Section: South China Morning Post (China)
EU extends sanctions against Russia due to lack of progress over Ukraine
EU leaders agreed on Thursday to roll over damaging economic sanctions against Russia for another six months because Moscow has failed to meet its Ukraine ceasefire commitments, EU president Donald Tusk said. “Agreed. EU will extend economic sanctions against Russia for their lack of implementing the Minsk agreement,” Tusk tweeted at an EU...
Russia calls off talks with United States because of new sanctions against Moscow
Russia cancelled talks with a top US official to protest the latest sanctions punishing Russian companies and individuals over the conflict in Ukraine, in a fresh setback for President Donald Trump’s bid to improve ties with President Vladimir Putin’s government. Under Secretary of State Thomas Shannon had been scheduled to fly to St...
Trump holds brief ‘drop in’ meeting with Ukrainian leader Poroshenko
President Donald Trump met with his Ukrainian counterpart on Tuesday amid intensifying questions over whether his administration will step in to protect partners in the face of Russian aggression. The meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was originally described by the White House as a brief “drop-in.” But the two presidents posed...
Ukraine says foreign policy goal now is Nato membership in move sure to anger Russia
Ukraine’s parliament set Nato membership as a key foreign-policy goal, replacing the non-aligned status adopted by ousted Kremlin-backed President Viktor Yanukovych in a move that’s likely to further sour relations with Russia. A bill submitted by the ruling coalition was backed by 276 lawmakers in the 450-seat legislature Thursday in...
Crisis? What crisis? World ignores displaced Africans, aid agency says
The world pays the least attention to humanitarian crises when they force Africans from their homes, dashing hopes of peace, hindering reconstruction and increasing the risk of radicalisation, an aid agency said on Thursday. Central African Republic topped the Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) annual list of neglected displacement crises....
Watch incredible moment water pipe explodes after inflating carpark surface like a balloon
Surveillance video has captured the incredible moment that a water main burst in Kiev, Ukraine, with such force that it inflated the asphalt surface of a carpark like a balloon, before erupting on a fountain of mud and debris. The CCTV footage shot on Monday and timestamped at 1.58pm, also shows the aftermath of the muddy explosion: a...
Stage set for ‘demanding’ talks between France and Russia as Macron hosts Putin in latest diplomatic test
On a visit likely to shape ties between the two countries for years, French President Emmanuel Macron hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin at the sumptuous Palace of Versailles on Monday for what would be “demanding” talks on Syria, the Ukrainian crisis and issues driving the rift between Russia and the West. Following the meeting, Macron told...
Portugal's big-hearted crooner sings gentle romantic ballad, wins Eurovision
A few weeks ago, Salvador Sobral, the 27-year-old Portuguese crooner who won Saturday’s Eurovision Song Contest, was an unknown artist waiting for a heart transplant. But his intimate rendering of the melancholic Amar Pelos Dois (For the Both of Us) written by his older sister Luisa – a success in her own right – scored a huge...
‘They will find your body when it snows’: Ukraine soldiers bombarded by ‘pinpoint propaganda’ texts
Television journalist Julia Kirienko was sheltering with Ukrainian soldiers and medics 3km from the front when their cellphones began buzzing over the noise of the shelling. Everyone got the same text message at the same time. “Ukrainian soldiers,” it warned, “they’ll find your bodies when the snow melts.” Text messages like the one...
Was Steven Seagal’s ‘bromance’ with Russia’s Putin behind Ukraine’s blacklist?
Steven Seagal, the American actor best known for his role in ‘90s action movies such as Hard to Kill and Under Siege, has been blacklisted from the Ukraine as a national security threat. Seagal is banned from entering the country for five years on grounds he has “committed socially dangerous actions … that contradict the interests of...
