Skip to main content

Ukraine and pro-Russia rebels 'sign ceasefire deal'

_77403463_77395729

The Ukrainian government and pro-Russia rebels meeting in Minsk have signed a preliminary protocol to start a ceasefire, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says.

He said that the truce would start at 15:00 GMT. The announcement came after reports of further clashes in the east.

Western countries are meanwhile working on further sanctions against Russia.

The West accuses Russia of sending arms and troops to back the rebels in eastern Ukraine. Moscow denies this.

The talks in Minsk, capital of Belarus, involve former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, Russian ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov and leaders of the self-proclaimed “people’s republics” in Donetsk and Luhansk.

They come after Russian President Vladimir Putin put forward a seven-point peace plan.

The plan includes a halt to “active offensive operations” by the Ukrainian military and pro-Russia rebels, international ceasefire monitoring, unconditional prisoner exchanges and humanitarian aid corridors.

Shelling

As the peace talks in Minsk began, fighting in eastern Ukraine continued.

Ukrainian government forces and volunteers are trying to hold on to Mariupol on the Azov Sea. The BBC’s Fergal Keane, in Mariupol, tweeted that pro-Russia forces seemed to be hitting Ukrainian positions some 4km (2.5 miles) outside the city.

Large plumes of smoke could be seen as Ukrainian artillery fired back, he says. Ukrainian fighter jets also hit rebel positions.

The Minsk peace talks coincided with Nato’s summit in Wales, where leaders agreed on a new “spearhead” military force, able to deploy to trouble spots in a matter of days.

The decision came amid growing Nato concern at the Ukraine crisis – in particular Russia’s role – and the rise of Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Newsflash: Bitcoin Price Plummets Near $11,000 in 2018-Low

Newsflash: Bitcoin Price Plummets Near $11,000  in 2018-Low Bitcoin price dropped to a 2018-low during Tuesday’s morning trading (GMT), losing over $2,300 (Bitfinex) in a 17% fall in just under 3 hours. Dampened by regulatory scrutiny in Korea, home to one of the world’s biggest crypto markets, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies continued their descent today. After opening Tuesday’s trading near $13,500 on USD-based Bitfinex, bitcoin price settled at $13,200 at 07:00 (GMT) before a collapse that led the world’s first cryptocurrency drop to a low of $10,891 near 10:00 AM. At the time of publishing, bitcoin price is showing signs of a recovery in trading near $12,000. Coinciding with Korea’s regulatory squeeze, multiple reports today have also pointed to a senior Chinese central bank official proposing a wider ban on cryptocurrency trading that would extend to both domestic and offshore trading platforms. The call for a ban includes cryptocurrency services ...

It’s time to test your App-titude!

http://isthattrue.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/53b675ba8661b-1-300x180.jpg Telenor Pakistan’s youth-centric brand djuice, has announced the launch of Apportunity 2014 – a competition for Pakistani students and software developers to create mobile phone applications (apps). Djuice has been organising Apportunity for the past two years and in that short period of time, the competition has gained immense popularity amongst the youth across the country. This year, Apportunity is even bigger than before as djuice has partnered with Microsoft to help bring the competition to the Windows Phone platform besides the already popular Google Android and Apple iOS platforms. Microsoft is also supporting djuice to reach major university incubation centres in order to encourage quality app submissions. Moreover, with the support of Pakistan Software House Association (P@SHA), for the first time, djuice is opening the competition to software houses, as well. Apportunity 2014 has also introduced coac...

Pakistan-Idea to State and Reality

Pakistan-Idea to State and Reality By Dr. Minhaj Qidwai Stephen Philip Cohen, in The Idea of Pakistan, cites Al-Biruni as a source of ideas for Jinnah and Ayub Khan. Al-Biruni’s India is admittedly one of the most penetrative accounts of Indian society, but a society of the 11th century, not the 20th. He also observed that the “Hindus are totally different from the Muslims in religion. This is, of course, true but it isn’t such a profound observation as to have informed either Jinnah or the Field Marshal of what they were unaware. Jinnah wanted a secular dressing, whereas Ayub made it Islamic. Did this deviance had an impact on Pakistan? Did it made a difference between a “right government…which aims at general good” and “a deviation…which aims at its own good”. Was Pakistani state’s preoccupation with “its own good” resulted in a near-permanent deviation of governance itself? Above all, what was the need for creation of Pakistan. With the Second World War, Atlantic charter was signed ...