Section: Saudi Arabia
UAE carriers re-route flights over Egypt’s Sinai
CAIRO/MOSCOW — Russia has grounded Airbus A321 jets flown by the Kogalymavia airline, Interfax news agency reported on Sunday, after one of its fleet crashed in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people on board. The A321, operated by the Russian airline under the brand name Metrojet, was carrying holidaymakers from the Red Sea resort...
Djokovic, Nadal shine in Shanghai
SHANGHAI — World No. 1 Novak Djokovic sped into the Shanghai Masters quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Feliciano Lopez in just 71 minutes as he continued his magical run in China Thursday. As Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfriend Tsonga toiled, the unstoppable Serb dominated Spain’s Lopez as he brought up his 14th win in a row including a...
MH17 ‘shot down by Russian-made missile’
GILZE-Rijen, Netherlands — Air crash investigators have concluded that Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down by a missile fired from rebel-held eastern Ukraine, sources close to the inquiry said on Tuesday, triggering a swift Russian denial. The findings are likely to exacerbate the tensions between Russia and the West, as ties have...
Russia, Slovakia clinch Euro Finals spots
LONDON — Russia, which hosts the World Cup in 2018, made sure it will be guest at France’s party next year when it beat Montenegro to make sure of its place in the Euro 2016 Finals Monday. On the penultimate night of qualifiers, it was joined by Slovakia, which beat Luxembourg, while Ukraine, Slovenia and Sweden must take their chances in...
Belarus votes as Lukashenko aims to extend 21-year rule
MINSK — Belarussians began voting on Sunday in an election that is likely to see authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko claim a fifth term, with the EU possibly lifting sanctions against him if the polls take place without incident. Lukashenko, 61, a swaggering former collective farm director once called Europe’s last dictator by...
Artists give Kiev colorful makeover
Olga Shylenko IN a mural splashed across a four-story building in central Kiev, a small boy nonchalantly throws paper planes. The peaceful image is just one example of the colorful street art springing up across the Ukrainian capital, reflecting a new mood of optimism in a city once criss-crossed by barricades....
Putin wants air base in Belarus
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his ministers to agree a deal with Belarus so that Moscow can establish an air base in the ex-Soviet country, as Kremlin’s ties with the West remain at a post-Cold War low over the Ukraine crisis. The creation of a Russian military air base on the doorstep of the Euro...
Ukraine simmers after moves to give more autonomy to rebels
Members of Ukraine’s National Guard carry a coffin with the body of their comrade Ihor Debrin, who was killed by a grenade during a nationalist protest outside the parliament building on Monday, at a memorial service outside Kiev. — Reuters Richard Balmforth A SPASM of street violence has …read more...
Sanctioned Putin ally to step down as head of Russian railways
MOSCOW — The powerful president of Russia’s state-owned railway company, Vladimir Yakunin, confirmed late Monday that he would step down next month after a decade in the top post and expects to become a senator. Yakunin, 67, is a long-time confidant of President Vladimir Putin and on the United States sanctions list over the Ukraine c...
Seven civilians killed in fierce Ukrainian clashes
KIEV — Seven civilians have been killed in intense shelling by Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels in the separatist east of the war-scarred state, officials from both sides said on Monday. “Two civilians — a man and a woman — were killed in overnight shelling in Sartana village,” about two kilometers (1.2 miles)...
