Category: Євросоюз

French authorities in a meeting Tuesday with an Iranian envoy stressed the need for Tehran to quickly respect the 2015 nuclear accord it has breached and “make the needed gestures” to deescalate mounting tensions in the Persian Gulf region. A statement by the French Foreign Ministry said Seyed Abbas Araghchi gave a message to President Emmanuel Macron from Iranian leader Hassen Rouhani. Macron and Rouhani spoke last Thursday. Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who met with Araghchi, is working with European partners on an observation mission to ensure maritime security in the Gulf, where tensions have mounted after Iran’s seizure …

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Tokyo Electric Power plans to scrap its Fukushima Daini nuclear station, located a few miles south of the bigger Fukushima Daiichi plant where three reactors melted down in 2011 after an earthquake and tsunami, Kyodo News reported on Wednesday. Tomoaki Kobayakawa, president of Tepco, as the company is called, will visit the governor of Fukushima prefecture on Wednesday to convey the plan and its board will formally approve the decision later this month, Kyodo said, without citing sources. Three reactors at Fukushima Daiichi, which had six reactors and is located about 12 kilometers (7 miles) north of Fukushima Daini, suffered …

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The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday it had imposed visa restrictions on Nigerians it said were involved in trying to undermine democracy in presidential and parliamentary elections this year. The department did not name the individuals or say how many were affected by the visa restrictions. President Muhammadu Buhari won a second term in February in an election marred by delays, logistical glitches and violence. “These individuals have operated with impunity at the expense of the Nigerian people and undermined democratic principles and human rights,” spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement. “The Department of State emphasizes that the …

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A wounded Arnel Joseph was lying on a stretcher, ready to be wheeled into an operating room at the Bonne Fin hospital of Les Cayes, a Caribbean seaport located in Haiti’s southern region, when members of a special unit of the National Police Force’s (PNH) swooped in to arrest him. “We’ve captured Arnel!” the officers shouted angrily, then they fired their weapons into the air, in a video seen by VOA Creole. The alleged gang leader, considered to be one of the country’s most dangerous and wanted fugitives, was awaiting surgery on his wounded leg, when he was found and …

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Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande each received 10 nominations for the MTV Video Music Awards (VMA) on Tuesday, leading the race in the youth-orientated awards show, which this year includes two new categories, best K-pop and video for good. Singer-songwriter Billie Eilish scored nine nominations, including video of the year, best pop, best new artist and artist of the year, a category the 17-year-old will compete for against Grande, rapper Cardi B, pop rocker siblings Jonas Brothers as well as singers Halsey and Shawn Mendes. Grande’s breakup anthem “thank u, next” and Swift’s “You Need to Calm Down,” in which …

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FBI Director Christopher Wray’s appearance before a Senate committee could be something of a preview of the intense questioning special counsel Robert Mueller is likely to face in Congress the next day. Wray is set to testify Tuesday morning before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by one of President Donald Trump’s closest allies, Sen. Lindsey Graham. The South Carolina Republican has vowed to investigate the origins of the Russia investigation. Republicans are likely to spend time questioning Wray and Mueller about Peter Strzok, an FBI agent who helped lead the Trump investigation and exchanged anti-Trump text messages during …

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The lights went out across much of Venezuela, reviving fears of the blackouts that plunged the country into chaos a few months ago as the government once again accused opponents of sabotaging the nation’s hydroelectric power system.   The power in the capital went out after 4 p.m. (2000 GMT) Monday and immediately backed up traffic as stop lights and the subway stopped working during rush hour. As night fell in Caracas many were wondering how long they would be left in the dark.   “This is horrible, a disaster,” Reni Blanco, a 48-year-old teacher, said as she joined a …

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Stay-at-home mom Maryam Alidadi used to lead a comfortable middle-class life. The 35-year-old and her husband, a mechanic, could afford a spacious rental apartment in a central neighborhood of Tehran, along with a car, occasional restaurant meals and holidays abroad.   Now they are barely hanging on, even after drastically cutting spending. Like most Iranians, the family was hit hard by the collapse of the national currency, accelerating inflation and eroding wages _ fallout from unprecedented U.S. sanctions. Perhaps most devastating for Iran’s large middle class has been the sharp spike in housing prices, more than double in a year. …

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Former Chinese premier Li Peng — known as the “Butcher of Beijing” for his role in the Tiananmen Square crackdown — has died aged 90, state broadcaster Xinhua said Tuesday. The former chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee died of an unspecified illness in Beijing on Monday, Xinhua said. The ex-premier had previously battled bladder cancer. Li gained notoriety worldwide as one of the key architects of the brutal breakup of mass pro-democracy demonstrations in the capital on June 4, 1989, and stayed at the top of the Communist regime for more than a decade, while remaining a hated symbol …

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Britain’s Conservative Party announced Tuesday that Boris Johnson has won the election to be its new leader and become the country’s next prime minister. Johnson defeated British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt in the voting that ended Monday night by a margin of 66% to 34%. “We are going to unite this amazing country and we are going to take it forward,” Johnson told party members after he was announced as the winner. He pledged to deliver Britain’s exit from the European Union on October 31 and to unite and energize the country with efforts to improve education, infrastructure and police. …

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Texas Democrat Wendy Davis announced Monday that she will run for Congress in 2020, five years after badly losing a run for governor that was propelled by her 13-hour filibuster of an anti-abortion bill in the state Capitol. Davis will challenge freshman Republican Rep. Chip Roy, who made headlines in May for single-handedly blocking $19 billion in disaster aid over protests that it didn’t include money to address the migrant crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. The spending bill ultimately passed, but not before Roy’s delay frustrated lawmakers on both sides. He was narrowly elected to Congress last year and now …

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U.S. President Donald Trump predicted Monday that special counsel Robert Mueller’s congressional testimony this week about whether the U.S. leader tried to obstruct his investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election will end badly for him and that he shouldn’t even be testifying. Moreover, Trump said, “I am not going to be watching Mueller.” “Highly conflicted Robert Mueller should not be given another bite at the apple,” Trump contended on Twitter. “In the end it will be bad for him and the phony Democrats in Congress who have done nothing but waste time on this ridiculous Witch …

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A British-Iranian mother jailed in Tehran since 2016 has been returned to prison after being held in the mental ward of a public hospital for nearly a week, her husband said Monday. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was kept chained and under heavy guard for six days which she says left her “broken”, according to her husband Richard Ratcliffe. The 40-year-old detainee, who is serving a five-year term for sedition, was returned to Tehran’s notorious Evin prison — used to hold political prisoners — on Saturday, he said. She was then allowed to see her mother and five-year-old daughter Gabriella the following day, …

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A sweeping internet shutdown in Myanmar’s conflict-hit Rakhine state went into its fifth week Monday as residents called on the government to end an information blackout that rights groups say could provide cover for rights abuses. Mobile phone operators suspended internet data on June 21 in eight townships across northern Rakhine and one in neighboring Chin state — where soldiers are fighting ethnic Rakhine rebels known as the Arakan Army (AA) who want greater autonomy. Authorities say the internet was being used to coordinate operations while rights groups allege the blackout permits troops to act with impunity. But it has also …

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The size of a person’s waistline may be linked to mobile phones, tablets and laptops, according to a recent study led by Rice University in Houston. Scientists noticed a trend that correlates with the rise of technology in society. As digital devices became more prevalent, people got fatter. Obesity around the world has tripled since 1975, according to the World Health Organization. While changes in people’s food intake and activity levels have been attributed to the trend, Rice University post doctoral fellow Richard Lopez wondered if there is a link between weight gain and the mindless multitasking on various digital …

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A series of Islamic State (IS) announcements of new provinces it controls in recent weeks has renewed debate over the group’s possible resurgence after its self-proclaimed caliphate fell, with some analysts warning an increasingly decentralized IS could recover and spread its tentacles to other parts of the world. During his first appearance last April after five years, IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a new video was seen handling documents about the group’s global affiliates, including newly found provinces in Turkey and Central Africa. In the 18-minute video by IS’ media wing al-Furqan, al-Baghdadi also welcomed new joiners from Burkina …

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A leading House Democrat says special counsel Robert Mueller will give “very substantial evidence” that will make the case for impeaching U.S. President Donald Trump. “This is a president who has violated the law six ways from Sunday,” House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler told Fox television. Mueller is set to testify before two House committees Wednesday on his investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to meddle in the 2016 presidential election and if Trump obstructed justice in trying to derail the probe. “We have to present, or let Mueller present, those facts to the American people…because …

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China and Vietnam are continuing to clash over a maritime sovereignty dispute despite diplomacy and calm being displayed by other claimants to the same sea. The Communist neighbors talk regularly about their differences party-to-party as well as through diplomatic channels. Around the rest of the contested South China Sea, claimed by six governments total, other countries have largely avoided openhanded spats over the past three years. Yet a new dispute erupts between China and Vietnam about once a year. They’re locked in another one now over energy exploration in an area in the sea that both countries call their own. …

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President Donald Trump has renewed his attacks aimed at four Democratic congresswomen of color, alleging Sunday they are not “capable of loving our Country.”   This follows days of similar statements by the president. Critics have deemed his recent comments about Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayana Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan as ‘racist.’ …

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U.S. President Donald Trump will press Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan for assistance in advancing the peace process in Afghanistan when the two leaders meet at the White House on Monday in their bid to reset strained relations between the two countries. Pakistan has arranged Washington’s direct peace negotiations with Taliban insurgents who are fighting local and U.S.-led international troops in neighboring Afghanistan. “The purpose of the visit is to press for concrete cooperation from Pakistan to advance the Afghanistan peace process and to encourage Pakistan to deepen and sustain its recent effort to crackdown on militants and terrorists within …

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