EU Postpones Renewal Of Russian Economic Sanctions
European Union nations postponed a decision on December 9 on renewing the bloc's economic sanctions against Russia after Italy called for a debate on the matter.
Ambassadors from the 28 member states had been expected to agree on a six-month extension of the sanctions, which expire at the end of January, at a meeting in Brussels without any debate.
But Rome said the matter should be decided by EU leaders who meet next week in Brussels.
Italy and some other southern European states have shown some reluctance to maintain the sanctions, which have packed a powerful economic punch.
The sanctions, which were imposed over Moscow's annexation of Crimea and support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, target Russia's banking, oll, and defense industries. They were originally introduced in mid-2014.
Poland, the Baltic states, and some other Eastern European nations have taken a harder line on maintaining the sanctions.
Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters, and ANSA
Ukrainian Officer Killed During Raids To Arrest 'Saboteur' Group
A Ukrainian security officer has been killed during a special operation to detain an alleged group of saboteurs.
Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) officials said on December 10 that the group consisted of eight people -- five Ukrainian citizens and three Russians.
They said seven of the suspects were arrested during raids in Kyiv and Ukraine's eastern city of Kharkiv on December 9.
The alleged leader of the group, a Ukrainian man, also was killed during the raids.
The SBU said the group is suspected of conducting terrorist attacks in Ukraine.
Several explosions, some of them deadly, have been reported in cities in eastern Ukraine since fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces broke out in April 2014 following Russia's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in March 2014.