Category: Євросоюз

“The Netherlands is shutting down again,” Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Saturday in a televised address. The new measures, beginning Sunday, Rutte said, are because of a “fifth wave” of COVID-19, due to the highly contagious omicron variant. Under the new rules, all non-essential shops will be closed to at least mid-January. Only two guests will be permitted to visit a household at one time. Four guests, however, will be allowed during the upcoming holidays from Dec. 24-26 and New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Schools will be immediately closed until at least Jan. 9. While the Netherland boasts …

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A senior member of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Cabinet resigned Saturday night, adding to a sense of disarray within a government that has faced rebellion from his own lawmakers and voters this week. Brexit Minister David Frost said in a letter to Johnson that he was stepping down immediately after a newspaper reported that he had planned to leave the post next month. Frost said the process of leaving the EU would be a long-term job. “That is why we agreed earlier this month that I would move on in January and hand over the baton to others to manage …

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Pope Francis doubled down Saturday on his efforts to quash the old Latin Mass, forbidding the celebration of some sacraments according to the ancient rite in his latest salvo against conservatives and traditionalists. The Vatican’s liturgy office issued a document that clarified some questions that arose after Francis in July reimposed restrictions on celebrating the old Latin Mass that Pope Benedict XVI had relaxed in 2007. Francis said then that he was reversing his predecessor because Benedict’s reform had become a source of division in the church and been exploited by Catholics opposed to the Second Vatican Council, the 1960s …

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Deputy foreign minister Alexander Grushko said Saturday that security proposals Russia has presented to the United States are an attempt to turn a potential military scenario into a political process.   Russia, which has built up troops near the border with Ukraine, said Friday it wanted a legally binding guarantee that NATO would give up any military activity in eastern Europe and Ukraine.   Grushko was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying Moscow was ready for talks “to turn a military or a military-technical scenario of confrontation into a political process which will really strengthen military security.”   …

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The Dutch government is holding an emergency meeting Saturday with health advisers about the fast-spreading omicron variant of the coronavirus before an expected announcement of more lockdown measures to stem its spread. The government proposed new measures Friday to curb the alarming spread of the new variant, as other European countries are moving to reimpose restrictions to contain the variant’s spread.  The health experts have recommended the government order a “strict” lockdown, according to Dutch media reports, just days after a partial lockdown closing non-essential businesses was extended through January 14. Primary schools also were closed early for the winter …

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Marking International Migrants Day, the United Nations reports hostility and xenophobia are growing against migrants.  It warns the stigmatization and marginalization of migrants amid a raging pandemic is putting many lives at risk.   U.N. agencies report one seventh of the global population, or one billion people, are on the move. This number includes a record 281 million international migrants, and 84 million people forcibly displaced by conflict, violence, and climate change. Director-General of the International Organization for Migration, Antonio Vitorino, says many migrants embark on dangerous, life-threatening journeys in search of better economic opportunities, others are forced from their homes …

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The U.S. says its indirect talks with Iran on reviving a 2015 nuclear deal made modest progress in the latest round that ended Friday, but it also says much work remains to be done to prevent what is left of the agreement between Tehran and world powers from quickly falling apart. In a phone briefing with reporters, a senior State Department official cited two examples of “modest” progress at the talks in Vienna involving the U.S., Iran and five world powers acting as mediators between the two sides. The first was Iran’s Wednesday agreement to let the International Atomic Energy …

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The women-only farmers market in Diyarbakir, Turkey, is a unique place. Here, women, many of them divorced or survivors of abuse, can create new lives. But Turkey’s economic troubles are making their lives even more difficult. VOA’s Mahmut Bozarslan has filed this report, narrated by Bezhan Hamdard. Producer and camera: Mahmut Bozarslan. …

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Russia should not expect the United States and its allies to go along with its recent demand for an expansive set of “security guarantees,” including a ban on the further expansion of NATO and a cessation of all military activity by the alliance in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, experts and U.S. officials said Friday.  The United States and its NATO allies, however, signaled that they might be willing to enter talks with Russia, especially if the Kremlin agrees to draw down troop levels along its border with Ukraine that have raised concerns about a possible invasion.  The …

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Denmark proposed new lockdown measures Friday to curb the alarming spread of the new omicron variant of the coronavirus, as other European countries consider imposing travel and other restrictions to stem the variant’s spread. The new variant has fueled infections in Britain close to the peak levels of early 2021, while other European countries and the United States are also experiencing surges. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said at a news conference the restrictions, which need parliamentary approval, would include crowd limits in stores, the closure of theaters, other entertainment venues and conference centers, and a mandatory mask requirement in most public places. The Danish government reported 11,559 omicron cases Friday – a sharp increase from a day earlier – and said the new variant, which is more transmissible than earlier variants, now …

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Poland’s parliament passed a media bill on Friday that critics say aims to silence a news channel critical of the government, in an unexpected move that will stoke concern over media freedom and reopen a diplomatic dispute with the United States.  Critics say the legislation will affect the ability of news channel TVN24, owned by U.S. media company Discovery Inc., to operate because it tightens the rules around foreign ownership of media in Poland.  The vote sours relations with the U.S., Poland’s most powerful ally, at a time of heightened tension in Eastern Europe over an increasingly assertive Russia.  Lawmakers …

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Russia published draft details Friday of a security package it has sent the United States and NATO allies, which calls for restrictions on western military activity in Europe, as well as a halt to expansion by the alliance into eastern Europe. The security proposal, submitted to the U.S. and its allies earlier this week, also calls for a ban on the deployment of U.S. and Russian warships and aircraft to areas from where they can strike each other’s territory. Many of the demands, such as a ban on NATO membership for Ukraine, already have been rejected by the U.S. and …

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday suffered a crushing by-election defeat in a constituency never previously lost by his Conservative Party, a result which raises serious questions about his leadership. His party won the seat in North Shropshire, central England, by a massive majority in 2019, but that was wiped out by the Liberal Democrats in Thursday’s vote in a result that will intensify the mutinous mood among Conservative MPs. Johnson, 57, was already reeling after roughly 100 of his MPs rebelled in parliament Tuesday against the government’s introduction of vaccine passes for large events. The UK leader’s authority …

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China and Russia have begun collaborating on technology to rival the United States’ GPS and European Galileo satellite navigation systems, as the two countries pursue closer military and strategic ties. Earlier this year, China agreed to host ground monitoring stations for Russia’s GLONASS positioning system on its soil, which improves global range and accuracy but can pose a security risk. In turn, Russia agreed to host ground stations for China’s BeiDou system. The reciprocal agreement indicates a growing level of trust and cooperation between Moscow and Beijing, says analyst Alexander Gabuev, senior fellow and chair of the Russia in the …

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Soaring infections in Britain driven in part by the omicron variant of the coronavirus rattled Europe on Thursday, prompting new restrictions and fueling a familiar dread on both sides of the Atlantic about entering a new phase of the pandemic just in time for the holidays.  Much remains unknown about omicron, but officials increasingly warn that it appears more transmissible than the delta variant, which has already put pressure on hospitals worldwide. With so many questions unanswered, uncertainty reigned over how quickly and how severely to crack down on Christmas travel and year-end parties.  After the United Kingdom recorded its …

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The European Union’s drug regulator, the European Medicines Agency, on Thursday recommended two new treatments against COVID-19 for use among EU member nations, as well as offer advice on the use of another, pending its authorization. In separate statements on its website, the EMA recommended the use of Swedish-made drug Kineret and U.S.-made Xevudy for treatment of COVID-19. The EMA had previously approved Kineret for use as an anti-inflammatory medicine. But in their recommendation Thursday, the agency recommended its use as a treatment for adult COVID-19 patients also suffering from pneumonia requiring supplemental oxygen and at risk of developing severe …

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New German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said Thursday he is seeking to secure additional doses of COVID-19 vaccine for a swift booster vaccine offensive, which is the center of the government’s strategy for fighting off the new omicron variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Speaking at his first COVID-19 briefing, along with Lothar Wieler, president of the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases (RKI), Lauterbach said 1.5 million booster vaccinations were given Wednesday alone, the nation’s highest single-day total so far. Germany’s vaccination efforts have picked back up, with an average of some 988,000 people per day being inoculated over the past week. But Lauterbach said the campaign has slowed because they do not have enough vaccine, and he is negotiating with other countries, including Romania, Poland, Portugal and Bulgaria to get …

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Leaders of European Union member states are meeting in Brussels Thursday seeking a unified approach to the new omicron coronavirus variant to avoid widespread lockdowns and closed borders.  Ahead of the summit, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control on Wednesday said the new, highly transmissible omicron is likely to become the dominant variant in the region as early as next month. In the midst of the festive holiday season, many leaders of nations which are heavily dependent on tourism expressed reluctance to close borders or add additional travel restrictions, such as mandatory testing. But several nations ahead of …

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Authorities in Belarus have again failed to release a freelance journalist who has worked for RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, even though the second consecutive jail term he was handed on a controversial hooliganism charge ended on December 15. Andrey Kuznechyk was initially sentenced to 10 days in jail on November 26 after a trial in which he refused to accept the guilty verdict. He is being held in Minsk’s Akrestsina detention center, where many inmates have said they were tortured. On December 6, when his sentence ended, he was not released and was handed another 10-day jail term, also on a …

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Liudmyla Momot wipes away tears as she searches for clothes and household items to salvage from the ruins of her home that was shelled by Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Her village of Nevelske, northwest of the rebel-held city of Donetsk, is only about 3 kilometers from the line of contact between the separatists and the Ukrainian military and has been emptied of all but five people. Small arms fire frequently is heard in the daytime, giving way to the booms of light artillery and mortar shelling after dusk. With the bloody conflict now more than 7 years old, there …

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