Section: Kuwait Times (Kuwait)
Record numbers trying and dying to reach Europe: UN
GENEVA: More than 3,400 people have died in the Mediterranean this year trying to reach Europe, the UN refugee agency said yesterday, urging governments to take more action to save lives. More than 207,000 people have made the risky sea crossing since January, almost three times the previous high of 70,000 during the Libyan civil war in 2011, the...
Putin and Hollande in surprise talks amid warship controversy
ALMATY: French President Francois Hollande will make an unscheduled stop in Moscow yesterday to discuss the Ukraine crisis with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin amid a bitter dispute over France’s refusal to deliver a warship. Controversy over France’s decision to delay delivery of the warship to Russia under pressure from its...
Putin, Erdogan meet to strengthen ties – Strongmen set aside differences
ANKARA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday held talks in Ankara with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin aimed at boosting trade and strengthening relations, despite sharp differences over the crises in Syria and Ukraine. Erdogan personally welcomed Putin for the one-day state visit at the gates of his controversial new...
China blames Putin tiger for goat slaughter spree
BEIJING: An endangered tiger set free in Russia has killed 18 Chinese goats after crossing the frontier, with Beijing’s state media saying yesterday that the feline felon had been freed by President Vladimir Putin. The Siberian tiger, named Ustin, wreaked caprine carnage as it carried out repeated nighttime raids on a farm on a border...
Pope tells ‘haggard’ Europe to lead again
STRASBOURG: Pope Francis launched a blistering attack yesterday on a “haggard” Europe, urging it to reclaim global leadership after years of crisis and to take in migrants before the Mediterranean becomes a “vast cemetery”. During a lightning visit to Strasbourg, the Argentine pontiff used speeches to the European Parliament and Council of Europe...
Russia ‘has 7,500′ troops in Ukraine – 4 Ukrainian soldiers killed in the east
KIEV: Ukraine said Russia has thousands of troops in its conflict-ravaged east and vowed to boost its own military capacity, ratcheting up tensions yesterday after Kiev’s new coalition pledged to make joining NATO a priority. The latest declarations from Ukraine’s defense minister threaten to provoke fresh Russian anger as the...
German FM jets to Kiev, Moscow to revive Ukraine peace plan
KIEV: Germany’s foreign minister jetted to Kiev and Moscow yesterday in a bid to revive a failing peace plan in east Ukraine, as deadly fighting pushed EU-Russia relations to breaking point. Berlin’s top diplomat Frank-Walter Steinmeier was set to hold key talks with Ukraine’s pro-Western leaders before heading to Moscow for a...
In tit-for-tat, Russia expels several Polish diplomats – EU set for new Ukraine sanctions
Polish police guard the Russian Embassy in Warsaw MOSCOW: Russia expelled several Polish diplomats for spying yesterday, deepening the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War as the EU eyed fresh sanctions against Moscow over the violence in Ukraine. Fresh bloodshed in Ukraine between pro-Kremlin rebels and Kiev’s forces added to the...
Rebuked Putin to cut short G20 summit
BRISBANE: Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to cut short his attendance at a G20 summit in Australia, an official said yesterday, after he faced Western scorn and scepticism over Ukraine despite venturing to paper over Europe’s deepest chill in relations since the Cold War. The abrupt decision threatens to upend the annual...
‘Most powerful’ Putin takes on West at the Asia-Pacific summits
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin is heading into showdown talks with Australia’s leader as part of what is expected to be his toughest foreign trip since the start of the standoff between Russia and the West over Ukraine. But Putin appears well prepared to take the heat in Beijing later and Brisbane this weekend, enjoying the Forbes...
