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PRO-RUSSIAN REBELS firing mortar shells and grenades killed 17 Ukrainian soldiers today, the blackest day yet for the military and a dramatic ratcheting up of tensions just three days before a crunch election.
The attacks in the eastern industrial belt near the Russian border underscored the difficulties of the embattled Kiev government in resolving a crisis that is threatening to tear the country apart.
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk accused Russia of trying to “escalate the conflict” and disrupt Sunday’s vote, calling on the UN Security Council to hold an urgent meeting on the crisis.
He said the Kremlin’s announcement of a troop withdrawal from the border was merely a “bluff”, and that even if soldiers were redeploying, Ukraine was still being infiltrated by “armed terrorists”.
Adding to the chaos in the east, armed separatists seized four coal mines in the first such confirmed attack on the main economic engines of the former Soviet republic.
Western governments have pressured Russia not to meddle in the snap election, seen as crucial to preventing all-out civil war erupting on Europe’s eastern flank.
Russia set Western nerves on edge when it massed some 40,000 troops on the border, raising fears of an invasion into eastern Ukraine after its seizure of the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea in March.
Today, Russia’s defence ministry said four trains and more than a dozen planes were taking troops and equipment away from the border in what President Vladimir Putin said were measures to create “favourable conditions” for Sunday’s election.
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he had seen some evidence of limited Russian troop activity that he hoped was “the start of a full and genuine withdrawal”.
But rebels in Ukraine’s heavily-Russified eastern industrial regions of Donetsk and Lugansk are showing no signs of scaling back resistance to what they and the Kremlin regard as an illegitimate government in Kiev.
The Ukrainian defence ministry said the worst of the two overnight attacks saw the insurgents blow up a military vehicle after volleying mortar shells and grenades at a roadblock set up by government troops near the town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region.
The health ministry said 16 had been killed in Volnovakha, while the defence ministry said another soldier was killed in a similar strike near Rubizhne in Lugansk.
Kiev’s interim government launched its so-called “anti-terrorist” operation in mid-April aimed at crushing the rebels who have seized more than a dozen eastern cities and towns and declared sovereignty in Donetsk and Lugansk.
An AFP toll compiled through UN and Ukrainian government sources puts the number of deaths across the east since then at well over 140.
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Skys days are numbered. Losing out on Premier League and Champions League rights to BT Sport. With the emergence of Netflix and other websites, no one is willing to pay for Sky Movies anymore.
Realistically it’s either SKY or UPC(Virgin). If most people had the choice and money wasn’t an issue you’d have SKY for Tv and Virgin for broadband. The SKY TV interface has always been faultless in my opinion and much smoother than UPC. If SKY had high speed broadband and weren’t piggy backing on Eircom’s lines SKY would dominate the market in Ireland.
Hardly. The majority of people don’t have broadband speeds necessary for on demand Netflix. Not to mention that the Netflix library is not great. I have Netflix and Sky. They are complimentary services imo. Netflix for when I want something specific to watch, but I use sky for the majority of my tv viewing. Nobody should be using Sky movies though. It’s a ridiculous expense for a bad selection
Anyone who pays full whack for sky is crazy!it probably costs approx €200 per month if you add in bt sports/setanta/lfc tv/mutv/Chelsea tv/boxnation aswell as the complete sky package.openbox v8s cost me €160 for the 1st year and only €70 a year after that
Eventually these sort of premium cable packages will go under but never underestimate how slow the mass audience is to change.
I mean, Xtra Vision and video rental still exists!
You’re being ripped off even at that, £15 a year through theukguy’s server on any openbox/dreambox etc
On demand content is very poor for new movies.
They didn’t lose out on premier league
Was paying UPC €160 a mth for TV and broadband for a complete package of all tv, movies and sports… on top of ur TV licence.. got an android box.. problem solved €44 a mth on broadband…
Which Android box did you get and what stations do you receive?
@christine.. its very difficult to get a seamless stream of live TV though on it. Dnt get me wrong, I love my android box and use it for tv shows without adds all the time and for movies too… but getting a reliable stream to watch soccer can be very frustrating.
Phoenix started using premier league pass. It’s not skipped or buffered on me yet.
I have an mxq box, there’s a new t8 box I think it’s called comin out and il be upgrading to that.. I bought it from go gadgets.. they come preloaded with all necessary apps/add ons.. ya can subscribe to Ntv for €14.99 garuantees a reliable stream and it’s basically a full sky package of all channels we done a 3 day trial an it worked perfect so considerong signing up its month to month ya dont have to sign into any contract, we’ve had the box a few months now we nearly always seem to find a decent link for the footie but i agree it can get frustrating the more ya play around an try different links ya get to know the good ones.. I use showbox and genesis mainly for shows an films, and got the ivue programme guide and it opens ya up to every live channel, even more sports options and links them to the add on, it probably sounds like gibberish what I’m writing here now but if ya have the box ya wil have all the above.. I really hope they stay around working cause the price of tv packages is absolutely scandalous now!
Sky/siteserve =redacted. I.d rather paint a wall and watch it dry then give that cant a penny.
Squeaky Bum time for Sky. Far better alternatives out there.
Like who? They’re all the same I.M.O. and cost the same. Very little competition.
The internet
I have android boxes in some rooms. It’s not the same. It’s better than nothing and free once you buy the box.
Look really really hard.
Some incredible alternatives.
How is this delivered? If through the satellite dish it can only handle two things at once at the moment and if through the internet, then will speeds be fast enough? The article doesn’t mention that Sky Q will also offer 4K broadcasting that will be available as a premium extra just like HD & 3D were years ago. I do not have Sky, only Saorview and Kodi which is enough and better than what Sky has to offer.
Kodi is brilliant. Problem is most of rural Ireland have not got speed for it. People buy 4k tvs and can’t use them to their potential. I’ve 1mb line I’m forced to stick with sky
Kodi is not brilliant, too often games are skipping or there’s no good stream. Only one stream for the Leinster match on Sunday and the quality was poor
Depends on the add on you’re using. I find Phoenix for premier league and sport devil for rugby work well. Have uktv now for UFC on BT sports. I never have an issue with quality but as mentioned above I’m lucky enough to have a halfway decent Internet. Not great but not the worst.
How much time do we need in a day for all this
I have kodi and I have a smoothstreams subscription for €60 a year where I can get any sports event.
Which add on may I ask?
Believe in better !!!!!!!!
Constant price increases, extremely poor customer service and nothing but repeat programming, I think Murdoch’s days are numbered with Sky.
Yeah like all companys these days…
I left sky at the start of the year and really haven’t missed it. I find myself watching less and less tv all the time and anything I do watch can be got on saorview, freesat, skysport app on vodafone or Netflix. If I’m anything to go by sky in it present form is in big trouble.
Sky can f**k off they keep upping their prices my mother is paying for all channels and they still wont give her a sky+ box she has been a customer for more than 15 years
I use kodi streamed from my laptop to tv using my phones Internet and never have any problems €20 a month for my Internet
New techno ways to watch the sam old tosh on Sky- reminds me of that Bruce Springsteen song “99 channels and nothing on”
MovieHD, CartoonHD, Showbox + cast to TV. Simples
Android boxes are sh*te…. you can’t beat a jarvis box running a linux OS… no back round bloatware like android boxes… and streamsupreme for sports.. happy out with that €35 for 3 months for all ur sky sports & BT sports in all the us sports channels, Being sports.. and premier league pass too for all ur 3pm ko’s
So it’s a step in the right direction as they know with time there dominance will start to fade as people move to new ways of consuming TV shows. But the Xbox one can do this stuff better, you can get free to air to with an adapter, it has a to guide as slick if not better than sky, and the guide also pills from Netflix and the to shows and new movies from within the Microsoft store. So new movies/tv box sets = like renting a dvd, my subscription for Xbox live plus Netflix and that’s the content. There is loads of other services u can plug in to for subscriptions for sport and so on. And then of course they have launched a DVR service that allows u to record programs and watch back, and run multiple devices. Microsofts issue is they don’t market the Xbox for those reasons so not many people know this but now you do :) it’s another option
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