U.S. President Barack Obama said on Saturday U.S. airstrikes have
destroyed arms and equipment that Islamic State insurgents could have
used to attack Erbil, the Iraqi Kurdish capital, but warned the current
operation in Iraq could take some time.
“I don’t think we’re going to solve this problem in weeks. This is going to take some time,” Obama told reporters.
“This is going to be a long-term project,” he said during a brief news
conference before leaving Washington for a two-week vacation in
Massachusetts.
Ukraine’s new government is saying that it would try to do its best to stabilize the situation in the country. We have got in touch with Victor Suslov, once Ukraine’s Minister of Economy and now Ukraine’s representative in the Eurasian Economic Commission.
Ukraine’s new Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk says that now, Ukrainians would have to toughly economize for some time. Meanwhile, the head of Ukraine’s National Bank Stepan Kubiv has said that Ukraine has enough money to pay back its foreign debts.
European Parliament President Martin Schulz made the following statement on an agreement to end the crisis in Ukraine:
"The deal between the government and the opposition in Ukraine offers
hope that the country has avoided the worst: escalation of violence and
more deaths. I welcome the agreement although the road to rebuilding
trust and stability will not be easy.
15 February 2014 – United Nations Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon welcomed Saturday's announcement of the formation of a new
Government in Lebanon, and congratulated Prime Minister Tamam Salam “on
this important step”.
In a statement
issued by his Spokesperson in New York, the UN chief encouraged
Lebanon's political leaders to build on the constructive engagement
which led to the formation of the new Government to ensure that the
country's forthcoming presidential election is successfully conducted
within the timeframe set by law.
