Section: AsiaOne (Singapore)
Electricity from Ukraine to Crimea shut off after power pylons blown up: Russian media
MOSCOW – Electricity supplies from Ukraine to Crimea were entirely shut off on Saturday night after power pylons in Ukraine were blown up, Russian media reported on Sunday morning.Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry has declared a state of emergency in Crimea until power is fully restored, news agency RIA reported.Power supplies...
IMF mission sets date for Ukraine reform review
KIEV – An International Monetary Fund mission will arrive in Kiev on Thursday to assess progress made under its US$17.5 billion bailout programme, the Fund’s Ukraine representative Jerome Vacher said in a statement on Wednesday. …read more Source:...
Internet freedom falls for fifth year in row: survey
WASHINGTON – Global online freedom declined for a fifth consecutive year as more governments stepped up electronic surveillance and clamped down on dissidents using blogs or social media, a survey showed Wednesday.The annual report by non-government watchdog Freedom House said the setbacks were especially noticeable in the Middle East,...
May the police force be with you: Chewbacca arrested at Ukraine polls
ODESSA, Ukraine – A man dressed as Star Wars character Chewbacca was detained and fined for disobeying police during local polls in Ukraine on Sunday.The Wookiee warrior – an activist from a marginal political party – was apprehended by police in the southwestern city of Odessa after refusing to present his ID as he posed...
Russian navy holds drill to ‘repel strikes’ on Crimea
MOSCOW – Russia said Monday its navy is holding drills off the coast of Crimea to practise thwarting an attack on the Black Sea peninsula it annexed from Ukraine last year. …read more Source:...
Pro-Western coalition faces survival test in Ukraine vote
The polls come during a lull in fighting and with worries growing that Ukraine is slipping off the global radar despite just turning into Europe’s second-poorest country and still standing as a bulwark against Russia’s feared expansion west.Twenty months have passed since the ex-Soviet nation sparked the world’s imagination...
Ukrainians transform famed Lenin statue into Darth Vader
ODESSA, Ukraine – Just in time for the release of the latest “Star Wars” blockbuster, Ukrainians have transformed a statue of Lenin into one of Darth Vader, an oddly prominent figure in local politics.Soviet founder Lenin – long despised by most in non-separatist parts of Ukraine – fell victim to a law adopted in...
Stalin portraits and Soviet nostalgia rule in Ukraine’s rebel regions
DONETSK, Ukraine – Three portraits of former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin are on display in the centre of Donetsk, the rebel capital of eastern Ukraine, as the separatist authorities fuel a mood of Soviet nostalgia.The portraits, adorning a main square, seem to go down well with one young woman walking past.”I think the portraits of...
Merkel offers German investment if Ukraine tackles corruption
BERLIN – Chancellor Angela Merkel pressed Ukraine on Saturday to tackle corruption and roll back the influence of oligarchs, saying German businesses are ready to invest there if the right conditions are in place.Merkel made her remarks ahead of a visit to Berlin by Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk next Friday, when the two leaders...
Main findings in the MH17 air disaster
GILZE-RIJEN, Netherlands – Air crash investigators on Tuesday said a BUK missile fired from eastern Ukraine ripped through Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 last year killing all 298 people on board.The final report into the July 17, 2014 disaster was released after a 15-month investigation by an international team led by the Dutch Safety...
