Ukraine’s parliament voted in a new government on Tuesday, putting foreign technocrats in key financial roles and renewing terms for the foreign and defense ministers in a signal that no major change in policy on the rebellious east is likely.
Parliament endorsed Pavlo Klimkin as foreign minister and Stepan Poltorak as defense minister in the Cabinet of Arseny Yatseniuk, while shelling persisted in eastern Ukraine, despite a fresh truce deal between government troops and pro-Russian separatists.
Kiev has been under international pressure to form a new government quickly to tackle Ukraine’s near-bankrupt economy and the months-long separatist crisis after political parties favoring closer relations with the West scored a resounding victory in the October parliamentary election.
“2015 will be even more difficult than the current year,” Yatseniuk told deputies ahead of the vote. “We are ready for the most radical, tough and effective reforms.”
The new Cabinet includes foreign technocrats in pivotal posts such as Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko, a US citizen, who has worked in Ukraine for more than 20 years after holding various economic positions in the US Department of State.
Ukraine has been offered billions of dollars in aid by international lenders if it carries out economic reform and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said the administration would benefit from international specialist input.
The parliamentary vote did not pass without mishap.
The speaker had to call a second ballot after complaints from coalition members — a display of internal disagreement that bodes ill for the parliament’s ability to thrust through the reforms it must deliver to ensure Ukraine receives more Western aid.
The other two foreign appointees to the Cabinet were Lithuanian Aivaras Abromavicius, a partner in investment firm East Capital, and Georgian Aleksander Kvitashvili. They are now the economy and health ministers respectively.
Under Poroshenko and Yatseniuk, Kiev has cut aid to the eastern regions held by pro-Russian rebels since soon after protesters toppled Kiev’s pro-Moscow president in February.
Fighting has continued despite a ceasefire agreed on Sept. 5. In the rebel stronghold of Donetsk, a senior separatist figure said rival sides agreed on a new local truce f on Tuesday around the city’s airport.
“But this is 65th time we agree about this. I don’t rule out that there is going to be 66th time,” Andrei Purgin said.
Sounds of fighting abated, but did not stop. Kiev said rebels renewed attacks on the airport in the evening.
Russia acknowledges supporting the separatists, but denies Western charges of being a party to the armed conflict.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was