Month: July 2018

NATO leaders said Wednesday they have agreed to contribute more money to their defense budget. “We are committed to improving the balance of sharing the costs and responsibilities of alliance membership,” the military alliance said. The announcement was made just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump renewed criticism of NATO for not contributing more to defend the nearly 70-year-old, 29-nation alliance. The allied nations also urged world leaders to maintain “decisive pressure” on North Korea, including the full implementation of United Nations sanctions, to get Pyongyang to scrap its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.The alliance also reiterated it support for …

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Sharp divisions over who should pay for Europe’s defense have overshadowed the opening of the NATO summit in Brussels, after U.S. President Donald Trump accused European allies of taking advantage of American taxpayers. The U.S. spends about 3.5 percent of GDP on defense, far higher than other member states. It is predicted that eight of the 29 members, including the United States, will meet the NATO target of two percent of GDP this year. The U.S. provides 70 percent of NATO’s budget. But Trump suggested Wednesday that NATO allies commit to spending 4 percent of their GDP on defense by …

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Facebook will be facing its first fine in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which the social media platform allowed the data mining firm to access the private information of millions of users without their consent or knowledge. A British government investigative office, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), fined Facebook 500,000 pounds, or $663,000 – the maximum amount that can be levied for the violation of British data privacy laws. In a report, the ICO found Facebook had broken the law in failing to protect the data of the estimated 87 million users affected by the security breach. …

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A man who was one of 69 Afghans deported from Germany last week has been found dead in a Kabul hotel room after committing suicide, officials said Wednesday. The death of the 23-year-old, who remains unidentified, has triggered calls for German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer to resign. The man and the other Afghans were forced to return to Afghanistan on July 4 after not being granted asylum. They were sent back as Seehofer was pushing for tighter immigration controls within Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition. The Afghan man was found dead at a hotel used by the International Organization for …

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An Iranian diplomat suspected of involvement in a bomb plot against an Iranian opposition rally in France was charged in Germany on Wednesday with activity as a foreign agent and conspiracy to commit murder.   Assadollah Assadi, a Vienna-based diplomat, is suspected of contracting a couple in Belgium to attack an annual meeting of an exiled Iranian opposition group in Villepinte, near Paris, German federal prosecutors said.   He allegedly gave the Antwerp-based couple a device containing 500 grams of the explosive TATP during a meeting in Luxembourg in late June, prosecutors said in a written statement.   Assadi was …

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Grabbing a bicycle from a docking station and riding the streets of Paris used to be one of the city’s many charms, but the once-loved Velib system has fallen into disarray and some new dockless bike-share programs are struggling to survive. After it launched in 2007, Velib quickly became a hit, signing up more than 250,000 users who could take advantage of 20,000 bikes around the city. But advertising company JCDecaux’s concession to run Velib expired last year. A French-Spanish consortium called Smovengo won the tender to run the service for the next 15 years, but it struggled to meet …

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The U.N. refugee agency says Europe needs to take a broader approach to the influx of refugees and not just expect a few countries to deal with the issue and its causes. Last week, the European Union cobbled together an action plan that focuses on setting up processing centers in North Africa for asylum-seekers fleeing conflict and persecution and economic migrants seeking better lives. The hope is to ease the brunt that front-line countries like Italy have to absorb. Facing growing political opposition, Italy has diverted several boatloads of refugee elsewhere. William Spindler, a senior spokesman for the U.N. High …

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The British government is planning to almost double the number of its troops in Afghanistan after a request from U.S. President Donald Trump for reinforcements to help tackle the fragile security situation there. Prime Minister Theresa May announced the government will send an extra 440 troops, which would bring Britain’s total to about 1,100, to help Afghan troops fighting Taliban and Islamic State insurgents. The extra troops will be taking part in a NATO-led training mission, called Resolute Support, to train and assist Afghan forces. They will be based in Kabul and will not be in a combat role. British …

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Bosnia’s autonomous Bosniak-Croat Federation approved a new law granting wider benefits to war veterans, in a pre-election sweetener that defied warnings by the International Monetary Fund that it may jeopardize long-term fiscal stability. In an urgent session called amid a protest staged by several hundred veterans of the 1992-95 Bosnian War, deputies in the 98-seat parliament approved the new legislation with 58 voting in favor. The measure ignores advice by the IMF, which postponed a final meeting last month to review Bosnia’s loan program that would have unlocked fresh aid, because of new spending measures by its two autonomous regions. …

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Bulgaria has committed to strengthening its banking sector, European Union officials said Tuesday, two days before a eurozone finance ministers meeting that could shed light on the Balkan country’s progress toward joining the euro. Bulgaria meets the nominal criteria to adopt the European common currency, with its lev currency pegged to the euro, low inflation and healthy public finances. But it is also the EU’s poorest country, and widespread graft and troubles at some of its banks have cast a shadow over its prospects of joining. Eurozone states and authorities have demanded that Sofia step up checks at its lenders and accept external …

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