Section: US & Canada
Russian sponsor of FIFA world cup sanctioned as tournament ended
Questions are being raised over why the Conservative government waited until the last week of the FIFA Women’s World Cup to sanction a Russian gas company that was one of the soccer tournament’s largest sponsors. State-controlled Gazprom was among 14 Russian organizations added to Canada’s sanctions list on June 29 in...
Situation Report: The politics of an Iran deal; numbers game in Syria; Taliban talks; a shrinking U.S. Army; Chechens in Ukraine; and lots more
By Paul McLeary with Adam Rawnsley Out of step. Even if the White House gets the deal with Tehran that it’s looking for, actually implementing the agreement to curtail Iran’s nuclear program will likely take a bruising fight on Capitol Hill. But while Republicans control the Hill, they aren’t the only hurdle that President...
Ukraine reviews domestic gas options
Daniel J. GraeberKIEV, Ukraine, July 8 (UPI) — Ukraine’s prime minister said the country must wean itself off foreign natural gas within 10 years, offering tax breaks as an incentive to private companies. …read more Source: United Press...
Talks to resolve Ukraine conflict end without results
MINSK, Belarus (AP) — The negotiating group aiming at resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine has ended its latest round of talks without firm results. …read more Source: CNS...
Russian economic winds blow cold in Chinese border town
Heihe (China) (AFP) – The warmth of the friendship between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin — who meet Wednesday for the eighth time in two years — does little to counter the bitter economic winds blowing through their shared border.In the Chinese city of Heihe, neon-lit high-rises line the banks of...
Tense and fatigued, negotiators extend Iran nuclear talks past deadline
JUDY WOODRUFF: The latest deadline to reach a nuclear weapons agreement with Iran came and went today, with no deal to show for it. Iran, the United States, and five other major world powers will keep negotiating for a long-term agreement that tackles some of its most contentious issues. No new formal deadline has been set. And at the White House...
Iran is winning — and they know it
A comprehensive nuclear deal with Iran could be just days away. The US and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany (the so-called P5+1) are set to work past a July 9 deadline during negotiations in Vienna, after working through an original deadline of June 30th. And though an anonymous source “close to...
Ukraine: Is the Retreat of Russian-Backed Rebels for Real?
A thunderstorm loomed over Mariupol on the afternoon of July 6. To the north, the sky turned dark and a cool prestorm breeze kicked up as the sounds of distant thunder began to roll in. A waitress at the Natalka coffee shop on Prospekt Lenina smiled and said, “It’s only a storm. Not artillery.” After a nearly five-month-long standoff,...
Fake letter sparks allegations of US meddling in Ukraine
An apparently forged letter purporting to come from the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat appeared to show Washington lawmakers meddling in internal Ukrainian politics.Sen. Dick Durbin’s (D-Ill.) signature was faked on the letter apparently sent to Ukrainian… …read more Source: The...
How Greece Became European
The School of Athens (Raphael / Public domain) Greece is the cradle of European civilization, but is it even in Europe? The answer might seem obvious: The country is on the European landmass, of course, and it’s part of the European Union—for now at least. But the question has been fraught, and the answers have been unstable, contingent,...
