Category: Євросоюз

Facebook, Google, Twitter and other tech companies joined a dozen countries in a global pledge Wednesday to step up efforts to keep internet platforms from being used to spread hate, organize extremist groups and broadcast attacks. World leaders led by French President Emmanuel Macron and tech executives gathered in Paris to compile a set of guidelines dubbed the “Christchurch Call,” named after the New Zealand city where 51 people were killed in a March attack on mosques. Much of the attack was broadcast live on Facebook, drawing public outrage and fueling debate on how to better regulate social media. Facebook …

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Iran should stay in the nuclear agreement and should not take the first step to withdraw. Speaking at a press conference with Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen on Wednesday, May 15, Putin said if Iran takes the first step to leave the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), everyone will blame it for the collapse of the agreement. “I have repeatedly said during the talks with our Iranian partners that, to my mind, it would be more expedient for Iran to remain in this agreement at whatever cost,” he said. “The Americans withdrew,” …

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Catholic clerics in four northern European countries have taken the unprecedented step of urging their congregations to back pro-European Union parties in continent-wide elections later this month.  The Catholic bishops from France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg have put themselves squarely in opposition to nationalist populists. Praising the principle of solidarity and collaboration among nations, they warn that the EU is under threat. The bishops urged Europeans to vote in the May 23-26 elections for the 751-seat EU parliament in a show of support for European unity and to promote “dialogue and integration between peoples.”  Analysts say this month’s election is …

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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov agreed to work to normalize strained relations and restore bilateral channels of communication following talks Tuesday at the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Although Pompeo and Lavrov discussed a wide range of bilateral and international problems, including the situations in Iran, North Korea, Ukraine, Syria and Venezuela, they didn’t have major breakthroughs on any of those issues. At the joint news conference with Lavrov following the talks, Pompeo said Washington is willing to rebuild its relationship with Moscow, but it expects its Russian counterparts to act on it …

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As tensions escalate between the United States and Iran, Europe has urged all sides to avoid further escalation. The United States has deployed a naval strike group to the Middle East region, led by the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier.  B-52 bombers have also arrived at the U.S. air base in Qatar, designed to counter what the Trump administration says are “clear indications” of threats from Iran to U.S. forces. Military analyst Jack Watling of the London-based Royal United Services Institute says the deployments are not unusual. “There hasn’t been a massive change in U.S. force posture in the region. …

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Google opened a privacy focused engineering center in Munich, Germany, on Tuesday, its latest move to beef up its data protection credentials as tech companies’ face growing scrutiny of their data collection practices. CEO Sundar Pichai said the Silicon Valley tech giant is expanding its operations in the southern German city, including doubling the number of data privacy engineers there to more than 200 by the end of 2019. The new Google Safety Engineering Center will make Munich a global hub for the company’s “cross-product privacy engineering efforts,” Pichai said in a blog post. Staff will work with Google privacy …

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The future of Bulgaria’s vast number of low-wage truck drivers has become a top campaign issue in the country heading into European Parliament elections, with debates raging on how new EU rules could threaten the workers and deepen divisions between rich and poor nations in the bloc. The European Commission wants to put restrictions on cargo transport to ensure adequate rest for truck drivers and limit driving distances. Bulgaria, where the transport sector accounts for 15 percent of GDP and employs some 200,000 people, fears it will erode its workforce’s low-cost advantage. It says it could cost jobs and force …

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Iran is on the agenda Tuesday as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Sochi, Russia. Lavrov said he expected a “sincere conversation” with Pompeo, including trying to find out how the Trump administration planned to resolve tensions with Iran, which Lavrov said the U.S. side created on its own. Ahead of the meeting, State Department Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook told reporters Iran “plays a destabilizing role in Syria” and that Iran using Syria “as a missile platform to advance its foreign policy objectives” goes against Russian …

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Albanian protesters threw firebombs at the police Monday evening, and the supporters of opposition parties gathered in the capital, Tirana, to ask for the resignation of Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama and early elections. Opposition supporters marched in front of the main government buildings amid rain, but did not attempt to break the police barrier as they did on Saturday. Instead, they threw firecrackers at the prime minister’s offices.  Hours earlier, officials from the United States, European Union and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe had called for restraint. The U.S. Embassy in Tirana called on opposition leaders to …

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Swedish prosecutors are reopening the rape case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange following a request from the lawyer of one of the alleged victims.  Assange was arrested last month in Ecuador’s embassy in London, after the country reversed its decision to give him asylum. The 47-year-old Australian national is also wanted in the United States on hacking charges and the British government will now have to decide which extradition request should take priority. WATCH: Britain to Decide Assange’s Extradition Fate In 2011, Assange was accused of rape by two women following a WikiLeaks conference in Stockholm. He sought asylum in …

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Swedish prosecutors announce they are reopening the rape case against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange following a request from the lawyer of one of the alleged victims. Assange was arrested last month in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, after the South American nation reversed its decision to give him asylum. VOA’s Henry Ridgwell reports. …

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Two of the suspects charged with the murder of a Slovak journalist investigating corruption were implicated Monday in another killing, according to national police.  “Two persons from the Jan Kuciak murder case were charged with the premeditated murder of a businessman” at home in December 2016, Slovak police said on their Facebook page. Police identified the men only as T.S. and M.M., adding that the murder weapon, a gun, was recovered from a river. Local media reported the victim as Peter Molnar, an entrepreneur from the western town of Kolarovo, and said the men charged were Tomas S. and Miroslav …

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U.S. President Donald Trump is slated to meet with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Monday — the first visit of the controversial leader to the White House since he returned to power in 2010. “Recognizing the longstanding ties between the United States and Hungary, the President and the Prime Minister will discuss ways to deepen cooperation on a range of issues, including trade, energy, and cyber security,” the White House said in a statement ahead of the visit. Orban, Hungary’s prime minister from 1998-2002 and again since 2010, has been criticized by the European Union, of which it is a …

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Two of the suspects charged with the murder of a Slovak journalist investigating corruption were implicated Monday in another killing, according to national police.  “Two persons from the Jan Kuciak murder case were charged with the premeditated murder of a businessman” at home in December 2016, Slovak police said on their Facebook page. Police identified the men only as T.S. and M.M., adding that the murder weapon, a gun, was recovered from a river. Local media reported the victim as Peter Molnar, an entrepreneur from the western town of Kolarovo, and said the men charged were Tomas S. and Miroslav …

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Britain, France and Germany voiced new support Monday for the international pact to curb Iran’s nuclear weapons program, while warning the United States against increasing tensions in the Persian Gulf region with its show of military force and efforts to undermine the Iranian economy. Top diplomats from the three European allies of the U.S. met in Brussels with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo after he cancelled a planned stopover in Moscow en route to a meeting Tuesday in Russian resort of Sochi with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The U.S. State Department said Pompeo …

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Ekrem Imamoglu caused a political earthquake in recent local elections in Turkey when he won the Istanbul mayorship, ending 25 years of domination by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.  However in a controversial move, Turkey’s election board annulled the March vote and ordered a re-run.  Now the ousted mayor is at the center of a political storm. Imamoglu, of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), claims his short tenure was enough to uncover gross overspending and waste by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), ammunition that he is set to use in the June 23 re-vote. During his 19 days …

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Stevo Pendarovski has been inaugurated as the new president of North Macedonia, calling for “reconciliation” in a deeply divided society. In his inauguration speech before parliament on May 12, Pendarovski promised he will serve all citizens and said, “It is time to heal open wounds from our recent past and to really start civil reconciliation.” “There are so many divisions, especially political,” he said. The swearing-in ceremony was attended by the presidents of Albania, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Kosovo, as well as Pendarovski’s predecessor, former president Gjorge Ivanov. Pendarovski told lawmakers that the country will have to tackle two priorities: economic …

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Albania’s center-right opposition has called for further protests as it continues a months-long effort to bring about the resignation of the left-wing government and force early parliamentary elections. The Democratic Party said after a meeting of its leaders on May 12 that it will hold another protest on May 13. The move comes after thousands of demonstrators gathered early on May 11 in front of the main government building at Tirana’s Martyrs of the Nation Boulevard before moving on to other sites. Protesters threw flares, firecrackers, Molotov cocktails, and other items as security personnel used tear gas when some in …

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s preferred successor, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, said Sunday that she would not seek the top job before Merkel’s term ends in 2021. The woman usually dubbed “AKK” took over from Merkel as head of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) last December, while the chancellor said she wants to serve out her 2017-2021 term. “The chancellor and the government were elected for an entire legislative term and the citizens rightly expect them to take seriously the commitment that came with the election,” said Kramp-Karrenbauer. “So I can rule out the possibility that I will work deliberately to seek …

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Spanish authorities say 52 migrants have climbed a guarded fence to gain entry into Spain’s North African enclave of Melilla from Morocco. An official with the Spanish Interior Ministry in Melilla says four police officer and one migrant sustained light injuries as the group scaled the high fence around dawn Sunday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, in line with government rules. Spain’s proximity to North Africa has made it a target for migrants trying to reach the European Union. The migrants try to get in either by land via Spain’s two North African enclaves or by crossing the …

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