Section: The Gulf Today (United Arab Emirates)
Sweden brings back conscription amid Russia fears
Stockholm: Sweden is to reintroduce compulsory military service, seven years after abandoning it, to respond to global security challenges including Russia’s assertive behaviour in the Baltic Sea region, Stockholm said on Thursday. “We are in a context where Russia has annexed Crimea,” Swedish Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist told AFP,...
5m users without phones as rebels seize telecom firm in Ukraine
KIEV: A fifth of a million phone users in Ukraine’s rebel-controlled eastern city of Donetsk were cut off from the rest of the country on Wednesday after armed men took over the offices and equipment of the main fixed-line telecoms company, its director said. Pro-Russian separatists had warned they would seize businesses in areas they...
Ukraine’s first differently-abled model breaks taboos
Kiev: When Alexandra Kutas headlined a recent fashion show in Kiev it was not just a personal dream come true but also a victory for differently-abled people in her homeland Ukraine. Wearing a long, black dress, she wowed the crowd as she was carried across the catwalk on a wooden throne by four trim men, becoming the first differently-abled...
EU member states approve visa-free travel for Georgia
BRUSSELS: European Union (EU) member states on Monday approved visa-free travel for Georgia, after agreeing safeguards to prevent any upsurge in arrivals from the former Soviet satellite. Georgia, along with much larger Ukraine, has been urging the EU to grant visa-free travel so as to show its citizens that close ties with Europe can deliver...
Ukraine accuses rebels of breaking new ceasefire deal
DONETSK: One soldier has been killed and another wounded in eastern Ukraine, the army said on Monday, as it accused rebels of breaking a new truce deal announced at the weekend. Ukraine’s military spokesman Leonid Matyukhin said Russian-backed rebels had shelled his troops “on all fronts,” resulting in one death and one injury over the past...
Ukraine truce due to come into force today
Moscow: A truce between government forces and pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine will come into force Monday, Moscow and Kiev said, though some separatists were already labelling it unfeasible. Saturday’s announcement comes after nearly 30 people lost their lives as violence flared again earlier this month in a conflict that has left...
Ukraine’s leader warns of power cuts
KIEV: Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko warned on Thursday that nationalist protesters blocking a railway to the coal-rich Russian-backed separatist east could cause power outages across the country and job losses as a result. Ultranationalists have put a stop to a railway line since the start of the year between the coal-producing east and...
Pirates kidnap 7 Russians, 1 Ukrainian in Nigerian waters
LAGOS: Pirates have kidnapped seven Russians and one Ukrainian after attacking the cargo ship the BBC Caribbean off the coast of Nigeria, the Russian embassy said on its official Twitter account. The embassy has asked Nigerian authorities to assist in locating the abducted people, it said late on Tuesday. The Nigerian navy and police were not...
EU’s top diplomats vow to uphold Russia sanctions
BRUSSELS: The European Union’s (EU) top diplomats vowed on Monday to uphold sanctions against Russia for destabilising conflict-torn Ukraine, despite confusion over how US President Donald Trump plans to manage his relations with Moscow. Determined to wait no longer for a clear message from Washington, EU foreign ministers said their...
Trump says he respects ‘killer’ Putin
PALM BEACH: President Donald Trump has rebuffed calls for a tougher stance on Russia, playing down political assassinations inside the country and Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Trump — now two weeks into his four-year term — showed no signs of yielding to demands from within his own Republican Party to distance himself from President...
