Section: US & Canada
Jochen Bittner: Angela Merkel — the free world’s new leader?
Hamburg, Germany — Consider the following sentences. First: “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” And second: “I call … upon Russia to use its considerable influence over...
Ukraine Peace Deal Threatened By Ongoing Violence
(LUHANSKE, Ukraine) — Intense artillery exchanges between Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed separatists persisted Monday around a strategic town in eastern Ukraine — fighting that threatens to dash a cease-fire deal brokered by European leaders last week. Under a cease-fire agreement negotiated by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia,...
Ukraine Ceasefire In Danger As Pro-Russian Rebels, Ukraine Military Fight For Debaltseve
Since the East Ukraine ceasefire began at midnight local time on Sunday, fighting in the east of the country between pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian military has largely ceased — with one exception: the city of Debaltseve. The strategically important city, a main transport hub into the contested regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, is...
Russia’s ‘Frank Sinatra’ tops new sanctions list
The EU has updated it’s list of Russians and Ukrainians who have had their European assets frozen, include a famous crooner. …read more Source:...
Ukraine cease-fire teeters on isolated town
A cease-fire forged by European leaders last week was reportedly in jeopardy Monday as Russian-backed rebels clashed with Ukrainian forces.Last week, Ukraine and Russia agreed to a cease-fire that would have created a demilitarized zone along the… …read more Source: The...
Canada opposes 15 Palestinian attempts to join United Nations treaties
OTTAWA – Canada has formally opposed Palestinian attempts to join 15 different United Nations treaties and conventions — a position that puts the federal government on the wrong side of history and at odds with its citizenry, the Palestinian envoy in Ottawa says. Canada is objecting in writing to the UN because it maintains Palestine is not a...
Putin visit to Hungary shows he still has friends in Europe
The rise in support for Russia despite its aggression in Ukraine is playing out among some eastern European governments and ordinary people who may identify more with the political certainties of Russia than the complicated, messy and sometimes painful ways of Western-style democracy. Serbia, which has traditionally good relations with Russia,...
EU Resumes Direct Aid to Zimbabwe
The European Union has given Zimbabwe 234 million euros ($267 million), it said on Monday, the first time the bloc has given financial aid to the southern African nation’s government since imposing sanctions in 2002. The 28-nation EU has gradually eased biting sanctions on Zimbabwe to encourage political reform, although it has kept an...
Battle rages for town where Ukraine rebels reject ceasefire
Pro-Russian rebels pounded encircled Ukrainian government forces on Monday and Kiev said it would not pull back heavy guns while a truce was being violated, leaving a European-brokered peace deal on the verge of collapse a day after it took effect. …read more Source: The Toronto...
Putin Calls Timeout
A fragile ceasefire has gone into effect in war-torn Ukraine, after—for the second time in less than six months—a broad but vague and nonbinding agreement was reached in Minsk on Feb. 12. Prodded by French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, and...
