Category: Євросоюз

France announced on Thursday that because of surging COVID-19 cases in Britain only designated categories of people would be allowed to travel between the two countries, and anyone arriving from Britain would have to self-isolate.  Truck drivers will though be exempt from the new rules, the French government said, easing British concerns the restrictions could cause supply chain disruptions.  France said it was acting now because the omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus, which scientists say appears to be highly infectious, is spreading rapidly in Britain.    “Our goal is to limit as much as possible the spread of omicron …

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Students and faculty members from the Afghanistan National Institute of Music arrived with their families Monday in Portugal, where they are being granted asylum and where they hope to rebuild their acclaimed school.  The 273-person group, including some 150 students, flew into Lisbon, the Portuguese capital, from Doha, Qatar. Their departure from Afghanistan was staggered in five airlifts to Doha over six weeks in October and November.  “The arrival of the (institute’s) community today means that the first and most important step of saving lives and insuring freedom is now over,” said the institute’s founder and director, Dr. Ahmad Sarmast.  …

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An imprisoned Azerbaijani activist says he is now refusing to drink water as he enters his 38th day of a hunger strike to protest what he calls his wrongful imprisonment. Initially detained on narcotic possession charges, Saleh Rustamov, a government critic and opposition activist, was later sentenced to seven years and three months of imprisonment on additional charges including money laundering and illegal entrepreneurship. Numerous human rights organizations and international observers view the charges as politically motivated. Rustamov previously warned authorities that he would continue his hunger strike until death. On Monday, his lawyer, Bahruz Bayramov, told VOA that Rustamov …

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Russia has vetoed a draft U.N. Security Council resolution that warns about the security implications of climate change, with its envoy calling it “unacceptable” for his government.  “We are against creating a new area for the council’s work which establishes a generic, automatic connection between climate change and international security, turning a scientific and socio-economic issue into a politicized question,” Russian Ambassador to the U.N. Vassily Nebenzia said just before casting his veto. Twelve Security Council members voted to adopt the resolution Monday, while China abstained and India voted no. “The force of the veto can block the approval of a text, but …

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Britain has recorded its first death from the omicron variant of the coronavirus. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the death Monday, the day after he warned during a nationally televised speech that Britain was facing a “tidal wave” of new infections from omicron. Johnson announced his government was launching a campaign to get everyone in the country a third shot of the COVID-19 vaccine by New Year’s Eve, accelerating his previous deadline by a full month. The prime minister said that more than 40 military planning teams will be deployed across the country to establish vaccination centers, and ordered primary …

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A wide range of businesses reopened to the public in Austria Monday, one day after authorities ended recent national lockdown restrictions to battle the latest surge of COVID-19 infections. The lockdown had been imposed last month.  Under the revised rules, however, unvaccinated people will still be restricted from leaving their homes except for work or essential business, such as grocery shopping or doctors’ visits.  As of Sunday, theaters, museums and holiday markets were allowed to reopen, although some regions chose to stagger their reopening. Vienna, for example, will let cafes and restaurants fully reopen next week.  In all cases, there will be an 11 p.m. curfew for restaurants, and masks will still be required on public transportation and inside stores and public spaces.  Austria’s Health Ministry says the …

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Rescuers were pulling out bodies on Monday from the rubble of houses destroyed by a suspected gas explosion on Saturday in the Sicilian town of Ravanusa, with the national fire service confirming at least seven people had died in the incident.  Sniffer dogs found four bodies in the early hours of the morning, including a nurse that was nine-months pregnant, and firefighters and men from the Civil Protection Department were extracting them from the wreckage, according to a Reuters Witness.  Three bodies were found in the night between Saturday and Sunday and two people are still missing, a spokesman for the national fire service said on RAI NEW24 television.  In the …

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As Europe starts vaccinating younger children, countries are pursuing very different strategies in what will be a major test of parents’ willingness to get their kids inoculated.  One region in Italy is sending in clowns and jugglers to clinics, France and Germany are targeting only the most vulnerable kids, while Denmark has been administering shots even before the specially-designed vials and syringes have arrived.  “Vaccination must be a game, a joyful moment when children can feel at ease,” said Alessio D’Amato, health chief of the central Lazio region, in a video as he declared Dec. 15 “Vax Day” for children in the region.  The European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved the use of Pfizer’s …

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In Oslo, Norway, on Friday, dignitaries from around the world gathered to celebrate the awarding of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to Filipina journalist Maria Ressa and Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov. But as speeches were delivered and medals presented, voices outside Oslo City Hall were asking whether the most prestigious prize in the world, as many believe it to be, has lost its shine. In recent decades, the prize has sometimes gone to individuals who, many believe, have failed to live up to the standard articulated by the founder of the prize, Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel. His instruction was that …

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is attending talks that began Saturday among Group of Seven foreign ministers in Liverpool, with a call from British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss to unite against authoritarianism. The appeal from Truss came as ministers from the world’s wealthiest democracies, informally known as the G-7, discuss Russia’s build-up of troops along the border it shares with Ukraine, containing Iran’s nuclear ambitions and addressing the military’s seizure of Myanmar. “We need to come together strongly to stand up to aggressors who are seeking to limit the bounds of freedom and democracy,” Truss said as she opened …

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When Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and threw its support behind separatists in the country’s east more than seven years ago, Kyiv’s underfunded and disorganized armed forces struggled to mount a credible response. Now, amid fears that a Russian troop buildup near Ukraine’s border could signal a possible attack, military experts say Moscow would face stronger resistance this time. But they emphasize that Ukraine would be well short of what it needs to counter Russia’s overwhelming land, sea and air superiority. Still, years of fighting the separatists have given Ukrainian veterans such as Colonel Viacheslav Vlasenko the battlefield experience for …

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A month after the U.N. climate change conference in Glasgow, Scotland, known as COP26, politicians, analysts and climate action advocates are taking stock of what was agreed to. And the consensus is that while substantial progress was made in a number of areas, there wasn’t enough. The world still remains off track to avert a climate crisis and is falling short of limiting global warming to 1.5 Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a goal set at previous talks in Paris in 2015.  And it remains off track despite deals to cut carbon and methane emissions, end deforestation, reduce the use of …

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An independent, unofficial panel of British lawyers, academics and businesspeople has concluded that China’s government committed genocide against Uyghurs, a ruling denounced by China as a “farce.”  A Chinese spokesperson for the government of Xinjiang region, Xu Guixiang, Friday called the verdict “extremely despicable” as well as illegitimate.  “The so-called final pronouncement is a piece of wastepaper,” he said at a virtual press briefing. The London panel, called the Uyghur Tribunal, ruled Thursday that Chinese government policies of forced birth control and sterilization targeting Uyghurs constituted genocide. The tribunal’s chair, prominent British barrister Geoffrey Nice, said the policies were “intended to destroy …

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President Joe Biden is seeking to reassure Ukraine that his strategy to prevent a Russian military invasion will work, amid continued tensions over a massive Russian troop buildup along their common border. VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports. Camera: Nike Ching …

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Officials in Switzerland Friday presented two sets of restrictions they are considering to address surging COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations that are threatening the nation’s health system.  Switzerland’s Federal Office of Public Health recorded 10,163 new cases and 51 deaths in the previous 24 hours – the largest spike in deaths since January. The office reported the nation’s intensive care units are 82% full. At a news conference in Bern, Swiss Health Minister Alain Berset said the country is sliding back to a place it does not want to be in and presented the two alternative proposals the government is considering. …

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A British court has ruled that Julian Assange, the 50-year-old founder of the whistleblowing website Wikileaks, can be extradited to the United States to face charges of hacking and theft. As Henry Ridgwell reports, press freedom campaigners are dismayed at the ruling. …

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Russia’s influence in the Central African Republic is growing as the country grapples with insurgents, according to the International Crisis Group. The CAR government hired the Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary contractor for security. But Wagner’s alleged rights violations against killing civilians, aid workers, and journalists have caused tensions with CAR’s western supporters and uproar at home. In the CAR, the civilian population continues to suffer at the hands of armed groups in parts of the country. Last week a rebel attack in the northwest killed at least 30 people. And from January to November, there were 387 violent incidents …

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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg reiterated his call Friday for Russia to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine, respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and return to diplomacy to solve its regional differences. Stoltenberg made the comments in Paris where he held meetings with France’s Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, and Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly. For several weeks now, Russia has massed troops and heavy equipment on its border with Ukraine. U.S. intelligence reports indicate Russia had plans to get more than 100,000 troops to the border in preparation for a possible invasion early next year. Russia denies the reports. The buildup …

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The European Union will on Monday impose a package of sanctions on targets linked to the Russian private military contractor Wagner, accused of stirring trouble in various conflicts. Foreign ministers from EU member states will meet in Brussels next week and endorse a list of individuals and firms to hit with asset freezes and visa bans, diplomats said. Wagner personnel have been identified carrying out operations in several conflict zones, including Russia’s neighbor Ukraine, war-torn Syria and several restive African countries. France in particular has been pressing its EU partners to act, arguing that Wagner’s inroads into Libya, Mali and …

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A British appellate court has opened the door for Julian Assange to be extradited to the United States by overturning a lower court ruling that found the WikiLeaks founder’s mental health was too fragile to withstand the American criminal justice system. The appellate court ruling handed down Friday is likely to be appealed. A lower court judge earlier this year refused an American request to extradite Assange to the U.S. to face spying charges over WikiLeaks’ publication of secret military documents a decade ago. District Judge Vanessa Baraitser denied extradition on health grounds, saying Assange was likely to kill himself …

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