Main News of February 25

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

 

WORLD

* Two U.S. officers were killed in an attack by Taliban militants inside the Afghan Interior Ministry headquarters in Kabul on Saturday, U.S. media reported.

* At least 26 people were killed in a car bomb attack in southern Yemen just hours after the country’s new president vowed to crack down on terrorism in his inauguration speech on Saturday, international media reported.

* Delegates from more than 70 countries attending the inaugural "Friends of Syria" meeting in Tunisia have issued a declaration calling for an immediate end to the violence in Syria and endorsing the main opposition umbrella group, the Syrian National Council (SNC), as a "credible" voice of opposition.

* At least 11 people were killed in Afghanistan on Friday, the fourth day of protests against the burning of Qurans by the U.S. soldiers, Al Jazeera reported.

* The U.S. plans to strengthen its defenses in the Persian Gulf to repel any attempt by Iran to block the Strait of Hormuz.

 

RUSSIA

* A high-ranking Kremlin source criticized on Saturday a suggestion by Tunisian President Munsaf al-Marzuki that Russia give asylum to embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

* President Dmitry Medvedev has nominated an ad hoc judge in the case of the collapsed oil company Yukos vs. Russia at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) as Russia's national judge in the court.

* A demonstration in support of fair elections organized by leaders of various non-parliamentary opposition groups has taken place in St. Petersburg, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported.