Section: US & Canada
Ukraine abandons nonaligned status
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s parliament has voted to abandon the country’s nonaligned status, a move that could be a step toward seeking membership in NATO. Although Ukraine had pursued NATO membership several years ago, it declared itself a non-bloc country after Russia-friendly Viktor Yanukovych became president in 2010....
OPEC will not cut output even at $20 a barrel: Saudi
Riyadh (AFP) – OPEC will not cut oil production even if the price drops to $20 a barrel and it is unfair to expect the cartel to reduce output if non-members do not, Saudi Arabia said.”Whether it goes down to $20 a barrel, $40, $50, $60, it is irrelevant,” the kingdom’s Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said in an interview with...
Ukraine’s rebel university goes Russian in separatist-held Donetsk
In eastern Ukraine, where the country’s pro-Russian insurgency has claimed thousands of lives, the region’s top university is a major victim of the bitterness and rifts the fighting has caused. …read more Source: CTV...
No easy solution for Vladimir Putin and Russia
As economic gloom settles over Moscow, parts of the Russian capital have become Potemkin villages. The most splendid of these still prosperous looking facades is Moscow City, a shiny $14 billion forest of glass and steel skyscrapers that includes four of Europe’s five tallest buildings with the tallest building of all still under...
Ukraine’s rebel university goes Russian
DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — In eastern Ukraine, where the country’s pro-Russian insurgency has claimed thousands of lives, the region’s top university is a major victim of the bitterness and rifts the fighting has caused. …read more Source: U.S....
Ukraine votes to drop non-aligned status and work towards Nato membership
Ukraine’s parliament has voted to drop the country’s non-aligned status and work towards Nato membership. Russia reacted quickly to the move, calling it an “unfriendly step” that will only “add to nuisances” in ties. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had pledged to apply for Nato membership due to Russia’s support for rebels...
Ukraine parliament takes historic step toward NATO
Kiev (AFP) – Ukraine’s parliament took a historic step toward NATO membership on Tuesday by overwhelmingly voting to revoke the nation’s neutral status, which it adopted under Russian pressure in 2010.The Verkhovna Rada parliament voted 303-8 in favour of dropping the ex-Soviet state’s “non-aligned nation”...
Apple Reopens Online Store In Russia With Massive Price Increases On iPhone 6 (AAPL)
Apple has reopened its online store in Russia, after closing it last week due to instability in the ruble. But Russian consumers logging onto the reopened store have discovered that the price of the iPhone has shot up during the downtime. Computer World reports that the 16GB iPhone 6 now costs 53,990 rubles (around $991). Before the store shut,...
Canada under pressure to strengthen Ukraine crisis response
The Conservative government is under pressure over its refusal to provide “lethal” military aid to Ukraine or to sanction three Russians tied to both Vladimir Putin and Canadian businesses. The government announced economic sanctions and travel bans against 11 additional Russian officials and nine Ukrainian separatist leaders last week in...
See Life in Eastern Ukraine’s Underground Shelters
When photographer Ross McDonnell went to cover the ongoing Ukrainian crisis as a freelancer, he felt his photographs didn’t stand apart from the hundreds being produced in the region at that time. “You are dealing with very intense circumstances and you come away from that feeling like you haven’t had [any] real connection to the...
