Section: San Francisco Chronicle (USA)
Europe marks 70 years since Nazi defeat
Secretary of State John Kerry joined French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, in a sign of appreciation for the American role in liberating France from German occupation. Other ceremonies took place around Europe, including in Poland, where President Bronislaw Komorowski was joined by U.N....
Europe marks 70 years since Nazi defeat, end of epochal war
Paris’ mile-long Champs Elysees was closed to traffic to make way for a procession of official motorcades and mounted military escorts that ascended the wide boulevard from the Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe, site of France’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and the U.S. ambassador to France...
Ukraine president says almost 7,000 civilians killed in war
Moscow has always denied supplying separatist rebels with either equipment or manpower, but it has been open in its diplomatic support for the separatists. “Given that the Russian threat is long-term and considering that the aggressive stance and policy of the Russian Federation poses a major threat to national security, the strategy aims...
AP PHOTOS: Veteran pride as Russia marks victory in Europe
Another veteran recalls the terror of being captured by SS troops after his plane was shot down. A former radio operator relives the tragedy of families abandoning their prized possessions in the exodus from Crimea after the German invasion. …read more Source: San Francisco...
German FM: progress in resuming NATO-Russia military contact
VOLGOGRAD, Russia (AP) — German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier says Russia and NATO are making progress in restoring military contacts that were suspended as the Ukraine crisis intensified. Earlier Steinmeier and Lavrov laid wreaths at the memorial to Soviet soldiers who died in the Battle of Stalingrad. …read more Source: San...
V-Day in Russia evokes national pride at difficult time
Symbols of the Soviet triumph in World War II are impossible to escape in Russia in the run-up to the 70th anniversary of Victory Day on Saturday. There are the black-and-orange St. George’s ribbons tied to women’s hand bags, wartime TV bulletins from the front line played after the evening news and “To Berlin!” stickers...
As Ukraine erects defenses, critics fear expensive failure
Trenches fortified by timber have been hollowed out for soldiers to take up positions. […] bulky, metallic obstacles looped together with more barbed wire are laid across the fields to halt advancing tanks and infantry. With much of eastern Ukraine in the hands of Russian-backed separatists, large swaths of the border remain impossible to...
5 years of bailouts: the grim legacy of Greece’s crisis
[…] after a myriad budget cuts, a million lost jobs, 250,000 closed businesses and nearly 240 billion euros ($267 billion) in rescue loans, the country is once again on the brink of default and relations with its creditors are worse than ever. Moody’s rating agency said Monday that Greece is, despite all its savings efforts, still the...
News of the day from across the globe, May 5
The United States said Monday it will give $45 million to help Kenya deal with an increasingly complex refugee crisis in a region long defined by Somalia’s endemic violence, but where war in nearby Yemen is now creating conditions so dire that some people are even fleeing to Somalia. In Nairobi, Secretary of State John Kerry announced the...
News of the Day From Across the Globe
The Canadian government has announced $139 million in additional aid to address the refugee crisis caused by the fighting, in addition to the $67 million already committed to Iraq. Demonstrators placed flowers and lit candles Saturday in front of a building in the Ukrainian city of Odessa where 48 people died one year ago when it caught fire in a...
