Section: AsiaOne (Singapore)
Moscow troupe strives to keep jailed Putin critics from being forgotten
MOSCOW- Peering at the audience from behind mesh hammocks as if through prison bars, actors at an independent Moscow theatre tell the story of a dozen people still in jail three years after a protest against President Vladimir Putin.The first night of the play, written to remember those arrested on the eve of Putin’s third presidential...
Russia’s Putin says cooperation with West to continue
ST PETERSBURG, Russia – Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday he was confident Moscow’s cooperation with the West would continue.Putin, addressing the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, also said Russia was committed to ensuring a transparent and predictable economy for investors.Ties between Russia and the West...
Ukraine parliament fires powerful security chief
KIEV – Ukraine’s parliament Thursday fired the powerful head of the SBU state security service after he fell foul of President Petro Poroshenko and became embroiled in a conflict with the nation’s chief prosecutor.”The Verkhovna Rada (parliament) supported my proposal to dismiss Valentyn Nalyvaychenko from his post as head...
Green love-in at Paris Air Show but weak sales
LE BOURGET, France – It was a love-in between ministers and industry execs as the Paris Air Show focused on environmental issues Thursday, but it capped a week of lacklustre sales for big hitters Airbus and Boeing.A mini-conference on the air industry’s contribution to tackling climate change at the world’s premier air show saw...
Putin says Russia is beefing up its nuclear arsenal
KUBINKA, Russia – President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday Russia would add more than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles to its nuclear arsenal this year and a defence official accused NATO of provoking a new arms race.Putin made his announcement a day after Russian officials denounced a US plan to station tanks and heavy weapons in...
Russia warns it would react should US station arms in Baltics, eastern Europe
MOSCOW – A senior Russian Defence Ministry official warned on Monday that Moscow would boost its forces on its Western flank should the United States store heavy arms in the Baltic states and eastern Europe.A US official said over the weekend that Washington planned to store heavy military equipment in the Baltics and eastern Europe to...
Malaysia Airlines makes emergency landing in Melbourne
SYDNEY – A Malaysia Airlines flight returned safely to Melbourne on Friday, having turned back within minutes of take-off after an engine fire alert went off, Air Services Australia said.”There was an emergency declared, there was an ‘engine fire’alert in the cabin. The plane proceeded to dump the fuel and returned to land...
Paris Air Show goes green but sales war takes centre-stage
PARIS – With air passenger numbers set to double to six billion annually by 2030, the world’s premier air show in Paris will next week focus on green issues even as the aircraft sales war remains centre stage.The Paris Air Show brings together some 315,000 visitors and 2,260 exhibitors from 47 countries, with much of the attention...
Giant statue of Orthodox prince stirs controversy in Moscow
MOSCOW – Scaffolding surrounds the vast clay sculpture-in-progress inside a warehouse on Moscow’s outskirts, yet already the statue of Vladimir the Great has caused an outcry as big as the monument itself.The 24-metre (78-feet) high likeness of the man who brought Christianity to Kievan Rus – the forerunner of modern Russia and...
Washington accuses Russia of ‘outright lies’ on Ukraine
KIEV – Washington’s UN envoy accused Russia on Thursday of spinning “outright lies” on Ukraine designed to hide the Kremlin’s direct involvement in a war it launched to thwart Kiev’s pro-Western drive.Samantha Power’s address to a crowd of hundreds in Kiev delivered one of Washington’s toughest...
