Category: NEWS

MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree introducing financial benefits for people who left Ukrainian territory to come to Russia, including pensioners, pregnant women and disabled people. The decree, published on a government portal, establishes monthly pension payments of 10,000 roubles (US$170) for people who have been forced to leave the territory of Ukraine since Feb 18. Disabled people will also be eligible for the same monthly support, while pregnant women are entitled to a one-off benefit. The decree says the payments will be made to citizens…

KYIV – Russian artillery fired at Ukrainian towns across the river from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant overnight, local officials said on Sunday (Aug 28), adding to residents  anguish as reports of shelling around the plant fuelled fears of a radiation disaster. Russia s defence ministry said there was more Ukrainian shelling of the plant over the past 24 hours, just a day after Moscow and Kyiv traded accusations of targeting Europe s biggest nuclear plant, which has prompted grave international concern. Ukrainian nuclear company Energoatom said it had no new information…

LACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J.  — Denise Vaccaro bought her home on the Jersey Shore over 20 years ago, charmed by the little beach at the end of a sandy spit on Barnegat Bay where she could sit and read while listening to the waves and enjoying the cool breezes. That home was destroyed 10 years ago in Superstorm Sandy, and the beach she loved is also gone, claimed by rising seas that are eroding the shoreline and pushing water to porches. “It’s so sad that this little community has lost its…

 A top ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Moscow would not stop its military campaign in Ukraine even if Kyiv formally renounced its aspirations to join NATO. Former President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, also said in a French television interview that Russia was prepared to hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy subject to certain conditions. Even before the February invasion, Moscow made clear Ukrainian membership of NATO was unacceptable to it. “Renouncing its participation in the North Atlantic alliance is…

WASHINGTON — Fourteen of the 15 boxes recovered from former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate early this year contained classified documents, many of them top secret, mixed in with miscellaneous newspapers, magazines and personal correspondence, according to an FBI affidavit released Friday. No space at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate was authorized for the storage of classified material, according to the court papers, which laid out the FBI’s rationale for searching the property this month, including “probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found.” The 32-page affidavit — heavily…

JERUSALEM  — A group of artists has filled a Palestinian area of east Jerusalem with paintings of large, wide-open eyes. The murals are a reminder that all eyes are on the neighborhood of Silwan, a flashpoint where Palestinians say Israeli forces and settlers are working to drive them out of their homes. The eye murals are so giant that they make you feel they are watching you wherever you walk in the neighborhood. Many are painted on the walls of decaying Palestinian homes alongside national symbols. “The staring eyes say…

KYIV – President Volodymyr Zelensky said the world narrowly avoided a radiation disaster on Thursday (Aug 25) as the last regular line supplying electricity to Ukraine s Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was restored hours after being cut. Zelensky blamed shelling by Russia s military for fires in the ash pits of a nearby coal power station that disconnected the reactor complex, Europe s largest such facility, from the power grid. He said back-up diesel generators had started to ensure power supply and keep the plant safe. “If our station staff had…

HAVANA – Cuban dancer Yankiel Vázquez thought his dream of dancing with Cuba’s National Ballet was finished when a rare neurological disorder nearly crippled him several years ago. The 29-year-old man, a native of the town of Mantua, in rural western Cuba, had joined the ballet in 2011. Shortly after, he was stricken with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare but often debilitating condition in which the immune system attacks the nerves, sometimes paralyzing one’s extremities. “It took me several months to learn to walk again,” he said, calling it an “intense…

WASHINGTON – US President Joe Biden said on Thursday (Aug 25) that US air and artillery strikes that killed four militants in eastern Syria were ordered to protect US forces from attacks by Iran-backed militia. “I directed the Aug 23 strikes in order to protect and defend the safety of our personnel . . . and to deter the Islamic Republic of Iran and Iran-backed militia groups from conducting or supporting further attacks on United States personnel and facilities,” Biden said in a statement informing Congress of the action. He…

SEOUL (AFP) – Pope Francis has asked Pyongyang to invite him to North Korea, saying in a televised interview on Friday that he would not turn down a chance to visit and work for peace. A potential papal visit to the isolated, nuclear-armed country was previously floated in 2018 when Seoul’s former president Moon Jae-in embarked on a round of diplomacy with Pyongyang’s leader Kim Jong Un. Moon, who is Catholic, said during a summit that Kim told him the pontiff would be “enthusiastically” welcomed. Pope Francis replied at the…