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A SECOND TEAM of European monitors was reported missing in restive eastern Ukraine, despite army claims it had regained control over much of the separatist rust belt.
The United States meanwhile voiced growing alarm over the sudden appearance of fighters from Russia’s war-ravaged Chechnya among rebels who have been waging a seven-week insurgency against Kiev’s rule.
The rebels for their part dismissed speculation of a rift in their ranks after a dozen local militants were evicted from their seat of power in Donetsk by a brigade comprised largely of Chechens and other Russians from the violence-plagued North Caucasus.
The increasingly volatile conflict — growing ever more complex as rivalries emerge among rebel commanders — has ensnared a steadily climbing number of Europeans tasked with helping to resolve a crisis that has threatened the very survival of Ukraine.
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said on Friday that it had been unable to establish contact with four of its monitors and their local translator since the group was stopped by “armed men” at a roadblock in the eastern region of Lugansk.
The Vienna-based organisation — formed in the 1970s as a forum for dialogue during the Cold War and now a principal player in the worst East-West standoff since that era — added that another four members detained by rebels in the neighbouring Donetsk region on Monday were still missing.
Rebels commanders in both regions have confirmed their detention of the monitors and refused to say when they might be released.
But Ukraine did manage to briefly skirt one crisis on Friday — this one economic — when a top EU official announced that a new and previously unplanned round of talks would be held in Brussels on Monday aimed at averting an imminent cut in Russian gas supplies.
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cost of.living goes up but wages don’t,how longer can this continue
Some wages are increasing. Public service increments are still payed even though we are a bankrupt state.
Glad that my salary rose by 4% in the same period then.
ah itl be grand sure that Kenny lad is sound out
But the ultimate “cost” in the long run will be a radical reduction in the quality of lives of those struggling and swamped with bills. The real cost will be huge stress and worry about how to make ends meet.
Did those troika bastards not say the exact opposite to this headline during the week?
wait thats all lies those honest, lovable,hardworking,underpaid nice men from the troika reckons the cost of living in ireland is down a lot and we all should have our wages and welfare cut…….I am shocked that they may have lied to us on this!
It’s because our welfare and minimum wage are too high that inflation is up. It’s insane. If you want cost of living to fall they have to come down. Not popular, but an unfortunate truth.
The sum of life in Ireland. Higher taxes + Lower Wages + Government Levies + Universal Social Charge + Negative Equity + Bank Bailouts + Mortgage Interest + Expensive Petrol + Energy Prices + Cost of Living = 0 left to spend in the local economy such as food, clothing and general day to day / recreational expenses.
So much for the much vaunted low cost economy.
Ah sur it doesn’t matter it’s only the citizens of iredland who have to suffer, because politicians get their petrol paid for by us anyway through their “expenses”. What a flamin joke. The fools in government now will have us back in the times of the famine by 2016 because all we,ll be living off of is bread nd butter cos that’s all we,ll be able to afford, while the “leaders” get fed with golden spoons.
There,s a lot more Irish citizens in Ireland than there is in the dail. These muppets need to go!!!
http://www.change.org/petitions/supporting-the-irish-nation-step-down-from-government
So much for the deflation death spiral that austerity was supposed to bring.
ahh dont cut me welfare
have your say