Category: Євросоюз

A 90-day political campaign period has opened in Ukraine, where the incumbent president’s future is uncertain. President Petro Poroshenko hasn’t yet announced whether he plans to run in a March 31 election, although he is expected to seek re-election. Monday marked the official start of campaigning. A poll of 2,017 eligible voters published last week put Poroshenko’s approval rating at just over 14 percent. Another likely candidate, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, had support from 16 percent of those surveyed. Other presidential hopefuls trailed behind the two. The Razumkov Center poll had a margin of error of 2.3 percentage points. …

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The euro currency turns 20 years old on January 1, surviving two tumultuous decades and becoming the world’s No. 2 currency. After 20 years, the euro has become a fixture in financial markets, although it remains behind the dollar, which dominates the world’s market. The euro has weathered several major challenges, including difficulties at its launch, the 2008 financial crisis, and a eurozone debt crisis that culminated in bailouts of several countries. Those crises tested the unity of the eurozone, the 19 European Union countries that use the euro. While some analysts say the turmoil and the euro’s resilience has …

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has told U.S. President Donald Trump in a New Year’s letter that the Kremlin is “open to dialogue” on the myriad issues hindering relations between their countries. The Kremlin published a summary of Putin’s “greeting message” to Trump on Sunday. The summary states the Russian leader wrote: “Russia-U.S. relations are the most important factor behind ensuring strategic stability and international security.” Trump canceled a formal meeting with Putin scheduled for Dec. 1 at the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires, tweeting “it would be best for all parties” given Russia’s seizure days earlier of three Ukrainian naval …

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An international trade association says on-the-job slayings of journalists and news media staff rose again in 2018 following an overall decline during the past half-dozen years. The International Federation of Journalists said in an annual report set for release Monday that 94 journalists and media workers died in targeted killings, bomb attacks and conflict crossfire this year, 12 more than in 2017. Before the declines seen in five of the past six years, 121 people working for news organizations were slain in 2012. Since the federation started its annual count in 1990, the year with the most work-related killings, 155, …

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British officials say six Iranian men have been found on a beach in southeastern England as the number of migrants making risky crossings of the English Channel continues to mount. The Home Office said Sunday the men have been given medical checks and turned over to immigration officials for processing. Border Force officials were called Sunday morning after the men were found on a beach in Kent with a rigid-hulled inflatable boat. There has been an increase in recent weeks in the number of migrants traveling from France to England in small boats. Home Secretary Sajid Javid has called the …

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Emmanuel Macron’s former security aide, who was sacked this summer after his violent conduct fueled a political scandal, acknowledged on Sunday he was still traveling on a diplomatic passport, in an affair that has rattled the French presidency. After he was fired when a video emerged of his beating a May Day protester, Alexandre Benalla returned to the spotlight in France this week, under scrutiny over his recent consultancy work and unauthorized use of diplomatic passports. The original Benalla scandal became a major headache for Macron just over a year into his tenure, after the president, whose popularity ratings have …

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A French technology company has created a tiny tracking device to combat poaching. The tracker is smaller, lighter and cheaper than previous methods, such as radio collars. The creators say the technology can also allow those in remote villages to share information on the internet regardless of language or literacy barriers. Arash Arabasadi reports. …

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The European Union is not trying to keep Britain in and wants to start discussing future ties the moment the U.K. parliament approves Brexit, partly to focus on its own unity ahead of May elections, the head of the bloc’s executive said Saturday. “It is being insinuated that our aim is to keep the United Kingdom in the EU by all possible means. That is not our intention. All we want is clarity about our future relations. And we respect the result of the referendum.” Jean-Claude  Juncker, the head of the European Commission, told German newspaper Welt am Sonntag in an interview.  Juncker said the EU was ready to …

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Morocco arrested a Swiss national Saturday in connection with the killing of two Scandinavian women, the counterterrorism agency said. Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, from Denmark, and Maren Ueland, 28, from Norway were found dead early Dec. 17 near the village of Imlil in the Atlas Mountains. The man arrested is also suspected of “involvement in recruiting Moroccan and sub-Saharan nationals to carry out terrorist plots in Morocco against foreign targets and security forces in order to take hold of their service weapons,” the Central Bureau for Judicial Investigations (BCIJ) said. It said he also held Spanish nationality with residence in …

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A newly discovered note in the U.K.’s National Archives shows Queen Elizabeth II let government officials know she would welcome a replacement for the Royal Yacht Britannia once it was decommissioned.  The 1995 note is unusual because the queen is required to remain politically neutral and avoids lobbying the government on specific requests.  The message from her deputy private secretary to the Cabinet office said Elizabeth would “naturally very much welcome” a new royal yacht. But it made clear palace officials recognized the decision had to be made by government ministers, not the queen. The Royal Yacht Britannia was in …

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In his New Year’s message, U.N. Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres urges international cooperation to resolve the many dangers and divisions facing humanity. As Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres carries the burdens of the world upon his shoulders.  At the same time, he is expected to be the world’s cheer-leader-in-chief, reassuring nations that solutions to the world’s many problems are available. He does not disappoint in either category.  On the one hand, he wishes the world a happy, peaceful and prosperous New Year.  On the other hand, he issues a stark warning about the many crises and risks threatening global …

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During the past four years, Russia’s $1.7 trillion economy has been plagued by under-investment, broadening state ownership of enterprise and Western sanctions over Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. Kremlin economic ministers have even warned of unexpectedly high inflation, but you wouldn’t know that talking to people passing through one of Moscow’s shopping districts as Russians prepare for their legendary Christmas and New Year’s holiday celebrations. “I don’t plan to economize,” said Andrey, a Muscovite who suggested he personally has no financial constraints. “This is a planned holiday for which the budget has already been allocated without any real economy.” Others, …

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In the past four years, Russia’s $1.7 trillion economy has been in the world’s top 20. But in 2018, it has been plagued with problems stemming from under-investment, broadening state ownership of enterprise and Western sanctions over the 2014 annexation of Crimea. Now, rising value added tax and interest rates are triggering inflation warnings. VOA’s Pete Cobus reports from Moscow on how those warnings affect Muscovites preparing for their lavish Christmas and New Year’s holiday celebrations. …

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Regulators in Germany have approved a plan for an $8 billion underwater tunnel connecting Denmark and Germany. Officials in Germany’s northernmost state of Schleswig-Holstein approved the plan Friday, which calls for 19 kilometers of rail and road tunnel, linking the Danish island of Lolland to the German island of Fehmarn. The project, to be built by Denmark’s state-owned Femern A/S, includes a four-lane motorway and a two-track railway. It was partly funded by the European Union. Femern A/S now has 14 days to review the approval from the Schleswig-Holstein state transport ministry before it is signed. The company’s project director, …

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British divers who rescued young soccer players trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand are among those being recognized in Britain’s New Year’s Honors List, along with 1960s model Twiggy and Monty Python star Michael Palin. Twiggy, a model who shot to stardom during the Beatles era, will become a Dame — the female equivalent of a knight — while Palin, whose second career has seen him become an acclaimed travel documentary maker, receives a knighthood. Jim Carter, who played the acerbic Mr. Carson in “Downton Abbey,” was also recognized, as was filmmaker Christopher Nolan, director of “Inception” and “Dunkirk,” …

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Italy’s foreign minister, Enzo Moavero Milanesi, will be visiting Washington from Jan. 3-4, meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department and with national security adviser John Bolton at the White House Italy’s foreign minister, Enzo Moavero Milanesi, will be visiting Washington in early January, meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department and with national security adviser John Bolton at the White House.  Italy’s Foreign Ministry said Friday that topics for the Jan. 3-4 meetings include global security, the migrant situation in the Mediterranean Sea, efforts to stabilize Libya, peace efforts in the …

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In China, 2018 has been a year that rights defenders worldwide say was extremely repressive, particularly when it comes to religious persecution. China’s communist party leadership has strongly defended its actions amid growing calls that its actions may constitute crimes against humanity. Those actions include the internment of hundreds of thousands – perhaps more than a million – Muslims in Xinjiang, the demolition and shuttering of Christian churches nationwide and the systemic crackdown on dissidents. “2018 has been a year of human rights disasters in China, where all walks of people have paid a dear price over rights abuses. In …

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The German government says it is in talks with various countries to improve the transparency of foreign financing of mosques and prevent the funding of extremist facilities. Foreign Ministry spokesman Christofer Burger said Friday that Germany has been cooperating with Kuwait at the latter’s initiative since last year, and that Kuwait’s government is working to “examine particularly thoroughly” the funding of projects in Germany. He wouldn’t name other countries with which Germany is talking, citing confidential diplomatic discussions. The daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung and public broadcasters NDR and WDR reported that the ministry had asked Saudi Arabia, Qatar and others to …

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The leaders of Germany and France are pressing Russia to release Ukrainian sailors captured over a month ago in time for the new year and Orthodox Christmas. In a joint statement Friday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron also vowed to keep up pressure to implement a 2015 peace deal for eastern Ukraine. The long-simmering conflict between Russia and Ukraine that started with Russia’s annexation of Crimea escalated November 25 when the Russian coast guard fired upon and seized three Ukrainian naval vessels and their crews. In Friday’s statement, Merkel and Macron renewed calls for the “safe, …

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Violence and insecurity have forced more than 28 million children from their homes in 2018, UNICEF said in a news release Thursday. The U.N. children’s fund said it had responded to more than 300 emergencies to help children caught in many of the 40 armed conflicts raging around the world.  UNICEF said children had been tortured, raped, used as human shields or suicide bombers, recruited as child soldiers and subjected to a myriad of other atrocities by armed groups.  While fighting has killed and maimed tens of thousands of children, UNICEF said many more had died from the indirect consequences of …

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