Category: Євросоюз

Four temples from ancient Rome, dating back as far as the 3rd century B.C. stand smack in the middle of one of the modern city’s busiest crossroads. But until Monday, practically the only ones getting a close-up view of the temples were the cats that prowl the so-called “Sacred Area,” on the edge of the site where Julius Caesar was assassinated. Now, with the help of funding from Bulgari, the luxury jeweler, the group of temples can be visited by the public. For decades, the curious had to gaze down from the bustling sidewalks rimming Largo Argentina (Argentina Square) to …

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The U.K. on Monday announced new sanctions against Syria’s defense minister and its head of the armed forces, as part of new curbs targeting conflict-related sexual violence. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said Ali Mahmoud Abbas and Abdel Karim Mahmoud Ibrahim would be subject to asset freezes and travel bans. Abbas has a “commanding role of the Syrian military and armed forces, who have systematically used rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence against civilians,” it said. Ibrahim, who is chief of the general staff of the Syrian Army and Armed Forces, “has been involved in …

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The chateau of Versailles will reopen the private rooms of Queen Marie-Antoinette as part of its ongoing 400th anniversary celebrations. The restored apartments will reopen to the public Tuesday, featuring 100 square meters (1,000 square feet) of luxurious living space where France’s last queen played with her children and received friends. It is the final part of a restoration of the Queen’s Hamlet and Trianon, a series of cottages and getaways built away from the main palace. It gives a “new understanding of history, with this paradox between public and private life, etiquette and intimacy, an extraordinary summary of history …

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Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, says that human rights around the world are in a perilous state as countries are failing to honor the fundamental rights and freedoms of all peoples as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The U.N. rights chief, who spoke Monday at the opening of the U.N. Human Rights Council’s four-week session, told a packed chamber that human rights, the cornerstone of the United Nations, are now “at a critical juncture” due to what he said are the self-serving interests of repressive governments, which in his view are taking precedence …

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Nine Egyptians have made their first court appearance in Greece to face smuggling charges in connection with one of the worst shipwrecks off the Greek coast in recent years. The incident has sparked fierce debate and criticism against the Greek Coast Guard and whether it could have prevented the vessel, which was full of migrants, from sinking. Amid tight security and a police escort, the nine suspects were whisked to a courthouse to face smuggling and murder charges in a closed-door hearing in the Greek city of Kalamata. Shortly after they arrived, a special prosecutor gave the suspects a 24-hour …

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Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny went on trial Monday on new charges of extremism that could keep him behind bars for decades. The trial opened at a maximum security penal colony in Melekhovo, 250 kilometers (150 miles) east of Moscow, where Navalny, 47, is serving a nine-year sentence for fraud and contempt of court — charges he says are politically motivated. Navalny, who exposed official corruption and organized major anti-Kremlin protests, was arrested in January 2021 upon returning to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin. Navalny, wearing his prison garb, …

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Military and civilian aircraft streaked across the sky as the Paris Air Show returned Monday after a four-year COVID-induced hiatus, with a big crowd including Ukrainian military officials and the French president. Organizers have billed the biennial event as the “recovery airshow” after the coronavirus ravaged the sector and the event was cancelled in 2021. This year’s airshow has a new focus on defense following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, along with the industry’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint, with French President Emmanuel Macron arriving in a helicopter partly using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Huge traffic jams around Le Bourget …

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The Dutch government is soon to join the United States and Japan in rolling out new semiconductor export control measures aimed at keeping sensitive technology away from China due to concern for potential misuse, the country’s economic affairs minister told reporters on a visit to Washington. The measures are likely to further restrict sales to China by Netherlands-based ASML, maker of the world’s most advanced chip-printing machines, which last year disclosed the “unauthorized misappropriation of data” by a now former employee in China. The United States in October 2022 announced its own export control measures affecting advanced computing integrated circuits …

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A Belgium regional official for Brussels, Pascal Smet, resigned on Sunday after sparking a furor by hosting an Iranian delegation led by the mayor of Tehran.   Smet’s exit came three days after Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib accused him of “sullying the image” of the capital by allowing the Iranians and a Russian delegation to attend the Brussels Urban Summit, a congress of mayors from major cities around the world.   Smet, Brussels’ state secretary for urbanism, announced in a news conference that he was stepping down.   He said he felt obliged to do so after an email …

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California photographer Jason Perry has been volunteering for Ukraine since the start of Russia’s invasion, collecting donations and clothes for civilians and medications for combat teams. During one trip, he brought more than $200,000 in humanitarian aid. Anna Kosstutschenko spoke with Perry. Camera – Pavel Suhodolskiy. …

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Two days after being discharged from the hospital, Pope Francis resumed his cherished Sunday custom of greeting the public in St. Peter’s Square, expressing thanks for the comfort he received after surgery and thanking the crowd shouting “Long live the pope!” Before launching into prepared remarks, Francis expressed gratitude for “affection, attention and friendship” and the assurance of “the support of prayer” during his hospitalization for June 7 abdominal surgery at a Rome hospital to repair a hernia and remove increasingly painful scarring around his intestines. “This human and spiritual closeness for me was a great help and comfort,” Francis …

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A Swedish parliament defense committee report said a Russian military attack against Sweden cannot be ruled out, Swedish public service broadcaster SVT said on Sunday, citing sources. Sweden has been scrambling to bolster its defenses and applied to join NATO last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Sweden was invited to apply but Turkey and Hungary are yet to ratify the application. The parliamentary report, due to be published on Monday, said that although Russian ground forces were tied up in Ukraine, other types of military attacks against Sweden could not be ruled out, SVT said, citing sources who worked …

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The British defense ministry said Sunday in its daily intelligence report about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that both sides are experiencing “high casualties” in the south, “with Russian losses likely the highest since the peak of the battle for Bakhmut in March.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Saturday there seems to be “no chance” of extending the United Nations-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative that allows Ukraine to export grain safely through Russian-controlled waters. The European Union is stepping up efforts to deliver arms and ammunition to Ukraine EU industry chief Thierry Breton said Sunday in an interview with French daily …

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A package of social media tools designed to protect players from online abuse will be offered to all teams at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, soccer’s world governing body FIFA said on Sunday. The Social Media Protection Service (SMPS), developed by FIFA and the players’ union FIFPRO, monitors and moderates hate speech on social media, hiding harmful content from the players. “Discrimination is a criminal act,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino. “With the help of this tool, we are identifying the perpetrators and we are reporting them to the authorities so that they are punished for their actions.” Several teams …

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Two days after being discharged from the hospital, Pope Francis resumed his cherished Sunday custom of greeting the public in St. Peter’s Square, expressing thanks for the comfort he received after surgery and thanking the crowd shouting “Long live the pope!” Before launching into prepared remarks, Francis expressed gratitude for “affection, attention and friendship” and the assurance of “the support of prayer” during his hospitalization for June 7 abdominal surgery at a Rome hospital to repair a hernia and remove increasingly painful scarring around his intestines. “This human and spiritual closeness for me was a great help and comfort,” Francis …

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“The long history of my family and the long history of my country is imprinted in every house of this small, sunny, warm and cozy city,” says Ukrainian journalist Yelizaveta Honcharova. On the first day of the full-scale invasion, she left Bakhmut for Kyiv, realizing that if Russians occupied the city, they would likely arrest her. Honcharova’s family had lived in Bakhmut since the early 20th century. “Russia uprooted us. We were pulled out like a tree from the ground and thrown away. Bakhmut was a fertile ground for generations to live there.” More than 300 years of history Bakhmut …

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Latest developments: Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Saturday there seems to be “no chance” of extending the U.N.-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative that allows Ukraine to export grain safely through Russian-controlled waters. Two volunteers, a man and a woman, were killed Saturday by a Russian missile strike on the Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine, said regional governor Oleh Syniehubov on the Telegram messaging app. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will ask entrepreneurs and businesses, at a conference next week, to bolster investment in Ukraine’s private sector and help it rebuild and recover after Russia’s invasion.   Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected a peace initiative brought …

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The United States ambassador held a U.S. flag high as he marched in the yearly Pride parade in Warsaw Saturday, a clear message of Washington’s opposition to discrimination in a country where LGBTQ+ people are facing an uphill struggle. “America embraces equality,” Ambassador Mark Brzezinski said, as he marched with more than 30 members of the U.S. Embassy and alongside representatives from Canada, Austria and other Western countries in the Equality Parade. In recent years Western governments have been alarmed as the conservative government in Warsaw depicted gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people as threats to the nation and its …

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King Charles III rode on horseback Saturday to take part in his first Trooping the Color ceremony as U.K. monarch, inspecting hundreds of soldiers and horses in a spectacular annual military display at central London’s Horse Guards Parade. Charles, 74, the colonel in chief, received the royal salute and watched as the most prestigious regiments in the U.K. army paraded to mark his official birthday. It was the first time in more than 30 years that a U.K. monarch has taken part in the pomp-filled ceremony on horseback. Earlier, Charles’ eldest son, Prince William, and the king’s siblings, Prince Edward …

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Latest developments: The British Defense Ministry said in its daily intelligence update about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that it is “likely” that Russia has “gained a temporary advantage “in southern Ukraine because of its attack helicopters “employing longer-range missiles against ground targets.” The update said that 20 extra Russian helicopters have been deployed to Berdyansk Airport since the start of Ukraine’s counter offensive in southern Ukraine. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, is expected to visit Moscow next week, the Interfax news agency reports, citing the head of Russia’s nuclear state company Rosatom. Grossi visited the …

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