MOSCOW — Moscow called Sunday for a new “reset 2.0” in relations with Washington, saying the situation in Ukraine that had led to Western sanctions against Russia was improving thanks to Kremlin peace initiatives.
Washington and Brussels accuse Moscow of supporting a pro-Russian rebellion in east Ukraine and have imposed sanctions, which they have repeatedly tightened since Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in March.
The conflict has brought relations between Moscow and the West to their lowest level since the end of the Cold War. U.S. President Barack Obama said last week that the sanctions could be lifted if Russia takes the path of peace and diplomacy.
In television interviews, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said it was time to repeat the “reset,” a word Washington used to describe an attempt to mend ties early in Mr. Obama’s presidency.
Air France strike ends
PARIS — Despite no deal in sight, Air France’s main pilots union Sunday unilaterally ended a 14-day strike that grounded roughly half of the airline’s flights, stranded passengers worldwide, cost tens of millions of dollars and led France’s prime minister to decry a “selfish” walkout.
After a late-night, 15-hour negotiating session with management, leaders of the SNPL pilot union walked away with no accord. In a later statement, the union said it was ending the strike “in the interests of the company and passengers.”
Libya opens dialogue
TOBRUK, Libya — Libya’s elected parliament will hold its first talks today with members from an opposing city linked to a rival assembly, lawmakers said, starting a badly needed dialog as the oil-producing country teeters on the edge of collapse.
The House of Representatives, the internationally recognized parliament elected in June, was uprooted last month when an armed group from the western city of Misrata took control of the capital Tripoli and set up its own assembly and cabinet there.
The meeting in Ghadames, a southern town near the Algerian border, was brokered by the United Nations in an attempt to prevent the country from descending into anarchy and civil war.
Civil unrest in Pakistan
LAHORE, Pakistan — Pakistani opposition leader Imran Khan on Sunday took the campaign to unseat Nawaz Sharif to the prime minister’s home base of Lahore, where tens of thousands of people roared their support for change.
Pakistan has been in turmoil since August when protesters led by Mr. Khan and Tahir ul-Qadri stormed into the capital and occupied an area home to government buildings and foreign embassies. In the latest twist, Mr. Khan organized a major rally in Lahore saying protests would continue around the country until the government quits.
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A radical monk from Myanmar, who is the spiritual leader of a movement to boycott Muslim businesses, said Sunday that his movement would join hands with a Sri Lankan group to “protect Buddhism around the world” ... Eleven men died in a gunfight in northern Mexico and at least seven people, including an opposition politician, have been killed in violence in the southwest of the country.