United States President Barack Obama said Friday that the US and European Union are still prepared to impose sanctions against Russia if the crisis in Ukraine continues to escalate following the signing of a ceasefire agreement. Speaking in Newport, Wales at the close of a major NATO alliance summit, Pres. Obama expressed skepticism over a pact signed only hours earlier in Minsk during a meeting of... 

Presidents Putin and Poroshenko have agreed on a permanent ceasefire in the Donbass area of east Ukraine, the Ukrainian leader’s press office reports following a phone conversation between the two. “The phone call resulted in an agreement on a permanent ceasefire in Donbass. An understanding has been reached on the steps to be taken to end the hostilities,” a corresponding message from Poroshenko’s... 

Defected Ukrainian soldiers socializing with Russian civilians in east of Ukraine. Reports from Slavyansk say that the army troops sent to the eastern Ukrainian city for an “anti-terrorist operation” are leaving en masse. Some troops are openly voicing support for the eastern Ukrainians, while others are speaking out against a war. According to Interfax, citing local self-defense activists, some... 

Pope Francis on Sunday prayed for the start of a “constructive dialogue” in Ukraine, releasing two white doves to symbolize the hope for peace. However, the doves were immediately attacked by a crow and a seagull. Addressing tens of thousands of people gathered in Vatican City’s St. Peter’s Square for the Pope’s weekly Angelus prayer, the pontiff said that his thoughts and prayers were with... 

A new Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) report circulating in the Kremlin today is confirming that United States President Barack Obama met in secret with top Russian Military Commanders at Wright Patterson Air Force Base (Dayton, Ohio) last week and “begged for peace” as he voiced his “personal fears” that he may be unable to restrain his nations war profiteers and banksters from starting... 

US President Barack Obama is expected to announce in his upcoming State of the Union Address that 34,000 US troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan within a year, according to a White House official. Obama plans to deliver his State of the Union Address at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time (0400 GMT) on Tuesday, an administration official said, adding that the troop pullout announcement falls in line with... 

South Sudan President Salva Kiir South Sudanese President Salva Kiir says that the recent border security agreement reached between the two Sudans will end long-time conflict between the two countries. “Today is a great day in the history of our region, and in particular Sudan and South Sudan, as we witness the signing of the cooperation agreement that brings to an end the long conflict between... 

Hundreds of protesters have taken to the streets in the Australian city of Sydney to voice their support for the government of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, Press TV reports. Marching through Sydney’s central business district on Sunday, the demonstrators called for no intervention by foreign powers in the Arab state’s internal affairs. They held banners which read, “Let the whole world... 

German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere has reaffirmed his opposition to military intervention in Syria, saying diplomacy favors over military action. “The failure of diplomacy must not automatically bring about the onset of the military,” the minister told told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, AFP reported on Sunday. He said Kofi Annan’s... 

Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has warned of the dire consequences of a military conflict with the Islamic Republic, saying Moscow will do its utmost to avert a war on Iran. “We will do everything possible to prevent a military conflict either in Iran or around it,” Putin told the chief editors of several leading international newspapers in his Novo-Ogaryovo... 

As War Drags On, Growing NATO Acceptance that Bombing Won’t Produce ‘Victory’. In the latest shift by a NATO member nation about the war in Libya, the Obama Administration has today issued a statement saying it endorses the Russian efforts to mediate a ceasefire in Libya, provided it ends with Moammar Gadhafi stepping down. The move follows a pair of announcements from France over... 

Benedict XVI says freedom of religion ‘one of the fundamental human rights,’ should be subject of dialogue with Muslims. Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday called for greater religious freedom in the Middle East and said that peace there is possible, urgently needed and the best remedy to the exodus of Christians from the region. Benedict celebrated Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday... 

The Netherlands became the first NATO country to end its combat mission in Afghanistan, drawing the curtain Sunday on a four-year operation that was deeply unpopular at home and even brought down a Dutch government. The departure of the small force of nearly 1,900 Dutch troops is not expected to affect conditions on the ground. But it is politically significant because it comes at a time of rising... 

The chairman of the inquiry and former president of the Dutch Supreme Court, Willibrord Davids, presents the commission’s findings before Dutch officials on January 12, 2010. An independent probe investigating the Netherlands’ support for the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq says the US and Britain rushed to war without sufficient legal backing under international law. The commission’s... 

MALMÖ. For two months the police have been working around the clock patrolling Herrgården, the area of Rosengård most afflicted by arson and attacks on firefighters and policemen. “If we don’t stop immigration to Malmö, we’ve only seen the beginning of this,” says researcher Aje Carlbom. On the 7th of May there was another fire in Rosengård. A warehouse that the fire brigade had doused...