Category: Євросоюз

A report produced by the British parliament says a state of “groupthink” among government officials led to a costly delay in ordering a nationwide lockdown in the first days of the COVID-19 pandemic.  The 151-page report from the joint science and health committees in the House of Commons says Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Cabinet deliberately engaged in a “slow and gradualist approach” in the first few months of 2020 as officials sought to manage instead of suppress the spread of the virus.  The joint inquiry says the virus was able to take hold across Britain because of that “fatalistic” strategy, …

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It was late last Christmas Eve when the European Union and Britain finally clinched a Brexit trade deal after years of wrangling, threats and missed deadlines to seal their divorce. There was hope that now-separated Britain and the 27-nation bloc would sail their relationship toward calmer waters. With Christmas closing in again one thing is clear — it wasn’t to be. Britain’s Brexit minister on Tuesday accused the EU of wishing failure on its former member and of badmouthing the U.K. as a country that can’t be trusted. David Frost said during a speech in Lisbon that the EU “doesn’t …

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With Afghanistan facing humanitarian and economic crises, G-20 leaders are set to meet virtually Tuesday to discuss ways to meet aid needs and address security concerns following the Taliban’s August takeover.  Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi is hosting the summit, with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, U.S. President Joe Biden, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leaders from European G-20 nations among those expected to participate.  EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell pledged help Monday, saying at an EU ministerial meeting that the “humanitarian and socioeconomic situation in Afghanistan is on the verge of collapse.”  “Today we agreed on having a calibrated approach …

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The German city of Cologne says it will start allowing mosques to broadcast the call to prayer, or azan, over loudspeakers.  The city said Monday the call to prayer could be broadcast on Friday afternoons for up to five minutes. Mosques will need to apply for a permit to broadcast and must comply with volume limits. The permit will last for two years. “Permitting the call of the muezzin is a sign of respect,” Cologne Mayor Henriette Reker tweeted last week.  She said those who arrive at the city’s main train station are greeted by the sound of church bells …

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Russia, Germany and France have agreed that their foreign ministers should meet to discuss the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine.  French President Emmanuel Macron, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke by phone Monday on the issue of Ukraine.  Both the German and Russian governments said the leaders agreed that their foreign ministers should meet soon to address the conflict. The Kremlin said that during the phone call Putin also accused Ukraine authorities of “stubbornly evading” implementing agreements reached at peace talks.  The Kremlin statement did not say if Ukraine would take part in the upcoming foreign …

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European Union officials have warned that the bloc “is at risk of collapse” unless it challenges a ruling by Poland’s top court over the supremacy of EU law, which is seen as a central pillar of European integration.  Vera Jourova, the EU commissioner from the Czech Republic, said Monday: “If we don’t uphold the principle in the EU that equal rules are respected the same everywhere in Europe, the whole Europe will start collapsing. That is why we will have to react to this new chapter which the Polish constitutional court started to draw.”  Large rallies were held across Poland …

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European Union officials have warned that the bloc ‘is at risk of collapse’ unless it challenges a ruling by Poland’s top court over the supremacy of EU law. Large rallies were held across Poland over the weekend in support of EU membership, as Henry Ridgwell reports.  Camera: Henry Ridgwell …

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Austria’s new Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg pledged on Monday to work closely with his predecessor Sebastian Kurz, who quit in the face of corruption allegations, fueling opposition assertions that the new leader will simply do Kurz’s bidding. The Greens, the junior partner to Kurz’s conservatives, had demanded Kurz’s head after he and nine others including senior aides were placed under investigation last week on suspicion of varying degrees of breach of trust, corruption and bribery. Kurz, who denies wrongdoing, has been the undisputed leader of his party until now and is taking on an additional role as his party’s top lawmaker …

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Next month, the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, will get under way, setting the climate agenda for decades to come, and ahead of the summit, Western leaders have been scrambling to make promises to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Some economists, however, are warning that in the pledge-making rush, political leaders are making promises they’re unlikely to be able to keep without major economic damage and are not being honest with voters about the huge transformation that’s going to be needed, and the large costs involved, most of which are likely to be …

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British police said on Monday they would be taking no further action after conducting a review of evidence relating to sex crime allegations against Queen Elizabeth’s son, Prince Andrew, and the late U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein.  London’s police chief, Cressida Dick, said in August that detectives would look at the allegations for a third time although they would not start an investigation, after Virginia Giuffre filed a U.S. lawsuit accusing the prince of sexual assault, which he has always denied.  “As a matter of procedure MPS (Metropolitan Police Service) officers reviewed a document released in August 2021 as part of a …

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The mynah bird squawks from a new cage in the French ambassador’s sunlit living room in Abu Dhabi, a far cry from its life as the pet of a young Afghan woman who has since found refuge in France.  Talkative, yellow-beaked “Juji” had a brief star turn on social media, its story of survival amid the frenzied evacuations from Taliban-run Afghanistan striking a chord with a global audience.  While scenes from the American-led airlift from Kabul after 20 years of war — such as Afghans falling to their deaths after trying to cling to the wheels of a military transport …

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The United States and Britain warned their citizens on Monday to avoid hotels in Afghanistan, days after dozens were killed at a mosque in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group active in Afghanistan, Islamic State Khorasan.  The Taliban, which seized power in August and declared an Islamic emirate, are seeking international recognition and assistance to avoid a humanitarian disaster and ease Afghanistan’s economic crisis.  But, as the hard-line Islamist group transitions from a rebel army to a governing power, they are struggling to contain the threat from the Afghanistan chapter of IS.   “U.S. citizens who are at or near the Serena Hotel …

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Jailed former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who has been on a hunger strike since October 1, needs to be hospitalized, as his condition is worsening, his doctor said Sunday in a television interview. Saakashvili declared a hunger strike after he was arrested on October 1 and incarcerated in the city of Rustavi, hours after he announced he had returned to Georgia following an eight-year absence. Saakashvili was convicted in absentia in 2018 for abuse of power during his presidency, charges he says were politically motivated. He had lived in Ukraine in recent years, but last month announced plans to fly …

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Beekeepers Mustafa Alti and his son Fehmi were kept busy tending to their hives before wildfires tore through a bucolic region of Turkey that makes most of the world’s prized pine honey. Now the Altis and generations of other honey farmers in Turkey’s Aegean province of Mugla are scrambling to find additional work and wondering how many decades it might take to get their old lives back on track. “Our means of existence is from beekeeping, but when the forests burned, our source of income fell,” said Fehmi, 47, next to his mountainside beehives in the fire-ravaged village of Cokek. …

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Paul McCartney has revisited the breakup of The Beatles, flatly disputing the suggestion that he was responsible for the group’s demise. Speaking on an episode of BBC Radio 4’s “This Cultural Life” that is scheduled to air on Oct. 23, McCartney said it was John Lennon who wanted to disband The Beatles. “I didn’t instigate the split,” McCartney said. “That was our Johnny.” The band’s fans have long debated who was responsible for the breakup, with many blaming McCartney. But McCartney said Lennon’s desire to “break loose” was the main driver behind the split. Confusion about the breakup was allowed …

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Dressed as endangered fish or tigers or wearing toy polar bears on their heads, demonstrators marched through Brussels on Sunday to push world leaders to take bolder action to fight climate change at the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow starting this month.  Thousands of people and 80 organizations took part in the protest, aiming for the biggest such event in the European Union’s capital since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, which stopped the climate movement’s weekly marches in its tracks.  Cyclists, families with children and white-haired demonstrators filled city streets, chanting slogans demanding climate justice and waving banners in …

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Three weeks since its eruption upended the lives of thousands, the volcano on Spain’s La Palma island is still spewing out endless streams of lava with no signs of ceasing.  Authorities on Sunday monitored a new stream of molten rock that has added to the destruction of over 1,100 buildings. Anything in the path of the lava — homes, farms, swimming pools and industrial buildings in the largely agricultural area — has been consumed. The collapse Saturday of part of the volcanic cone sent a flood of bright red lava pouring down from the Cumbre Vieja ridge that initially cracked …

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A Russian plane crashed over the Tatarstan region Sunday, killing 16 people and injuring seven, the emergencies ministry said. The L-410 Turbolet plane crashed with 23 people on board, including a group of parachute jumpers, around 9:23 a.m. local time near the town of Menzelinsk, the ministry said, adding that seven people had been rescued from the debris.  All seven are hospitalized, with one “in very serious condition.” The L-410 is a twin-engine short-range transport aircraft. Although Russia has improved aviation safety standards in recent years, crashes, especially of aging planes, in remote regions, are not uncommon. One Antonov transport …

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When Russian regulators approved the country’s own coronavirus vaccine, it was a moment of national pride, and the Pavlov family was among those who rushed to take the injection. But international health authorities have not yet given their blessing to the Sputnik V shot. So when the family from Rostov-on-Don wanted to visit the West, they looked for a vaccine that would allow them to travel freely, a quest that brought them to Serbia, where hundreds of Russian citizens have flocked in recent weeks to receive Western-approved COVID-19 shots. Serbia, which is not a member of the European Union, is …

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Britain will tell the European Union again next week that “significant change” to the Northern Ireland protocol is vital for the restoration of genuinely good relations between London and Brussels. The protocol was part of the Brexit divorce settlement Prime Minister Boris Johnson negotiated with the EU, but London has said it must be rewritten less than a year after it took effect because of the barriers businesses face when importing British goods into the province. European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic, who oversees post-Brexit relations with Britain, said Thursday that the EU’s executive would finalize measures next week aimed …

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