Section: Voice of America (USA)
Ukraine’s Hryvnia Plunges After Foreign Currency Auctions Scrapped
Ukraine’s hryvnia currency plunged about 30 percent against the dollar on Thursday, traders said, after the central bank abandoned the foreign currency auctions that had effectively pegged the exchange rate. The central bank scrapped the daily auctions, which had set an unofficial peg for banks to follow, and also raised its main interest...
Kerry in Ukraine for Talks with Poroshenko
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Kyiv for talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who is making a fresh appeal for Western weapons to help fight pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine. Ahead of Kerry’s arrival, a senior State Department official announced the U.S. is providing Ukraine with an additional $16.4 million in...
Nuclear Issues, Russia-Ukraine on NATO Ministers’ Agenda
NATO defense ministers will meet Thursday in Brussels to discuss nuclear issues, the conflict in Ukraine and the threat of Russian aggression near NATO’s eastern border. Also on the agenda are Georgia’s aspirations to join the 28-member alliance. This will be the fifth defense ministers meeting for Chuck Hagel, who is making his final...
Hungary PM: Strong Diplomatic Ties with Russia, Germany a Priority
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Wednesday that his main foreign policy goal was maintaining good ties with Russia and Germany, adding that the United States was an important partner but not the central focus of foreign policy. A maverick leader whose warm relations with Moscow have irked European and American partners at a time of...
Obama Defense Nominee Favors Lethal Military Aid for Ukraine
President Barack Obama’s pick to be America’s next secretary of defense says he favors sending U.S. military aid to Ukraine and speeding arms sales to Jordan — and lists Iran and the Islamic State as major threats in the Middle East. Ashton Carter testified at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee,...
Russia’s Nuclear Strategy Raises Concerns in NATO
Concern is growing in NATO over Russia’s nuclear strategy and indications that Russian military planners may be lowering the threshold for using nuclear weapons in any conflict, alliance diplomats say. NATO officials have drawn up an analysis of Russian nuclear strategy that will be discussed by alliance defense ministers at a meeting in...
EU Backs Call for Truce in E. Ukrainian Town
The EU’s foreign policy chief threw her support on Wednesday behind a call for a temporary truce in the eastern Ukrainian town of Debaltseve to allow for the evacuation of civilians. The current chairman of the pan-European rights and security group OSCE called this week for an immediate three-day truce in the Debaltseve area, where fierce...
UN Agency Pushes Tight Deadline for Plane Tracking Standard
Global aviation leaders on Tuesday debated setting a tight deadline to improve the tracking of passenger planes in a push to prevent a recurrence of the still unsolved disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. Officials at the United Nations safety conference also sought to tackle risks from conflict zones after another Malaysia Airlines...
US Dilemma: To Arm Ukraine Troops or Not
By considering giving weapons to Kyiv, the United States could be contemplating a risky venture that advocates say would help end the conflict in Ukraine, but which opponents warn might fan the flames of war. A senior U.S. administration official said on Monday no decision had been made on whether to send arms to help Ukrainian forces fight...
Russia, Poland Clash Over WWII Anniversary
Russia and Poland traded diplomatic barbs on Tuesday over the 70th anniversary of the end of the World War II in a sign of Moscow’s worsening ties with Warsaw, the European Union’s leading critic of its role in Ukraine. Relations between Moscow and the West have already plummeted over the conflict in Ukraine, and Warsaw has advocated...
