Section: Cyprus Mail (Cyprus)
Dutch cast votes on Ukraine treaty in test of anti-EU sentiment (Video)
By Toby Sterling Dutch voters began casting ballots in a national referendum on Wednesday on the European Union’s treaty with Ukraine — a test of anti-EU sentiment before Britain vote on its membership of the bloc in June. Dutch politicians say rejecting a treaty intended to bring Ukraine closer to the European Union would hand a symbolic...
Icelandic leader resigns over Panama Papers revelations
By Kylie MacLellan and Ragnhildur Sigurdardottir Iceland‘s Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson is to step down after leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm showed his wife owned an offshore company with big claims on collapsed Icelandic banks, his party said. Gunnlaugsson became the first prominent casualty from the revelations in...
Panama Papers probes opened, China limits access to news on leaks
By Ben Blanchard and Lisa Jucca Authorities across the globe have opened investigations into the activities of the world’s rich and powerful after a cache of leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm showed possible wrongdoing using offshore company structures. The “Panama Papers” have cast light on the financial arrangements of high...
World figures deny wrongdoing as ‘Panama Papers’ turn spotlight on tax evasion (Update 2)
By Kylie MacLellan and Elida Moreno Governments across the world began investigating possible financial wrongdoing by the rich and powerful on Monday following a leak of documents from a Panamanian law firm which allegedly showed how clients avoided tax or laundered money. The documents detailed schemes involving an array of figures from friends...
Obama: ‘Madmen’ must not be allowed to get nuclear material
U.S. President Barack Obama urged world leaders on Friday to do more to safeguard vulnerable nuclear facilities to prevent “madmen” from groups like Islamic State from getting their hands on an atomic weapon or a radioactive “dirty bomb.” Speaking at a nuclear security summit in Washington, Obama said the world faced a persistent and evolving...
U.S. to deploy armored brigade combat teams to Europe
The U.S. military said on Wednesday that it would deploy rotations of U.S.-based armored brigade combat teams to Europe, part of a wider effort to counter what the United States sees as Russian aggression on the continent. The teams will be on nine-month rotations starting in February 2017, and will conduct military exercises across Estonia,...
Hammond: Russia a threat to everyone on world stage (Updated)
Russia is moving further away from having Western sanctions lifted over its role in the Ukraine crisis, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told Reuters on Wednesday. Hammond, who was in Georgia to meet Prime Minister Georgy Kvirikashvili and to visit the BP-operated South Caucasus Pipeline, has a track record of robustly criticising...
NATO needs to beef up defence of Baltic airspace – top commander
NATO should upgrade its air patrols in the Baltic states into a combat-ready force that would be able to defend them in time of war, the defence alliance’s top commander said on Tuesday. A multi-national NATO force currently has eight jets patrolling the skies over Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. This air policing operation was increased...
Turkish tourism and economy struggle due to bombings, Russia chill
Suicide bombings in Istanbul, a row with the Kremlin and hard times for the Russian middle class – all these factors spell trouble for Turkey’s tourist industry and its wider economy. Nowhere is the mood gloomier than among shopkeepers in Istanbul, Turkey’s cultural gem and scene last weekend of the second suicide attack on tourists...
Russian court sentences Ukraine’s Savchenko to 22 years in jail
A Russian court on Tuesday sentenced Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko to 22 years in jail after finding her guilty of complicity in the killing of two Russian journalists during the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine. Savchenko, a 34-year-old who has become a national hero at home in Ukraine, was defiant as the verdict was read out,...
