Section: Newsweek (USA)
Pope Condemns Violence, Persecution in Iraq and Syria, in Christmas Message
Pope Francis used the traditional Christmas Day address to condemn violence and persecution around the world Thursday, and prayed for peace and fraternity to alleviate suffering. Thousands gathered in St. Peters Square at the Vatican to hear the pope give his second “Urbi et Orbi” address, or address “to the city and the world,” since being...
Who Gets Hurt With Russia’s Falling Ruble?
When an economic crisis looms, Russians go shopping. As the ruble crashed through new lows last month, tills buzzed late into the night in the mega-malls that surround Moscow’s ring road as Muscovites rushed to buy Ikea sofas, new cars and washing machines. Russian state television, attempting to put a cheerful spin on the ruble’s...
Report: 60 Journalists Killed in 2014, Syria Deadliest Country
On August 19 this year, a video that purported to show the beheading of freelance journalist James Foley horrified the world. Images of Foley dressed in orange kneeling next to a black-clad person claiming to be a member of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, flooded television news and social media and the footage was confirmed as authentic...
Do Sanctions Work?
Amid the buzz around new U.S. and EU sanctions being imposed on Russia, sanctions on another country, on the other side of the world, were being gently lifted. In October, following elections, America and Australia removed all remaining sanctions on Fiji, which had included travel bans for top officials, an embargo on arms sales and limits on...
Russia’s Rich Gets Richer—in Dollars—as Ruble Plunges
It would seem to be a stressful holiday season for Russia’s ultra-wealthy elite, the gilded class of post-Communist billionaires with a taste for costly things and close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The secretive group, known popularly as the oligarchs, for their control over Russia’s oil, metals, banking, gas,...
Russia Calls New Crimea Sanctions ‘Collective Punishment’
Reuters) – The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that new Western sanctions against Ukraine’s Crimea region were a “collective punishment” on residents who voted last March to join Russia, adding it was preparing to retaliate. Both the European Union and United States adopted tighter restrictions on investments in...
EU Ready to ‘Stay the Course’ in Russia Confrontation
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union leaders warned Moscow they are ready to flex their combined muscle and “stay the course” in a long confrontation with Russia if President Vladimir Putin refuses to pull back from Ukraine. “We must go beyond being reactive and defensive. As Europeans we must regain our self-confidence and...
Belarus Refuses to Trade With Russia in Roubles
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has ordered his cabinet ministers to stop trading using the Russian rouble. Instead, the country – who is one of Russia’s closest allies – will trade only in dollars or euros, after Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted on Thursday his country may be on the verge of a two year...
The Wit and Wisdom of Vladimir Putin
Over more than three hours the Russian head of state did his best, battling a chesty cough which peculiarly intensified when he was asked questions about starting a new Cold War, as he answered questions from 38 journalists on all areas of Russian life such as parking in Moscow, the Ukraine crisis, the fall of the rouble, Russian mortgages and...
Putin Reassures Russians Rouble Will Rise Again
President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia’s economy would rebound after the rouble’s collapse against the dollar but warned that it could take two years for the country to emerge from crisis. Under pressure to show he has a plan to pull Russia out of crisis at his end-of-year news conference, Putin supported the actions of the...
