Category: Євросоюз

A diplomatic spat between Italy and France over migration to Europe is a likely forerunner of coming political battles in the run-up to European Parliament elections, according to analysts. Paris summoned the Italian ambassador this week after Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio accused France of “impoverishing African countries.” “If today we still have people leaving Africa, it is due to several European countries, first of all France, that didn’t finish colonizing Africa,” Di Maio told reporters Sunday. “The European Union should sanction all those countries, like France, that are impoverishing African countries and obliging those people to leave. …

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The annual World Economic Forum opened today in Switzerland against a backdrop of anxieties over trade disputes, Brexit and a growth slowdown that some fear could tip the world economy. VOA’s Mariama Diallo reports. …

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Comments by Italy’s deputy prime minister accusing France of ‘impoverishing African countries’ have created a split between the two European nations. At the heart of the dispute is migration into Europe, following the deaths of hundreds of refugees in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya in recent days. As Henry Ridgwell reports, the argument is likely a foretaste of bitter divisions that will be laid bare across the continent in the run up to European elections in May. …

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The leaders of France and Germany signed a treaty Tuesday renewing their friendship and pledging greater cooperation between their two nations. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron signed the Aachen accord exactly 56 years after their predecessors inked the Elysee Treaty that set the tone for the two countries’ relations after centuries of fierce rivalry and bloody conflict. In the 16-page accord, Berlin and Paris declare it’s time to raise their bilateral relations “to a new level and prepare for the challenges that both states and Europe face in the 21st century.” It comes at a time …

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The top U.S. diplomat for Europe is resigning after only 16 months on the job in a blow to Trump administration efforts to maintain trans-Atlantic unity. The State Department says Wess Mitchell will leave his post in mid-February. He’s the assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasian affairs.   The department’s deputy spokesman Robert Palladino said Mitchell has been a “valued and effective leader” and a “good friend to our allies and partners in Europe.”   Mitchell’s departure comes at a time of fractious relations between Washington and European capitals amid disagreements over trade, defense spending and the U.S. …

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Pope Francis will make his first trip to Panama on Wednesday for the World Youth Day festival that is expected to be attended by more than 150,000 young people. For more than two years the Central American country has been getting ready to welcome the pontiff and young people from all over the world.   During his four full days in Panama, Francis has a full schedule. The main purpose of his visit is to take part in World Youth Day 2019 during which he will also meet with young people who cannot attend the festivities. They are young people …

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A Belarusian escort and self-described sex trainer who claimed to have evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election has been released from police custody, according to a lawyer. Anastasia Vashukevich, who is also known as Nastya Rybka, was freed on January 22 along with her mentor, Aleksandr Kirillov, state-run news agency TASS quoted Kirillov’s attorney, Svetlana Sidorkina, as saying “They’ve just freed our client and Vashukevich from the isolator,” Sidorkina said, referring to a police jail cell or holding pen. She said both remained suspects in a case against them on prostitution-related charges and were ordered to …

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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sat down for talks Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin focusing on a decades-long territorial dispute between the two nations. The Soviet Union took the four southernmost Kuril Islands during the final days of World War II. Japan asserts territorial rights to the islands, which it calls the Northern Territories, and the dispute has kept the countries from signing a peace treaty. Greeting Abe at the start of the talks, Putin noted that their conversation will follow up on recent meetings between the two nations’ top officials. “I’m very glad to see you here,” Putin …

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At least 10 people are dead after two Tanzanian-flagged ships caught fire Monday in the Kerch Strait off the coast of Russian-annexed Crimea.  Russian authorities said at least 12 people were rescued, but the rest are missing.  The ships, the Kandy and the Maestro, had crews that were nationals from India and Turkey. Together, the two ships carried 31 crew members.  Russia’s transport ministry said a rescue operation was under way to find sailors who jumped overboard to escape the blaze, which ignited when fuel was being transferred from one ship to another. Ships in ‘neutral water’ The crew members …

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Greece’s parliament began to debate Monday a deal that would normalize Greek relations with Macedonia, a day after violent protests against the accord broke out in Athens. Parliamentary officials have tentatively scheduled a vote for Thursday on the deal, which calls for Macedonia to change its name and for Greece to drop its objections to the Balkan country joining NATO and the European Union. The deal was debated Monday in the Greek parliament’s committee on defense and foreign policy, while the house’s plenary session will take up debate Wednesday. Greeks have been divided over the accord, in which Macedonia will …

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Two Tanzanian-flagged commercial vessels caught fire in the Black Sea, leaving at least 10 sailors dead, Russian officials said Monday. Seven sailors were missing. The Federal Agency for the Sea and River Transport said the fire erupted while fuel was being pumped from one tanker to another. The blaze also spread from one ship to the other, prompting the crews to jump overboard, according to Russian news agencies. The news agencies quoted the federal maritime agency as saying the two vessels had 31 crew members combined who are citizens of Turkey and India. Salvage teams have rescued 14 crew members …

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France’s data watchdog fined Google nearly $57 million on Monday, saying the tech giant failed to provide users with transparent information on its data consumer policies and how their personal information was used to display advertising targeting them. The French agency CNIL said U.S.-based Google made it too difficult for internet users to understand and manage their personal preferences online. “The information provided is not sufficiently clear,” the regulatory agency said, “for the user to understand the legal basis for targeted advertising is consent, and not Google’s legitimate business interests.” It was the first ruling using the European Union’s strict …

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Sweden’s foreign minister said Monday she hopes talks between American, South Korean and North Korean diplomats her country is hosting “will serve as a good preparation for an upcoming summit” between U.S President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom told Swedish news agency TT that experts in nuclear disarmament, economic development and regional security attended the diplomats’ meeting in Sweden.   The first meeting ever to bring the leaders of North Korea and the United States face-to-face took place in June when Kim and Trump met in Singapore.   Trump said Saturday he …

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Turkey is ready to take over security in the Kurdish-controlled Syrian city of Manbij, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday. Erdogan’s office says the president spoke to U.S. President Donald Trump by telephone Sunday, days after an Islamic State attack in the city killed 19 people, including three U.S. service members and an American military contractor. Erdogan told Trump the attack was a “provocation” aimed at affecting his decision to pull U.S. forces out of Syria. The White House did not specifically mention Erdogan’s comments about Manbij other than saying the two presidents “agreed to continue to pursue a negotiated …

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Pope Francis introduced a digital application that enables the faithful to pray with him, swiping a tablet on Sunday, January 20, to showcase the “click to pray” app ahead of the World Youth Day 2019, which takes place in Panama January 22-27. The Vatican has launched the new multiplatform service on its website clicktopray.org that it says will enable the faithful to “accompany the pope in a mission of compassion for the world.” VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports. …

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U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani says Trump’s discussions with Russian officials over construction of a Trump Tower in Moscow went on throughout the time he was campaigning for the White House in 2016, months longer than previously acknowledged. “It’s our understanding that they went on throughout 2016,” Giuliani told NBC’s Meet the Press. Giuliani said there “weren’t a lot of them, but there were conversations.  Can’t be sure of the exact date.” “Probably could be up to as far as October, November — our answers cover until the election,” Giuliani said, referring to written questions Trump has …

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Protests turned violent Sunday between Greek demonstrators and police as tens of thousands of people converged on Athens to oppose a name-change deal with Macedonia. Greece has long protested the name Macedonia, adopted by its northern neighbor after it split from Yugoslavia. Greeks say Macedonia’s new name — the Republic of North Macedonia — represents an attempt to appropriate Greek identity and cultural heritage, because Macedonia is also the name of Greece’s northern province made famous by Alexander the Great’s conquests. The protests Sunday started out peacefully but later in the day demonstrators threw rocks, firebombs and other items at …

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Northern Ireland police and politicians have condemned a “reckless” car bombing outside a courthouse in the city of Londonderry. The device was placed inside a hijacked delivery vehicle and exploded Saturday night as police, who had received a warning, were evacuating the area. There were no reports of injuries. The Police Service of Northern Ireland posted a photograph of a vehicle in flames and urged the public to stay away. Police and army bomb-disposal experts remained at the scene on Sunday. Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hamilton called the attack “incredibly reckless.” “The people responsible for this attack have shown no …

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Heads of U.N. and international aid agencies will use the World Economic Forum’s influential platform to present humanitarian and human rights issues on behalf of millions of people caught in conflict, poverty and natural disasters. The Forum begins its annual weeklong meeting in the plush Swiss Alpine resort of Davos on Monday. The World Economic Forum is best known for the many high-powered government and business leaders who make the annual pilgrimage to Davos to acquire lucrative deals and shape geopolitical events. But the annual event also presents a robust humanitarian agenda. This year, the Forum, World Bank and International …

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Three survivors of the sinking of a rubber dinghy in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya say up to 117 other migrants were aboard at the time, a U.N. migration official said Saturday.  It appeared to be the latest tragedy on the dangerous central Mediterranean route from North Africa to Europe.  Flavio Di Giacomo of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) told Italian state TV that “unfortunately about 120” migrants were reported by survivors to have been on the overloaded smugglers’ dinghy when it was launched from Libyan shores on Thursday evening.  “After a few hours, it began …

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