Section: Gulf News (United Arab Emirates)
Ukraine rejects Russian gas transit offer
Ukraine on Wednesday rejected a natural gas transit proposal by Russian energy giant Gazprom as an unacceptable and unprofitable proposition for Kiev. Gazprom on Tuesday had said it could continue pumping reduced volumes of gas to western and central Europe through an existing Ukrainian trunk pipeline. The suggestion came after German Chancellor...
Poland demands Russia return 2010 presidential jet wreckage
Poland’s President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday demanded that Russia hand over the wreckage of a 2010 presidential plane crash that has stoked friction with Moscow and divisions at home as Warsaw marked eight years since the disaster. President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria were among the 96 people who died in the crash in Smolensk, western...
International schools Arabic debating contest kicks off
The 4th International Schools Arabic Debating Championship kicked off yesterday at Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC). Organised by the QatarDebate Centre, the championship is being held under the patronage of HE Sheikha Hind bint Hamad al-Thani, Vice-Chairperson and CEO of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development...
US slaps sanctions on Putin’s oligarch allies
The United States struck at the heart of President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle yesterday, imposing sanctions on seven of Russia’s most influential oligarchs and stoking a diplomatic crisis that some have dubbed a new Cold War. Those hit include metals magnate Oleg Deripaska, described as operating for the Russian government, as well...
Aviva storms into risky frontier debt as US and China trade jitters ease
A few weeks ago, Aviva’s emerging-market debt funds were cutting back on risk amid rumblings of a global tariff war. Today? They’re wading into some of the world’s most speculative investments: frontier market bonds.The change of heart comes amid signs of easing trade tensions between the US and China, as the two countries...
Russia expels 59 diplomats
Russia expelled 59 diplomats from 23 countries yesterday and said that it reserved the right to take action against four other nations in a worsening stand-off with the West over the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain. Russia said it was responding to what it called the baseless demands for scores of its own diplomats...
Russia buries first Siberian mall blaze victims
Russia yesterday held a national day of mourning and buried the first victims of a fire that ravaged a busy shopping centre killing 64 people, most of them children.Flags were lowered and entertainment events cancelled three days after Sunday’s devastating fire in the western Siberian city of Kemerovo, one of the deadliest recorded in...
NATO expels seven Russian diplomats, limits size of mission
NATO has expelled seven diplomats from Russia’s mission to the alliance and blocked the appointment of three others over the nerve agent attack in Britain this month, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday. Stoltenberg said he had also cut the maximum size of the Russian mission to 20 people from 30, in the latest move by...
US expels 60 Russians as allies back Britain in spy row
The United States and Britain’s allies around the world have expelled scores of suspected Russian spies in an unprecedented response to a nerve agent attack. At least 116 alleged agents working under diplomatic cover were ordered out by 22 governments, dwarfing similar measures in even the most notorious Cold War spying disputes, and...
Checkmate or knockout: Chess boxing lands a punch
With his dental guard still in his mouth and a slightly queasy feeling in his gut, a shirtless Thomas Cazeneuve was exuberant after checkmating his opponent during a chess boxing bout in Berlin, the world capital of the unusual sport.Just as deft in the movement of his rooks as with his fists, Cazeneuve claimed victory against his Ukrainian...
