The Hangover News

Pro-Russian Operations
A MILITARY OBSERVER SEIZED IN UKRAINE WAS RELEASED
But his seven colleagues are still being held in Sloviansk

(via)

Pro-Russian separatists released one of a team of eight European military observers seized last Friday in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk.

The group were shown to media by masked gunmen before the man's release, and German monitor Col Axel Schneider – speaking for his colleagues – said, "We are not prisoners of war. We are the guests of [self-declared Sloviansk] Mayor [Vyacheslav] Ponomaryov, and being treated as such."

Stella Khorosheva, a spokeswoman for Ponomaryov, said that the freed man "has a mild form of diabetes and so we decided to let him go" – a statement that was later confirmed by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

The remaining seven men – working under the auspices of the OSCE – were invited to Ukraine by the Kiev government. Amid "intensive diplomacy" to obtain their freedom, Russia – an OSCE member – has pledged to "take all possible steps" to secure the release of the observers.

There is no word about a number of Ukrainian military officers who were also seized with the group at the end of last week.

Diplomatic Relations
NORTH KOREA CALLED THE SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT A "CRAFTY PROSTITUTE"
And Barack Obama her "pimp"

(Photo via)

(via)

North Korea described South Korean President Park Geun-hye as a "crafty prostitute" under the charm of her "pimp", Barack Obama.

The comments were issued by the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK), which handles cross-border affairs, after Obama's two-day visit to Seoul.

The committee also accused Obama of being "utterly indifferent to the sorrow of South Koreans" following the sinking of the Sewol ferry, despite the fact the US president offered South Korea any help they needed within 24 hours of the disaster, while North Korea didn't express any sympathy until a week later.

North Korea is known for its aggressive statements, but these latest remarks are more personal than usual, which – according to North Korean propaganda expert Tatiana Gabroussenko – is reminiscent of Kim Il-sung's rhetoric during the 1950s and early 60s.

This "loud, personalised" tone "was something used in Kim Il-sung's time and applauded; it meant he was 'one of us', not an elite intellectual," she said.

Shocks and Surprises
ANOTHER MONTH, ANOTHER UKIP SCANDAL
This time, a candidate managed to be both racist and Islamophobic 

Lenny Henry (Photo via)

(via)

This month's UKIP gaffe comes courtesy of a party candidate who tweeted something racist about Lenny Henry after comparing Islam to Nazism.

In response to Henry saying that there should be more black and ethnic minority people in creative industries, William Henwood – who is standing in next month's local council elections in Enfield, north London – tweeted: "He should emigrate to a black country He does not have to live with whites [sic]."

Defending his comment, Henwood then told a BBC correspondent: "I think if black people come to this country and don't like mixing with white people, why are they here? If [Henry] wants a lot of blacks around, go and live in a black country."

Which was obviously not a good thing to do.

Among all the uproar, someone discovered that Henwood also once tweeted: "Islam reminds me of the 3rd Reich Strength through violence against the citizens [sic]."

Conservative Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt described Henwood's comments as "absolutely disgusting", while BNP leader Nick Griffin added that the "real racism" was the "bullying by the BBC and by the political elite of ordinary British people, of various parties, who stand up and say what most ordinary people think".

Religious Scrapes
DAVID CAMERON, BRITAIN IS A "POST-CHRISTIAN" COUNTRY
According to former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams (Photo via)

(via)

According to former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Britain is now a "post-Christian" country.

Lord Williams' comments came after Prime Minister David Cameron said people in Britain should be confident of its status as "a Christian country", which provoked a group of 50 public figures to write a letter insisting that the UK is "a non-religious" and "plural" society, and that to claim otherwise fostered "alienation and division".

Speaking to the Sunday Telegraph, the former Archbishop said that post-Christian "doesn't mean necessarily non-Christian – it means the cultural memory is still quite strongly Christian".

The current Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, has supported the prime minister.