Section: KXAN (USA)
Ukraine’s police chief resigns, complains of gov’t pressure
MOSCOW (AP) — Ukraine’s police chief, who was driving reforms through the country’s notoriously corrupt police force, has resigned after a year in the job, complaining of government pressure. Khatiya Dekanoidze, who also was a deputy interior minister, told a televised news conference Monday that her official powers were “not enough...
Trump win prods European diplomats to seek greater role
BRUSSELS (AP) — Top EU diplomats are calling for more robust European defense and a greater European voice in world affairs as Donald Trump — whose isolationist, protectionist promises have worried many on this side of the Atlantic — prepares to assume the U.S. presidency. With many question marks around Trump’s foreign policy plans, EU...
Report: German coalition agrees on Steinmeier as president
BERLIN (AP) — The parties making up Germany’s coalition government are reported to have agreed to support the foreign minister becoming the country’s next president. Frank-Walter Steinmeier would take over the largely ceremonial role as head of state from Joachim Gauck, whose five-year term ends in February. German news agency dpa...
Bulgaria premier resigns after party loses presidential vote
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria’s prime minister handed in his resignation to parliament Monday after results showed his party losing badly in the presidential runoff, opening the way for an early parliamentary election. Boiko Borisov’s move comes after official results show Socialist-backed candidate Rumen Radev, a former...
EU foreign ministers to gather to grapple with Trump impact
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union foreign ministers will gather Sunday to discuss the impact of Donald Trump’s election on trans-Atlantic ties and whether it will complicate relations with an increasingly belligerent Russia. At informal dinner talks in Brussels, well away from the media, the ministers will debate how many of Trump’s...
Pro-Russia candidate favorite in Moldova presidential runoff
CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — Moldovans are voting in a presidential election Sunday in which the favorite has promised to restore ties with Russia that cooled after the former Soviet republic signed a trade deal with the European Union. Igor Dodon, a pro-Moscow figure, has tapped into popular anger with corruption under the pro-European government...
Saakashvili declares push for early elections in Ukraine
MOSCOW (AP) — Mikhail Saakashvili, the former Georgian president who has resigned as governor of Ukraine’s Odessa region, says he will push for early elections in the country. Saakashvili said Friday that his goal is to hold “early parliamentary elections as quickly as possible.” He said his political movement will team up with other...
Trump’s election boosts Kremlin hopes for better relations
MOSCOW (AP) — In careful phrasing befitting the spy he once was, Vladimir Putin has made it clear he expects a great deal from President-elect Donald Trump. And, the billionaire businessman may expect a transactional relationship with Putin. Although the Kremlin clearly detested Hillary Clinton, Putin’s public statements on Trump’s...
Saakashvili steps down as head of corruption-plagued Odessa
MOSCOW (AP) — Mikhail Saakashvili, the former Georgian president who became governor of Ukraine’s Odessa region, announced Monday that he is resigning in frustration at what he characterized as obstruction in efforts to root out corruption. Saakashvili was appointed governor of the corruption-riddled Black Sea region in May 2015 by...
Putin leads inauguration of statue of Prince Vladimir
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has led ceremonies launching a large statue outside the Kremlin to a 10th-century prince of Kiev who is credited with making Orthodox Christianity the official faith of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. In a speech by the 16-meter-tall (52-feet-tall) bronze monument to Prince Vladimir, Putin said the...
