Category: Євросоюз

Steve Herman contributed to this report. WHITE HOUSE / CAPITOL HILL – When U.S. President Donald Trump delivered a speech on “America’s environmental leadership” from the East Room of the White House on Monday, his daughter Ivanka Trump was seated at the front row, where she watched with a beaming smile on her face.   But when Trump recounted how in 2017 he withdrew the United States from what he called “the unfair, ineffective and very, very expensive Paris Climate Accord”, the smile disappeared from Ivanka Trump’s face as she clapped politely but unenthusiastically.   Even before her father’s inauguration, …

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The $6 billion loan package for Pakistan approved by the International Monetary Fund last week will require “very ambitious” fiscal measures and sustained commitment for the bailout to succeed, IMF officials said on Monday. The three-year agreement approved by the IMF board last week, Pakistan’s 13th bailout since the late 1980s, has seen a sharp drop in the value of the rupee currency after the central bank agreed to a “flexible, market-determined exchange rate.” It also foresees structural economic reforms and a widening of the tax base to boost tax revenues that are currently estimated to account for less than …

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A 5.7-magnitude earthquake struck southwest Iran near the border with Iraq on Monday, causing one death due to a heart attack and dozens of injuries, the country’s relief and rescue organisation said. The quake, whose epicenter was in the Masjed Soleiman area of Khuzestan province, hit at 11:30 am (0700 GMT) at a depth of 17 kilometers, the national seismological center reported. The region was rattled by seven aftershocks, the strongest of which measured 4.7 magnitude, it said. At least 45 people were injured, the head of Iran’s relief and rescue organization, Morteza Salimi, told state TV. “One citizen at …

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Monday the country had surpassed the limits on how much it was allowed to enrich uranium under the 2015 international nuclear deal. Iranian state media quoted spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi as saying enrichment levels had reached nearly 5%, breaching the 3.67% limit set in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. He also said Iran could consider continuing on to enriching uranium to 20% as the next step in its move to back away from its commitments under the nuclear deal, unless it gets the help it wants on sanctions relief. Uranium enriched to 5% is sufficient to produce fuel for nuclear …

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A South Korean man has defected to North Korea to permanently live there and work for its unification with the South, Pyongyang’s state media reported. Choe In-guk is the son of two high level diplomats who also defected to the communist North in 1984 after a political dispute with then-South Korean President Park Chung-hee. The state-run North Korean Uriminzokkiri website reported that Choe would work at the guidance of the country’s Chairman Kim Jong Un. The website published images and footage showing Choe in a beret reading a statement upon his arrival at Pyongyang’s international airport.   Choe said he …

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The International Criminal Court found former Congolese rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda guilty Monday of all 18 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.  Ntaganda had denied being a killer and a war criminal when he spoke at his trial in The Hague Thursday.  In a speech to judges of the ICC, Ntaganda acknowledged being described as “The Terminator” but said, “That is not me.” Ntaganda insisted he was a soldier, not a criminal  He said, “I have never attacked civilians…I have always protected them.”   The comments pose a sharp contrast to the image painted by ICC prosecutors, who …

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Kenyans affected by dwarfism are using football (soccer) to fight stigma. The Short Stature Society of Kenya formed East Africa’s first dwarf football (soccer) team just over a year ago, with the hope of turning it into a national league to spread across the region. In Nairobi’s City Stadium – a football team stretches, jogs and makes quick fist bumps. Ten minutes later, a referee blows the whistle, marking the start of the first friendly match between Kenya’s Lion Stars FC team and the McMilan FC made up of under 14’s.   This is no ordinary game – it is …

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The heavily favored United States team has defeated Netherlands 2-0 in the women’s World Cup soccer final in Lyon, France, securing its fourth title and winning back-to-back tournaments for the first time. The Americans defeated four other European teams — Sweden, Spain, France and England — on their way to the final, and dominated Sunday in defeating the reigning European champion Dutch. Football analysts say the United States women’s national team went into the match as favorites because of their greater depth and experience than the Dutch. One of the top American players, Megan Rapinoe, who sat out the semi-final win …

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Malawi President Peter Mutharika has warned of unspecified action against the leaders of violent protests following his narrow recent election victory.  Mutharika, whose legitimacy is being challenged by key opposition leaders, said during the country’s 55th Independence Day celebration in Blantyre on Saturday that he has learned the protests have nothing to do with election results, but are aimed at toppling his government. The protests organizers dispute this and say they cannot be intimidated. Thousands of Malawians attended the Independence Day Celebration at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre, July 6, 2019. (VOA/Lameck Masina) The celebrations started with a morning of prayer, …

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Discord broke out in German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition Sunday, after the United States urged the country to send ground troops to Syria as Washington looks to withdraw from the region. “We want ground troops from Germany to partly replace our soldiers” in the area as part of the anti-Islamic State coalition, U.S. special representative on Syria James Jeffrey had told German media including Die Welt newspaper. Jeffrey, who was visiting Berlin for Syria talks, added that he expects an answer this month. Last year U.S. President Donald Trump declared victory against IS and ordered the withdrawal of all …

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Pope Francis on Sunday invited the crowd gathered in Saint Peter’s Square to join him in prayer for the “poor, unarmed people” who were killed or injured by an air strike on a detention center for migrants in Libya.   A United Nations assessment of the attack this week in the Tripoli suburb of Tajoura reported that more than 50 people were killed, including six children, and 130 others were injured. It said there were reports that “following the first impact, some refugees and migrants were fired upon by guards as they tried to escape.” Pope Francis told the faithful …

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European nations assailed Iran on Sunday for its decision to increase its enrichment of uranium beyond the levels of a 2015 nuclear deal that restrained its nuclear program.   Iran announced earlier Sunday that it would soon begin enriching uranium beyond the 3.67% limit mandated in its agreement with international powers. Reuters reported that Iran may raise the enrichment level to 5% to produce fuel for power plants, although Iran did not immediately disclose a new enrichment percentage. Britain urged Iran to “immediately stop and reverse” all actions that are inconsistent with the agreement, under which it accepted restrictions on …

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British Interior Minister Sajid Javid will soon formally endorse Boris Johnson to be the next leader of the Conservative Party and the country’s next prime minister, the Sunday Times reported.  Johnson is the front-runner in a contest with Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt to be the next leader. Voting is due to close on July 22, with the winner set to be announced the following day.  Johnson has pledged to leave the European Union with or without a deal on Oct. 31 if he becomes prime minister, while Hunt has said that he would, if absolutely necessary, go for a no-deal Brexit.  The Sunday Times said Javid has positioned himself to be Johnson’s finance minister, taking …

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A vacant pizza restaurant exploded Saturday in a thundering roar at a South Florida shopping plaza, injuring more than 20 people as large chunks of concrete flew through the air. The blast flung debris widely along a busy road in Plantation, west of Fort Lauderdale. The restaurant was destroyed, and nearby businesses and cars were damaged. Though firefighters found ruptured gas lines afterward, authorities said it was too early to determine a cause. “We thought it was thunder at first, and then we felt the building shake and things started falling. I looked outside and it was almost like the …

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Tunisia’s Coast Guard recovered on Saturday the bodies of 14 African migrants who drowned when their boat carrying more than 80 people sank after setting off for Europe from neighboring Libya, the Tunisian Red Crescent said. Tunisian fishermen rescued four people but one later died at a hospital, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said Thursday. The others on the overcrowded boat were feared drowned. At least 65 migrants heading for Europe from Libya drowned last May when their boat capsized off Tunisia. Libya’s west coast is a main departure point for African migrants hoping to reach Europe, though numbers have dropped because of an Italian-led effort to disrupt smuggling …

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Officials in Southern California expressed relief Saturday that damage and injuries weren’t worse after the largest earthquake the region has seen in nearly 20 years, while voicing concerns about the possibility of major aftershocks in the days and even months to come. No fatalities or major injuries were reported after Friday night’s 7.1-magnitude earthquake, which jolted an area from Sacramento to Mexico and prompted the evacuation of the Navy’s largest single landholding, Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in the Mojave Desert. The Hope family, afraid to sleep inside, spends the night outdoors, July 6, 2019, after an earthquake in …

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The parents of Otto Warmbier have filed a claim for a seized North Korean cargo ship in a bid to collect a multimillion-dollar judgment in the American college student’s death. Attorneys for the Warmbiers said in a court filing Wednesday they have a right to the assets after North Korea failed to respond to their wrongful-death claim. The Warmbiers say their son was tortured after being convicted of trying to steal a propaganda poster and imprisoned for months. He died days after being returned to the U.S. in a vegetative state in 2017. A U.S. judge has ordered North Korea …

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Two weeks ago, U.S. President Donald Trump told the Democrats to fix the loopholes in the U.S. asylum laws or federal authorities would deport millions of undocumented immigrants through mass raids. Since then, immigrant communities around the country have organized to protest the threat, but some Americans feel those deportations should have happened a long time ago. VOA’s Schuyler Ogden has more. …

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Turkey fired its central bank governor Saturday and replaced him with the bank’s deputy governor, a presidential decree published on the official gazette showed. Murat Cetinkaya, who had been serving as the governor since April 2016, was removed from the role and was replaced by his deputy Murat Uysal, the order showed. No official reason was given for the sacking, but markets have speculated over recent weeks that Cetinkaya may be pushed out by the government because of his reluctance to cut rates. The central bank has faced pressure in the past from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to lower interest …

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President Donald Trump said Friday that mass deportation roundups would begin “fairly soon” as U.S. migrant advocates vowed their communities would be ready when immigration officers come. Trump, who has made a hard-line immigration stance a key issue of his presidency and his 2020 re-election bid, postponed the operation last month after the planned date was leaked to the press, but Monday he said the roundups would take place after the July 4 holiday. “They’ll be starting fairly soon, but I don’t call them raids, we’re removing people, all of these people who have come in over the years illegally,” …

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