Section: US & Canada
Europe’s Cheesy Musical Proxy War
Ivan Plis Politics, Eurasia This year’s Eurovision Song Contest was a microcosm of regional dynamics. The Eurovision Song Contest isn’t supposed to matter. It’s the vehicle that launched ABBA and Céline Dion to stardom, the realm of ill-conceived, earnest performances that are as divorced from good musical taste as they are from...
Russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny, Supporters Attacked
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and fellow anti-corruption activists were attacked, thrown to the ground and kicked by a group of men at an airport in southern Russia on Tuesday, according to video posted on social media. Footage showed the assailants, described by Navalny as Cossacks and wearing traditional fur hats, some in...
Jamala Says Song More Artistic Than Political
Ukrainian Eurovision winner Jamala said her song was more about music and feelings than politics. Speaking at a news conference in Kyiv, she said she was “sad” it was being linked to politics. The song, entitled 1944, tells the story of the deportations of Crimean Tatars under Stalin — and has been widely seen as a comment on...
Russian Opposition Leader Navalny Attacked And Beaten In Airport
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and fellow anti-corruption activists were attacked, thrown to the ground and kicked by a group of men at an airport in southern Russia on Tuesday, according to video posted on social media.Footage showed the assailants, described by Navalny as Cossacks and wearing traditional fur...
Ukraine’s Foreign Fighters Battle For Citizenship
On both sides of the war in Ukraine, foreign fighters have flocked in their thousands to take part, many of them from the former Soviet Union.Whilst thousands of regular Russian soldiers and volunteers have fought alongside the DNR and LNR separatists, a number of Russians and Belorussians have also fought for the Ukrainians. With the worst of...
Putin ready to discuss downing of passenger jet in Ukraine with Malaysian PM: Kremlin
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to discuss the issue of the downing of a Malaysian airliner in Ukraine in 2014… …read more Source:...
Ukraine President Honors Eurovision Winner Jamala with Award
Eurovision Song Contest winner Jamala has been awarded the title of Honored Artist of Ukraine in Kyiv following her weekend victory at the competition with her “1944” song about war-time deportations of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union. Ukrainian politicians, including President Petro Poroshenko, who handed the singer the award on...
How Home Sewing Personalized Fashion
I am on the short side of petite, so clothes shopping is often a problem. But my mother, a gifted seamstress, always came to the rescue with her round, gold sewing tin with the red-and-green, mid-century starbursts on it. She’d instruct me to climb up on the dining room table so she could hem pants that puddled at my ankles and skirts that...
All the President’s Men
Why President Poroshenko’s latest power grab shows that the reform process in Ukraine is stalling. …read more Source: Foreign...
Eurovision Winner Jamala Says Song Won On Artistic, Not Political, Grounds
Ukrainian singer Jamala says she rejects criticism that her song 1944 took top prize at the Eurovision Song Contest for political rather than artistic reasons. …read more Source: Radio Free Europe / Radio...
