Section: Egypt Independent (Egypt)
INSIGHT: With funds and people power, charities globally face government crackdown
Vinuta Gopal, acting head of Greenpeace India, has had more than a few sleepless nights over the past year worrying about the future of her organisation.The Indian government labelled the group “anti-national” for its campaigns against coal mining, genetically modified crops and nuclear power, and blocked its bank accounts, deported...
Quartet of crises threatens Europe’s core
Four great crises around Europe’s fringes threaten to engulf the European Union, potentially setting the ambitious post-war unification project back by decades.The EU’s unity, solidarity and international standing are at risk from Greece’s debt, Russia’s role in Ukraine, Britain’s attempt to change its relationship...
Putin tells Obama he wants dialogue based on equality and respect
Russian President Vladimir Putin called for dialogue based on equal treatment and mutual respect with the United States on Saturday in a congratulatory message to President Barack Obama marking US Independence Day. Putin said US-Russian relations remained important for solving global crises. The two countries have disagreements over the conflict...
75th birthday of Kazakhstan strongman raises questions on country’s future
Kazakhstan’s veteran leader Nursultan Nazarbayev celebrates his 75th birthday on Monday, in good shape and vastly popular, but the expected fireworks and fanfare mask uncomfortable questions about the future of the second-largest post-Soviet economy. Nicknamed “Papa” and officially titled “Leader of the Nation”, he...
Russia angers Baltic states with review of independence
A move in Russia to review the legality of a 1991 decision formally granting Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia independence from the Soviet Union has alarmed the Baltic States and stoked tensions in ties with Moscow. The Baltic states declared independence in 1990 and 1991, and activists in Lithuania and Latvia were killed in attempts by Soviet...
Hounded and out of work, gay Ukrainians flee rebel east
Oleksandr had already lost his job for being gay in the rebel Ukrainian bastion of Donetsk when he was approached by two Russian speakers with rifles dangling on their hips. “So what are you, a fag?” one of them asked as the 28-year-old was grabbing a pack of cigarettes at the local kiosk. Lanky but athletic Oleksandr — an avid...
Obama sheds cool style for ‘fearless’ final lap in office
Barack Obama has reached the stage of his presidency where if he wants to break out in song publicly, as he did with “Amazing Grace” in a eulogy on Friday, then he’s going to do it. With a year-and-a-half left in office, Obama is shedding some of his trademark “no drama” style for a looser approach, admitting that he feels more fearless and...
China says changing position on sea dispute would shame ancestors
Changing position on China’s claims over the South China Sea would shame its ancestors, while not facing up to infringements of Chinese sovereignty there would shame its children, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday. China has become increasingly assertive in the South China Sea, building artificial islands in areas over which the...
US to pre-position tanks, artillery in Baltics, eastern Europe
The United States will pre-position tanks, artillery and other military equipment in eastern and central Europe, US Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced on Tuesday, moving to reassure NATO allies unnerved by Russia’s intervention in Ukraine. Carter, during a trip to Tallinn, said the Baltic states – Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia...
EU extends Russia sanctions to 2016
EU foreign ministers agreed at a meeting in Luxembourg on Monday to extend sanctions against Russia until Jan. 31, 2016, in an attempt to make Moscow abide by the cease-fire agreement signed in February. On February12, Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany signed a cease-fire, also called the Minsk agreement, over the crisis in Ukraine. Meanwhile,...
