Section: Free Malaysia Today (Malaysia)
West condemns Nemtsov murder as Putin vows to punish killers
MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin on Saturday vowed to punish the killers of Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov as Russian opposition figures denounced what they called a “political murder” and Western leaders called for a full probe. The 55-year-old former deputy premier, a vocal Putin critic prominent at opposition rallies, was shot in the back...
Russian opposition leader Nemtsov shot dead: official
MOSCOW: Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, a fierce critic of President Vladmir Putin, was shot dead in central Moscow late Friday ahead of a major opposition rally this weekend, investigators and police said. “In central Moscow, a man with documents in the name of Boris Yefimovich Nemtsov was killed,” an interior ministry spokesman told...
Putin ‘destabilizing’ Ukraine, Kerry says
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State John Kerry accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of destabilizing Ukraine through “land grabs,” warning Moscow and the rebels had failed to meet the terms of a tattered ceasefire. Putin had put in place policies which “violate all the international norms with respect to territory and behavior,” Kerry told...
World response to armed groups like IS ‘shameful’: Amnesty
LONDON: World leaders have proved “shameful and ineffective” in failing to protect civilians from groups like Islamic State (IS), Amnesty International said Wednesday, calling 2014 a “catastrophic” year. In its 415-page annual report detailing abuses in 160 countries, the group accused governments of “pretending the protection of civilians is...
Russia ‘undermining’ global world order: US
WASHINGTON: In some of its sharpest criticism to date, Washington accused Moscow on Friday of “undermining” the global order by supporting rebels in eastern Ukraine. Germany and France also demanded that a crumbling Ukraine truce be “fully respected,” but the words appeared hollow as pro-Russian rebels celebrated a battlefield victory in the...
IS group poses gravest threat to US: poll
WASHINGTON: Americans believe the Islamic State group poses the most serious threat to the United States in the next decade, according to a poll released Friday. Eighty-four percent of those quizzed by Gallup said IS jihadists, who have grabbed large areas of Iraq and Syria in a brutal onslaught, and terrorism in general presented a “critical...
‘Drastic decline’ in media freedom worldwide
PARIS: Media freedom suffered a “drastic decline” worldwide last year in part because of extremist groups such as Islamic State and Boko Haram, the watchdog group Reporters Without Borders said in its annual evaluation released Thursday. “There has been an overall deterioration linked to very different factors, with information wars, and action...
Ukraine peace summit overshadowed by some of war’s worst fighting
KIEV: The leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine were due to attend a peace summit on Wednesday, but Ukraine’s pro-Moscow separatists diminished the chance of a deal by launching some of the war’s worst fighting in an assault on a government garrison. Kiev said 19 of its soldiers were killed in a day of pro-Russian separatist...
Malfunction forces AirAsia X to abort flight, turn back: CEO
KUALA LUMPUR: A system malfunction forced the pilots of an AirAsia X flight from Kuala Lumpur to Jeddah to abort the flight and return to Malaysia on Sunday, the AirAsia Group’s CEO said. The incident sparked fresh questions on social media about the Malaysian airline’s safety record as it struggles in the aftermath of the loss of...
Australian PM brings forward vote on leadership to Monday
SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, fighting for his political life, said he would bring forward to Monday a meeting of his parliamentary colleagues to consider a challenge to his leadership, in an effort to halt a destabilizing internal revolt. A member of Abbott’s ruling conservative Liberal Party called on Friday for a secret...
