Month: June 2024

Євросоюз

EU countries approve landmark nature law after delays

BRUSSELS — European Union countries approved a flagship policy to restore damaged nature on Monday, after months of delay, making it the first green law to pass since European Parliament elections this month.  The nature restoration law is among the EU’s biggest environmental policies, requiring member states to introduce measures restoring nature on a fifth of their land and sea by 2030.  EU countries’ environment ministers backed the policy at a meeting in Luxembourg, meaning it can now pass into law.  The vote was held after Austria’s environment minister, Leonore Gewessler of the Greens, defied her conservative coalition partners by pledging …

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Євросоюз

China launches anti-dumping probe into EU pork imports

BEIJING — China said Monday it had launched an anti-dumping investigation into imports of pork products from the European Union. The probe is in response to an application submitted on behalf of domestic producers, Beijing said, and comes in the face of mounting trade tensions between China and the EU. “The Ministry of Commerce has opened an anti-dumping investigation into imports of relevant pork and pig by-products originating from the European Union,” the ministry said in a statement. China has criticized the bloc’s decision last week to slap additional tariffs of up to 38 percent on Chinese electric car imports from …

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Євросоюз

France begins frenetic campaign after Macron poll gamble

PARIS — France on Monday began less than a fortnight of frenetic election campaigning for snap polls called by President Emmanuel Macron to combat the far right, with star footballer Kylian Mbappe warning the country was at a historic crossroads. Candidates had until Sunday evening to register for the 577 seats in the lower house National Assembly ahead of the official start of campaigning from midnight for the June 30 first round. The decisive second round takes place on July 7. The alliance led by centrist Macron, who called the snap polls some three years early after the far right trounced …

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Євросоюз

Trial of US reporter detained in Russia to be closed to public

MOSCOW — Russia will hold the espionage trial of detained U.S. reporter Evan Gershkovich behind closed doors later this month, a court in the city of Yekaterinburg said on Monday. Gershkovich, 32, was detained by the Federal Security Service on March 29, 2023, in a steak house in Yekaterinburg on charges of espionage that carry up to 20 years in prison. Gershkovich, the first American journalist to be detained on spy charges in Russia since the Cold War over three decades ago, denies collecting secrets for the CIA. The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said that Gershkovich was …

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Євросоюз

Iran rebukes G7 statement over its nuclear program escalation

Dubai, UAE — Iran called upon the Group of Seven leaders Sunday to distance itself from “destructive policies of the past,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said, referring to a G7 statement condemning Iran’s recent nuclear program escalation. On Friday, the G7 warned Iran against advancing its nuclear enrichment program and said it would be ready to enforce new measures if Tehran were to transfer ballistic missiles to Russia. “Any attempt to link the war in Ukraine to the bilateral cooperation between Iran and Russia is an act with only biased political goals,” Kanaani said, adding that some countries …

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Євросоюз

American tourist dies on Greek island near Corfu, 3 others missing

Athens, Greece — A missing American tourist has been found dead on a beach on a small Greek island west of Corfu, local media reported. The body of the man was found Sunday on a rocky, fairly remote beach on the island of Mathraki by another tourist. He had been reported missing Thursday by his host, a Greek-American friend. The tourist had last been seen Tuesday at a cafe in the company of two female tourists who have since left the island. No further details about the victim, including a name or hometown, were immediately available. Mathraki, which has a population …

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