Section: AsiaOne (Singapore)
Troubling: Putin declares Chersonesus is sacred to Russian Orthodox Christians
Vladimir Putin lives in a scary world, where enemies plot tirelessly to undermine, trick, and destroy Russia. Containment wasn’t just a Cold War policy but a practice of Russia’s rivals for centuries. Even without a conflict in Ukraine, the United States and European Union would have come up with another pretext for imposing economic...
Europe shakes off ECB doubts before US jobs data
LONDON – Worries over spluttering growth and a downturn in commodity markets put world stocks on course for their first weekly decline in a month on Friday, as investors awaited their monthly instalment of US jobs data.Europe reclaimed some of the ground it had lost on Thursday, but after another frenetic week for markets which has seen the...
Russia’s Lavrov says West wrong to blame Moscow over Ukraine
BASEL, Switzerland – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticised the West on Friday for what he said were constant attempts to blame Russia for the crisis in east Ukraine.Speaking after a meeting of foreign ministers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation (OSCE), Lavrov said: “Our Western colleagues, some European...
Putin says foes hope to dismember Russia
MOSCOW – President Vladimir Putin accused Russia’s enemies on Thursday of seeking to carve it up and destroy its economy to punish it for becoming strong, but said his country would rise to any challenge.In a fiercely patriotic state of the union speech, the Kremlin leader trumpeted his annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula,...
Putin orders cash from Russia’s wealth fund to be used to support banks
MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that money collected in one of the country’s two “rainy day” funds should be used for supporting domestic banks, as part of broader efforts to help Moscow to overcome its economic woes.Broadly shut out of external funding due to western sanctions over...
Putin says Russia wants cooperation with the West
MOSCOW – President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia would not choose the path of isolation and would continue to cooperate with the United States and Europe, despite the Ukraine crisis.In a state of the union speech, he said Western sanctions imposed during the crisis offered a stimulus for Russian business and that Russia remained...
Putin says Russia’s enemies seek its downfall
Putin says foes hope to dismember Russia; rouble falls as he speaksMOSCOW – President Vladimir Putin accused Russia’s enemies on Thursday of seeking to carve it up and destroy its economy to punish it for growing strong, in an annual state of the union speech that seemed to outdo even his own recent strident nationalism.The Kremlin...
Putin under pressure to show he can cure Russia’s economic ills
President Vladimir Putin is under pressure to show he has a prescription to cure Russia’s rapidly growing economic ills in his annual state of the union address on Thursday.Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis, sharp falls in global oil prices and the rouble’s slide against the dollar culminated in an acknowledgement by...
Proposed U.S. ban on Russian rocket engine puts premium on replacement
A proposed ban on purchases of a Russian-made rocket engine to launch US military satellites will speed up the development of an American-made replacement, the head of United Launch Alliance, a Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co joint venture, said on Wednesday.A compromise defence policy bill in Congress would bar the purchase of more...
Topless Salvini woos Italy’s voters from bedroom
ROME – Matteo Salvini, the 41-year-old leader of the anti-euro Northern League party, chose a bare-chested, bedroom photoshoot in a weekly magazine on Wednesday to underline his status as the newest sensation in Italian politics.Despite the gimmick, Salvini, who took over his party last year after a financial scandal brought down its...
