Category: Євросоюз

Airbus signed a deal worth tens of billions of dollars on Monday to sell 300 aircraft to China as part of a trade package coinciding with a visit to Europe by Chinese President Xi Jinping and matching a China record held by rival Boeing. The deal between Airbus and China’s state buying agency, China Aviation Supplies Holding Company, which regularly coordinates headline-grabbing deals during diplomatic visits, will include 290 A320-family jets and 10 A350 wide-body jets. French officials said the deal was worth some 30 billion euros at catalogue prices. Planemakers usually grant significant discounts. The larger-than-expected order, which matches …

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British lawmakers voted on Monday to wrest control of Brexit from Prime Minister Theresa May for a day in a bid to find a way through the European Union divorce impasse that a majority in parliament could support. Lawmakers should now vote on a range of Brexit options on Wednesday, giving parliament a chance to indicate whether it can agree on a deal with closer ties to Brussels, and then try to push the government in that direction. The move underlined to what extent May has lost her authority, although she said the government would not be bound by the …

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The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots warns chances of achieving a U.N. treaty banning the development, production and use of fully autonomous lethal weapons, also known as killer robots, are looking increasingly remote.  Experts from some 80 countries are attending a weeklong meeting to discuss the prospect of negotiating an international treaty.  Representatives from about 80 countries have been meeting on lethal autonomous weapons systems since 2014.  They have to decide by November to begin negotiations on a new treaty to regulate killer robots.  Nobel peace laureate Jody Williams says Russia has been in the forefront of a group of …

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The leadership of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s ruling Progressive Party (SNS) said on Monday it wanted a snap election to test its popularity a year ahead of schedule and after months of opposition protests. “We did not make a formal decision about early elections, but [the party] presidency decided, with me abstaining, that it wants an early vote. We are closer to early elections than before,” Vucic told reporters. He said that SNS party leadership informed Prime Minister Ana Brnabic — who was handpicked by Vucic — about its decision. Under the provisions of the constitution, Brnabic’s government must first …

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Chinese President Xi Jinping has been treated to a sumptuous dinner near Nice and an official welcome by his French counterpart at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris — not to mention a 17th-century French translation of Confucius. But Xi’s three-day visit to France, which began Sunday, promises to be a much bigger challenge than his past two stopovers.  The Chinese leader coasted on the first leg of his European tour, marked by getting Italy on board his “Belt and Road” project, and a friendly welcome in the tiny Riviera principality of Monaco, which agreed to let Chinese technology company …

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Chinese President Xi Jinping is coming to Monaco and France amid mixed feelings in Europe about China’s growing global influence. Xi is paying the first state visit by a Chinese president to the tiny Mediterranean principality of Monaco on Sunday. He will meet with Prince Albert II and discuss economic and environmental issues.   Monaco has signed a deal with Chinese tech company Huawei to develop its 5G telecommunications network — a sensitive issue with other European countries.   The European Union is China’s biggest trading partner but many in Europe worry about unfair competition from Chinese companies and China’s global …

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More than 450 passengers were airlifted off a cruise ship that got stranded off Norway’s western coast in bad weather before the rescue operation was suspended Sunday so the vessel could be towed to a nearby port, Norwegian authorities said.   Five helicopters flying in the pitch dark took the evacuated passengers from the tossing ship in a painstaking process that continued throughout the night. The rescues took place under difficult conditions that included wind gusts up to 38 knots (43 mph) and waves over 8 meters (26 feet).   Some 17 people were hospitalized with injuries, police said. Passenger …

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Prime Minister Theresa May faces growing pressure from within her own party either to resign or to set a date for stepping down as a way to build support for her Brexit agreement with the European Union, British media reported Sunday. Senior Conservative Party figures were urging May to recognize her weakened political position and leave the prime minister’s post. However, there was no indication from Downing Street a resignation was near.   May thus far has been unable to generate enough support in Parliament for the withdrawal deal her government and the EU reached late last year. Lawmakers voted …

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A cruise ship that broke down in rough seas off the western Norwegian coast with more than 1,300 passengers and crew on board has restarted three of its four engines and will be towed to port, emergency services said Sunday. “Three of the four engines are now working, which means the boat can now make way on its own,” emergency services spokesman Per Fjeld said. The Viking Sky lost power and started drifting midafternoon Saturday about two kilometers (1.2 miles) off More og Romsdal in dangerous waters and high seas, prompting the captain to send out a distress call and …

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A business in Washington, D.C., is working to empower women who have been victims of gender-based violence by targeting the growing number of consumers who are socially and environmentally conscious. Handmade handicrafts are imported from countries where women are vulnerable. Access to a broader market gives victims more opportunities for a better future. …

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Italy has joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), an ambitious trillion-dollar transcontinental trade and infrastructure project, Saturday. Rome’s move to become the first G-7 nation to participate in China’s so-called New Silk Road has brought divisions within Europe as the European Union weighs a more defensive strategy on China. As State Department correspondent Nike Ching reports, American officials and analysts are cautioning allies about China’s approach to investment. …

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Italy has signed a memorandum of understanding with China in support of Beijing’s “Belt and Road” initiative, which aims to weave a network of ports, bridges and power plants linking China with Africa, Europe and beyond. Premier Giuseppe Conte and Chinese President Xi Jinping shook hands during a ceremony in Rome on Saturday, after 29 separate sections of the memorandum were signed by members of both governments. With the memorandum, Italy becomes the first member of the Group of Seven major economies that includes the United States, to join Belt and Road, following Portugal’s embrace of the initiative in December. …

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British Prime Minister Theresa May has told lawmakers she may not seek passage of her troubled Brexit withdrawal plan in Parliament next week. The embattled leader, who faces a major protest march in central London on Saturday, wrote to lawmakers Friday night saying she would bring the European Union withdrawal back to Parliament if there seems to be enough backing for it to pass. “If it appears that there is not sufficient support to bring the deal back next week, or the House rejects it again, we can ask for another extension before 12 April, but that will involve holding …

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The French government vowed to strengthen security as yellow vest protesters stage a 19th round of demonstrations, in an effort to avoid a repeat of last week’s riots in Paris. Authorities banned protests Saturday from the capital’s Champs-Elysees avenue and central areas of several cities including Bordeaux, Toulouse, Marseille and Nice in the south, and Rouen in western France.   In Paris, some yellow vests protesters were gathering Saturday morning on Trocadero plaza, next to the Eiffel Tower. Others issued calls for a demonstration from the Denfert-Rochereau plaza, in southern Paris, to tourist hotspot Montmartre in the north.   The …

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There is a housing crisis in many parts of the developed world. Low-cost housing is disappearing, rents and mortgages are going up, and that’s slowly destroying the middle-class dream of owning a home. But one British architect is showing off a simple way to solve the problem. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …

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The European Commission will next week urge EU countries to share more data to tackle cybersecurity risks related to 5G networks but will ignore U.S. calls to ban Huawei Technologies, four people familiar with the matter said Friday. European digital chief Andrus Ansip will present the recommendation Tuesday. While the guidance does not have legal force, it will carry political weight, which can eventually lead to national legislation in European Union countries. The United States has lobbied Europe to shut out Huawei, saying its equipment could be used by the Chinese government for espionage. Huawei has strongly rejected the allegations …

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British Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday began the mammoth struggle of persuading a deeply divided parliament to back her Brexit deal after an EU summit granted her more time but little to help change minds at home. After a bruising day in Brussels, May secured a two-week reprieve to try to get the deal she negotiated in November through parliament at a third attempt or face a potentially chaotic departure from the European Union as soon as April 12. EU leaders were clear that it was now up to the British parliament to decide the fate of Brexit — …

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Recent Western-imposed sanctions targeting Russia — spawned by a naval attack on Ukrainian soldiers on the Sea of Azov late last year — are too little, too late, say former top U.S. emissaries to the region. The United States, in coordination with Canada and the European Union, leveled the sanctions on more than a dozen Russian officials and businesses earlier in March, citing Moscow’s “continued aggression in Ukraine.” On Nov. 25, 2018, Russian Coast Guard vessels rammed and then seized a trio of Ukrainian naval vessels as they moved across international waters of the Black Sea en route from one …

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A man suspected of killing three people in a shooting aboard a tram in the city of Utrecht this week admitted his guilt to a judge on Friday and has said he acted alone, Dutch prosecutors said. Turkish-born Gokmen Tanis, 37, is accused of carrying out the March 18 shooting with terrorist intent. Authorities are also investigating whether he had other personal motives. Prosecutors gave no further details of Tanis’ confession, citing the importance of further investigation. The detention of Tanis, who was arrested after a seven-hour manhunt on Monday by Dutch security forces, was extended on Friday by the …

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Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will sign up his country Saturday to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), an ambitious trillion-dollar transcontinental trade and infrastructure project. The memorandum signing in Rome is the centerpiece of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s three-stop visit to Europe and it will make Italy the first G-7 nation to participate in China’s so-called New Silk Road. Italy’s endorsement of the BRI, which spans Eurasia as well as the Middle East and parts of Africa, has prompted the disquiet not only of the United States, but also of European Union leaders, who have voiced concern about Beijing’s …

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