Category: Євросоюз

German police arrested a Russian scientist working at an unidentified university, accusing him of spying for Moscow, prosecutors said on Monday, in a case that risks further inflaming bilateral tensions.Federal prosecutors said in a statement that the suspect, identified only as Ilnur N., had been taken into custody on Friday on suspicion of “working for a Russian secret service since early October 2020 at the latest”.Ilnur N. was employed until the time of his arrest as a research assistant for a natural sciences and technology department at the unnamed German university.  German investigators believe he met at least three times …

READ MORE

A Russian-Estonian film ‘Minsk’ looks at the Belarus government’s crackdown on protesters in August 2020. The movie – all 90 minutes of it – was filmed in one shot and will be released in time for the one-year anniversary of the brutal events. Iryna Solomko has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.Camera: Iryna Solomko   …

READ MORE

A court in central Russia on Sunday arraigned a suspect on murder charges in the death of an American woman who was studying at a local university.The body of 34-year-old Catherine Serou was found Saturday in a wooded area near the city of Nizhny Novgorod, 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Moscow. She had been missing since Tuesday.Her mother, Beccy Serou, of Vicksburg, Mississippi, told U.S. National Public Radio that her daughter had last texted her: “In a car with a stranger. I hope I’m not being abducted.”State news agency RIA-Novosti cited the local court as saying the suspect gave …

READ MORE

Countries accused of abusing their peoples’ human rights will come under the lens of the U.N. Human Rights Council over the next three weeks.   Dozens of thematic issues and country reports on topics including the COVID-19 pandemic will be addressed during the session, which begins Monday. The U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, will present an oral update on the human rights crisis unfolding in Myanmar since the military coup there on February 1. Her report is likely to reflect condemnation of the military leaders’ violent crackdown on the civilian population and, what she sees as a looming threat of civil war in …

READ MORE

Britain’s airlines and holiday companies are planning a “day of action” on Wednesday to ramp up pressure on the government to ease travel restrictions, with just weeks to go before the start of the peak summer season.Travel companies, whose finances have been stretched to breaking point during the pandemic, are desperate to avoid another summer lost to COVID-19. But with Britain’s strict quarantine requirements still in place that now looks likely.As the clock ticks down to July, Europe’s biggest airline Ryanair and Manchester Airports Group on Thursday launched legal action to try to get the government to ease the rules …

READ MORE

French voters went to the polls on Sunday in regional elections that will test the appeal of far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s softened image less than a year before the next presidential election.   Coming after a grueling year and a half of lockdowns, curfews and restrictions, Sunday’s first round is likely to prove dire for President Emmanuel Macron, whose party is projected to win none of mainland France’s 13 regions.   Boosted by a resurgence of law-and-order issues during the campaign, despite the fact French regions have no police powers, Le Pen is hoping to capitalize on a rebrand that has seen her …

READ MORE

Sunday is World Refugee Day. June 20 is a day designated by the United Nations to honor and celebrate the world’s refugees.UNCHR, the U.N.’s refugee agency, says World Refugee Day is “an occasion to build empathy and understanding” for the plight of refugees and to recognize their resilience in rebuilding their lives.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 10 MB480p | 14 MB540p | 19 MB720p | 40 MB1080p | 75 MBOriginal | 222 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioU.S. President Joe Biden said in a …

READ MORE

Robert Schuman, a French statesman who paved the way for the bloc that eventually evolved into European Union, has moved ahead on the Catholic Church’s path toward possible sainthood.The Vatican said Pope Francis on Saturday approved a decree declaring the “heroic virtues” of Schuman, a former prime minister, finance minister and foreign minister for France after World War II. In 1950, as foreign minister, he developed a plan to promote European economic unity in hopes of furthering peace.Schuman died in 1963 after serving as the first president of the forerunner of the European Parliament.The pope’s decision means Schuman can be …

READ MORE

Parties negotiating a revival of the Iran nuclear deal will hold a formal meeting in Vienna on Sunday, the European Union said Saturday.Iran and six world powers have been negotiating in Vienna since April to work out steps for Washington and Tehran to take. The United States withdrew in 2018 from the pact, under which Iran accepted curbs on its nuclear program in exchange for a lifting of many foreign sanctions against it.Sunday’s formal meeting comes more than a week after this round of talks resumed and is an indication that the talks are likely to be adjourned.Officials over the …

READ MORE

A women’s version of the Tour de France will be held in 2022 with a start on Paris’ iconic Champs-Elysees boulevard after the conclusion of the men’s race, organizers announced Thursday.The “Tour de France Femmes” aims to become a permanent fixture on the women’s world tour cycling calendar after various failed attempts in the past.The route and length of the race were not immediately disclosed but a video accompanying the launch said riders will “tackle the most challenging route” and “defy the most iconic climbs.”It is scheduled to start on July 24, 2022.“This is a huge moment for professional women’s …

READ MORE

President Joe Biden wrapped up a busy week of summits in Europe on Wednesday, as the United States reclaimed a leadership role among its democratic allies. Mike O’Sullivan reports.  …

READ MORE

More than 40 African migrants were rescued after their boat ran aground on the rocky coast of Lanzarote in Spain’s Canary Islands late on Thursday, emergency services said, while over 100 people on two more boats made it safely to other islands.Rescue workers pulled the body of a young boy out of the ocean on Friday afternoon, bringing the total death toll to four, while police divers were preparing to begin searching for one person who remains missing.The bodies of a man and two women, one of whom was pregnant, had been recovered earlier in the day, an emergency services …

READ MORE

The Taliban said Friday its leaders already had conveyed to Turkey their opposition to any foreign troops remaining in Afghanistan after the U.S. and NATO forces leave the war-torn country by a September 11 deadline.The insurgent group’s statement comes a day after U.S. officials said President Joe Biden and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed in their meeting Monday that Turkey would continue providing security at the international airport in Kabul, the Afghan capital, following the troop pullout.“The clear commitment from the leaders was established that Turkey would play a lead role in securing Hamid Karzai International Airport, and we …

READ MORE

EU foreign ministers will look to agree sanctions on key sectors of the Belarus economy Monday to punish the authorities after the forced landing of an airliner, diplomats said.Ministers meeting in Luxembourg are set to discuss broad-ranging measures designed to hit the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko “in the wallet”, a European diplomat told AFP on Friday.   The sanctions are expected to target mainstays of the Belarusian economy, including potash fertilizer exports, the tobacco sector, and petroleum and petrochemical products, diplomats said. They will also tighten restrictions on exports from the bloc of arms and equipment that can be …

READ MORE

The U.N. refugee agency, which just released its 2020 Global Trends report, said the number of people forcibly displaced last year by wars, violence, persecution and human rights violations hit a record high of 82.4 million, 4% more than in 2019.This is the ninth consecutive year that forced displacement figures have continued to rise. Even lockdowns and border closures because of the coronavirus pandemic have not stopped people from fleeing for their lives in the face of war and atrocities.Of the more than 82 million forcibly displaced, 26.4 million are refugees, who have crossed international borders in search of protection. …

READ MORE

Cybersecurity experts have been poring over the transcripts from Wednesday’s news conferences in Geneva to determine whether the U.S.-Russia summit will produce real progress in halting a wave of high-profile ransomware attacks. For most, the answer is: It’s too soon to tell. In the run-up to the meeting between President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin, cyberattacks for ransom emanating from Russia emerged as a critical national security issue for the United States. Concern over Russia’s purported role in these attacks grew after ransomware criminals believed to be based in Russia breached the computer networks of Colonial Pipeline — the largest pipeline …

READ MORE

U.S. President Joe Biden and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed in a meeting this week that Turkey would take a lead role in securing Kabul’s airport as the United States withdraws troops from Afghanistan, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Thursday. The two leaders, however, could not resolve the long-standing issue of Turkey’s purchase of a Russian S-400 defense system, Sullivan said, a bitter dispute that strained ties between the NATO allies. He added that dialogue on the issue would continue. Sullivan told reporters that Biden and Erdogan, in their meeting on Monday at the NATO summit, had discussed the …

READ MORE

In an effort to escape the insecurity and war in Afghanistan, thousands of Afghans make a difficult journey to Turkey illegally each year. VOA’s Lima Niazi brings us the story of two friends whose journey through Turkey and Europe ended, back in Afghanistan. Bezhan Hamdard narrates.Camera: Lima Niazi   Produced by: Lima Niazi    …

READ MORE

During their summit in Geneva on June 16, U.S. President Joe Biden raised the issue of Kremlin pressure against RFE/RL’s Russian-language services in Russia with Russian President Vladimir Putin.   The United States has accused Russia of attempting to drive RFE/RL out of the country by listing it as a “foreign agent” media organization and imposing fines against it for failing to comply with requirements that all its materials be prominently labeled.   President Joe Biden speaks during a news conference after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, June 16, 2021, in Geneva, Switzerland.”I also raised the ability of Radio Free Europe and Radio …

READ MORE

U.S. President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, remained tensely civil and cautiously polite before their much-anticipated summit in an eighteenth-century mansion on the shores of Lake Geneva. The press corps less so as American reporters and TV camerapersons were forced to jostle for space with obdurate Russian rivals.For some European newspapers, that seemed an apt metaphor. “If relations between the American and Russian press were anything to go by then the two nations have a real problem. While Mr. Biden and Mr. Putin sat in frosty silence the media contingents from their respective countries were involved in …

READ MORE