Section: AsiaOne (Singapore)
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...
Ukrainian PM reports accident at nuclear power plant
KIEV – Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on Wednesday an accident had occurred at the Zaporizhye nuclear power plant (NPP) in south-east Ukraine and called on the energy minister to hold a news conference.”I know that an accident has occurred at the Zaporizhye NPP,” Yatseniuk said, asking new energy minister...
Obama settles on Ashton Carter as Pentagon chief, sources say
WASHINGTON – Can a career Washington technocrat break into US President Barack Obama’s tight-knit inner circle and oversee the world’s most powerful military?It looks like former Pentagon official Ashton Carter is about to find out.Administration sources said on Tuesday that Obama has settled on the 60-year-old Carter as his...
EU, US present Russia with united sanctions, energy front
BRUSSELS – US and EU leaders on Wednesday will pledge to work together on sanctions and on strengthening Europe and Ukraine’s energy security as they seek to present a united front to Russia, according to a draft document seen by Reuters.Throughout the year, the United States has led the push for tougher sanctions, while many...
China and Turkey fall behind in global corruption index
BERLIN – Turkey and China’s rating on perceived corruption has fallen steeply, according to Transparency International (TI), and the global watchdog called for closer international cooperation to root out graft and abuses of power.Transparency International issues an annual report measuring perceptions of graft rather than actual...
NATO ministers chart course on Ukraine, Afghanistan
BRUSSELS – NATO foreign ministers met in Brussels Tuesday aiming to plot a new course after a “year of aggression” from Ukraine to the Middle East and the end of the alliance’s combat mission in Afghanistan.New chief Jens Stoltenberg said as he arrived that US Secretary of State John Kerry and other ministers from the...
NATO ministers to plot course on Ukraine, Afghanistan
BRUSSELS – NATO foreign ministers meet in Brussels on Tuesday to chart a course forward after a “year of aggression” from Ukraine to the Middle East and the end of the alliance’s combat mission in Afghanistan.New chief Jens Stoltenberg said on the eve of the meeting that it was a decisive time marked by Russia’s...
MH17 wreckage to be reassembled in Netherlands for investigation
AMSTERDAM – Wreckage of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 recovered from its crash site in eastern Ukraine will be reassembled for an investigation at a military base in the Netherlands, Dutch authorities said on Monday.RELATED STORIESDowning of MH17: All the latest reportsThe wreckage, collected by local emergency services under Dutch...
Pope urges Muslim leaders to condemn Islamist terror
DE LA VAISSIERE, ISTANBUL – Pope Francis on Sunday urged Muslim leaders worldwide to “clearly” condemn terrorism carried out in the name of Islam, and called for an end to the persecution of Christians in the Middle East.Francis said he had told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that “it would be wonderful if all the...
Unruly rebel nightlife in east Ukraine
DONETSK, Ukraine, – The icy avenues of Donetsk have been silent for hours – only the garish neon of the Banana Cafe sign cuts through the gloom, defying the curfew so that rebel fighters have somewhere to drink, smoke and fight.The underground bar is open 24 hours a day and one of the few nightspots in this separatist bastion of...
