World

OTTAWA,  (Reuters) – Canada’s parliament yesterday backed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to invoke rarely-used emergency powers to end pandemic-related protests that have blocked streets in the capital Ottawa for more than three weeks.

MOSCOW,  (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the deployment of troops to two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine after recognising them as independent yesterday, accelerating a crisis the West fears could unleash a major war.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Boris on Monday said he would end all coronavirus restrictions in England including mandatory self-isolation for people with COVID-19 and free testing, drawing scepticism from some scientists and political opponents.

MOSCOW, (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin recognised two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent entities today, drawing U.S.

MOSCOW/PARIS,  (Reuters) – The Kremlin today said there were no concrete plans for a summit over Ukraine between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S.

TAIPEI,  (Reuters) – Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, placed under sanctions by China when he left office at the end of the Trump presidency last year, will visit Taiwan next week and meet President Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s government said today.

SYDNEY, (Reuters) – Australia today fully reopened its international borders to travellers vaccinated against the coronavirus after nearly two years of pandemic-related closings as tourists returned and hundreds of people were reunited with family and friends.

(Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed in principle to a summit over Ukraine, the U.S.

OTTAWA, (Reuters) – Canadian police yesterday secured the downtown core of the capital with fencing as city workers cleaned up trash and snow plows cleared streets after two days of tense standoffs and 191 arrests ended a three-week occupation of Ottawa.

HONG KONG, (Reuters) – Hong Kong is in “all-out combat” to contain a surge in coronavirus cases, the city’s number two official said on Sunday, with the ramping up of community isolation and treatment units helped by mainland Chinese construction teams.

ADDIS ABABA,  (Reuters) – Ethiopia began producing electricity today from its Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a multi-billion-dollar hydropower plant on the River Nile that neighbours Sudan and Egypt have worried will cause water shortages downstream.

DONETSK, Ukraine/MOSCOW, (Reuters) – Russia’s strategic nuclear forces held exercises overseen by President Vladimir Putin yesterday, and Washington accused Russian troops massed near Ukraine’s border of advancing and being “poised to strike”.

KINSHASA, (Reuters) – Democratic Republic of Congo is close to a deal with Fleurette Group, controlled by Israeli investor Dan Gertler, that could enable it to recover mining and oil assets worth about $2 billion, minutes of a cabinet meeting showed yesterday.

OTTAWA, (Reuters) – Canadian police today used pepper spray and stun grenades, and made dozens of arrests as they cleared demonstrators from the street in front of parliament, where they have been camping for more than three weeks to protest against pandemic restrictions.

BENIN CITY, Nigeria, (Reuters) – Two Benin bronzes were returned yesterday to a traditional palace in Nigeria, more than a century after they were pillaged by British troops, raising hopes that thousands more artefacts could finally be returned to their ancestral home.

(Reuters) – Finland’s president yesterday compared Russia’s current treatment of Ukraine to an attempt by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin to threaten and divide Finland before invading in 1939.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Nearly 200,000 British homes were still without power today after Storm Eunice knocked 1.4 million households off the grid the day before, Britain’s government said.

MOSCOW/KYIV/DONETSK,  (Reuters) – Russia’s Vladimir Putin has decided to invade Ukraine within days, U.S.

OTTAWA, (Reuters) – Police, including some on horseback, pushed into crowds of demonstrators to clear them from the streets of downtown Ottawa yesterday, arresting more than 100 and hauling away vehicles that have been blocking the core of the capital for more than three weeks in a protest against pandemic restrictions.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland stepped well beyond economic policy at a G20 finance meeting yesterday to issue an “impassioned” warning to her Russian counterparts not to invade neighboring Ukraine, two sources familiar with her remarks said.