Section: theSun (Malaysia)
Portuguese crooner wins Eurovision as conflict mars Kiev’s party
KIEV: Portugal won the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time ever early Sunday with a melancholy ballad performed by a singer who suffers from a serious heart condition. The fado-tinged song “Amar Pelos Dois” was performed by 27-year-old Salvador Sobral, who is awaiting a heart transplant. It scored a crushing victory, winning...
Eurovision shines spotlight on LGBT struggle in Ukraine
KIEV: Ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest final in Kiev, an extravaganza embraced by the LGBT community, Ukraine’s “Celebrate Diversity” motto sounds more like wishful thinking than a fact of life. Weighed down by a restrictive Soviet heritage but filled with lofty European aspirations, the crisis-torn east European country...
Hollande makes emotional final foreign stop in Berlin
BERLIN: Outgoing French President Francois Hollande made an emotional final foreign trip on Monday to Berlin, ahead of the transfer of power to his successor Emmanuel Macron next week. Chancellor Angela Merkel greeted him warmly at the entrance of the Chancellery before a one-on-one conversation and dinner in the city, sealing an unlikely...
Putin urges Macron to shed mutual distrust and ‘join forces’
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday urged French election winner Emmanuel Macron to bridge deep rifts and work together in the face of the “growing threat of terrorism and violent extremism”. “The citizens of France entrusted you to lead the country in a difficult period for Europe and for the entire world...
Merkel to hold Putin talks on rare Russia visit
SOCHI, Russia: German Chancellor Angela Merkel will on Tuesday meet President Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on her first visit to Russia since 2015, in a signal of renewed dialogue as deep strains remain over Ukraine. The Russian and German leaders have scaled back links as Moscow’s ties with the EU plunged to a post-Cold...
Ukraine, Belarus leaders visit Chernobyl to mark anniversary
KIEV: The presidents of Ukraine and Belarus toured Wednesday the site of the Chernobyl plant to mark 31 years since the world’s worst civil nuclear accident spewed radiation across Europe. The plant in the north of former Soviet Ukraine exploded in 1986 after a safety test went horribly wrong at 1:23am on April 26. Around 30 people were...
American OSCE monitor killed in rebel east Ukraine
KIEV: An American monitor with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe died after a mission patrol vehicle hit a landmine in the Russian-backed separatist east, eliciting sharp words towards Moscow from US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Sunday. It marked the first loss for the security body’s Special Monitoring Mission...
OSCE staff member killed by landmine in east Ukraine
KIEV: The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said Sunday one of its staff was killed after an observer mission patrol vehicle hit a landmine in rebel-held east Ukraine. It marked the first loss for the security body’s Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in Ukraine since Europe’s only war began more than three years ago....
‘Neo-Nazi’ kills 2 at FSB office in eastern Russia
MOSCOW: A gunman with alleged links to a neo-Nazi group Friday shot dead an employee of Russia’s FSB security service and a civilian at the agency’s office in a far eastern city, officials said. The FSB said the attacker – named as local resident A.V. Konev, born in 1999 – opened fire immediately after entering the reception of an FSB...
Pope urges end to Syria ‘horror’ in Easter address
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis urged an end to “horror and death” in Syria and implored God to bring peace to the Middle East as he delivered the traditional Easter Day mass in Rome on Sunday. The Easter mass, the highlight of the Christian calendar began under a cloudy sky where worshippers had gathered since the early hours to gain...
