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European Union inks landmark deal with Ukraine
European Union inks landmark deal with Ukraine (Reuters) / 22 March 2014 With Crimea lost to Russia, Ukraine takes step towards West The European Union and Ukraine signed a landmark political cooperation accord on Friday, committing to the same deal former president Viktor Yanukovich rejected last November, a decision that led to his overthrow. Herman Van Rompuy, right, looks at his papers as, from second right, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico applaud during a signing ceremony at an EU summit in Brussels on Friday. — AP Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, EU presidents Herman Van Rompuy and Jose Manuel Barroso, and the leaders of the bloc’s 28 nations signed the core chapters of the Association Agreement during an EU summit in Brussels. Soon afterwards, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed legislation completing the process of absorbing Crimea into Russia, defying Western leaders who say the Black Sea peninsula remains part of Ukraine. The deal commits Ukraine and the EU to closer political and economic cooperation, although its more substantial parts concerning free trade will be signed only after Ukraine has held a presidential election on May 25. Van Rompuy, the European Council president, said the agreement would bring Ukraine and its 46 million people closer to the heart of Europe and a “European way of life”. “(This) recognises the aspirations of the people of Ukraine to live in a country governed by values, by democracy and the rule of law, where all citizens have a stake in national prosperity,” he said. Two sets of the documents were passed around the table for the EU’s leaders and Yatseniuk to sign in a solemn atmosphere. Van Rompuy and Yatseniuk then shook hands and exchanged the documents to applause, witnesses said. Yanukovich turned his back on signing the EU agreement last November in favour of closer ties with Moscow, triggering months of street protests that eventually led to his flight from the country. Soon afterwards, Russian forces occupied Crimea, a Russian-majority region in the far southeast of the country, drawing outrage and sanctions from the United States and EU. Yatseniuk urged European leaders to move decisively to contain Putin with economic pressure or risk the conflict – the most bitter East-West confrontation since the Cold war – spilling elsewhere into Europe. “The best way to contain Russia is to impose real economic leverage on them,” he told reporters after the signing ceremony. “I strongly believe … the EU will speak in one single strong voice, defending the territorial integrity of Ukraine and protecting the EU itself because God knows what is the final destination, is it Ukraine or is it EU?” For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
President Obama orders new round of sanctions on Russia
President Obama orders new round of sanctions on Russia (AP) / 21 March 2014 Obama said the latest penalties were the result of “choices the Russian government has made, choices that have been rejected by the international community.” President Barack Obama on Thursday expanded US economic sanctions against Moscow over its actions in Ukraine, targeting President Vladimir Putin’s chief of staff and 19 other individuals as well as a Russian bank that provides them support. Obama, warning of more costs to come for the Kremlin if the situation worsens, said he also signed an executive order that would allow the US to penalize key sectors of the Russian economy. Officials said Obama could act on that authority if Russian forces press into other areas of Ukraine, an escalation of the crisis in Crimea. The president said the latest penalties were the result of “choices the Russian government has made, choices that have been rejected by the international community.” “Russia must know that further escalation will only isolate it further from the international community,” Obama said, speaking from the South Lawn of the White House. European Union leaders, too, said they would expand the number of people targeted with various sanctions and indicated they would cancel an EU-Russia summit. Chancellor Angela Merkel told the German parliament that if the crisis deepens in Crimea and Ukraine, the EU is prepared to move to economic sanctions on a higher level. Those named in the sanctions Thursday include Sergei Ivanov, Putin’s chief of staff and a longtime associate, as well as Arkady Rotenberg and Gennady Timchenko, both lifelong Putin friends whose companies have amassed billions of dollars in government contracts. Also sanctioned: Bank Rossiya, a private bank that is owned by Yuri Kovalchuk, who is considered to be Putin’s banker. The U.S. sanctions followed a first round of U.S. economic penalties ordered earlier in the week on 11 people the U.S. said were involved in the dispute in Ukraine. Russia moved its military into Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula three weeks ago and has since formally annexed the strategically important region into its borders. The U.S. has declared Russia’s incursion into Crimea a violation of international law and does not recognize its annexation of the peninsula. Still, U.S. officials privately acknowledge that Russia is unlikely to give up Crimea. Instead, their top priority is keeping Russia from moving into other areas of Ukraine with pro-Russian populations. “The world is watching with grave concern as Russia has positioned its military in a way that could lead to further incursions into southern and eastern Ukraine,” Obama said. Senior administration officials said the individuals targeted by Thursday’s sanctions will have assets frozen in the United States, will be barred from doing any business in the U.S. and will be unable to make transactions in American dollars. The officials said some of those sanctioned are close associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin has not been personally targeted by the first two rounds of U.S. sanctions. American sanctions on heads of state are rare, largely reserved for instances where the U.S. is seeking a change in government leadership. For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Khushwant Singh, writer and journalist, passes away at 99
Khushwant Singh, writer and journalist, passes away at 99 (AFP) / 21 March 2014 Khushwant Singh, one of India’s best known writers who won fame for a searing book on partition of the subcontinent as well as his once-daring descriptions of sex, died on Thursday aged 99. The country’s most prolific author, who died at his home in New Delhi after suffering breathing problems, had only recently stopped writing despite his advanced years, his son said. “He was having some breathing problems. “He hadn’t been too unwell in his last few days and had only stopped writing recently. He was still reading newspapers and books… was mentally alert, and led a full life,” Rahul Singh told the NDTV news channel. Singh was a household name who wrote more than 100 books and countless newspaper columns, including one called With Malice Towards One And All. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called him “a gifted author, candid commentator and a dear friend” as tributes poured in for a great writer with an even greater sense of humour. “The world will always remember him as a lovable human being,” author and veteran BBC journalist Mark Tully said on NDTV. Fellow authors including Vikram Seth and former cricketers were among those who visited his Delhi home to pay their respects to a man hailed by President Pranab Mukherjee as a “fearless intellectual”, the Press Trust of India said. In an interview with AFP in 2005, Singh described his passion for writing as compulsive. “I don’t know what to do with myself if I don’t write, I have lost the art of relaxation,” he said. Singh, a Sikh born on February 2, 1915 in what is now Pakistan, occupied India’s literary centre-stage for half a century with his novels. Some in his early decades scandalised India with their sexually explicit scenes. He is best remembered for his historical novel Train to Pakistan, which recounts the tragedy and bloodshed of the partition of the subcontinent in 1947 into India and Pakistan. Singh, who penned his books and columns on yellow legal pads, became a writer relatively late. Born into a well-off family, he initially practised law in Lahore. But partition was the trigger for him to change professions. “I loathed the law. I thought I can’t waste my entire life living off other people’s quarrels,” he said. After coming to New Delhi, where his father became a prosperous property developer, he entered the diplomatic service in 1947 but soon tired of this and became a journalist and writer. Singh was cremated in Delhi later on Thursday. He is survived by his son, daughter and a niece. For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
