Crimea braced for ALL-OUT WAR: Region may spiral out of control as independence day looms

SECURITY experts have warned Crimea could descend into a bloody war within a week amid rising tensions that could escalate during celebrations to mark Ukraine’s independence day on August 24.

Russia and Ukraine have been urged to reduce tensions in the region as fears grow that Moscow and the West could become embroiled in a proxy war over the small Black Sea peninsula, which was annexed in 2014.

Russia builds up forces in Crimea with int’l attention focused elsewhere

Russia’s FSB security service announced Wednesday that it had foiled a series of attacks by armed Ukranians in Crimea, and minutes later President Vladimir Putin accused Kiev of choosing the path of terror instead of peace. On the same day, far from the eyes of the media, Russia sent large military forces, including dozens of armored vehicles, armored personnel carriers and tanks, to the peninsula that it took over in 2014.

In crushing defeat, Brazil’s Rousseff moves close to impeachment

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s leftist President Dilma Rousseff suffered a humiliating loss in a crucial impeachment vote in the lower house of Congress on Sunday and is almost certain to be forced from office months before the nation hosts the Olympics.

Fireworks lit up the night sky in Brazil’s megacities of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro after the opposition comfortably surpassed the two-thirds majority needed to send Rousseff for trial in the Senate on charges of manipulating budget accounts.

The floor of the lower house was a sea of Brazilian flags and pumping fists as dozens of lawmakers carried in their arms the deputy who cast the decisive 342nd vote, after three days of a marathon debate.