Midday Roundup: Russia, Ukraine strike ceasefire deal

Peace plan. Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a ceasefire at Ukraine’s eastern border as part of a peace deal in the war-torn region. Pro-Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine, with Russia’s support, have been battling for independence for nearly a year. The agreement brokered by the leaders of France and Germany would have Russia withdraw its support and the separatists stand down in exchange for Ukraine granting the region more autonomy. But just how much self-governance the area will have remains unclear.

Correspondent death. Bob Simon, the 60 minutes correspondent who covered foreign conflicts for five decades, died in a car crash in Manhattan on Wednesday night. He was 73. He began his career with CBS News covering the Vietnam War. At the outset of the Gulf War in January 1991, Iraqi forces captured Simon. He and three other members of CBS News’ coverage team spent 40 days in Iraqi prisons, an experience Simon wrote about in his book Forty Days. He was working on a story about the Ebola virus for this Sunday’s 60 Minutes with his daughter, Tanya Simon, a producer.

Can’t have it both ways. Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber almost resigned Wednesday, going as far as having his staffers prepare for the announcement and calling the Oregon secretary of state back from a conference in Washington, D.C. But he changed his mind, The Oregonian reported, adding to the soap opera-like drama surrounding the governor. The scandal involves his fiancé, Cylvia Hayes, who is accused of mixing her private business affairs with those of the state. Attorneys for Kitzhaber and Hayes have argued that her actions did not constitute an ethical breach because she was never officially the first lady. But both the governor and she often used the title and she appeared at events in that capacity even though they are not married.

Guilty. The captain of the cruise ship Costa Concordia, which capsized and sunk off the Tuscan coast in 2012, received a 16-year prison sentence Wednesday for his role in the shipwreck. An Italian court found Capt. Francesco Schettino steered the ship too close to shore, abandoned it when it began to sink, and gave false information to authorities that delayed their rescue operation. Thirty-two passengers and crew members died in the accident. The judge said Schettino does not have to report to prison until he has exhausted his legal appeals.