Section: Cyprus
Avalanche in French Alps kills 5 military, two others injured
An avalanche killed at least five military personnel and seriously injured two other servicemen on Monday while they were skiing in the French Alps, local authorities said. The avalanche happened in early afternoon in Valfrejus in the department of Savoie and caught 51 military personnel by surprise as they were skiing off-piste, the police said...
Poland wants Britain’s help over NATO troops in Brexit talks
By Wiktor Szary and Justyna Pawlak Poland could be open to compromise over British demands to limit the rights of European Union migrants if London helps it bolster the NATO presence in central Europe, Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski told Reuters. With hundreds of thousands of Poles living in Britain, Warsaw is one of the EU’s...
Europe’s year from hell may presage worse to come
By Paul Taylor By any measure, it has been a year from hell for the European Union. And if Britons vote to leave the bloc, this year could be worse. Not since 1989, the year the Berlin Wall fell and communism crumbled across eastern Europe, has the continent’s geopolitical kaleidescope been shaken up so vigorously. But unlike that year of...
Putin names United States among threats in new Russian security strategy
By Vladimir Soldatkin A new appraisal names the United States as one of the threats to Russia’s national security for the first time, a sign of how relations with the west have deteriorated in recent years. The document, “About the Strategy of National Security of Russian Federation”, was signed by President Vladimir Putin on New...
Ukraine lists Russian imports it may ban from Jan 10 in trade row
Ukraine said on Wednesday it may impose a ban as soon as next month on imports of dozens of Russian goods — from dog food to locomotives — as a retaliatory measure against Moscow which this month said it was suspending a free trade zone with Kiev. The list, which was set out in a statement from the country’s economy ministry, included meat...
Pope calls in Christmas message for unity against militant atrocities
By Philip Pullella Pope Francis urged the world in his Christmas message on Friday to unite to end atrocities by Islamist militants that he said were causing immense suffering in many countries. Security was tight at the Vatican as Francis, marking the third Christmas since his election in 2013, read his traditional Christmas Day “Urbi et Orbi”...
Investors wary as Russian pipeline project splits EU
By Alissa de Carbonnel and Barbara Lewis Investors are wary of pouring money into a planned doubling of Gazprom’s Nord Stream gas link to Germany, analysts said, amid doubts about regulatory approvals and deep political divisions. Since taps opened five years ago on the first pipeline from Russia’s Baltic coast to Germany, bypassing...
EU prolongs economic sanctions on Russia until mid-2016
The European Union on Monday extended its economic sanctions against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine until the end of next July, drawing a swift rebuke from the Russian economy minister. The EU has linked the lifting of the sanctions to full implementation of a peace deal in east Ukraine, where more than 9,000 people have been killed in...
Putin says will not “abandon” Russians in Ukraine to nationalists
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not abandon Russians living in southeast Ukraine to Ukrainian nationalists, the state-run RIA news agency quoted him as saying in a documentary due to be broadcast later on Sunday. Moscow says Ukrainian nationalists pose a threat to ethnic Russians and Russian-speaking Ukrainians in the region. More than...
Putin praises Donald Trump as ‘very talented’
RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he welcomed comments by U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump that he wanted deeper relations with Russia. “He is a very flamboyant man, very talented, no doubt about that. But it’s not our business to judge his merits, it’s up to the voters of the United States,” Putin told...
