Category: Євросоюз

Pope Francis urged Christians on Monday to forgo the greed, gluttony and materialism of Christmas and to focus instead on its message of simplicity, charity and love. Francis celebrated a Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, opening a busy week for the pope that includes a Christmas Day message and blessing, a Dec. 26 prayer, New Year’s Eve vespers and a Jan. 1 Mass. During his homily Monday, Francis lamented that many people find their life’s meaning in possessions when the biblical story of Christ’s birth emphasizes that God appeared to people who were poor when it came to …

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Russian envoy: Bad relations with US unlikely to improvRussia’s U.N. ambassador says relations between Moscow and Washington are “practically non-existent,” which he says is bad not only for both countries but for the world — and he sees little prospect for improvement anytime soon. Vassily Nebenzia said in a recent wide-ranging interview with a small group of journalists that the Trump administration should offer some incentives to North Korea to move forward toward denuclearization, saying the situation “is stalemated at the moment.” Russia and China have backed an easing of sanctions to spur momentum, but the U.S. insists that North …

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Police presence has increased in parts in the Spanish city of Barcelona following a warning from the U.S. State Department Monday of the risk of a terrorist attack during the holiday season. Regional police heightened security, particularly around buses and public transport in the Las Ramblas area of Barcelona. Las Ramblas, a popular tourist destination, was the target of an attack claimed by Islamic State militants in August 2017 which left 14 people dead. Spain’s Interior Ministry said that the country’s level of anti-terror alert remained at the second-highest, where it has been since 2015. …

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A senior Russian diplomat says Moscow is open to having a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in remarks carried Monday by the Interfax news agency that it’s important to have a meeting between the two world leaders. They were going to hold talks when they attended a G-20 summit in Argentina a few weeks ago, but Trump abruptly canceled the meeting over a Russia-Ukraine naval standoff. Ryabkov warned it would be a “deep mistake” to think Russia has a bigger interest than Washington in repairing bilateral ties. Russia-U.S. …

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U.S. President Donald Trump says Turkey will eliminate the rest of the Islamic State militants in Syria after the U.S. military withdraws its forces. In a tweet late Sunday, Trump said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “has strongly informed me that he will eradicate whatever is left of ISIS in Syria…and he is a man who can do it plus, Turkey is right ‘next door.’” “Our troops are coming home!” Trump added. Earlier Sunday, Trump said the two leaders discussed his withdrawal plan during a “long and productive call.” Trump gave few details about his conversation. But he tweeted he …

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British and French officials are scrambling to determine how they can maintain military pressure on the Islamic State terror group once the United States has pulled out its ground forces from northeast Syria. Both countries have said they plan to continue airstrikes and ground operations in Syria, but the timing and scope of the U.S. withdrawal, say officials still reeling from President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. forces, remains unclear and is complicating war-planning in London and Paris. The British and French governments are trying also to gain a clearer understanding, say officials, of Turkish military intentions in northeast …

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As Ukraine enters its fifth winter of conflict, the United Nations says civilians continue to be victimized by widespread human rights violations and abuse perpetrated by both the government and Russian-backed rebels in Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine. The report issued by the U.N. Human Rights Office covers the three-month period between mid-August and mid-November. Ukraine’s civil conflict, which began April 2014 appears to be at a stalemate. However, this has not stopped the warring parties from subjecting the civilian population to gross violations of human rights on both sides of the contact line. This refers to the 500-kilometer …

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A Syrian war monitor and Turkish media say Turkey is massing troops near a town in northern Syria held by a U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led force. Turkey said it would delay a promised offensive in Syria following U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops.   Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to dislodge the Kurdish fighters, who Turkey views as an extension of the insurgency within its borders. The U.S. had partnered with the Syrian Kurdish militia to drive out the Islamic State group.   The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the reinforcements were sent to the …

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British police have released a man and a women they arrested Friday in connection with the drone incursions that hampered operations at Gatwick Airport for three days. A statement from Sussex police Sunday said the two were released “without charge” and both “fully co-operated with our enquiries and are no longer suspects.” The police said Saturday the investigation is “still on-going and our activities at the airport continue to build resilience to detect and mitigate further incursions from drones, by deploying a range of tactics.” The closing down of the runway at Britain’s second largest airport because of the drones, …

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Simcha Rotem, an Israeli Holocaust survivor who was among the last known Jewish fighters from the 1943 Warsaw ghetto uprising against the Nazis, has died. He was 94. Rotem, who went by the underground nickname “Kazik,” took part in the single greatest act of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust. Though guaranteed to fail, the Warsaw ghetto uprising symbolized a refusal to succumb to Nazi atrocities and inspired other resistance campaigns by Jews and non-Jews alike. Rotem, who passed away Saturday after a long illness, helped save the last survivors of the uprising by smuggling them out of the burning ghetto …

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  More than 300 migrants were rescued Friday off the coast of Libya by the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms. But now they are facing Christmas at sea after Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Italian ports are closed and they will not be allowed to disembark. The rescue was carried out by the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms, which said it had saved the migrants aboard three vessels that were in distress from certain death at sea off the Libyan coastline. This included men, women, children and babies suffering from the cold winter temperature. The NGO said Malta refused to …

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U.N. rights experts called on British authorities Friday to allow WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to leave the Ecuador embassy in London without fear of arrest or extradition. The U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention reiterated its finding published in February 2016 that Assange had been de facto unlawfully held without charge in the embassy, where he has now been holed up for more than six years. He initially took asylum to avoid being extradited to Sweden, where authorities wanted to question him as part of a sexual assault investigation. That investigation was dropped. Bail violation Assange, whose website published thousands …

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British police have made two arrests in connection with their investigation into the drone incursions that have hampered operations at Gatwick Airport for three days. Sussex police said in a statement early Saturday that the arrests were made late Friday, but the statement did not reveal the names or ages of the detainees. The statement said the investigation is “still ongoing and our activities at the airport continue to build resilience to detect and mitigate further incursions from drones, by deploying a range of tactics.” The closing down of the runway at Britain’s second largest airport because of the sightings …

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Voters who went to the polls last month in the United States’ midterm elections can rest assured that their votes were registered and counted properly. However, a new report by the U.S. intelligence community concluded Americans were subjected to ongoing influence operations and disinformation campaigns by several countries, a finding that could trigger automatic sanctions. “The activity we did see was consistent with what we shared in the weeks leading up to the election,” Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said in a statement late Friday. “Russia, and other foreign countries, including China and Iran, conducted influence activities and messaging …

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British forces stormed an Italian cargo ship on Friday and regained control after stowaways threatened crew members as it sailed close to the coast of southeast England.  Police said no one was injured in the operation.  The Sun newspaper said the rescue was led by members of the navy’s elite Special Boat Service. Four stowaways had threatened crew on the ship, the Grande Tema, a spokesman for the boat’s operator, Grimaldi Lines, said.   Four men were detained under Britain’s immigration laws and  the vessel was being taken safely to the port of Tilbury, police said in a statement.  Sky News said the …

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For two years, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has been urging nervous NATO counterparts to judge the Trump administration by its actions and not by the president’s tweets or off-the-cuff remarks. But on Thursday, President Donald Trump posted a tweet the Europeans couldn’t ignore: an announcement that the four-star general would soon be leaving the Pentagon.   The tweet wasn’t altogether a surprise, coming a day after Trump ordered U.S. ground troops out of northern Syria, but it has shocked America’s traditional allies, who like Mattis are eager to preserve the U.S.-European alliance. In the Marine general they had a partner they trusted and …

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Thousands of pro-independence protesters angry about Spain’s Cabinet holding a meeting in Catalonia blocked roads across the region Friday and clashed with anti-riot police in its capital. Grassroots separatist groups and unions called the protests to show their disgust at Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s decision to lead his weekly Cabinet meeting in Barcelona. The Catalan regional government, formed by a coalition of pro-secession parties, is also supporting peaceful protests despite an agreement with central authorities to find a way out of the political crisis that has festered since Catalonia’s failed secession attempt last year. After their encounter on Thursday, …

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Pope Francis has called on the church’s predator priests who have sexually abused children to turn themselves in. Speaking Friday in his annual address to the Roman Catholic Church’s governing Curia at the Vatican, Francis said, “To those who abuse minors I would say this: convert and hand yourself over to human justice and prepare for divine justice.” The Catholic church has been rocked in recent years by a worldwide sexual child abuse scandal that it has seemingly covered up for decades. “It is undeniable that some in the past, out of irresponsibility, disbelief, lack of training, inexperience, or spiritual …

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Britain’s second busiest airport reopened on a limited basis Friday. Gatwick Airport shut down late Wednesday after drone sightings forced officials to cancel flights, disrupting the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of holiday travelers. Chris Woodroofe, Gatwick’s chief operating officer, advised passengers to “check with their airline on each of those flights that they’re intending to get, to establish whether it’s one of the flights that’s being operated or one of the flights that’s being canceled, before they come to the airport.” Threat of collision Sussex Police Chief Steve Barry said the number of drone sightings at Gatwick has …

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While the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has demanded the release of Selahattin Demirtas, a former co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Turkish courts convicted him of spreading terrorist propaganda, which some analysts and rights groups view as Ankara attempting to misuse the country’s counterterrorism laws to crack down on political dissidents. Demirtas was detained on terrorism charges and was convicted in another terrorist-related case in an effort to dodge the European court’s pressure on the country. “It is quite obvious that anti-terrorism laws and laws prohibiting propaganda for terrorism are just used in a very blunt …

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