German media reports that pressure is mounting on the government to boycott Euro 2012 matches in Ukraine this summer because of alleged mistreatment of the jailed former PM and opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko. Chancellor Angela Merkel is considering such a boycott, the German news website Der Spiegel reports. Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen said the government should stay away from Ukrai…
…of the Regions, was adopted by parliament on Tuesday without a debate on numerous amendments. World-famous boxer Vitali Klitschko was among the activists hurt in the unrest. The interior ministry said 10 anti-riot police from the elite Berkut unit were admitted to hospital with injuries. The ministry said protesters assaulted police with bottles and aerosol sprays. The police were equipped with he…
Ukraine denounces a threatened EU boycott of next month’s Euro 2012 football championship as “destructive”. In a statement, Ukraine’s foreign ministry said the move would undermine the image of the tournament and be detrimental to millions of Ukrainians and Poles. Poland – which is co-hosting Euro 2012 – has also criticized any boycott. Several European leaders are c…
…Eastern Europe has caused traffic chaos, power outages and even deaths all over the planet as people battle frostbite and hypothermia. Meanwhile in Italy, snow fell in Rome today for the first time in 26 years as freezing temperatures took the death toll across Europe to more than 150. Rome is usually blessed by a moderate climate but the snowfall prompted authorities stop visitors from entering t…
President Viktor Yanukovych’s party has claimed victory in Ukraine’s parliamentary election. The Party of Regions has more than 36%, and the opposition party of Yulia Tymoshenko, who is in jail, has just over 21%, with one-third of party list votes counted. It appears Viktor Yanukovych’s party is also ahead in single mandate districts, which form half of all the seats. Western governm…
…f office when signing the gas deal with Russia and can’t leave the country. The 50-year-old opposition leader is charged with abusing her powers by signing a natural gas import contract with Russia in 2009 that prosecutors claim was disadvantageous to Ukraine. Yulia Tymoshenko insists she is innocent, arguing that the contract ended weeks of natural gas disruptions to Ukrainian and European consum…
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has found that Ukraine’s pre-trial detention of former PM Yulia Tymoshenko in 2011 was illegal and her rights to a legal review and compensation were violated. Yulia Tymoshenko, who is still in jail, also alleged physical mistreatment, but that complaint was not upheld by the ECHR. The former prime minister was jailed for seven years for abuse of office…
ng. Yulia Tymoshenko’s Fatherland party has joined with other opposition parties to form a united front. Viktor Yanukovych – who has been president for three years and faces re-election in 2015 – has rejected calls to free his rival, maintaining that she was sentenced by an independent court. He insists European integration is one of his government’s main goals and will hop…
…ailed last October for seven years – a term confirmed by Wednesday’s ruling. The former leader was convicted over a gas deal she signed with Russia’s Vladimir Putin while in power in 2009. She says her trial was politically motivated. The European Court of Human Rights has begun considering her case. Ukraine's high court has rejected the appeal by jailed opposition leader an…
The presidents of Germany, Austria, Romania and the Czech Republic were among those who cancelled their trips. Ukraine has not set a new date yet. There is also a threat that leaders may boycott Euro 2012 football matches in Ukraine next month. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Dykusarov said: “As a number of European heads of state cannot take part in the 18th summit of Centra…
At least 83 people have died in Ukraine from a cold spell that has been gripping the country, officials say. Temperatures as low as -23C (-9F) and heavy snowfall this month have left the capital Kiev and most of the country under a thick frozen layer. In western areas, vehicles were trapped in a three-day traffic jam stretching at one point about 20 km (12 miles). The severe weather is also affec…
At least 27 people have been injured after four explosions have rocked the city of Dnipropetrovsk in eastern Ukraine. The first two blasts happened at a busy central tram stop and near a local cinema, according to officials. All the devices were apparently planted in rubbish bins. No suspects have been identified yet and such an attack is unusual for Dnipropetrovsk. The industrial city is the bir…
…he killing and also by Ruslan Madayev, the suspect who died in the Odessa explosion. The other suspect was named by Channel One as Adam Osmayev, said to have been on an international wanted list since 2007. The plotters were planning to plant mines on Kutuzovsky Avenue in Moscow, used by Vladimir Putin on a daily basis, the report said. The Russian prime minister’s press secretary, Dmitry Pe…
History of chocolate is being re-told in Akmescit, capital of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in Ukraine, where a chocolate museum was opened. Opened in 2008, the museum used 1,5 tons of Belgian chocolate to tell the story of chocolate. It took 6 months to make chocolate paintings and statues in a bid to tell the story of chocolate from Mayas to up to date. Every piece in the exhibition is uniq…
Michel Platini, the president of UEFA, has hit out at “bandits and crooks” for the escalation of Ukrainian hotel prices ahead of the Euro 2012 football championships. Speaking in Lviv, one of the venues, Michel Platini said the rising cost of accommodation worried him, and called on the authorities to prevent it. Michel Platini added that some hotels were not respecting room contracts…
…arty wore black jerseys with her portrait on the front and the phrase “Freedom to Political Prisoners” on the back. Yulia Tymoshenko remains in prison after being sentenced to seven years in prison in 2011 for alleged abuse of office over a gas deal with Russia. Viktor Yanukovich’s pro-business Party of the Regions and their allies enjoyed a strong majority in the last parliament, which allo…
…Putin said he still needed to read the Russian bill in detail, though he backed it in principle. The rate of adoption in Russia is low. Some 3,400 Russian children were adopted by foreign families in 2011, nearly a third of them by Americans. “The State Duma’s response may be emotional, but I consider it to be appropriate,” Vladimir Putin said, referring to Russia’s lower…
d, millions of pounds in theft. FireEye collaborated with other experts in the worldwide security industry to apply pressure to local ISPs to suspend the illegal operation. Atif Mushtaq said more than 20,000 computers were still part of the botnet, but that without the active CnCs they would soon be rendered ineffective. Grum’s closure was an encouraging development in clamping down on botne…
Volodymyr Gerashchenko, a senior Ukrainian Olympic official, has been suspended after a BBC investigation showed he was willing to unofficially sell 2012 tickets for cash. Volodymyr Gerashchenko, of Ukraine’s National Olympic Committee (NOC), told a reporter posing as a UK tout he would have up to 100 tickets to sell. It is a criminal offence, punishable by fines of up to £20,000 ($32,000),…
Former Ukrainian Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, was found guilty of abuse of authority by signing gas contracts with Russia in 2009. Mrs Tymoshenko claimed the charges against her were politically motivated. In April, the Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s office opened a criminal case charging Yulia Tymoshenko with signing overpriced gas deals with Russian energy provider Gazpr…
…s one does not eat leaves at all and eats only red or colorful things, like peppers or carrots,” Sergei Ryabov said. The two-headed turtle can be seen in the natural history museum of Kiev until April 20. …
…sses due to climate change. Developing nations hailed it as a breakthrough, but condemned the gulf between the science of climate change and political attempts to tackle it. The deal, agreed by nearly 200 nations, extends to 2020 the Kyoto Protocol. It is the only legally-binding plan for combating global warming. The deal covers Europe and Australia, whose share of world greenhouse gas emissions…
…inks to China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) bought the ship just as Soviet warships were being cut for scrap. It said it wanted to turn the Varyag into a floating casino in Macau and in 2001 the ship was towed to China. The Chinese military confirmed in June 2011 that it was being refitted to serve as the nation’s first aircraft carrier. Analysts say it will take years to outf…
Denmark has won 2013 Eurovision Song Contest, held in the Swedish city of Malmo. Danish Emmelie de Forest had been the overwhelming favorite among the 26 entries, with her song Only Teardrops. Danish Emmelie de Forest had been the overwhelming favorite among the 26 entries, with her song Only Teardrops. There was disappointment for Ireland’s Ryan Dolan as he finished in last place with jus…
Mila Kunis has been targeted in an anti-Semitic rant by a politician in her native Ukraine. According to gossip website TMZ.com, Jewish organizations around the globe are furious that Igor Miroshnichenko said Mila Kunis, 29, was not a true Ukrainian and called her a “zhydovka”. The statement translates as “dirty Jewess” and is reportedly a derogatory word against Jewish people that was used durin…
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