Author: Andrew Meldrum
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Ukraine forces pull back from Donbas town after onslaught
KYIV, Ukraine • Ukrainian forces have conducted an organized retreat from a town in the eastern region of the Donbas, an official said Wednesday, in what amounted to a rare but modest battlefield triumph for Russia after a series of setbacks in its invasion that began almost 11 months ago. The Ukrainian army retreated from…
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Zelensky open to talks with Russia — on Ukraine’s terms
KYIV, Ukraine • Ukraine’s president has suggested he’s open to peace talks with Russia, softening his refusal to negotiate with Moscow as long as President Vladimir Putin is in power while sticking to Kyiv’s core demands. Volodymyr Zelensky’s appeal to the international community to “force Russia into real peace talks” reflected a change in rhetoric.…
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Russia rejoins deal on wartime Ukrainian grain exports
KYIV, Ukraine • Russia agreed Wednesday to rejoin a wartime agreement that allows Ukrainian grain and other commodities to be shipped to world markets. The U.N.’s refugee chief, meanwhile, put the number of Ukrainians driven from their homes since the Russian invasion eight months ago at around 14 million. It is “the fastest, largest displacement…
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Putin scrambles to boost weapons production for Ukraine war
KYIV, Ukraine • Russian President Vladimir Putin, facing military production delays and mounting losses, urged his government Tuesday to cut through bureaucracy to crank out enough weapons and supplies to feed the war in Ukraine, where a Western-armed Ukrainian counteroffensive has set back Russia’s forces. In other developments, Ukrainian authorities asked citizens not to return…
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South Africa’s last apartheid president, F.W. de Klerk, dies
JOHANNESBURG • F.W. de Klerk, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela and as South Africa’s last apartheid president oversaw the end of the country’s white minority rule, has died aged 85. Frederik Willem de Klerk died after a battle against cancer at his home in the Fresnaye area of Cape Town, a…
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Mozambique peace accord brings hope of economic growth
GORONGOSA NATIONAL PARK, Mozambique • Mozambique’s president signed a peace accord Thursday with the country’s main opposition party Renamo to end decades of hostilities that followed a devastating 15-year civil war that killed an estimated 1 million people. The ceremony, held in a national wildlife park that was a rebel stronghold and a center of…
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More than 1,000 feared dead after cyclone slams into Mozambique
JOHANNESBURG • More than 1,000 people were feared dead in Mozambique four days after a cyclone slammed into the country, submerging entire villages and leaving bodies floating in the floodwaters, the nation’s president said. “It is a real disaster of great proportions,” President Filipe Nyusi said. Cyclone Idai could prove to be the deadliest storm…
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Obama gives Trump sharp rebuke in Mandela address on values
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save JOHANNESBURG — Former U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday took aim at “strongman politics” in his highest-profile speech since leaving office, urging people around the world to respect human rights and other values now under threat in an impassioned address marking the 100th anniversary of…