Section: The Malaysian Insider (Malaysia)
Thousands petition Putin to free mother of seven accused of treason
Tens of thousands of people petitioned President Vladimir Putin Tuesday to release a mother of seven accused of treason for having called the Ukrainian embassy about Russian troop movements. Svetlana Davydova, who faces between 12 and 20 years in prison, is being held in the high-security Lefortovo jail in Moscow. She was still...
As US faces new threats, Pentagon seeks bigger defence budget
Facing new security challenges in the Middle East and Ukraine, the Obama administration on Monday proposed a US$534 billion (RM1.9 trillion) Pentagon base budget plus US$51 billion in war funds as it urged Congress to end spending cuts it says erode US military power. The proposed base budget exceeded the US$499 billion federal spending...
Deadly clashes rage in east Ukraine after peace talks fail
Fighting raged in eastern Ukraine on Sunday as pro-Russian separatists used artillery fire to try to dislodge government forces from a strategic rail hub after peace talks collapsed. Hopes of easing the situation evaporated on Saturday with Ukraine’s representative and separatist envoys accusing each other of sabotaging negotiations…....
EU expands Russia sanctions as new Ukraine talks loom
The EU agreed Thursday to expand its sanctions against Russia as Ukraine’s warring parties announced fresh truce talks to end a surge in fighting between Kiev and Kremlin-backed rebels. Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev warned meanwhile that the threat of further sanctions risked turning the new Cold War atmosphere into a...
Unicef seeks US$3.1 billion aid for ‘new generation’ of crises
The UN children’s agency launched a record US$3.1 billion (RM11.3 billion) aid appeal today to help 62 million children at risk from a “new generation” of humanitarian crises. The threats ranged from the brutal war in Syria that shows no sign of ending after nearly four years to the Ebola outbreak in west Africa and the Ukraine...
Poroshenko, US press Putin on Ukraine violence
Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko appealed to Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Wednesday while Washington threatened tougher measures should Moscow fail to rein in separatists mounting a new offensive in the east of the ex-Soviet republic. Poroshenko’s personal letter and US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew’s warning came one day after...
Ukraine rebels announce new offensive as rockets kill 30
Pro-Kremlin rebels in eastern Ukraine announced a major new offensive Saturday after heavy rocket fire killed at least 30 people in the government-held port of Mariupol, sparking international calls for Moscow to stop backing the separatists. The local mayor’s office said 97 people were also wounded in the strategic city by dozens of…...
Dutch to collect more remains from MH17 crash site
A Dutch team is to return to the MH17 crash site in war-torn Ukraine to collect more remains of the 298 people killed when the Malaysia Airlines Boeing crashed in July, officials said Friday. “A small team including defence ministry employees will return to Kharkiv in Ukraine at the end of next week,” the Dutch security and justice...
Ukraine cedes airport on one of bloodiest days of war
Ukrainian forces on Thursday ceded a long-disputed airport to Russian-backed rebels as an upsurge in clashes killed nearly 50 people and punctured Europe’s latest push for peace in the nine-month war. The deadliest day of fighting since the signing of an increasingly irrelevant September truce also saw Moscow and Kiev trade bitter blame for...
After MH17 tragedy, US to back new system warning airlines in conflict zones
The United States will throw its support behind a proposal by the UN’s aviation agency to share information about risks to commercial aircraft over conflict zones after the downing of a Malaysian passenger plane in Ukraine last year, according to a senior US official. The UN agency’s plan falls short of what airlines sought in the...
