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. 

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. 

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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.