Section: Cyprus Mail (Cyprus)
Europe and US clash over how to confront Putin on Ukraine
By Stephen Brown and Noah Barkin Germany’s Angela Merkel warned on Saturday that sending arms to help Ukraine fight pro-Russian separatists would not solve the crisis there, drawing a sharp rebuke from a leading US senator who accused Berlin of turning its back on an ally in distress. The heated exchange at a security conference in Munich...
German, French leaders head for Moscow to press for Ukraine peace
By Timothy Heritage and Richard Balmforth The leaders of Germany and France are expected to take peace proposals to Moscow on Friday on the second leg of a dramatic initiative to end a conflict in Ukraine that has killed more than 5,000 people and driven Russia-West relations to new lows. The planned trip by Chancellor Angela Merkel and President...
Ukrainian, rebel convoys head for rail town to evacuate civilians
By Richard Balmforth Convoys of buses converged from two sides on the town of Debaltseve in eastern Ukraine on Friday after separatist rebels and government forces appeared to have patched together a truce to allow civilians to be evacuated. A Reuters correspondent outside the town of Horlivka, west of Debaltseve, said around 30 empty buses were...
Australian PM to face leadership vote after party-room revolt
By Wayne Cole and Lincoln Feast Embattled Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he will fight a challenge to his leadership at a party-room meeting next week after disgruntled government lawmakers on Friday sought to oust him following weeks of divisive speculation. A member of Abbott’s ruling conservative Liberal Party, Western...
German, French leaders take Ukraine peace plan to Moscow
By Lesley Wroughton and Richard Balmforth The leaders of Germany and France announced a new peace plan for Ukraine on Thursday, flying to Kiev with a new proposal they would then take on to Moscow. The importance of reaching a deal was demonstrated by a dramatic collapse in Ukraine’s hryvnia currency, which lost nearly a third of its value...
Britain says to contribute troops, planes to reassure Baltics over Russia
By Kylie MacLellan Britain will send four Typhoon fighter jets again this year to help NATO with air policing in the Baltic States, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said on Thursday, promising that up to 1,000 British troops will also join a NATO rapid reaction force. NATO agreed at a summit in Wales last September to create a “spearhead” rapid...
German, French leaders to take Ukraine peace plan to Kiev, Moscow
By Nicholas Vinocur and Lesley Wroughton The leaders of Germany and France launched a new diplomatic initiative over Ukraine on Thursday, announcing they would fly together to Kiev and Moscow with a proposal to resolve the conflict that could be “acceptable to all”. The coordinated trip by Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Francois Hollande...
Shell hits hospital in Ukraine’s Donetsk, dead feared – city mayor
A shell hit a hospital in the east Ukrainian rebel-controlled city of Donetsk on Tuesday and dead and injured were feared, the city administration said. “There was an artillery shell at 12 noon … The shell hit a hospital, there are dead and wounded,” a statement on the administration’s website said. Send to Kindle …read more Source:...
At least 9 killed when TransAsia plane crashes into Taiwan river
By Faith Hung and Michael Gold At least nine people were killed and dozens were unaccounted for after a Taiwanese TransAsia Airways plane with 58 passengers and crew on board crash-landed in a Taipei river on Wednesday, officials and domestic media said. Dramatic pictures taken by a motorist and posted on Twitter showed the planed cartwheeling...
Ukraine says lost five more soldiers in the east in past 24 hours
By Richard Balmforth Five Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and 27 wounded in fighting with pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine’s eastern regions in the past 24 hours, Kiev military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said on Tuesday. Ukrainian military say fighting has been particularly intense around the town of Debaltseve, a major rail and road...
