Category: Євросоюз

The British government announced Wednesday that it would spend an additional $2.4 billion on preparing to leave the European Union, bringing the total spent so far on Brexit readiness to more than $10 billion.   The extra investment comes as a coalition of opposition lawmakers attempts this week to pass legislation blocking a so-called no-deal Brexit, warning of catastrophic consequences for the British economy if it leaves the bloc without a withdrawal agreement.  The European Union is also stepping up its preparations for a potential no-deal Brexit, announcing Wednesday that it would release money to help member states from a fund normally reserved …

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The focus in the Bahamas is on rescue and recovery efforts Wednesday after the bulk of Hurricane Dorian finally moved north after flooding neighborhoods, ripping roofs off buildings and leaving thousands of people in need of aid. Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said there were seven confirmed deaths from the storm, but that the number was expected to increase. He pledged, “No effort or resources will be held back,” in responding to the disaster. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said flood waters on Grand Bahama and Abaco islands should start to slowly subside.   Aid efforts have been hampered by the …

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Rescue workers said Tuesday they have recovered the bodies of 20 people killed in a middle-of-the-night fire aboard a dive boat off the coast of Southern California, while continuing to look for 14 more people feared dead. Divers, in water 20 meters deep, scoured the submerged remains of the 23-meter commercial dive boat, called Conception, where the blaze broke out before dawn Monday, trapping 34 people, who likely were asleep below deck and unable to escape. The U.S. Coast Guard, however, said it had ended 24 hours of aerial searches of the surrounding waters after finding no sight of survivors …

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Russia’s natural resources and environment minister said on Wednesday he supported allowing private oil and gas companies to work on the Arctic shelf. Speaking to reporters at an economic forum in the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok, the minister, Dmitry Kobylkin, said he supported “any decision linked to an increase in investment in projects related to hydrocarbons.” The Russian economy is heavily reliant on natural resources and the Arctic’s vast oil and gas reserves are expected to become more accessible as climate change melts the ice and technology advances. “We clearly understand that Russia’s Arctic zone has not been …

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Vienna has held off Melbourne to retain the top spot on the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index for 2019, further strengthening its reputation as the world’s most pleasant city, while the ‘gilets jaunes’ protests hurt Paris’ score. The Austrian capital, which attracts tourists for its classical music scene and imperial history but also has abundant green spaces and excellent public services, last year ended Melbourne’s seven-year run at the top of the survey of 140 cities, helped by an improved security outlook across Europe. Vienna and Melbourne have been neck and neck in the EIU survey for years, but …

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Set somewhere in rural eastern Europe towards the end of World War II, “The Painted Bird” is a sombre tale of a young boy trying to survive a harsh wilderness and the cruelty of strangers, and is described by one of its stars as “timeless.” Based on a 1965 novel by Polish-born novelist Jerzy Kosinski, the 35mm black and white film, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival on Tuesday, depicts a bleak world where being different is dangerous. Sent by his persecuted parents to stay with an elderly woman in the desolate countryside of an unnamed country, the lead …

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Former Navy SEAL James Hatch says heading to class as a freshman at Yale University is just about as nerve-wracking as preparing for the uncertainty of combat.    At 52 years old, Hatch does not fit the profile of the traditional Yale freshman. “My experience in academia is somewhat limited, at best,” he said. “But I want to learn, and I feel this can make me a better person. I also feel my life experience, maybe with my maturity — which my wife would say is laughable — I think I can help some of the young people out.” Hatch’s …

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The gunman in a West Texas rampage “was on a long spiral of going down” and had been fired from his oil services job the morning he killed seven people, calling 911 both before and after the shooting began, authorities said. Officers killed 36-year-old Seth Aaron Ator on Saturday outside a busy Odessa movie theater after a spate of violence that spanned 10 miles (16 kilometers), injuring around two dozen people in addition to the dead. FBI special agent Christopher Combs said Monday that Ator called the agency’s tip line as well as local police dispatch on Saturday after being …

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Joe Biden entered the Democratic primary promising “from day one” to reject campaign cash from lobbyists. “I work for you _ not any industry,” he tweeted. Yet hours after his April campaign kickoff, the former vice president went to a fundraiser at the home of a lobbying executive. And in the months since, he’s done it again and again. It’s difficult to quantify how much Biden has raised from the multibillion-dollar influence industry, but the roughly $200,000 he accepted from employees of major lobbying firms is far more than any of his rivals has received, according to a review of …

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Ukraine’s parliament has approved a much-anticipated bill to scrap immunity from prosecution for lawmakers. The move was one of the main campaign promises for comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who won the presidential election by a landslide in April.   The parliament, dominated by Zelenskiy’s allies, voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to end parliamentary immunity next year.   Zelenskiy’s predecessor, Petro Poroshenko, had also said he would scrap immunity, but never came through on the promise.   Ukraine’s parliament has for years been notorious for hosting businessmen who have used their seats to ward off possible criminal prosecution for corruption or financial crimes. …

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Two U.S. lawmakers who Russia says are banned from entering the country say they will still join the same congressional delegation that is going to the country but just visit Ukraine, Serbia, and Kosovo. Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat, tweeted that “Russia wouldn’t let us in, but [Senator] Ron Johnson and I will be visiting Ukraine, Serbia, and Kosovo this week to demonstrate bipartisan support for the new Ukrainian government and continued dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.” Ron Johnson, a Republican, is co-chairman of the Ukraine Caucus, a group of lawmakers who meet to pursue common legislative objectives. FILE – …

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Almost every day 20-year-old Rizaldian Syahputra puts on his blue uniform, laces up his high boots and leaves his wooden house on stilts for a job many nature-lovers would envy. But by next year, he may no longer be employed. Syahputra works as a wildlife guide at Komodo National Park on the eastern Indonesian island of Komodo, taking visitors around the park on foot to get up close to the leathery Komodo dragons, the world’s largest living lizard species. The Indonesian government plans to close the island to the public from January next year in a bid to conserve the …

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The U.S. Coast Guard says 34 people are missing after a fire erupted aboard a dive boat off the coast of Southern California. Local media are reporting that several people died in the fire, but the Coast Guard could not immediately confirm any fatalities. Coast Guard officials said five crew members were rescued after the fire broke out on the 20-meter commercial dive boat near Santa Cruz Island off the coast of Santa Barbara. They said are searching for other passengers who have not been accounted for. Officials say the missing passengers were sleeping below desk when the fire broke …

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson threatened Monday to expel any Conservative Party rebels if they try to block his push for a no-deal exit next month from the European Union. Johnson has only a one-seat majority in the House of Commons. But as parliament returns Tuesday from its summer recess, as many as 20 Tory rebels could join opposition lawmakers to tie the government’s hands against Johnson’s efforts to quit the EU on Oct. 31 without spelling out the terms of the divorce. The spokesman for the new British leader told reporters that it “would be entirely unreasonable” for the …

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Hundreds of Palestinian women held a demonstration in the West Bank on Monday to demand an investigation into the death of a 21-year-old woman who many suspect was the victim of a so-called honor killing. Israa Ghrayeb, a makeup artist from a village near Bethlehem, died last month after being hospitalized with severe injuries. Friends and women’s rights activists suspect her male relatives assaulted her over a video shared online that purportedly showed her out with a man who had proposed to her. The family says she jumped from a balcony of their home after being “possessed by demons.”   …

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Authorities in Guatemala have arrested former first lady and losing presidential candidate Sandra Torres on charges of campaign finance violations.   Investigators searched her home and transported her to court Monday morning. An investigator who was not authorized to speak publicly about the case confirmed her arrest.   Torres was married to – and later divorced – former President Alvaro Colom, who governed from 2008 to 2012.   She lost the presidential election last month in a runoff to Alejandro Giammattei.   There have been allegations that campaign contributions for her Unity for Hope party were not properly registered and …

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Wall Street stock futures weakened in early trade on Monday, setting a dour tone for Asian markets after tit-for-tat tariffs between the United States and China took effect, reinforcing investors’ gloomy expectations for global growth prospects. The E-mini futures for U.S. S&P500 ESc1 fell as much as 1.06% in early trade and last stood down 0.68% at 2,905 while Chicago-traded Nikkei futures NIYcm1 suggest Japan’s Nikkei .N225 is on course to fall 0.7%. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS, which lost 4.7% last month, is likely to stay under pressure. The United States slapped 15% tariffs on …

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The United States and China on Sunday put in place their latest tariff increases on each other’s goods, potentially raising prices Americans pay for some clothes, shoes, sporting goods and other consumer items before the holiday shopping season. President Donald Trump said U.S.-China trade talks were still on for September. “We’ll see what happens,” he told reporters as he returned to the White House from the Camp David presidential retreat. “But we can’t allow China to rip us off anymore as a country.” The 15% U.S. taxes apply to about $112 billion of Chinese imports. All told, more than two-thirds …

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The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen staged multiple airstrikes on a detention center operated by the Houthi rebels in the southwestern province of Dhamar, killing at least 100 people and wounding dozens more Sunday, officials and the rebels’ health ministry said. Franz Rauchenstein, the head of the Red Cross delegation in Yemen, suggested that the death toll could be higher after visiting the site of the attack, saying relatively few detainees survived. A Red Cross statement said the detention center held around 170 detainees. It said 40 of those were being treated for injuries and the rest were presumed dead. …

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Tensions are rising between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah as the Israeli military said on Sunday that a number of anti-tank missiles were fired from Lebanon, targeting an Israeli military base and vehicles. “A number of hits have been confirmed,” the Israeli military said in a statement, adding that it “is responding with fire towards the sources of fire and targets in southern Lebanon.” No casualties were reported from the attack, Israeli officials said. Retaliation Hours before the incident, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had vowed to retaliate for the recent “Israeli aggression” in south Beirut. “This time I …

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