by Associated Press BC-AP--Europe News Digest, AP Associated Press - 6 March 2015 07:28-05:00 TOP STORIES FROM EUROPE AT 1230 GMT UKRAINE KIEV, Ukraine — Ukrainian military officials say government forces are withdrawing heavy rocket launchers from the front line with Russian-backed separatists in accordance with last month's cease-fire accord. Military spokesman Col. Andriy Lysenko said the Uragan launchers were being pulled back by 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the line of contact. SENT: 130 words. UPCOMING: 300 words by 1330 GMT. TURKEY-INSULTING THE PRESIDENT ISTANBUL — There's no monarch in democratic Turkey — but you might not know it watching the news these days. It has become as easy to get jailed for offending the country's paramount leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as it is in countries where lese majeste laws forbid insults to royals. By Desmond Butler and Suzan Fraser. SENT: 950 words, photos. TURKEY-ATTACK-TAJIK-OPPOSITION ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey's state-run news agency says a Tajik businessman and opposition figure has been shot dead in Istanbul. Anadolu Agency said Friday Umarali Kuvvatov was killed by a friend in the street late Thursday after the two got into an argument. The private Dogan news agency, however, said that a third man approached the two and shot Kuvvatov in the head. Both the assailant and the friend escaped. SENT: 130 words. RUSSIA-OPPOSITION MOSCOW — Leading Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny was released Friday after spending 15 days in custody and vowed that he and his supporters will not be intimidated by the slaying of a top Kremlin critic. By Vladimir Isachenkov. SENT: 400 words, photos. EUROPE-SYRIA-SANCTIONS BRUSSELS — The European Union has stepped up its sanctions against Syria in response to the crackdown by President Bashar Assad's regime. EU Council headquarters said in a statement Friday that it had slapped travel bans on seven more people, and frozen both their assets and the assets of six more "entities" — usually banks, institutions or companies. SENT: 110 words. UKRAINE-NEMTSOV KIEV, Ukraine — Authorities in Ukraine say the sole witness in the killing in Moscow of prominent Russian opposition figure Boris Nemtsov has received death threats since returning to her family home in Ukraine. SENT: 130 words. AUSTRIA-KLIMT MASTERPIECE VIENNA — An Austrian panel has ruled against returning one of the country's most stunning works of art to heirs of the original Jewish owner. The monumental "Beethoven Frieze" is being claimed by heirs of Erich Lederer. It was painted by Austrian symbolist Gustav Klimt directly on the walls of Vienna's Secession Building and is on permanent display there. SENT: 130 words. EUROPE-WEATHER BELGRADE, Serbia — A man died Friday in a landslide in Bosnia as a wave of storms also closed down roads, flooded villages and disrupted power supplies throughout the Balkan region still recovering from record flooding last year. By Jovana Gec. SENT: 300 words, photos. UNESCO-ISLAMIC STATE PARIS — The head of the U.N.'s cultural agency says the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage like that at an archaeological site in Nimrud, Iraq, amounts to a "war crime." SENT: 130 words. BRITAIN-CYBER CRIME LONDON — Britain's National Crime Agency says a suspected hacker has been arrested in connection with a cyber attack on the U.S. Department of Defense. SENT: 130 words. GERMANY-WOMEN'S QUOTA BERLIN — Germany's Parliament on Friday approved a quota system that will require leading companies in Europe's biggest economy to have at least 30 percent women on their supervisory boards starting next year. By Geir Moulson. SENT: 330 words, photos. GREECE-BAILOUT ATHENS, Greece — Greece's central bank governor says it is "very important" for next week's meeting of eurozone finance ministers, set for Monday in Brussels, to go well for Greece. The 19 finance ministers are to discuss how much progress Greece has made since the financially stricken country sent the ministers a list of reforms late last month to win a four-month extension of the European part of its international bailout. SENT: 130 words, photos. PORTUGAL-PRIME-MINISTER LISBON, Portugal — Portugal's prime minister gave the taxman extra muscle as part of a crackdown on fraud and evasion after the country needed a 78-billion-euro ($86 billion) bailout in 2011. Now, Pedro Passos Coelho is admitting he was one of those who did not always comply with his tax obligations. SENT: 130 words. BRITAIN-50 SHADES-SCHOOL LONDON — Thousands of British students mark World Book Day by going to school in costume as their favorite fictional characters. But one 11-year-old found himself in a bind when he dressed as Christian Grey, the S&M-loving billionaire hero of erotic thriller "50 Shades of Grey." SENT: 130 words. News Topics: General news, Homicide, Government and politics, Violent crime, Crime People, Places and Companies: Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Alexey Navalny, Bashar Assad, Boris Nemtsov, Pedro Passos Coelho, Ukraine, Turkey, United Kingdom, Europe, Kiev, Serbia, Syria, Greece, Portugal, Russia, Middle East, Austria, Eastern Europe, Western Europe Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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