Section: San Francisco Chronicle (USA)
Conflict coverage proves deadly job for journalists
Journalists who were killed in 2014 because of their work included an unusually high proportion of foreign correspondents who had been covering conflicts in the Middle East, Ukraine and Afghanistan, a leading news media advocacy group said in an annual report released Tuesday. The group, New York’s Committee to Protect Journalists, also...
Ukraine takes step toward joining NATO; Moscow miffed
MOSCOW — With a Russian-backed separatist insurgency still gripping eastern Ukraine, Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament voted Tuesday to take steps toward joining NATO. The revised law, which was a priority of President Petro Poroshenko, requires Ukraine to “deepen cooperation with NATO in order to achieve the criteria required for...
Russian opposition faces Internet censorship
MOSCOW (AP) — Supporters of Russia’s most prominent opposition leader on Tuesday revived their campaign to stage a protest near the Kremlin, despite government attempts to hamper their efforts by Internet censorship. Navalny, a lawyer and popular blogger, rose to prominence with his investigations of official corruption and played a leading...
Ukraine abandons nonaligned status
Supporters of the move, which passed by a 303-9 vote, said it was justified by Russian aggression toward Ukraine, including the annexation of its Crimean Peninsula in March and Russian support for a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine, where some 4,700 people have been killed since the spring. Russia routinely characterizes the Ukrainian...
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. The conflict has not only split the university in half and forced many students and professors to quit, it also has...
Leaders agree on Ukrainian peace talks this week
Previous rounds of talks in September involving representatives of Ukraine, Russia, pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe produced a ceasefire deal, which has often been violated. Recent peace efforts have helped sharply reduce hostilities, and the conflicting parties are now discussing...
Russia bails out bank following ruble slide
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has bailed out a mid-sized bank for about $500 million to save it from bankruptcy— a clear sign that the slide in the value of the ruble in the wake of falling oil prices is straining the banking system. The problems afflicting Trust Bank follow a tumultuous period for the ruble, which this year has shared the title of the...
Belarus enjoys bonanza amid Russia-West tensions
MINSK, Belarus (AP) — As relations between Russia and the West have deteriorated, there’s one country that’s reaping rewards — Belarus, whose authoritarian leader was once dubbed “Europe’s last dictator” by the United States and the European Union. President Alexander Lukashenko is relishing his new role as broker of...
Russia sees harsh crackdown on independent media
The Dozhd news channel, whose editor-in-chief Zygar was given a Committee to Protect Journalists award last month, rose to prominence in 2011 with its coverage of the mass protests against President Vladimir Putin — which state-owned television largely ignored. Putin’s government has been careful not to order the channel to shut down, but a...
Russia dismisses new U.S. sanctions imposed on Crimea
MOSCOW — Russia on Saturday dismissed new U.S. sanctions as useless and said it was poised to wait as long as it takes for the U.S. to recognize Russia’s historic right to the Crimean peninsula. The Russian foreign ministry on Saturday expressed regret that “the United States and Canada still cannot get over the results of a free vote in...
