Here's an item that our news desk filed earlier today:
Ukrainian Parliament Adopts Law On Religious Communities' Affiliation
KYIV -- The Ukrainian parliament has adopted a bill setting the procedure for changing the affiliation of religious communities in the country.
The January 17 vote in the Verkhovna Rada comes amid tension over the creation of an independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
Earlier this year, the church was formally granted independence, or autocephaly, despite fierce opposition from Moscow.
A total of 229 Ukrainian lawmakers voted in favor of the amendment to the law on freedom of conscience and religious organizations, while 35 voted against it, and two abstained.
Under the proposed legislation, religious congregations will be able to vote to choose what teaching or branch they belong to.
The bill will become law once published in the official gazette.
A Ukrainian church linked with Russia, the Ukrainian Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, has said that by the end of 2018 it had 12,092 parishes across Ukraine.
Efforts by Ukrainians to establish an independent church intensified after Russia seized Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and began supporting separatists shortly thereafter in parts of Ukraine's eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
So, what do you reckon?
Here is today's map of the latest situation in the Donbas conflict zone according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. (CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE.)
Ukraine Detains 'Pro-Separatist' Journalist After Deportation From Russia
By RFE/RL
Authorities in Ukraine say they have detained a journalist accused of undermining the country’s territorial integrity.
The Security Service (SBU) said on January 17 that Ukrainian journalist Olena Boyko (aka Olena Vishchur), who was deported from Russia earlier this month, has distributed “anti-Ukrainian material” on the Internet since 2014, when Moscow illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimea region.
Russia is also backing separatists in Ukraine's eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in a conflict that has killed more than 10,300 people since April 2014.
In its statement, the SBU said Boyko moved to territory held by the separatists in August before heading to Russia, where it said she publicly called for a change of “Ukraine's borders or its state structure."
In December, Boyko was fined by a court in Moscow on charges of violating Russia’s migration regulations and ordered deported.
Before the ruling, Boyko took part in televised talk shows in which she harshly criticized Ukrainian authorities and expressed support for the separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Her lawyer in Russia, Galina Perfilyeva, has said her client was sent back to Ukraine on January 16.
She said Boyko had asked for political asylum in Russia several times but her requests were all rejected.