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G7 wants Russia to explain role in MH17 downing four years ago
News & Trends •
foreign ministers from the group of seven g7 leading industrialized nations on sunday called on russia to account for its role in the downing of malaysia airlines flight mh17 which killed all 298 people on board1 tuesday marks four years since the the boeing 777 en route from amsterdam to kuala lumpur was blown out of the sky by a missile believed to have been fired by russian-aligned rebels in eastern ukraine1 international investigators said in may that the buk anti-aircraft system used to bring down the jet belonged to the russian military1 the netherlands and australia whose citizens made up the most passengers on the airliner both hold russia legally accountable and are demanding moscow admit its role and cooperate with investigators1 russia has denied any involvement in the disaster1 in a rules-based international order those responsible for unacceptable actions such as the firing or launching of the buk missile of russian origin which intercepted and downed a civilian aircraft must be held accountable the ministers said in a joint statement1 to this end we call on russia to immediately engage with australia and the netherlands in good faith to explain and to address all relevant questions regarding any potential breaches of international law1 the g7 is composed of canada france germany italy japan britain and the united states1 the anniversary of the disaster on tuesday falls a day after us president donald trump is due to meet with russian president vladimir putin in helsinki. it it not known if trump will raise the issue during the talks.dpanan1 -
Osinbajo sets internet buzzing with new poem to his wife Dolapo
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trust cheeky nigerians osinbajos obsession with his wife is a ground for them to ask him not to run with president muhammadu buhari in next years election1 nigerias vice president yemi osinbajo is a senior advocate of nigeria. but he is also cutting the reputation as a poet capable of weaving love ballads1 osinbajo took to both instagram and twitter to render another romantic poem to his wife of 29 years1 on the 50th anniversary of his wife last year osinbajo wrote1 last year at the 28th anniversary of their wedding osinbajo composed another poem that went viral1 on twitter osinbajos latest poem has already commanded over 5000 retweets and 20000 likes with the comments already exceeding over 20001 he did this again on sunday celebrating the 51st birthday of his wife oludolapo1 one of the respondents to the post big daddy writes1 thats y we wouldnt be voting u and ur crew in next year so u can have more time to be wif her cos we care1 big daddy @izzystyles1011 but he seems to be the only one with the view as modibbo byb countered1 that will be more reason to vote him. we need a responsive loving passionate nationalist1 byb @modibbobyb1 -
Trump blames foolish U.S. for poor Russia relations
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neither side expects major breakthroughs from the talks and the outcome is uncertain given sharp differences between washington and moscow over everything from syria to ukraine1 hours before he was due to sit down for his first ever summit with vladimir putin u.s. president donald trump has derided his nation blaming what he called u.s. foolishness for bad relations between washington and moscow while the kremlin said it expected a tough meeting1 our relationship with russia has never been worse thanks to many years of u.s. foolishness and stupidity and now the rigged witch hunt wrote trump on twitter referring to the investigation into possible collusion1 during a breakfast meeting with finlands president before the meeting with putin in the finnish capital trump appeared upbeat. asked what he would say to the russian president trump said well be just fine thank you1 trump also repeated his belief that predecessor barack obama had failed to act on russian meddling1 while trump has been abroad since last week the special prosecutor investigating allegations that russia interfered to help trump win the 2016 presidential election indicted 12 russians on friday for stealing democratic party documents1 critics and his own advisers have urged trump to use the summit to press putin hard about election meddling and other malign activities. but hours before he was due to meet the russian president trump focused his ire on his own country and the investigation into possible links between his 2016 campaign and russia. the president has denied any collusion took place1 for putin the fact that the summit is even happening despite russias semi-pariah status among some americans and u.s. allies is a geopolitical win because in russian eyes it shows that washington recognises moscow as a great power that cannot be isolated or ignored1 the kremlin made clear beforehand it did not expect an easy meeting taking trump to task over his criticism of a planned russian gas pipeline to germany and suggesting it would be hard to find common ground on syria because of differences over iran1 trump wants russia to help moscow to use its influence in syria where it is backing president bashar al-assad militarily to push iranian and iranian-allied forces out. kremlin spokesman dmitry peskov told russias rt tv station ahead of the summit that was unlikely1 of course syria will be discussed by the two presidents said peskov. we all know what washington thinks of iran. but at the same time iran is a good partner to us in terms of trade economic cooperation and political dialogue. so this will not be an easy exchange of views1 russia hoped however that the summit would be the first step in overcoming a crisis in relations he said1 presidents trump and putin respect each other and they get along well. there is no clear agenda. it will be determined by the heads of state themselves as they go along1 -
High-level officials in Mexico to get salary slash
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mexican president-elect andres obrador has announced plans to slash the salaries of high-level officials including himself as part of an austerity push by the government1 obrador told newsmen outside his campaign headquarters that he would raise the national minimum wage in order to make the budget reach everybody1 he met with members of his future cabinet there earlier1 his monthly base salary would be 108000 pesos about 5700 u.s. dollars 40 per cent of what president enriquenieto currently earns said obrador who will take over the mexican presidency on dec. 11 the president-elect recently announced that he was canceling the generous pensions paid to former presidents all of whom are wealthy and a slew of bonuses and fringe benefits provided to lawmakers and other officials.1 the austerity plan aims to redirect some 500 billion pesos about 26.4 billion dollars a year towards welfare and development programmes.1 in addition to public-sector belt tightening lopez obrador seeks to pass laws to combat graft1 mexico ranks 135 out of 180 countries in transparency internationals 2017 corruption perceptions index1 obradors left-of-center national regeneration movement morena won a majority in congress so proposed bills are virtually ensured congressional approval. xinhuanan1 -
4 dead, 6 injured in Georgia mine explosion
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at least four miners were killed and six others injured in a coal mine explosion in west-central georgia the countrys interior ministry said on monday2 the explosion occurred on early morning in the countrys tkibuli city2 methane explosion supposedly caused the collapse of the ceiling in the tunnel georgia today reported quoting the ministry2 according to the newspaper the injured persons were taken to the hospital and one of them was in critical condition2 an investigation has been launched2 in april another explosion in the same mine killed six miners and injured three others2 sourcehttpswww.aa.com.trentodays-headlinesgeorgia-at-least-4-miners-killed-in-mine-explosion12053642