Mediaboss Marketing

Background

Due to ongoing instability and conflict in Ukraine since April 2014, areas primarily in the eastern part of the country have experienced a deteriorating humanitarian situation. Heavy shelling and armed conflict has led to significant displacement of people. Unfortunately, political negotiations conducted have not succeeded so far in ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The humanitarian crisis is becoming extended, insecurity and humanitarian suffering continue to be a fact of life for many in the east. In the planning figures for the revised Humanitarian Response Plan for 2016, 3.1 million people are estimated to be in need, including 1.6 million internally displaced people (IDPs). As the conflict continues and being even intensified in May-July 2016, the political and security agendas continue to prevail over the humanitarian one. The population in the most affected areas, Donetsk and Luhansk, continue to experience limited or no access to humanitarian aid, including basic life-saving services, and face constant security threats challenging humanitarian operations. The operating environment in those two districts remain volatile, with significant implications on the protection of civilians and aid workers, on the assessment of needs and on the delivery of assistance. Shelling affects infrastructure and hampers road access to deliver humanitarian assistance to people remaining in the conflict zone. So far, the following Clusters remain to be activated in the country: Education; Shelter & NFIs; Food Security; Health & Nutrition; Protection, WASH, and Logistics Cluster, officially activated on 18 February 2015.

See more here:
Ukraine - Humanitarian Response Concept of Operations, 23 February 2017 - ReliefWeb

BRUSSELS -- The Netherlands' lower house of parliament has voted for the ratification of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, leaving a vote in the upper house -- the Dutch Senate -- as a final hurdle before the deal, which was signed in March 2014, finally can enter into force.

It has been expected that the House of Representatives would vote in favor of the deal, as the governing coalition enjoys a majority there.

The Senate vote is expected to take place only after the next month's parliamentary elections in the Netherlands on March 15, despite the fact that the composition of the Senate isn't affected by the general election.

The Netherlands is the only EU country that still hasn't ratified the Association Agreement with Ukraine after 61 percent voted against it in a citizen-driven referendum in the country in April 2016.

Although the result was consultative, the Dutch government decided to negotiate a legally binding supplement to the Association Agreement with the other 27 EU member states.

The supplement, which does not change the text of the actual agreement, was adopted at an EU summit in Brussels in December 2016 and outlined, among other things, that the EU-Ukraine deal doesn't give Kyiv the right to EU membership or guarantees of military support from the EU.

Link:
Dutch Lawmakers Vote In Favor Of EU-Ukraine Deal - RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty

KIEV A Ukrainian lawmaker kidnapped in the southern city of Odessa earlier on Thursday has been found unharmed and his attackers have been detained, the local prosecutor's office said.

Earlier, the head of President Petro Poroshenko's BPP faction, Ihor Hryniv, told parliament that MP Oleksiy Honcharenko had been kidnapped "in broad daylight" in his native Odessa.

"The criminal group has been neutralized. Honcharenko is in a safe place," said Inna Verba, a spokeswoman for the Odessa prosecutor's office.

Thirty-six-year-old Honcharenko used to be in the pro-Russian Party of Regions, but joined Poroshenko's faction following the 'Maidan' uprising in 2014, becoming a vocal opponent of the Russia-backed separatist movement in eastern Ukraine.

Speaking to Reuters by phone, Verba said Honcharenko had been targeted because of his political position, but did not give further details on the alleged motive.

"They wanted to burn his eyes with acid and break his knees so that he suffered. They didn't plan to kill him," she said.

(Reporting by Natalia Zinets and Pavel Polityuk; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Ralph Boulton)

BEIRUT/ISTANBUL An Islamic State car bomb killed more than 50 people on Friday in a Syrian village held by rebels, a war monitor said, a day after the jihadist group was driven from its last stronghold in the area.

DAKAR Funds from a dollar bank account in the name of the Jammeh Foundation for Peace, a charity founded by Gambia's former president Yahya Jammeh, flowed to Jammeh himself, not to foundation projects, according to bank records and interviews with a former charity official and a former presidential staff member.

MANILA A Philippine senator and staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs was in police custody on Friday following her high-profile arrest for drugs offences that she described as a vendetta that would fail to silence her.

Continue reading here:
Kidnapped Ukrainian MP found unharmed, attackers detained: prosecutor - Reuters

The Carey Panthers braced themselves for a tough tussle with the Murtaugh Red Devils Thursday night in the all-important second-place game of the Northside Conference boys basketball tournament at Shoshone High School gym.

On Jan. 10, host Carey out-scored Murtaugh 70-43 in a league gamedoing most of its damage with a 24-7 fourth-quarter surge. But the Red Dev-ils have won seven of their last 10 and have averaged 60.5 ppg in that streak of games.

Murtaugh coach Clayton Nebekers squad has done much of its damage from be-hind the arc, including 25 3-pointers in its two consolation bracket wins over Castleford and Lighthouse, at Shoshone.

No. 2-seeded Carey (14-9) dropped into the consolation bracket of the eight-team Northside tournament with a 69-57 loss to top-seeded Dietrich Wednesday at Shoshones gym.

Leading Panther scorer Hayden Wayment (21 points including five 3-pointers), sen-ior Toby Whitworth (17) and senior Derrick Baird (12) led coach Dick Simpsons Carey team. It was a season-high total for Careys Whitworth.

With its 16th consecutive win, reigning State 1A Division 2 tournament champ Dietrich (22-1, averaging 69.3 ppg) won its fourth Northside tourna-ment title in five years.

Senior Garrett Astle (14 points) led four Blue Devils in double figures, and Dietrich outpointed Carey 17-7 at the free throw line for the game.

That result, combined with Murtaughs 57-49 win over No. 5 Lighthouse Christian (10-12) earlier Wednesday, sent No. 4-seeded Murtaugh (15-9) up against Carey Thursday. It was Murtaughs third game in three nights, and Careys second game in two evenings.

Carey was trying for the programs 21st state tourna-ment berth in the last 25 years.

Murtaughs last state visit was in 2011, when coach Adam Johnsons Red Devils lost 54-36 to Carey in the state semi-finalsand Carey (24-2) went on to capture its first state hoops title 47-46 over Nezperce.

At stake Thursday was the Northsides second berth in the 2017 State 1A Division 2 tour-ney March 2-4 at Caldwell.

The winner of Thursdays knockout game between Carey and Murtaugh will play Boise-area champion Council (13-5) Thursday, March 2 at 6:15 p.m. in a first-round game of the eight-team tournament at Caldwell High School gym.

The Lumberjacks from Council (22-4) fell in last Marchs state championship game 68-55 to Dietrich (22-4).

Council defeated Salmon River 55-47 Wednesday night at McCall for the 3rd District title. Salmon River (15-7) played Tri-Valley (10-11) Thursday for a state play-in berth on Saturday, Feb. 25.

Dietrich opens the state tournament next Thursday at 3 p.m. against District 2 cham-pion Kendrick (17-5), a team that went two-and-out at 2016 state.

Read the original post:
Panthers battle Red Devils for state hoops spot - Idaho Mountain Express and Guide

Feb 24, 2017- Even by the standards of modern soccer management mayhem, the vertiginous rise and equally stunning fall of Leicester City coach Claudio Ranieri takes the breath away.

The Italian was sacked by the Premier League club on Thursday less than 24 hours after his team battled to a creditable 2-1 defeat in the first leg of a Champions League last 16 knockout game against European specialists Sevilla.

Leicester and the Champions League in the same sentence is not something fans of the Midlands club would ever have thought about before last year, let alone a brilliant group stage campaign they swept through as winners with a game to spare.

The club are three points, three places and millions of pounds better off than they were at this stage of the Premier League campaign two years ago.

There is also the little matter of writing one of the most amazing stories in the history of world sport as they defied odds of 5,000-1 to win the title and enter the lexicon of the English language as people now talk of doing a Leicester.

So, of course, having had such amazing success after a century of mediocrity, at the first sign of trouble, the manager had to go.

After all that Claudio Ranieri has done for Leicester City, to sack him now is inexplicable, unforgivable and gut-wrenchingly sad, the clubs former striker-turned pundit Gary Lineker said in comments echoed across social media.

PERIPATETIC CAREER

Moving on is something Ranieri is used to, of course, having led and now left no fewer than 14 clubs and one country during his peripatetic 30-year coaching career.

Not small clubs either as he has led Napoli, Roma, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Inter Milan, Monaco and, of course, Chelsea, where he was and still is universally loved by the fans.

He led the Londoners to a second-place finish in the league, their best for 49 years, and the Champions League semi-finals.

New owner Roman Abramovich, however, decided he was not a big enough name and Jose Mourinho arrived to develop the team Ranieri built and reap the glorious returns.

More European wanderings, including a short spell as manager of Greece, brought him yet more friends, but little tangible success - the theme of his career.

Although his CV was glittering in terms of location, it was less so in terms of trophies, with a smattering of domestic cups and lower-tier titles to show for his efforts.

So, there was hardly dancing in the streets of the East Midlands when he was appointed as Leicester boss to succeed Nigel Pearson, who was sacked despite engineering one of the all-time great escapes in the last weeks of the 2014-15 season.

Most Leicester fans would have been happy with another season of survival, with the club having climbed out of the Championship two years earlier. Little did they know the lovable Italian was about to take them on the ride of their lives.

STRONG START

Leicester started strongly last season and then defied the almost weekly predictions that they would fall away.

In much the same way Brian Clough turned second division Nottingham Forest into European champions almost 40 years ago, Ranieri fashioned a team of also-rans into a tight unit with unquenchable spirit who played incisive counter-attacking football.

Journeymen like Jamie Vardy and Danny Drinkwater suddenly became England internationals, while Riyad Mahrez and NGolo Kante, barely noticed as they plied their trade in the French lower leagues, were catapulted into the 'world class' bracket.

As early season promise developed into a top-of-the-table New Year, Ranieri was a picture of Kiplingesque calm, dealing with the impending, and rare, triumph in the same way that he had so often accepted its "twin imposter" of disaster.

With every win came the question: Can you win it, followed by a smile, and his answer: Why not?

But Leicester did not just win the Premier League, they cantered to the title, finishing an incredible 10 points clear in a fairytale success toasted in every corner of the soccer world.

Nobody expected a repeat this season, and the fans were happy to continue enjoying more heady nights with a deeply impressive first Champions League campaign.

But City's slide down the Premier League table spooked their Thai owners. Like so many before who have had a taste of the high life, the shadow of normality meant the man they described on Thursday as the club's most successful manager had to go.

Published: 24-02-2017 15:14

Read the original:
Ranieri sacked again, but now has a golden legacy - The Kathmandu Post