Category: Євросоюз

Fears that Washington is increasingly losing influence across the globe are starting to come to fruition in Africa, where a top military official says Russia is playing on perceived U.S. weaknesses to gain leverage and resources. The most alarming inroads have come in African countries where leaders are seeking to consolidate power, the commander of U.S. Africa Command, Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, told lawmakers Thursday, adding Russia seems to have its sights set on areas that could give them an edge over U.S. allies. “It’s, I think, clear that’s their strategy along the northern part of Africa, southern part of NATO, …

READ MORE

A U.N. human rights expert said Thursday that Saudi Arabia undermined Turkey’s efforts to investigate the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which she described as a “brutal and premeditated killing” planned and carried out by Saudi officials.    Agnes Callamard, the U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, made her assessment Thursday after visiting Turkey.      Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who wrote critically about Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. His remains have not been found.    WATCH: US Faces Deadline in Jamal Khashoggi’s Death   During its …

READ MORE

France is recalling its ambassador to Italy over so-called “outrageous” attacks on the French government by Italy’s leaders, further weakening a European Union struggling with Brexit and other divisions.  France’s Foreign Ministry said its ambassador to Rome is being brought back for “consultations,” after what it said were “repeated and baseless attacks and outrageous statements” by the Italian government, which it suggested were aimed at winning win votes in May’s European parliament elections.  Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Luigi di Maio met Wednesday with French yellow vest protesters — and after mounting tensions between Rome and Paris over issues ranging from …

READ MORE

A conservative U.S. political activist romantically linked to admitted Russian agent Maria Butina has been indicted by a federal grand jury on wire fraud and money laundering charges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in South Dakota said on Wednesday. Paul Erickson, 56, was indicted on 11 counts of wire fraud and money laundering on Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to the charges in an appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Moreno, the office said in a statement. Erickson’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Erickson is a well-known figure in Republican and conservative circles and was a …

READ MORE

French warplanes destroyed about 20 pick-up trucks in a third day of air strikes on Wednesday against a Chadian rebel convoy that crossed last week from Libya, an operation the French military said was aimed at preventing the destabilization of its former colony. The strikes, which started on Sunday, come as Chadian rebels have increased their activities in southern Libya since vowing last year to overthrow President Idriss Deby. The strikes were also held on Tuesday but not Monday. The Union of Forces of Resistance (UFR), a rebel Chadian coalition created in 2009 after almost toppling Deby, has said it …

READ MORE

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is accusing Washington of “imperialism” in its efforts to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.    Erdogan’s latest verbal salvo in support of his ally Maduro came amid growing U.S. pressure on Ankara to end support for the beleaguered Venezuelan leader.    “Is Venezuela your instrument?” said Erdogan, chiding U.S. President Donald Trump in an address to his parliamentary deputies Tuesday. “Their president came through elections. What right do you have to appoint another? And where is democracy? How can this be accepted?    “We do not accept the world where the one who is stronger …

READ MORE

U.S. allies have given a cautious welcome to President Donald Trump’s announcement of a second summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, to be held in the Vietnamese city of Da Nang later this month. Trump’s announcement, during his State of the Union address Tuesday, was one of the few highlights in a speech widely viewed around the world as light on foreign policy. Henry Ridgwell reports from London on the global reaction. …

READ MORE

Last year was the fourth warmest on record and the outlook is for more sizzling heat approaching levels that most governments view as dangerous for the Earth, a U.N. report showed on Wednesday. Weather extremes in 2018 included wildfires in California and Greece, drought in South Africa and floods in Kerala, India. Record levels of man-made greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels, trap ever more heat. Average global surface temperatures were 1.0 degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times in 2018, the U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said, based on data from U.S., British, Japanese and European weather …

READ MORE

R. Kelly is planning an international tour, but an Australian lawmaker wants the country to bar him from performing there. The embattled musician announced on social media Tuesday that he’ll be going to Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. “See y’all soon” the post said, accompanied by a picture of Kelly and the declaration “The King of R&B.” No dates or venues were revealed. Kelly’s career has been stifled since a #MuteRKelly campaign gained momentum last year to protest his alleged sexual abuse of women and girls, which Kelly denies. Lifetime’s documentary series “Surviving R. Kelly” last month drew even …

READ MORE

U.S. allies have given a cautious welcome to the announcement of a second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, to be held later this month in the Vietnamese city of Da Nang. The planned meeting was the major foreign policy announcement Tuesday in President Trump’s State of the Union address.  He said the rapprochement with Pyongyang, which began with a summit in Singapore last June, was a major success of his presidency. “Nuclear testing has stopped, and there has not been a missile launch in more than 15 months,” Trump told lawmakers and guests gathered …

READ MORE

Russia has approved a 38 million euro ($43.27 million) loan for Cuba’s defense sector, a senior Russian defense official was quoted as saying on Wednesday. The deal was first announced in November after Russian President Vladimir Putin met Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel in Moscow. It has now been finalized by Russia, Dmitry Shugayev, head of the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, said in an interview published in Russia’s Kommersant newspaper. Kommersant had previously reported Moscow planned to grant Cuba a loan to buy Russian hardware such as tanks, armored vehicles and possibly helicopters. Communist-ruled Cuba is a close ally …

READ MORE

Lithuania’s intelligence agencies fear Russia will interfere in its forthcoming elections, including one in May to find a successor to the staunchly anti-Kremlin president, Dalia Grybauskaite. The Baltic state, ruled from Moscow for much of the 20th century but now a member of both the European Union and NATO, was rattled by Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and hosts a German-led multinational battalion to deter any Russian invasion. It holds presidential, municipal and European Parliament elections this year and a parliamentary election in 2020. “Russian intelligence will step up its activity during the 2019-2020 election cycle,” the agencies wrote in a …

READ MORE

Britain is assisting a British national arrested in the United Arab Emirates, the Foreign Office said Tuesday following reports that a man was being detained for having worn a Qatar football shirt there. The UAE, along with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt, cut all ties with Qatar in June 2017 over allegations that the tiny, energy-rich state supports Islamic extremists. The Foreign Office warns in its advice for visitors to the UAE of subsequent new laws. “Showing sympathy for Qatar on social media or by any other means of communication is an offense,” it says. “Offenders could be imprisoned and …

READ MORE

Pope Francis, whose papacy has been marked by efforts to quell a global crisis over sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy, said on Tuesday he was committed to stopping the abuse of nuns by priests and bishops, some of whom had used the women as sex slaves. Francis made his comments on the plane returning from Abu Dhabi in response to a reporter’s question about an article last week in a Vatican monthly magazine about the abuse of nuns in the Catholic Church. Recently more nuns, encouraged by the #MeToo movement, have been coming forward to describe abuse at …

READ MORE

Russia will develop land-based intermediate range missiles within two years, the nation’s defense minister said Tuesday, a statement that comes in response to the U.S. decision to abandon a key nuclear arms pact. The U.S. has formally notified Russia over the weekend of its decision to suspend its obligations under the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty over alleged Russian violations. Russian President Vladimir Putin responded by saying Moscow would also abandon the pact. Russia has rejected the U.S. claim that it has built and deployed a cruise missile that violated the treaty’s ban on land-based cruise and ballistic missiles with …

READ MORE

Pope Francis says the Vatican would help resume negotiations to end the crisis in Venezuela if certain conditions are met. Francis says the Vatican would help mediate talks if both sides submitted requests and if preliminary steps to end the crisis are taken first. The pope acknowledged receiving a letter from President Nicolas Maduro, who said he sent the letter seeking “help in the process of facilitating and reinforcing dialogue.” Francis, who spoke to reporters aboard his plane following his visit to Abu-Dhabi, said he had not yet read the letter, but would do so “and see what can be …

READ MORE

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday offered a way to break the deadlock over the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union, calling for a “creative” compromise to allay concerns over the future of Irish border arrangements. The United Kingdom is due under British and European law to leave the EU in just 53 days yet Prime Minister Theresa May wants last-minute changes to a divorce deal agreed with the EU last November to win over lawmakers in the British parliament. May is seeking legally binding changes to the deal to replace the Northern Irish backstop, an insurance policy that …

READ MORE

Long before she became just one of the financially destitute legions of street sweepers that dot Moscow’s bitterly cold winter landscape, Shaknoza Ishankulova had simply wanted to do the right thing. It was 2008, and the recent Uzbekistan National University graduate was ecstatic to secure a teaching post at a Tashkent high school, finally making good use of her diploma in secondary education. Twenty-two years old and eager to guide younger Uzbeks toward a better life, she was shaken when Uzbekistan’s notoriously vast culture of entrenched corruption revealed itself in the form of a personal mentor and supervisor — a …

READ MORE

Catalan pro-independence parties said Monday they would file parliamentary amendments opposing the Spanish government’s 2019 budget proposal, potentially putting at risk the budget and the administration of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialists. Sanchez’s minority Socialist government came to power last June and holds just a quarter of the seats in parliament, meaning it relies on the backing of anti-austerity Podemos, Catalan nationalists and other small parties to pass laws. The two Catalan parties, ERC and PDeCAT, said they would file full parliamentary amendments against the budget proposal, which faces its first vote next week, unless Sanchez is open to some …

READ MORE

The European Union said on Monday it was gravely concerned by Iran’s ballistic missile launches and tests and called on Tehran to stop activity that deepened mistrust and destabilized the region. Iran has expanded its missile program, particularly its ballistic missiles, in defiance of opposition from the United States and expressions of concern by European countries. Tehran says the program is purely defensive. “The Council is … gravely concerned by Iran’s ballistic missile activity and calls upon Iran to refrain from these activities,” the EU said in a rare joint statement on Iran. “Iran continues to undertake efforts to increase …

READ MORE