Category: Євросоюз

Russia failed Tuesday in its bid to reclaim its seat on the controversial U.N. Human Rights Council after it was suspended by the General Assembly in April 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine. “U.N. member states sent a strong signal to Russia’s leadership that a government responsible for countless war crimes and crimes against humanity doesn’t belong on the Human Rights Council,” said Louis Charbonneau, Human Rights Watch’s U.N. Director. In a secret ballot vote, Albania, Bulgaria and Russia competed for two available seats designated for their Eastern Europe regional group. A majority of 97 votes was needed, Moscow achieved …

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A Moscow court on Tuesday rejected U.S. reporter Evan Gershkovich’s appeal of his detention on spy charges and ordered him held until November 30. Gershkovich was arrested during a reporting trip at the end of March in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, becoming the first Western reporter to be jailed on spy charges in Russia since the Soviet era. The 31-year-old Wall Street Journal Moscow correspondent, his employer and the U.S. government have rejected the spying allegations.   Judge Yuri Pasyunin at Moscow City Court ruled to “keep (the detention) without changes” until November 30, an AFP reporter at the court …

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The United Nations General Assembly will hold a vote Tuesday on whether to allow Russia to rejoin the world body’s Human Rights Council, nearly two years after it ejected Moscow from the council following its invasion of Ukraine. The Geneva-based council is made up of 47 nations with each nation taken from five regional groups.  Russia, one of several nations seeking a three-year term on the Human Rights Council, is competing against Albania and Bulgaria for the two seats allotted to the East European region.  The General Assembly voted 93-24 to kick Russia off the Human Rights Council in April …

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy drew parallels Monday between Hamas attacks on Israelis and Russian strikes on Ukrainians, calling them “equally evil.” “And the Israelis themselves, the Israeli journalists who were with us, in Ukraine, who were in Bucha, now say that they saw the same evil where Russia came. Equal evil. And there is only one difference: There is a terrorist organization that struck Israel, here there is a terrorist state that struck Ukraine,” Zelenskyy told participants at a NATO meeting via video link. “The declared intentions are different, but the essence is the same. You see it. You see …

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In a sign that President Vladimir Putin may resume nuclear testing, Russian lawmakers were given until October 18 to examine ways to rescind Moscow’s ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), a global nuclear test ban. The possible step was announced Friday by Russia’s envoy to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). In a statement Monday, the head of the CTBTO, Robert Floyd, expressed concern about the developments. “Banning nuclear testing remains essential to preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and to safeguarding current and future generations from the harmful effects of explosive nuclear testing,” he said Washington …

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The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has warned that aid fatigue is growing at a time when a record number of people are fleeing conflict, persecution, human rights violations, climate change, and grinding poverty. “It is mainly conflict that has driven forced displacement to unprecedented numbers — 110 million refugees and displaced people, the highest in decades,” said Filippo Grandi, UNHCR chief, as he opened the organization’s annual conference. The yearly event got off to a solemn start with a minute of silence to honor the victims of the recent earthquake in Afghanistan and the conflict in Israel — …

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Russia is seeking to reclaim its seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council after it was suspended by the General Assembly in April 2022 following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “The Human Rights Council must be protected from misuse as a tool for settling political scores and from practice of double standards,” Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told attendees at a reception his mission held recently to mark their candidacy, according to remarks published on the mission’s website. “Those are tactics of certain states that proclaim themselves to be “human rights champions.” In a vote of 93 in favor, 24 against and 58 …

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Britain’s main opposition Labour Party says that if it wins power, it will appoint a “COVID corruption commissioner” to try and recoup some of the billions lost to fraud and waste during the pandemic.  Labour economy spokeswoman Rachel Reeves is due to outline the plan in a speech Monday at the party’s annual conference. She says the commissioner will bring together tax officials, fraud investigators and law enforcement officers will track down an estimated $8.8 billion in lost public money spent on grants and contracts related to COVID-19.  Like many countries, the U.K. was forced to sidestep usual rules as …

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Air traffic has resumed at Germany’s Hamburg airport, a spokesperson told Reuters on Monday, after a police operation in response to a threat against a plane from Tehran prompted all landings and take-offs to be halted. A federal police spokesperson earlier said officers, acting on a threat of an attack sent via email, searched a plane with 198 passengers from Tehran that had landed in the northern German city. The German air force said on its X social media account that it escorted the plane after it entered German airspace east of Berlin due to a bomb threat. Police interviewed …

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Recent satellite photos show a sharp increase in rail traffic along the North Korea-Russia border, indicating the North is supplying munitions to Russia, according to a U.S. think tank. Speculation about a possible North Korean plan to refill Russia’s munition stores drained in its protracted war with Ukraine flared last month, when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un traveled to Russia to meet President Vladimir Putin and visit key military sites. Foreign officials suspect Kim is seeking sophisticated Russian weapons technologies in return for the munitions to boost his nuclear program. “Given that Kim and Putin discussed some military exchanges …

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Finland and Estonia said Sunday that the undersea Balticconnector gas pipeline running between the two countries across the Baltic Sea was temporarily taken out of service due to a suspected leak. Gasgrid Finland and Elering, the Finnish and Estonian gas system operators, said they noted an unusual drop in pressure in the pipeline shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday, after which they shut down the gas flow. “Based on observations, it was suspected that the offshore pipeline between Finland and Estonia was leaking,” Gasgrid Finland said in a statement. “The valves in the offshore pipeline are now closed and the leak …

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The British government’s contentious policy to stem the flow of migrants faces one of its toughest challenges this week as the U.K. Supreme Court weighs whether it’s lawful to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda.  The Conservative government is challenging a Court of Appeal ruling in June that said the policy intended to deter immigrants from risking their lives crossing the English Channel in small boats is unlawful because the East African country is not a safe place to send them.  Three days of arguments are scheduled to begin Monday with the government arguing its policy is safe and lawyers for migrants …

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London police said Sunday that they had boosted patrols across parts of the city following the attacks on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.    “We are aware of a number of incidents… in relation to the ongoing conflict in Israel and the border with Gaza,” the Metropolitan Police said on social media.    “The Met has increased policing patrols across parts of London in order to provide a visible presence and reassurance to our communities,” it said.    Britain’s interior minister Suella Braverman said there should be “zero tolerance for anti-Semitism or glorification of terrorism on the streets of Britain.”   “I …

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European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said in an interview published on Sunday that she was confident the ECB would meet its target of getting inflation back down to 2%, and relatively confident over Europe’s gas reserves situation.  Last month, the ECB raised its key interest rate to a record high of 4%. “The key ECB interest rates have reached levels that, maintained for a sufficiently long duration, will make a substantial contribution to the timely return of inflation to the target,” Lagarde said in an interview published on Sunday in French paper La Tribune Dimanche. The ECB’s website clarified …

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Tourists at the Acropolis this holiday season can witness the resolution of one of the world’s most heated debates on cultural heritage. All they need is a smartphone. Visitors can now pinch and zoom their way around the ancient Greek site, with a digital overlay showing how it once looked. That includes a collection of marble sculptures removed from the Parthenon more than 200 years ago that are now on display at the British Museum in London. Greece has demanded they be returned. For now, an app supported by Greece’s Culture Ministry allows visitors to point their phones at the …

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Major airlines canceled dozens of flights to and from Tel Aviv this weekend after Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a surprise large-scale attack against Israel.  On the arrivals board at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport, American Airlines, Air France, Lufthansa, Emirates, Ryanair and Aegean Airlines were among those companies pulling flights. Many departing flights were canceled, too. “Given the current security situation in Tel Aviv, Lufthansa is canceling all flights to and from Tel Aviv up until and including Monday, a spokesperson for the German carrier told AFP.  The airline was “permanently monitoring the security situation in Israel,” he added. …

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Germany and France on Saturday moved to reinforce security around Jewish temples, schools and monuments after the surprise attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas against Israel. Germany tightened police protection of Jewish and Israeli institutions, as some supporters of the Palestinians took to the streets of Berlin to celebrate the attack. France focused on Jewish temples and schools in cities across the country, as one Jewish leader expressed concern at the possibility the conflict might be imported there. “In Berlin, police protection has been immediately stepped up,” Germany’s Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told Bild newspaper. “The federal government and the …

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Migration and interior ministers from five European Union countries most affected by migration across the Mediterranean — Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain — hailed a new EU pact on migration but said more resources were needed.  The ministers from the Med 5 group, who met in Thessaloniki, Greece, on Friday and Saturday, took a hard line on returning migrants who have crossed into the bloc illegally to their countries of origin, arguing that if Europe does not tackle the problem decisively, more extreme voices will take over.  Greek Migration and Asylum Minister Dimitris Kairidis, who hosted the sixth meeting …

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The U.S. condemnation of the Hamas terror attack on Israel is being backed by pledges to make sure the Israeli military has what it needs to repel the assault and defend its people. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in a phone call Saturday with Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant promised “his ironclad support” for the Israeli Defense Forces, or IDF, according to a Pentagon readout. “Our commitment to Israel’s right to defend itself remains unwavering,” Austin said in a separate statement. “Over the coming days the Department of Defense will work to ensure that Israel has what it needs to …

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Ukraine and Russia launched new strikes on each other Saturday. Ukrainian shelling killed one person in the Russian border region of Belgorod, according to regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov. Russia, meanwhile, launched a missile strike on Ukraine’s Odesa region overnight. Local officials say four people were wounded in the attack, which was launched from Russian-occupied Crimea. Russian forces downed a Ukrainian drone near Moscow early Saturday, according to Tass, a Russian state news agency. North Korean-Russian border activity Meanwhile, analysts say satellite imagery shows “an unprecedented number of freight railcars” at North Korea’s Tumangang Rail Facility, located at the North Korean-Russian …

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