Islamists alike have given rise to militias, which only deepens the difficulty for taking Libya through its transition to democracy.
The void of a popularly supported state has also made it easier for outside powers to engage in Libyan affairs. From early on in the Libyan uprising, Qatar and Turkey have built alliances and provided support for particular groupings within the country -- and the Emiratis and others did the same.
Three years on, the country remains tremendously unstable -- but it now exists in a region where a truly radical Islamist movement has shown itself capable, if only temporarily, taking control of swathes of Iraq and Syria.
The fears of a similar movement taking over Libya are genuinely felt in Cairo, Abu Dhabi and elsewhere in the region -- and after the U.S. engaged so openly in striking against a radical Islamist movement in Iraq, it would perhaps be unsurprising if others in the region had felt they were within their rights to do the same in Libya.
There is another aspect, however, to American involvement in the region. On the one hand, American airstrikes in Iraq may have emboldened advocates of a more interventionist approach in Libya.
On the other hand, American non-involvement in Syria, which arguably contributed to the rise of ISIS, may have done the same -- providing support for the narrative that if you leave radical Islamists alone, they're likely to develop into far more powerful actors as ISIS has become.
U.S. influence
The rising of the stakes of the conflict in Libya may not necessarily signal a waning of American influence -- if Washington wanted to engage more forcefully in the region, either unilaterally and multilaterally, it possesses enough political capital in the region to do so.
In the absence of political will to proceed in that fashion, others will step into the vacuum -- and others have. Since at least 2012, Qatar and Turkey have consistently supported Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and their allies in countries like Egypt, Libya, Syria and elsewhere.
The UAE and Saudi led the charge in supporting non-Islamist groups, although at times there was common cause, such as against Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria. They were joined by Egypt after the military removal of Mohamed Morsy in 2013, and most other Arab governments after that point seem to have either tacitly or openly joined the non-Islamist axis.
Much of this has less to do with ideology than it appears, and more to do with the fear of any type of change from the status quo that could devolve into mass instability. At present, that fear is most associated with Islamist movements.
Mideast polarization
What needs to happen in Libya is perhaps what needs to happen, in another fashion, across the Middle East. The polarization of the region into these two camps has taken place at the worst of times -- when the region is facing some of its greatest challenges in decades.
The polarization between these two sides has repercussions and consequences, which are likely to take a very deep toll in countries like Libya, but also elsewhere, in terms of blood and chaos.
It has never been more important than for these two camps to work together, as much as possible, to support Libya's newly elected government, and to use their combined influence and capital to reinforce a political process in Libya that does not rely on the use of arms.
Unfortunately, that does not seem to be likely in the interim -- and it will be the Libyan people, who have already suffered so much in the past three years, who will pay the price. The effects of Gadhafi's rule still haunt them.
Read: U.N. calls for Libya ceasefire amid concern over secret strikes
NATO: Satellite images show Russian troops in Ukraine
8/28/2014 12:56:13 PM
- NEW: The United Nations Security Council holds an emergency meeting on Ukraine
- NEW: Ukraine says it will reinstate compulsory military service in the fall
- NATO says satellite images show Russian troops in Ukraine
- Donetsk rebel leader: Up to 4,000 Russians are fighting; some are active servicemen
Kiev, Ukraine (CNN) -- A top Ukrainian army officer said a "full-scale invasion" of his country was under way Thursday, as a U.S. official said up to 1,000 Russian troops had crossed Ukraine's southern border to fight alongside pro-Russian rebels.
U.S. officials said Russian troops were directly involved in the latest fighting, despite Moscow's denials.
Rebels backed by Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers fought Ukrainian forces on two fronts Thursday: southeast of rebel-held Donetsk, and along the nation's southern coast in the town of Novoazovsk, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) from the Russian border, said Mykhailo Lysenko, the deputy commander of the Ukrainian Donbas battalion.
"This is a full-scale invasion," Lysenko said, referring to the fighting in the south.
Intelligence now indicates that up to 1,000 Russian troops have moved into southern Ukraine with heavy weapons and are fighting there, a U.S. official told CNN on Thursday.
NATO provided what it said is evidence: satellite images showing Russian troops engaged in military operations inside Ukraine.
"The images, captured in late August, depict Russian self-propelled artillery units moving in a convoy through the Ukrainian countryside and then preparing for action by establishing firing positions in the area of Krasnodon, Ukraine," NATO said in a news release.
Commercial satellite imagery shows the same, according to a British security source with detailed knowledge of UK intelligence estimates. One image that British intelligence has analyzed, dated Tuesday, shows 15 heavy trucks, at least seven armored vehicles and at least nine artillery positions.
Russia's military actions in eastern Ukraine "must cease immediately," British Prime Minister David Cameron said Thursday.
"I'm extremely concerned by mounting evidence that Russian troops have made large-scale incursions into South Eastern Ukraine, completely disregarding the sovereignty of a neighbor," Cameron said. "The international community has already warned Russia that such provocative actions would be completely unacceptable and illegal."
As the Russian presence grows, so does its influence over the separatist leadership in Ukraine, the British security source told CNN.
According to the source, the UK has determined that Russian artillery and rockets -- across the border and from within Ukraine -- have been fired against the Ukrainian military.
Two SA-22A gun/missile air defense systems were observed in separatist-controlled parts of Luhansk province on August 2, the source said. This system is not in Ukraine's inventory but is used by the Russian military.
Ukraine's National Defense and Security Council said that Russian forces were in full control of Novoazovsk as of Wednesday afternoon.
Russia's military fired Grad rockets into the town and its suburbs before sending in two convoys of tanks and armored personnel carriers from Russia's Rostov region, it said in a statement
"Ukrainian troops were ordered to pull out to save their lives. By late afternoon both Russian convoys had entered the town. Ukraine is now fortifying nearby Mariupol to the west," the NDSC said.
A number of villages in the Novoazovsk, Starobeshiv and Amvrosiiv districts were also seized, it said.
The NDSC also warned that a rebel counterattack is expected in the area where Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down in July. Ukrainian and Western officials say they believe it was downed by rebels armed with Russian-made weapons.
Novoazovsk is strategically important because it lies on the main road leading from the Russian border to Ukraine's Crimea region, which Russia annexed in March. Separatist leaders in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions then declared independence from Kiev.
U.N. Security Council meets
As international concern mounted over the apparent escalation in fighting, Lithuania requested an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting on Ukraine. The meeting was under way Thursday afternoon.
UK ambassador to the United Nations Mark Lyall Grant said Russia would be asked to explain why its soldiers are in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk had earlier called for the U.N. meeting, as well as action by Europe.
The latest flare-up comes despite a meeting between Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Belarus on Tuesday at which some progress appeared to have been made toward finding a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
Poroshenko canceled a planned trip to Turkey on Thursday "due to sharp aggravation of the situation in Donetsk region ... as Russian troops were brought into Ukraine," a statement from his office said.
In a Cabinet meeting, Yatsenyuk said that Russia "has very much increased its military presence in Ukraine" and that tougher measures may be needed to curb Russia's support for the rebels.
"Unfortunately, the sanctions were unhelpful as to de-escalating the situation in Ukraine," he said, referring to the economic sanctions imposed by the United States and European Union against Russian individuals and companies.
Yatsenyuk suggested one way to halt "Russian aggression" could be to freeze all assets and ban all Russian bank transactions until Russia "pulls out all its military, equipment and agents" from Ukraine.
"Vladimir Putin has purposely started a war in Europe. It is impossible to hide from the fact," he said.
U.S. ambassador: Russia is directly involved
U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt also said Thursday that Russian soldiers were directly involved in the fighting, alongside the pro-Russian rebels.
"Russian-supplied tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and multiple rocket launchers have been insufficient to defeat Ukraine's armed forces, so now an increasing number of Russian troops are intervening directly in the fighting on Ukrainian territory," he said on Twitter.
"Russia has also sent its newest air defense systems including the SA-22 into eastern Ukraine and is now directly involved in the fighting."
Moscow denies supporting and arming the pro-Russian rebels. It has also repeatedly denied allegations by Kiev that it has sent troops over the border.
A Russian senator and the deputy head of the Committee on Defense and Security in Russia's upper house of Parliament, Evgeny Serebrennikov, dismissed the latest reports of a Russian incursion as untrue.
"We've heard many statements from the government of Ukraine, which turned out to be a lie. What we can see now is just another lie," he said to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
Russian lawmaker Leonid Slutsky also accused Kiev of lies, in comments to RIA Novosti.
"I can only say that there's no ground for claims like this, and the junta tries to lay its own fault at someone else's door," he said, referring to the Kiev government.
Moscow regards it as illegitimate because it took charge after Ukraine's pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted in February.
Russian soldiers detained in Ukraine; leaders meet in Minsk
Rebel leader: 3,000 to 4,000 Russians in our ranks
However, the Prime Minister of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic, Alexander Zakharchenko, acknowledged Thursday that there are current Russian servicemen fighting in the rebels' ranks in eastern Ukraine.
In his statement, televised on state-run Russia 24, Zakharchenko said the rebels have never concealed that many Russians are fighting with them. He said up until now there were 3,000 to 4,000 volunteers, some of whom are retired Russian servicemen.
Zakharchenko went on to reveal that the Russian servicemen currently fighting in their ranks are active, "as they came to us to struggle for our freedom instead of their vacations."
On Tuesday, Ukraine's Security Service said it had detained 10 Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
Russian state media cited a source in the Russian Defense Ministry as saying the soldiers had been patrolling the border and "most likely crossed by accident" at an unmarked point.
The NDSC said Thursday that Ukraine's Security Service detained another Russian serviceman who testified that his unit was supplying heavy military equipment to militants.
Six questions -- what's happening in Ukraine?
Separately, Ukraine announced Thursday that it would reinstate compulsory military service in the fall. Fresh recruits will not be sent to the country's area of conflict in the east, Mihaylo Koval, the deputy secretary of the National Defense and Security Council, told reporters.
Ukrainian volunteers retreat from Mariupol area
Pro-Kiev forces apparently already have engaged with rebel forces between Novoazovsk and Mariupol, the Sea of Azov port city 35 kilometers (22 miles) to the west that the country's security council said was being fortified.
A CNN crew north of Mariupol saw a ragged convoy of about 25 vehicles, some with their windows smashed out, belonging to pro-Kiev volunteer fighters heading away from the city Thursday afternoon.
The volunteers, including two from the country of Georgia, said they'd been involved in fighting in the Mariupol area but didn't provide details.
Earlier Thursday and farther north, the CNN crew was near Donetsk city, which Ukrainian forces have been trying to wrest from rebels for weeks. Heavy Ukrainian artillery fire targeted areas near Donetsk's southern suburbs amid a heavy downpour of rain.
The main highway 15 kilometers (9 miles) south of Donetsk was deserted. With return fire coming from Donetsk, villagers in the area said they'd been taking shelter indoors or underground, coming out only for an hour or two a day to get supplies.
The city of Luhansk, a rebel stronghold, has also been at the center of fighting for days, prompting a humanitarian crisis. The NDSC said it remained without water, power or phone connections Thursday.
Ukraine's secret weapon: Funding from the country's millionaires
After 8 months of conflict, what's next for Ukraine?
Journalist Victoria Butenko reported from Kiev and CNN's Diana Magnay from eastern Ukraine, while Laura Smith-Spark wrote and reported in London. CNN's Susannah Palk, Max Foster, Tim Lister, Alla Eshchenko and Ariana Williams contributed to this report.
Meet defender who saved 2 penalties
8/28/2014 1:00:11 PM
- Bulgarian club Ludogorets Razgrad qualify for Champions League group stages
- Defender Cosmin Moti the hero after going in goal for the decisive penalty shootout
- Moti scores his own penalty and then saves two from Steaua Bucharest players
- "Nobody could write such a story," says Moti after the fairytale is completed
Follow us at @WorldSportCNN and like us on Facebook
(CNN) -- It is a football fairytale even Hollywood scriptwriters might view as stretching the bounds of credibility.
But in a dilapidated stadium in the north east of Bulgaria, one club's European Champions League dream came true on Wednesday night.
Ludogorets Razgrad, who had never before qualified for the group stages of the continent's most lucrative competition, took down 1986 winners Steaua Bucharest in scarcely believable fashion.
Trailing 1-0 from the first leg in Romania, Ludogorets snatched a dramatic last minute equalizer to take the knockout tie into extra time.
Read: Sanchez seals Arsenal progress
But then disaster struck. With a penalty shootout looming, its goalkeeper Vladislav Stoyanov was sent off for a second yellow card.
Romanian-born defender Cosmin Moti then donned the gloves, and safely guided his side through to the shootout.
Then the fireworks really began. Not only did Moti score Ludogorets' opening kick, he then saved two Steaua penalties to seal an incredible victory.
"This is incredible, a dream. Nobody could write such a story. I have no words to describe the feeling," Moti, who used to play for Steaua's rivals Dinamo Bucharest, told UEFA's official website.
"It was the first time in my career I have played as a keeper. Sometimes in training I pretend to be a goalie, but it is the first time I've done it with gloves on. I relied on my instincts -- there is no other way in such a situation.
"I was just taking last-second decisions on where to jump. Thank God, I saved two and we are there. This is it. This is the Champions League. Incredible."
I thought I had seen it all...then I saw the end to Ludogorets v Steaua...amazing, incredible, unbelievable and some.
— Christopher Davies (@Chrisdavies1966) August 27, 2014 Moti's heroics were made all the more remarkable given he performed them in front of legendary Steaua goalkeeper Helmut Ducadam, the club's honorary president.
Ducadam made four successive saves in Steaua's 1986 penalty shootout with Barcelona in the European Cup final, delivering the trophy for his side.
"Ducadam is the probably the greatest Romanian goalkeeper," Moti said. "I grew up with the stories about that final. He is a legend."
After the match, Ludogorets coach Georgi Dermendviev revealed Moti often has a go in goal during training.
"Sometimes during training sessions we practice penalties and he has a habit of going in goal for fun," he said. "I asked him whether he wanted to take the gloves it and he agreed.
Just checking... Do I still need to fly to Monaco for the #UCLdraw or are we all agreed the trophy should just go to Ludogorets.
— Carrie Brown (@CarrieBrownTV) August 27, 2014 "I told him not to jump prematurely and wait. He has a good instinct and reaction. But after all this is incredible. He has never even trained with gloves."
Now it seems Ludogorets' regular goalkeeper Stoyanov faces a fight to regain his place as No. 1 at the club.
"Yes, it seems we have too many goalkeepers in the team," he joked. "I was not afraid when I saw him putting on the gloves. There is no guarantee I would have done better.
"I have no words to describe this game. I had to make the foul, the Steaua player was too quick. But this is our dream, this is the result of sweat and hard work."
Ludogorets now takes its place in the draw on Thursday alongside European powerhouses Real Madrid -- the defending champions -- Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Juventus.
Systematic abuse ignored in UK town
8/28/2014 3:47:22 PM
- Abuses included gang rape, trafficking, beating, threats at gunpoint
- Victims were as young as 11 years old, the report says
- Social counselors, police, officials turned a blind eye, report says
- Most suspects were ethnic minorities, and authorities were afraid of being branded racists
(CNN) -- Hundreds of children have been systematically raped, beaten and sex trafficked in a northern English town for more than 12 years. And it is still going on, a government commissioned report says.
The "appalling" revelations also expose cultural tensions and lack of communication between authorities and the town's ethnic minorities that may have helped stop it.
Social counselors saw evidence of sexual exploitation early on, but turned a blind eye, according to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham.
The city's government recently made the inquiry's report available on its website.
And so the abuses amassed, which included gang rape and death threats at gunpoint.
At least 1,400 cases of abuse went on between 1997 and 2013 -- a conservative estimate, the report says. This year, specialist investigators are handling 51 cases. Other teams are looking at additional cases.
Torturous sexual abuse
The exploitation has reached a level tantamount to torture, according to the report.
"There were examples of children who had been doused in petrol and threatened with being set alight, threatened with guns, made to witness brutally violent rapes and threatened they would be next if they told anyone," the report says.
Some victims were not even in their teens.
"Girls as young as 11 were raped by large numbers of male perpetrators," the inquiry says.
The report accuses politicians, social services and police of "blatant" failure to stop them, citing an inability to traverse cultural barriers with Rotherham's small Muslim community.
Fear of label of racism
The perpetrators often worked together and were mostly of Pakistani heritage; the victims were mostly white girls, the report says.
An earlier report said that "Asian" gangs originally were exploiting women and girls "for their personal gratification" but later turned to making money with it, passing girls around.
Social counselors often took a hands-off approach to the cases for fear of being branded as racists or stoking a right-wing backlash in the city.
"Several (counselors) interviewed believed that by opening up these issues they could be 'giving oxygen' to racist perspectives that might in turn attract extremist political groups and threaten community cohesion. To some extent this concern was valid, with the apparent targeting of the town by groups such as the English Defence League," the report says.
Though known victims were mostly white, the report delved into an underbelly of alleged systematic abuse by select groups of Asian men against women in their own ethnic groups.
These often go unreported, because the victims fear vengeance or public shame in their communities, the report says. Perpetrators may be using that fear to blackmail these victims into continued sexual servitude.
Community left out
Cultural differences also hindered effective involvement with concerned members of Rotherham's Pakistani community.
Authorities turned to male community leaders and imams and greatly left out women. Many ethnic Pakistani women told the Inquiry that it made them feel disenfranchised and prevented people from speaking openly about abuse.
Members of both genders said they missed any direct engagement on the topic by officials. "This needed to be addressed urgently, rather than 'tiptoeing' around the issue," the report said.
Under the rug
Some social counselors also hoped cases they were seeing were one-off occurrences and hoped they would go away. That may have been bolstered by the fact that the vast majority of child sexual abusers in Britain are white males.
Research reports on the problem began appearing a few years ago, but they had little effect.
"The first of these reports was effectively suppressed, because some senior officers disbelieved the data it contained," the report said.
Social services managers downplayed the problem. Officials thought reports were exaggerated. Law enforcement gave it little importance.
"Police gave no priority to (child sexual abuse), regarding many child victims with contempt and failing to act on their abuse as a crime," the report said.
Improvement but frustration
By the time awareness of the problem increased by 2009, thinly staffed social service workers were overwhelmed by the number of potential victims.
There has been a marked improvement in training police to recognize sexual abuse and work together with social services, the inquiry says.
"But the team struggles to keep pace with the demands of its workload," according to the report. And finances are running low.
And still, few cases even make it to court.
Missing U.S. hiker's body found
8/28/2014 2:32:26 PM
- New Jersey official says death of Aaron Sofer, 23, may have been accidental
- Search for missing American in Israel ends with discovery of his body in Jerusalem-area forest
- The Yeshiva student was reported missing last Friday while hiking, police say
(CNN) -- A body found in a Jerusalem-area forest is that of missing American Aaron Sofer, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Thursday.
Forensics investigators were working to determine the cause of death, Rosenfeld said.
Sofer, 23, was reported missing Friday by a friend who was hiking with him. The young man was a Yeshiva student, studying in Israel.
Meir Lichtenstein, a Lakewood, New Jersey, committeeman who is a friend of Sofer's family, told reporters that though the investigation was continuing, the family believes that death was accidental and no foul play was suspected.
"There is some closure to the fact that this may very well have been an accidental death as opposed to their son being abducted," he said.
Lichtenstein said Sofer was "not the most experienced hiker" and may have suffered an "accident related to his walking in a rough terrain."
"I say that with caution because the investigation is still ongoing," he said.
Family joined search
On Monday, Sofer's father, Moshe Zvi Sofer, joined police and hundreds of volunteers searching the forest outside Jerusalem where his son disappeared.
Moshe Zvi Sofer traveled to Israel with his wife from their home in Lakewood and the couple offered a 100,000 shekel (about $28,000) reward for whoever found their son, Sofer's father said in a video posted online.
Sofer's friend lost contact with him as they walked together. The friend reported the disappearance to authorities, Rosenfeld said earlier this week.
"It is not clear if the disappearance was personal (or a) kidnapping," Rosenfeld said. "It's not clear at all."
Lichtenstein said Sofer's family "very strongly supports Aaron's friend and believes that he had absolutely nothing to do with this and that it was an accident."
Sofer will be buried in Israel, Lichtenstein said, and shiva will be observed in New Jersey.
Sofer's disappearance came two months after what Israeli authorities have called the revenge killing of Palestinian teen Mohammed Abu Khedair, 16.
His body was found in the Jerusalem Forest on July 2, just miles from where Sofer went missing.
Two minors and an adult were indicted in the killing. Prosecutors allege the killing was retaliation for the deaths of three Israeli teens whose bodies were found in the West Bank in June. One of those Israeli teens also had American citizenship.
Leigh Remizowski, Michael Schwartz, Haimy Assefa and Marina Carver contributed to this report.
Does UK have a jihadi problem?
8/28/2014 8:28:02 AM
- Masked man in video of James Foley's murder had London accent
- UK officials say roughly 500 people linked to Britain have joined ranks of ISIS
- Radical British cleric Anjem Choudary says Islamic caliphate will spread to Europe, U.S.
- Chairman of south London mosque says Britons fighting for ISIS don't understand Islam
London (CNN) -- "Any attempt by you, Obama, to deny the Muslims their rights of living in safety under the Islamic caliphate will result in the bloodshed of your people" may have been the last words James Foley ever heard.
Moments later, the U.S. journalist was beheaded by ISIS militants, and the grisly video of Foley's murder was beamed around the world on YouTube. The masked man's London accent is hard to miss -- and it has ignited a debate about whether Britain, America's closest ally, is now one of the West's biggest incubators of Islamic extremism.
About 500 people linked to Britain have joined the ranks of ISIS -- the militant group that has declared an Islamic state in Syria and Iraq -- in the past several years, according to the UK's Home Office. Roughly half have now returned to Britain, prompting fears that these radicalized recruits are preparing to wage jihad against targets in the West.
Does Britain have a jihadi problem? According to CNN calculations -- based on government estimates of the number of people who have traveled from their country to Syria, and Pew Forum estimates of the number of Muslims in each country -- Britain has roughly the same proportion of ISIS recruits as France, and a much lower proportion than Australia, Belgium and a number of northern European countries.
But there is a deep concern amongst experts that Muslim extremism is a growing threat in the UK -- and as CNN's reporting reveals, there are a number of British extremists who believe ISIS' Islamic caliphate will spread across the world.
Who are ISIS' British recruits?
As CNN correspondent Atika Shubert reports above, the video of Foley's killing wasn't just a message to America -- it was also a recruitment video for young men like Abu Bakr and Abu Anwar, foreign fighters inside Syria.
Abu Anwar is from Britain. He said he would be "more than honored" to take part in a similar act against ISIS' opponents. "I hope that Allah gives me a chance to do to James Foley to another enemy," he told CNN. "My hands are ready to commit to this blessed act."
Is there a profile for young militants like Abu Anwar? Experts paint a diverse picture of British Muslim extremists. Most are single men under the age of 30, but a significant number are older and married with children. Many are converts to Islam or are UK-born Muslims from immigrant families. Few have personal connections to known extremist figures -- and many are deepening their extremist ideology online. Some have links to gangs, but many are well-educated and middle-class.
The last time CNN spoke to Abu Bakar, he insisted he wouldn't return home, but that has now changed. Bakar appears willing to bring his jihad to British soil. "I am ready to take that step to come back if your armies, your countries don't stop attacking us," he said.
How are ISIS' British recruits being tracked?
Hundreds of British jihadis in Syria are boasting about their battlefield exploits on social media. Those accounts have been pored over by analysts at King's College in London, who are now tracking more than 450 alleged militants online, reports CNN's Atika Shubert.
"What's really useful about this is that you can get a sense of what weapons they're using, what they're equipped with," said Joseph Carter from the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation. "Before, in a conflict, you would have to have intelligence you gleaned on the ground, and now you can see that stuff on Twitter."
But despite trawling through hundreds of photos and videos online, none of the jihadis the Centre has been profiling matches the man with the British accent in the video of James Foley's killing.
Even if he is found, he is still far from the reach of the British government, with no guarantee that Foley's executioner will ever face justice.
Is there support for ISIS in London?
When the world first heard the London-accented voice of the militant in the James Foley video, it spoke of Britain's long past of Islamic extremism.
This week CNN's Nick Paton Walsh met supporters of radical British cleric Anjem Choudary in a basement cafe in east London. They say that the so-called Islamic State is not a terror haven, but a utopia to welcome.
None of the men explicitly condemned Foley's murder. One, a bearded man called Zakariyah, said that although he didn't condone the act, "if you attack someone, you should expect to be fought against" -- an apparent reference to ongoing U.S. airstrikes against ISIS targets in Iraq.
Another man, who referred to Britain as "a police state," said he would be happy to move to Syria and live under the Sharia law espoused by ISIS militants. He told CNN: "If the government would be willing to give me safe passage and not arrest me at the airport, and not raid my home ... and arrest all my family and relatives, just because they suspect I'm going there for something that they don't like -- what's wrong with going there to live under Islam?"
Choudary -- a controversial preacher whose al-Muhajiroun organization once praised the 9/11 hijackers as "the Magnificent 19," according to Reuters -- told CNN that the world had been split into two camps.
"[There's a] camp which believes that sovereignty and supremacy belongs to God. They are the Islamic State, at the head of which is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi," Choudary said. "In the other camp you have those people who believe sovereignty and supremacy belongs to man. At the head of that camp is Barack Obama."
"I believe this Islamic State will spread, rapidly, and I believe it will be in Europe and even America within decades."
What can be done to tackle radical Muslim ideology in Britain?
CNN correspondent Erin McLaughlin visited a south London mosque so full of worshipers that people are praying in the streets.
Tariq Abbasi, the chairman of the Woolwich mosque, says that the Britons going to fight for ISIS in Syria do not represent his faith. "It's nothing to do with religion," Abbasi told CNN. "They don't have knowledge of the teachings of Islam."
Last year, around the corner from the mosque, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale hacked British soldier Lee Rigby to death in the street. They claimed the killing was to avenge the deaths of Muslims around the world at the hands of the British army.
Abbasi said he knows how to fight extremism. In 2005 a London court granted him injunctions to stop radical preachers from teaching the mosque's children. He told CNN: "We said, 'Excuse me, you're no longer going to preach and teach our kids' ... but I think damage was already done."
"We have to be vigilant and very careful as to what is being taught here and who is teaching it."
The Pew Research Center predicted that Britain's Muslim population would grow fivefold between 1990 and 2030. As that population expands, and twisted ideologies continues to spread, people in Woolwich say they will need to be relentlessly focused to protect their children.
This story is based on reporting from CNN's Atika Shubert, Nick Paton Walsh, Erin McLaughlin and Richard Greene. It was written by Nick Thompson in London.
What's Apple about to unveil?
8/28/2014 6:58:25 PM
- Apple sets Sept. 9 as date for an event
- Company could unveil the iPhone 6 and a smartwatch
- iPhones reportedly will have bigger display screens
- Invitation teases: "Wish we could say more"
(CNN) -- Apple has set Sept. 9 as the date for a big announcement.
What will the company unveil?
"Wish we could say more," reads an invitation sent to media members on Thursday.
Multiple reports over the past few months have suggested that Apple plans to roll out two versions of an iPhone 6 this year, with screens that are 4.7 inches and 5.5 inches, when measured diagonally.
Is bigger really better for Apple?
That would be a massive leap from the iPhone 5S and 5C's 4-inch screens and an apparent move to battle competitors like Samsung and HTC who have been making bigger phones for years.
But the "say more" tease prompted immediate speculation that new phones might not be all that's on the agenda. The safest bet is that a long-anticipated "iWatch" smartwatch will be introduced as well.
Apple was granted a patent for a smartwatch in July and reports have suggested now is the time for its debut. The device, which will compete with existing offerings from Samsung and other top competitors, is expected to have a heavy focus on health and fitness apps.
The Apple event will be at the Flint Center for the Performing Arts, a 2,400-seat venue in the company's hometown of Cupertino, California.
Apple has traditionally rolled out new iPhones in the fall, in advance of the winter holiday season.
Lennon's killer: 'I was an 'idiot'
8/28/2014 6:58:40 PM
- "Bright light of fame, of infamy, notoriety" of killing Lennon was irresistible, Chapman says
- "I found my peace in Jesus," he tells the New York parole board
- Parole commissioners deny Chapman's 8th request for freedom
- Chapman is serving a 20-years-to-life sentence for murdering John Lennon in 1980
(CNN) -- The bullets that killed Beatle John Lennon were given to Mark David Chapman by an Atlanta police officer who was his friend, Chapman told a parole board as he made his case -- for an eighth time -- to be freed.
Chapman said he sold a Norman Rockwell painting to finance the assassination plot, which he described as "very well thought out." It involved "incredible planning, absolutely, incredible stalking."
Chapman, 59, fired five rounds into Lennon outside New York's Dakota Hotel on the evening of December 8, 1980. But in the 34 years since then, Chapman has found God, he testified to three New York parole commissioners August 20.
"I found my peace in Jesus," Chapman said. "I know him. He loves me. He has forgiven me. He has helped in my life like you wouldn't believe."
He also told the parole board that he was "an idiot" for killing Lennon "and choosing the wrong way to glory."
But the "bright light of fame, of infamy, notoriety" was irresistible, he added.
8th bid for release
Chapman's testimony last week was his eighth request for freedom since he became eligible for release under the 20-years-to-life sentence for his second-degree murder conviction.
The commissioners denied parole as they've done seven times before -- in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012.
The decision said the board found a "reasonable probability that (Chapman) would not live and remain at liberty without again violating the law" and that his release "would be incompatible with the welfare of society and would so deprecate the serious nature of the crime as to undermine respect for the law."
The hearing transcript and the decision were made public Wednesday.
The commissioners questioned Chapman about why he decided to kill Lennon and how he carried out the murder.
"I was confused," he told them. "I needed a lot of attention at that time, and I took it out on him."
Chapman, who was 25 at the time, said his life had "sunk to a depressed state" and he was drinking. "I just saw that as my way out, you know, a lazy way out of my doldrums. It was a horrible decision, but I knew what I was doing."
Decision was made at a young age
The idea of killing Lennon began when he read a book about the Beatles as a child, a time when be was "feeling left out," he said.
"I just said to myself what would happen if I killed him," Chapman said. "I remember that, and then the idea just avalanched on me that this was something I am going to have to do. It grabbed ahold of me and wouldn't let go."
He acknowledged to the board that he had several "alternate targets" to kill, although the names were redacted in the published transcript. The commissioners noted that all of the former targets are now dead.
Retired cop reveals letters from Lennon's killer
The police officer who arrested him showed CNN letters sent to him by Chapman in 1983 saying that actors Marlon Brando and George C. Scott, former first lady Jackie Kennedy Onassis and CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite were on his hit list.
He made two trips to New York to stalk and plan, he said. His first trip ended when his wife convinced him to return to their home in Hawaii, where he said he tried to get counseling. "They said that there was a backup and they couldn't see me," Chapman said.
He convinced his wife that he had thrown away his gun and she had no idea his second trip to New York was to kill someone, he said
"I told her I was coming to New York to write a book, a children's book, and that I kind of needed space to find myself and she believed me," Chapman testified. "She really did. I think if she would have thought otherwise she would have stopped somebody or called somebody. I was very convincing."
He sold a Norman Rockwell painting to pay his airfare to New York from Hawaii and his hotel expenses, he said.
Mark David Chapman Fast Facts
Bullets came from police officer
Chapman, who grew up in Atlanta, said he stopped in his hometown on the way. He asked a friend who was an Atlanta police officer for help. "I told him I had the gun, but I couldn't get bullets, and I needed protection while I was in New York," he said. "He gave me five bullets."
Lennon was "very kind" to him when Chapman encountered him before the shooting, even signing a copy of his latest album, he testified.
He knew he "could have turned it around" and not killed Lennon, but he chose not to, he said.
"That bright light of fame, of infamy, notoriety was there," Chapman said. "I couldn't resist it. My self-esteem was shot, and I was looking for an easy way out. It was a bad way out, but it was the way I chose and it was horrible."
Lennon a 'great and talented man'
He told the parole board that he realized the pain he has caused by killing Lennon, who he said was "a great and talented man."
"I am sorry for causing that type of pain," he said. "I am sorry for being such an idiot and choosing the wrong way to glory."
He's no longer seeking notoriety, he said. "Got enough of that. I don't need anymore."
"I am interested in one thing and that's ministering to prisoners," he said. "Me and my wife have a ministry. We distribute brochures that tell people about Christ."
His wife has stood by him for 35 years. She visited last year and is planning to visit later this year, he said.
"I can't believe she stuck with me all these years but she has," he said. "We're closer to the Lord now than we were on the street, so I am going to credit him with keeping our marriage together and our sanity, but she is still with me."
If freed, he has a job lined up with a New York minister, he said. His skills include fixing wheelchairs, which he does as a prison job, he said.
He told the commissioners he expected them to deny his parole and he understood they are just doing their jobs.
Chapman, who is being held at the Wende Correctional Facility in Alden, New York, will have another chance for parole in 2016.
Ron Howard to direct Beatles concert documentary
CNN's Marisa Marcellino contributed to this report.
Boston bombers' sister arrested
8/28/2014 1:05:28 AM
- Ailina Tsarnaev was charged after another woman received a bomb threat by phone
- She is the sister of Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev
- They were sought after he 2013 Boston Marathon bombing
- Tamerlan died in a police shootout, and Dzhokhar was captured and awaits trial
New York (CNN) -- The sister of the Boston Marathon bombing suspect was arrested in New York City on Wednesday for allegedly making a bomb threat, police said.
Ailina Tsarnaev, 24, sister of Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was charged with aggravated harassment after a bomb threat was made by phone to another woman Monday.
The recipient, whose name was not released, notified police of the threat, according to New York Police Department Lt. John Grimpel.
Ailina Tsarnaev, a resident of North Bergen, New Jersey, turned herself in to authorities Wednesday.
Her boyfriend shares a child with the woman who was threatened, Grimpel said.
Alina Tsarnaev is no longer in custody and is expected to report to Manhattan criminal court on September 30, according to Grimpel.
Calls to her attorney were not immediately returned to CNN.
Her brothers were accused of planting pressure-cooker bombs at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon that killed three people and injured more than 260. They also were accused of killing a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer.
Older brother Tamerlan was killed in a police shootout, and Dzhokhar was captured in the days after the bombing. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is awaiting trial in November on terrorism charges.
Friend of Boston bombing suspect pleads guilty to obstructing justice
What did suspected bomber's widow know?
Cold Russian winter ahead
8/28/2014 10:54:47 PM
- Russian President Vladimir Putin met his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko
- David Clark of the Russia Foundation says a quick solution to the crisis is unlikely
- Effort should be focused on strengthening Ukraine's sovereignty, he writes
Editor's note: David Clark is chairman of the Russia Foundation. Clark was special adviser to former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook at the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 1997 to 2001.The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of David Clark.
(CNN) -- The meeting on Tuesday between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Petro Poroshenko, marks the beginning of a new phase in the conflict between the two countries.
Military analysts say that the date by which Putin could have safely hoped to initiate and complete a full scale invasion of Ukraine before the onset of winter has already passed, so the threat of an open military confrontation has receded and there is space to give diplomacy a chance.
Yet it would be premature to conclude that jaw-jaw is about to replace war-war entirely. If there are powerful forces driving both sides to the negotiating table, there are also major differences that continue to keep them apart. We can expect a tense and difficult winter ahead.
The main reason Putin is now willing to explore a negotiated solution is that Western sanctions are beginning to bite. Currency instability, accelerating capital flight and vanishing growth rates all point to a deep and sustained recession if the current political uncertainty persists and Western pressure is maintained.
As Putin noted in a recent speech, Russia cannot fence itself off from the outside world. There isn't a go it alone option if Russia is denied access to global markets and finance. Putin therefore needs to find a way of normalizing relations with the West and bringing sanctions to an end in exchange for stabilizing the situation and allowing Ukraine to function as a country.
Without this, patriotic fervor is likely to subside in the face of economic hardship and record approval ratings will quickly return to their pre-crisis lows.
Closely related to this is the fate of Crimea, the territory annexed by Russia earlier this year. The picture emerging from the peninsula is one of steep price rises and acute material shortages as the problem of resupplying the territory without land access from Ukraine becomes apparent.
A successful Russian invasion of eastern and southern Ukraine would have resolved that issue at a stroke, but with that option apparently off the table Putin faces real difficulties.
David Clark
What many saw as a geopolitical masterstroke in March is set to become a major financial burden stretching years into the future unless some kind of agreement can be struck. Kiev and the West will never recognize the annexation of Crimea, but arrangements for the supply of water, energy and other goods will undoubtedly form part of the wider negotiation.
For Poroshenko the issues are equally stark. The economic outlook for Ukraine remains dire unless the crisis can be brought to an end and the country is able to function to some extent as a single unit once again.
Ukrainian forces have made significant gains at the expense of the separatists over the last couple of months, but Kiev probably doesn't have the means to bring the insurgency to an end by military means alone. Russia's capacity to destabilize the east remains immense and recent steps to reinforce the separatists and "Ukrainianise" its leadership suggest that Moscow is preparing to play the long game.
Energy is another area of concern for Poroshenko. In the absence of a new agreement on gas supply from Russia, reserves will probably be insufficient to cover demand in the cold months ahead. Reverse flow from the West might help to mitigate the problem, but a harsh winter would leave Ukraine badly exposed.
Although both sides face major pressure to reach a negotiated settlement, they remain far apart on the substance. Russia sees Ukraine as part of its sphere of "privileged interests" and is determined to prevent the country moving closer to the West. Kiev wants to maintain an independent foreign policy, including the option of deeper integration with the West.
The terrain on which this struggle is being played out is the debate over Ukraine's constitutional future and relationship between the center and the regions in particular.
In the absence of a friendly government in Kiev, Russia is promoting a form of federalism that in reality looks more like confederalism. This would give Russian-speaking regions of the east control not only over their own domestic affairs, such as education, public services and the local economy, but also the right to determine their own foreign alignments, security structures and possibly border controls.
The ideal model for Russia is the Dayton Agreement that brought the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina to an end in 1995. This created two constitutionally autonomous entities, each with a veto over foreign policy and other major national decisions. Russia has been able to forge close ties to Republika Srpska and relies on it to block Bosnia's membership of NATO.
For understandable reasons the government in Kiev is unwilling to countenance an agreement on this basis. Although it is prepared to cede much greater autonomy to the regions in crucial matters like language and education, it recognizes that Putin-style "federalism" would put a block closer ties to the EU and become a ramp for the soft integration of its eastern regions into a Russian sphere of influence.
Poroshenko is under intense pressure, especially from Germany, to negotiate some kind of decentralized arrangement, but the separatists and their Russian sponsors show no signs of lowering their demands to the point where an agreement might be achievable.
Although an end to the crisis is to be hoped for, the starting point of European diplomacy should be that a quick solution is unlikely and that the reason for this is Moscow's unreasonable expectation of a veto over Ukraine's future.
Germany should stop pressuring Ukraine's leaders to consider proposals that would effectively lead to the break up of their country. Instead effort should be focused on strengthening Ukraine's sovereignty and long-term bargaining power in relation to Russia.
Measures to increase energy supplies, provide economic support and strengthen Ukraine's defense capacities over the difficult winter months ahead should be priorities. At the same time, economic pressure on Russia should be maintained and stepped up.
This is a battle of wills and Putin won't reconsider his position unless the West is able to demonstrate the resolve needed to prevail.
Nina Dos Santos: To punish Russia, Europe must be prepared to suffer
Russian sanctions: Which foods are off Russian menus?
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of David Clark.
Ebola outbreak 'accelerating'
8/28/2014 9:24:43 AM
- World Health Organization says West Africa Ebola outbreak continues to accelerate
- There are 1,552 confirmed deaths from the Ebola virus, WHO says
- New "road map" aims to curb outbreak in six to nine months, stop international spread
- Road map acknowledges that the eventual death toll in this outbreak could exceed 20,000
(CNN) -- The Ebola outbreak "continues to accelerate" in West Africa and has killed 1,552 people, the World Health Organization said Thursday.
The total number of cases stands at 3,069, with 40% occurring in the past three weeks. "However, most cases are concentrated in only a few localities," the WHO said.
The outbreak, the deadliest ever, has been centered in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, with a handful of cases in Nigeria. The overall fatality rate is 52%, the WHO said, ranging from 42% in Sierra Leone to 66% in Guinea.
The WHO issued a "road map" Thursday that "responds to the urgent need to dramatically scale up the international response" in light of the acceleration of new cases, it said.
It aims to stop Ebola transmission in affected countries within six to nine months and prevent its spread internationally.
The road map prioritizes the setting up of treatment centers, community mobilization and safe burials.
It will also try to overcome bottlenecks in vital supplies such as personal protective equipment, disinfectants and body bags.
The road map is based on an assumption that "in many areas of intense transmission the actual number of cases may be 2-4 fold higher than that currently reported," the document states.
It also acknowledges that the total number of cases "could exceed 20,000 over the course of this emergency."
But such a plan is easier stated than carried out, said the aid group Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres.
The road map should not give a false sense of hope, the group's director of operations, Brice de le Vingne, said in a statement.
"A plan needs to be acted upon," he said. "Huge questions remain about who will implement the elements in the plan."
All of the best medical aid organizations have not had the proper setup to respond at the scale needed to seriously make a dent in the Ebola outbreak, he said.
"As an international public health emergency, states with the capacity to help have the responsibility to mobilize resources to the affected countries, rather than watching from the sidelines with a naive hope that the situation will improve," he said.
Vaccine trials accelerated
An Ebola vaccine being developed by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and GlaxoSmithKline will be fast-tracked for human trials, the international consortium behind the effort said Thursday.
The experimental vaccine could be given to healthy volunteers in Britain, Gambia and Mali as early as September, according to a statement from the consortium, which provided funding.
The vaccine, which does not contain infectious virus material, has showed promise in early tests on primates to protect them from Ebola without significant adverse effects, the statement said.
The human trials will begin as soon as ethical and regulatory approvals are granted.
Nine things to know about the killer disease
'Worse than I'd feared'
Health workers are paying a heavy price as they care for those struck down by the virus.
The WHO said Monday that 120 health care workers have died in the Ebola outbreak, and twice that number have been infected.
Public health experts say several factors are to blame, including a shortage of protective gear and improper use of the gear the workers do have.
"It's even worse than I'd feared," Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday of the crisis. "Every day this outbreak goes on, it increases the risk for another export to another country.
"The sooner the world comes together to help Liberia and West Africans, the safer we will all be."
Frieden spoke to CNN's Nima Elbagir in Monrovia, Liberia, where fear and anger over the largest Ebola outbreak on record has grown as health officials put up quarantines around some of the capital city's poorest areas.
A separate Ebola outbreak, unrelated to the one in West Africa, was reported Sunday by the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Are myths making the Ebola outbreak worse?
CNN's Miriam Falco, Carol Jordan and Nana Karikari-apau contributed to this report.
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