Section: Daily News & Analysis (India)
‘Russia considers softening food import ban’
Russian Agriculture Minister Nikolai Fyodorov said his ministry was considering softening its ban on food imports from a series of European Union countries, Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday. The embargo, introduced last year in response to Western sanctions imposed on Moscow for its role in the Ukraine crisis, restricted many European...
Ukraine PM hopes for gas talks with EU, Russia on March 20
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on Wednesday he hoped talks on natural gas supplies would take place with European partners and Russia on March 20. “I hope on the 20th there will be talks with European partners with the participation of Russia to reach an agreement on supplies of natural gas in the summer period,” he...
‘Russia says has right to deploy nuclear weapons in Crimea’
Russia has the right to deploy nuclear arms in the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine last year, a Foreign Ministry official said on Wednesday, adding he knew of no plans to do so. “I don’t know if there are nuclear weapons there now. I don’t know about any plans, but in principle Russia can do...
Bihar to consider foreign MBBS degree holders for BHS jobs
In an attempt to boost up the shortage of doctors and perking up health facilities in the state, the Bihar government on Tuesday decided to consider foreign MBBS degree holders for employment in Bihar Health Services (BHS). A decision in this regard was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Earlier MBBS degree holders...
Vladimir Putin says plan to take Crimea hatched before referendum
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he ordered officials to start work on taking control of Crimea weeks before a referendum which, the Kremlin has asserted until now, prompted the region’s annexation from Ukraine. Russian state television channel Rossiya-1 aired a brief extract of an interview in which Putin said he had called an...
German foreign minister sees reduction of violence in east Ukraine
Violence in eastern Ukraine has reduced significantly since a ceasefire deal was agreed in Minsk, Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Monday during a visit to Romania. “A clear beginning was made,” he said, according to a Romanian interpreter. “There’s a significant reduction of violence after...
Nemtsov friend says Islamist motive for Moscow killing is nonsensical
A colleague of Boris Nemtsov, the Russian opposition figure shot dead near Moscow’s Red Square, said suggestions he was killed by Islamists were nonsensical and useful for the Kremlin because they deflected accusations that officials were involved. Speculation about an Islamist link strengthened after investigators charged a man from the...
Air travel ‘safer’ in 2014 despite Malaysian disasters: Air Transport Association
Last year was by some measures the safest in the history of commercial aviation, despite two high-profile crashes involving Malaysia Airlines aircraft in which hundreds of people were killed, a leading industry body said on Monday. While more people died in air accidents in 2014 than the average in recent years, the number of fatal accidents...
Russian court orders three Nemtsov suspects kept in custody
A Moscow court on Sunday ruled that three men suspected of involvement in the killing of opposition figure Boris Nemtsov be kept in custody, Interfax news agency reported. The three were Shagid Gubashev, Ramzan Bakhayev and Tamerlan Eskerkhanov. The court earlier ruled that Zaur Dadayev, who has been charged over the killing, be held in custody....
‘Rebel sniper kills Ukrainian serviceman despite ceasefire’
One Ukrainian serviceman has been killed and three wounded as a result of fighting in separatist eastern territories in the past 24 hours despite a ceasefire deal, Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said on Sunday. Attacks have fallen significantly in the past two weeks, but accusations of continued violence on both sides show the...
