Section: Independent Online (South Africa)
Ukraine furious over Russian citizenship decree targeting separatists
Moscow – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Wednesday accused Moscow of crossing a “red line” by signing a decree to ease the process of obtaining Russian citizenship in eastern Ukraine. “It’s a fact that this is about the Kremlin preparing the next point of aggression against our country: the annexation of...
Comedian wins Ukraine presidency
Kiev – Ukraine entered uncharted political waters on Monday after near final results showed a comedian with no political experience and few detailed policies had dramatically up-ended the status quo and won the country’s presidential election by a landslide. The emphatic victory of Volodymyr Zelenskiy, 41, is a bitter blow for...
Trump ex-campaign chief Paul Manafort jailed for 43 more months
Washington – President Donald Trump’s former campaign chief Paul Manafort, already facing 47 months in prison for tax and bank fraud, was sentenced to an additional 43 months in prison Wednesday on conspiracy charges. “The defendant is not public enemy number one,” US District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson said in...
Former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort could face life in prison
Washington – US President Donald Trump’s former campaign chief Paul Manafort is to be sentenced for tax crimes and bank fraud on Thursday in a high-profile case stemming from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Manafort, who turns 70 in April, faces potentially spending the rest...
WATCH: Lions rescued from Ukraine, delivered to SA with help from Turkish Cargo
Cape Town – National flag carrier Turkish Airlines’ cargo company, Turkish Cargo, embarked on a rescue mission for three sister lions named Luca, Charlie and Kai and a male cub named Nathan. Turkish Cargo delivered the lions to their natural habitat in South Africa by transporting them on a flight from the Ukraine to Johannesburg with...
Graphic novelist ordered to pay $42m dollars to murdered fiancee’s family
Los Angeles – A Los Angeles judge has ordered a graphic novelist from a wealthy Canadian family to pay 41.6 million dollars to the family of his fiancee, whom he brutally tortured and killed in 2016. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Bobbi Tillmon delivered the verdict after a bench trial in the wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Iana...
White supremacist held over US terror plot
A US Coast Guard lieutenant and self-identified white nationalist has been arrested after federal investigators uncovered a cache of weapons and ammunition in his Maryland home that authorities say he stockpiled to launch a widespread domestic terrorist attack targeting politicians and journalists. Christopher Paul Hasson called for...
Why the world now feels more threatened by US than by China, Russia
Washington – If 2017 was the year foreign observers of US politics struggled to decide where the country was headed, 2018 was the year they came to a conclusion: not in the right direction. Far more people around the world now believe that their countries are threatened by US power and influence under President Donald Trump than they are by...
Prosecutors subpoena Donald Trump’s inaugural committee
New York – Federal prosecutors in New York on Monday delivered a sweeping request for documents related to donations and spending by President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee, a sign of a deepening criminal investigation into activities related to the nonprofit organisation. A wide-ranging subpoena served on the inaugural committee...
US poised to announce withdrawal from Cold War era nuclear arms treaty
Washinton — The Trump administration is poised to announce Friday that it is withdrawing from a treaty that has been a centrepiece of superpower arms control since the Cold War and whose demise some analysts worry could fuel a new arms race. An American withdrawal, which has been expected for months, would follow years of unresolved dispute over...
