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ByPeterLeonard The Associated Press SARTANA, UKRAINE Fight- ing intensified Tuesday in eastern Ukraine ahead of much-anticipated peace talks, with both sides claim- ing significant advances. The government accused the Russian-backed rebels of shelling a town far be- hind the front lines, killing 12 people and wounding 64 others. The fighting, which the U.N. says has killed more than 5,300 people since April, comes ahead of a crucial summit planned for Wednesday in Minsk involving the leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said the talks were "one of the last" opportunities for ending the fighting. Ukraine and the West ac- cuse Russia of fueling the rebellion with troops and weapons. Moscow denies the charge but the sheer number of sophisticated heavy weapons in the rebel hands belies the denial. Poroshenko told the par- liament in Kiev that the sep- aratists launched a rocket strike Tuesday on the town of Kramatorsk, which is more than 50 kilometers (30 miles) away from the nearest front line. Porosh- enko said the first round of rocket fire hit the region's Ukrainian military com- mand headquarters and the second salvo landed in a residential area. Rebels denied any in- volvement in the attack and said it was a "provocation" by the Ukrainian author- ities. Kramatorsk was the site of major fighting until July, when pro-Russian sep- aratists retreated. The government-con- trolled Donetsk adminis- tration said five civilians and five servicemen were killed on the spot and two other people later died of wounds at a hospital. It said 29 civilians and 35 service- men were wounded by the rocket barrage in Krama- torsk. Photos on the local Donetskiye Novosti website showed an artillery shell stuck in the ground next to a residential building and two bodies lying nearby. Much further south, the volunteer Azov battalion, loyal to the government in Kiev, said on social me- dia Tuesday that it cap- tured several villages north- east of the strategic port of Mariupol, pushing the reb- els closer to the border with Russia. Rebel spokesman Eduard Basurin, in a tele- vised news conference, in- sisted however that the reb- els had not retreated. The Azov said rebels shelled the village of Ko- minternove, east of Mariu- pol, causing unspecified ci- vilian casualties. An Asso- ciated Press reporter at a government checkpoint be- tween there and Mariupol heard about fighting sev- eral miles away and saw two ambulances and four trucks carrying Ukrainian troops from the direction of Komin- ternove toward Mariupol. Oleksandr Turchynov, chairman of the Ukrainian Security and Defense Coun- cil, visited the battalion Tuesday and said the gov- ernment offensive aimed to bolster the defenses of Mar- iupol and "protect civilians from artillery strikes." The rebels reported ad- vances,too.Basurinsaidthey have surrounded the railway hub of Debaltseve, the focus of fierce fighting in the past weeks, cutting it off from a major highway. A video postedonlinebyarebel-sym- pathizingwebsiteshowedthe separatists moving along the highway while the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers lay on the side of the road. At least seven Ukrainian troops were killed over- night in the east, military spokesman Anatoliy Ma- tyukhin said, while in the rebel stronghold of Do- netsk, which faces frequent shelling, two civilians were reported killed and 12 in- jured. Amid the escalating hos- tilities, the insurgents an- nounced a call-up of new volunteer recruits in Do- netsk, in line with sepa- ratist leader Alexander Zakharchenko's pledge to strengthen his forces to 100,000 men. Rebel official Arkadiy Fedoseyev said he wants to recruit "tank driv- ers, mechanics, technicians, repairmen." One 18-year-old volun- teer, who gave only his first name, Nikolai, said he had come from the Russian city of Volgodonsk. "I have no parents. I'm from an orphanage. I saw on television how other people's parents are being killed and I decided that this was not good," he said, adding that he wants to be a sniper. SUMMIT FightingintensifiesinUkraine ahead of planned peace talks PETRDAVIDJOSEK—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Ruslan Banin, 18, walks in his neighborhood in Donetsk, Ukraine. Day and night, mortars and rockets rain down on the rebel stronghold in eastern Ukraine — mainly in the city's outlying districts, where the poorest people live. By Philippe Sotto and Greg Keller The Associated Press LILLE, FRANCE Disgraced former International Mon- etary Fund boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn sat noncha- lantly with folded-arms and stretched legs Tuesday, be- fore telling a French court he was completely unaware that women who partici- pated in orgies at luxury ho- tels in Paris and Washing- ton were prostitutes. Saying he was sim- ply a "libertine who likes to party," the 65-year-old Strauss-Kahn took the stand in Lille, accused alongside 13 co-defendants of aggravated pimping in connection with a sex ring centered on the city's Hotel Carlton. They are accused of op- erating a prostitution ring out of luxury hotels in Paris, Washington, Lille and Brus- sels. One prostitute, who went by the name Jade, also tes- tified — saying one scene evoked an ancient orgy. "It was like antiquity: a man spread out on a bed with many women around... There weren't other men, so it wasn't about being a lib- ertine. There was some- thing that repulses me: the people and bodies blended together without condoms," she said, acknowledging that she didn't know who Strauss-Kahn was at the time. She told the court she only recognized him only later on, when he appeared on TV, and exclaimed: "That's him, but with his clothes on." The economist, known widely as DSK, faces up to 10 years in prison and a 1.5 million-euro ($1.7 million) fine if convicted. The one-time French presidential hopeful, whose career was derailed by a separate sex scandal in New York, said he believed the women at these now-in- famous orgies, which were held approximately every three months, were just part of "a group of friends." In his first testimony since the trial began Feb. 2, Strauss-Kahn confidently reaffirmed his long-stand- ing defense that he didn't know what was legally re- ferred to as the "prosti- tutional character" of the women who took part in the soirees. "I had a very hectic life, with just a few outlets for recreation, and these ses- sions were part of that," Strauss-Kahn explained to the court. He added that he "would have totally stopped partic- ipating in these soirees" if he'd known they were pros- titutes. Another prostitute, called Mounia in court, tes- tified that while she never discussed payment with Strauss-Kahn, everyone in- volved knew she was a pros- titute. "For me it was clear that I was there as a prosti- tute," she said. The controversy sur- rounding one of France's most anticipated court cases in years was evident when three topless protest- ers from the provocative feminist group Femen dis- rupted Strauss-Kahn's ar- rival, one jumping on his car hood. They were later detained by police. Two of Strauss-Kahn's co- defendants testified Tues- day that they'd kept hidden from Strauss-Kahn the fact that they'd hired prostitutes for the orgies. "It was a se- cret between him and me," Fabrice Paszkowski told the court, referring to fellow co-defendant David Roquet. The court has so far heard testimony from some of Strauss-Kahn's fellow de- fendants, who include a Bel- gian brothel owner, local businessmen, a police offi- cer and hotel staff accused of organizing sex parties for Strauss-Kahn's benefit. FORMER IMF CHIEF Prostitute said orgy was like 'antiquity' News feed United Arab Emirates fighter planes roared out of an air base in Jordan on Tuesday to pound Is- lamic State militant po- sitions, marking a return to combat operations by one of the United States' closest Arab allies in the fight against the extrem- ists. The Emirates' deci- sion to launch fresh air- strikes from the kingdom after a more-than-month- long hiatus was a strong show of support for West- ern-allied Jordan, which has vowed a punishing response to the militants' killing of one of its pilots. It also is likely to quiet concerns in Washington about the oil-rich Emir- ates' commitment to the fight. The seven-state fed- eration, which includes Abu Dhabi and Dubai, stopped conducting air- strikes late last year after Jordanian Lt. Muath al- Kaseasbeh was captured when his plane crashed behind enemy lines, ac- cording to American of- ficials. Al-Kaseasbeh was later burned alive in a cage by the militants. American defense offi- cials last week said they moved search-and-rescue aircraft closer to the bat- tlefield, helping ease al- lies' concerns about the coalition's ability to aid downed pilots. The General Command of the UAE Armed Forces said Emirati F-16s car- ried out a series of strikes Tuesday morning, accord- ing to a brief statement carried by the Gulf na- tion's official WAM news agency. The fighters returned safely after striking their targets, the statement said. It did not elaborate, nor did it say whether the strikes happened in Syria or Iraq. The militants hold roughly a third of each country in a self-de- clared caliphate. Previous Emirati air- strikes had been in Syria, making that the most likely site of its latest tar- gets. The Emirates had not commented on the sus- pension of its airstrikes in December, and Tuesday's statement was the first confirmation it had re- started combat operations. Foreign fighters are streaming into Syria and Iraq in unprecedented numbers to join the Is- lamic State or other ex- tremist groups, includ- ing at least 3,400 from Western nations among 20,000 from around the world, U.S. intelligence officials say in an updated estimate of a top terror- ism concern. Intelligence agencies now believe that as many as 150 Americans have tried and some have suc- ceeded in reaching in the Syrian war zone, officials told the House Home- land Security Committee in testimony prepared for delivery on Wednes- day. Some of those Amer- icans were arrested en route, some died in the area and a small number are still fighting with ex- tremists. The testimony and other data were obtained Tuesday by The Associ- ated Press. Nick Rasmussen, chief of the National Counter- terrorism Center, said the rate of foreign fighter travel to Syria is without precedent, far exceeding the rate of foreigners who went to wage jihad in Af- ghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen or Somalia at any other point in the past 20 years. U.S. officials fear that some of the foreign fight- ers will return unde- tected to their homes in Europe or the U.S. to mount terrorist attacks. DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES UAEresumesattacks on Islamic State WASHINGTON Foreign fighters flock to Syria, Iraq The Associated Press CAIRO Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Egyptian counterpart said on Tuesday that the two countries plan to jointly build Egypt's first nuclear power plant, as well as boost trade relations and investments. Putin's landmark two-day visit to Cairo, during which he was feted with much pomp and pageantry, came as Russia faces heightened tensions with Washington and the European Union over Moscow's backing of separatists in Ukraine. Both Putin and Presi- dent Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi were eager to deepen a bi- lateral relationship unim- peded by foreign criticism, strengthening economic and military ties in part to show they have other op- tions available than work- ing with the West. The courting of Russia also puts Egypt, a decades- long U.S. ally, into a delicate balancing act with one of its main foreign backers, Saudi Arabia, which supports reb- els fighting to overthrow a government that Moscow supports in Syria's civil war. Tuesday's announcement onthenuclearplantscameat a joint press conference after talksataformerroyalpalace, where Putin arrived to a 21- gun salute and 200 Egyptian schoolchildren waving flags and crying out the two lead- ers'names,alongwithchants of "Long live Egypt!" El-Sissi told report- ers that memorandums of understanding had been signed on the plant's con- struction, as well as plans to increase gas sales to Egypt and boost investment. The plant would be built at an existing nuclear site in Dabaa, on the Mediterra- nean coast west of the port city of Alexandria, where a research reactor has stood for years. PUTIN'S VISIT Russia, Egypt plan to build nuke plant Please help sponsor a classroom subscription Call Kathy at (530) 737-5047 to find out how. ThroughtheNewspapersinEducation program, area classrooms receive the Red Bluff Daily News every day thanks to the generosity of these local businesses & individuals. •DR.ASATO&DR.MARTIN • FIDELITY NATIONAL TITLE CO. • WI N G S OLA R & W OO D EN ERGY • DOLLING INSURANCE • GUMM'S OPTICAL SHOPPE • OLIVE CITY QUICK LUBE • WA LM AR T • TEHAMA CO. DEPT. 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