Month: January 2018

President Donald Trump is planning to attend the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos later this month. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders says in a statement that the president welcomes the opportunity to promote his “America First” agenda with world leaders.   Sanders says Trump wants to promote his policies for strengthening American businesses, industries and workers.   The annual gathering of global political and business elites is scheduled to take place from January 23-26 in Switzerland.   American presidents rarely attend. Then-vice president Joe Biden attended last year.   The New York Times …

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Tuesday said a sanctions-busting court case in New York involving Turkish nationals is a “political coup attempt” against him and his government. With Erdogan also threatening military action against a key U.S. ally in Syria, relations between the NATO allies could deteriorate further. Erdogan alleged the conviction of a Turkish state banker in the federal case is the latest attempt by the FBI and CIA to unseat him. He made the comment while addressing members of his AK Party in parliament. “Those who could not succeed in the military coup attempt in Turkey on July …

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Swiss authorities near the famed Matterhorn peak have closed ski slopes, hiking trails, cable cars, roads and train service into the nearby town of Zermatt amid a heightened risk of avalanches, stranding some 13,000 tourists in the town.   Janine Imesch of the Zermatt tourism office says power has been restored in the town and no people were at risk because authorities shuttered access to the nearby ski slopes and hiking trails a day earlier. Imesch says Tuesday “there is nothing to panic about, everything is fine.”   The office’s website earlier indicated that arrivals and departures from the town …

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French prosecutors have opened an investigation into Apple over revelations it secretly slowed down older versions of its handsets.   The Paris prosecutor’s office said Tuesday a probe was opened last week over alleged “deception and planned obsolescence” of some Apple products. It is led by the French body in charge of fraud control, which is part of the Finance Ministry.   It follows a legal complaint filed in December by a French consumer rights group that aims to stop intentional obsolescence of goods by companies.   In France it is illegal to intentionally shorten the lifespan of a product …

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Poland’s new prime minister is looking to improve strained relations with partners in the European Union when he arrives in Brussels on Tuesday.  Mateusz Morawiecki, who replaced Beata Szydlo last month, is expected to stand his ground over several thorny issues that have raised concerns across the EU.  The Polish government’s stance on justice reform and immigration has prompted so much unease within the EU that a procedure to strip the country of voting rights in the 28-nation bloc has been started.  “We are expecting Brussels to understand our position,” deputy Foreign Minister Konrad Szymanski said ahead of the introductory …

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Turkey’s nationalist opposition said on Monday it would back President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the 2019 election, signaling continued right-wing support crucial to his narrow victory in a constitutional referendum last year. The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the smallest of parliament’s four factions, backed the vote to grant Erdogan sweeping executive powers, helping it squeak by with a margin of 51.4 percent. “The MHP will not submit a presidential candidate,” MHP leader Devlet Bahceli told a news conference. “The MHP will take a decision to support Erdogan in the presidential elections.” Turks will vote for both president and parliament next …

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Romania’s prime minister failed Monday to deliver the government reshuffle he planned as the powerful leader of his party ruled that any changes would have to wait until the end of the month. There has been mounting speculation in Bucharest that Premier Mihai Tudose wants to replace Liviu Dragnea, the current chairman of the Social Democratic Party who is facing corruption charges, with a committee of regional leaders.   In an open letter published in Romanian media, senior party member Nicolae Badalau urged colleagues to back efforts to make the party more democratic, to be run by “a collective party …

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In 2012, Britons delighted in the spectacular opening ceremony of the London Olympics celebrating British history. One of the curtain-raiser’s most popular sequences, drawing loud applause, involved 1,800 dancers and 320 hospital beds honoring the country’s National Health Service. Six years on, and Britons are more likely to moan about the world’s largest single-payer health care system than praise it. According to patients, doctors and analysts, the NHS is buckling and close to collapse, with emergency departments over-burdened, hospital wards full and all nonessential operations — more than 55,000 of them — suspended because of a winter surge in demand. …

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Paris’ pioneering Velib bicycle hire service, which has been copied from London to Seattle, has ground to a virtual standstill after the new concession holder failed to install revamped docking stations on schedule. In May 2017, Paris awarded a new contract to the French-Spanish Smovengo consortium to operate its bike-sharing scheme from 2018 to 2032, replacing outdoor advertising group JCDecaux, which had run it since 2007. Under the 700 million euro ($838 million) contract, about half of the new bikes should have become available at the start of 2018, but fewer than 100 out of a planned 1,400 stations opened …

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January 27 is the day the international community observes Holocaust Remembrance Day by recalling the horrors committed during World War II by Nazi Germany and the bravery of those who risked their lives to save persecuted Jews and others from Nazi death camps. Tatiana Vorozhko and Kostiantyn Golubchyk of VOA’s Ukrainian Service tell the amazing story of a Jewish boy who was saved by a Ukrainian family and later grew up to be a Nobel Laureate in Chemistry. …

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