Section: theSun (Malaysia)
40,000 rally against government in ex-Soviet Moldova
CHISINAU: Some 40,000 opposition demonstrators on Sunday took to the streets of Moldova’s capital Chisinau calling for early elections as a political crisis continues to rock the tiny ex-Soviet state. The protest movement — which includes forces from the left and right that are considered both pro-European and pro-Russian — has stepped up...
Western sanctions ‘severely’ harming Russia: Putin
BERLIN: President Vladimir Putin acknowledged Monday in an interview with German daily Bild that Western economic sanctions over the Ukraine crisis are affecting Russia. “Concerning our possibilities on the international financial markets, the sanctions are severely harming Russia,” he said in a long interview, calling the EU...
IT experts say Ukraine blackout caused by a cyberattack
KIEV: A power failure that plunged parts of western Ukraine into the dark last month was caused by a cyberattack, IT experts said Tuesday, and one source called it a world first. The blackout, which hit a large part of the western region of Ivano-Frankivsk on Dec 23, was due to a computer virus, they said. The local electricity company,...
Japan PM Abe approaches Russia for peace deal, anti-terrorism
TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (pix) courted Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, holding out the prospect for a summit as he renewed his call for progress on an elusive World War II peace treaty. The two countries have never officially struck a peace accord more than after 70 years after the end of the conflict amid a...
Merkel takes centre stage in EU’s year of crises
BERLIN: In a year of crises for Europe, from the Ukraine war to Greece’s debt turmoil to the historic refugee influx, Germany’s Angela Merkel emerged as the continent’s de facto leader, drawing more praise and fire than ever. Whether spearheading EU diplomacy with Moscow, bargaining with Athens over tough bail-out terms or...
Cameron hails progress on EU deal
BRUSSELS: British Prime Minister David Cameron closed in on a difficult reform deal with European Union leaders at a summit on Thursday but warned there would be hard work to seal an accord by February as hoped. After appealing to sceptical EU counterparts for help at a dinner in Brussels, Cameron said afterwards there was a “pathway”...
US brings ambitious Syria peace plan to UN
NEW YORK: Senior international envoys began gathering in New York on Thursday to seek UN backing for an ambitious US and Russian plan to seek a negotiated ceasefire in Syria’s brutal civil war. US Secretary of State John Kerry has already traveled to Moscow this week to assure Bashar al-Assad’s key Russian ally that Washington is not...
Western arms makers see sales fall, Russia rises: Sipri
STOCKHOLM: Arms manufacturers in North America and Western Europe dominated international arms sales in 2014, but their market share dropped while Russian and Asian companies saw theirs rise, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) reported Monday. Total turnover for the 100 biggest arms and military services companies...
Time names Merkel as its ‘Person of 2015’
NEW YORK: Time magazine Wednesday named German Chancellor Angela Merkel as its “Person of the Year 2015,” hailing her leadership for navigating debt and refugee crises that threatened to tear the European Union apart. “For asking more of her country than most politicians would dare, for standing firm against tyranny as well as...
Biden in Ukraine to push reforms, reaffirm US support
KIEV: US Vice President Joe Biden meets Ukrainian leaders on Monday to kickstart their drive against corruption and reassure them of Western support in the face of the current focus on Syria. Biden’s visit is his fourth to Kiev since Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in March 2014 and then watched with approval as pro-Kremlin...
