Russian president Putin and wife plan to divorce
MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin and his wife, Lyudmila announced Thursday they are divorcing after nearly 30 years of marriage.
The Putins made the statement on state television after attending a ballet performance at the Kremlin.
Lyudmila Putin was rarely seen in public during her husband’s long tenure at the top of Russian politics and implied that she didn’t like to travel with him on his frequent trips.
“I don’t like publicity, and flying is difficult for me,” she said.
The Putins married July 28, 1983, and have two daughters, Maria and Yekaterina. In the televised announcement of their divorce, Putin appeared reserved and Lyudmila smiled tentatively.
“We practically never saw each other. To each his own life,” Putin said.
There were no immediate indications of how the move would be perceived by the public. Divorce is common in Russia, and nearly 700,000 couples dissolved their marriages in 2009, according to UNICEF.
Prince Philip enters hospital for operation
LONDON – Queen Elizabeth II’s husband has been admitted to a London hospital for an exploratory operation, Buckingham Palace said Thursday.
The palace said the operation on 91-year-old Prince Philip – which will take place today – was pre-planned and comes after “abdominal investigations” that were carried out over the last week.
“He is in good spirits,” said a spokeswoman for the palace. She declined to elaborate on Philip’s condition or when the decision was made to operate, saying only that the queen’s husband is expected to be in the London Clinic for about two weeks.
Philip turns 92 on Monday. His health was in the spotlight last summer when he spent almost a week in the hospital after a recurrence of a bladder infection.
Koreas to hold talks on reopening complex
SEOUL, South Korea – North and South Korea on Thursday agreed to hold talks on reopening a jointly run factory complex and other cross-border issues, after months of deteriorating relations and a day before a U.S.-China summit in which the North is expected to be a key topic.
The envisioned talks could help rebuild avenues of inter-Korean cooperation that were obliterated in recent years amid hardline stances by both countries, though the key issue isolating the North from the world community – its nuclear program – is not up for debate.
The North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, in a statement carried by state media, said it is open to holding talks with Seoul on reopening the Kaesong complex just north of the Demilitarized Zone separating the countries. The complex closed this spring.
It also proposed talks about resuming reunions of families separated by war and on resuming South Korean tours to a mountain resort in the North.
Mexican army rescues 165 abductees at border
MEXICO CITY – Mexican soldiers have rescued 165 people kidnapped by a drug cartel and held for as long as three weeks in a one-story home alongside the U.S. border.
National security spokesman Eduardo Sanchez said 150 victims were U.S.-bound migrants from Central America. Fourteen were Mexicans and one was from India. He said Thursday at a news conference that a 20-year-old man found guarding the house was detained.
Sanchez said the army rescued the group Tuesday in Gustavo Diaz Ordaz, a town across the border from McAllen, Texas. He gave no information on which cartel was suspected.
The Zetas cartel is behind most abduction of migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border. In 2010, the cartel was blamed for killing 72 migrants in northern Mexico.
Associated Press
