Category: Євросоюз

The Central African Republic might seem like an unusual venue for Russia’s evolving strategy in Africa. The CAR doesn’t boast Ethiopia’s booming economy or Angola’s deep oil reserves. It lacks a developed mining industry like Zambia or a strategic location like Djibouti. But the landlocked country of fewer than 5 million people, most of whom survive on subsistence farming, has something else of interest to Moscow: conflict. Since 2013, the CAR has grappled with a protracted civil war. Mass displacements, political instability, and competing factions of rebels and militia groups have weakened the government and eroded peoples’ trust in its …

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Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena’s decision to dissolve parliament, worsening an already major political crisis, has drawn criticism from Western powers, including the United States and the European Union. Sirisena dissolved parliament on Friday night, only five days before it was due to reconvene. A new cabinet he installed was in danger of losing a vote of no confidence. He also called a general election for Jan. 5. The president triggered a power struggle when he sacked prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe late last month and appointed the island’s former leader, Mahinda Rajapaksa, a pro-China strongman defeated by Sirisena in an …

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A Russian newspaper says video released by the self-styled Libyan National Army shows a businessman allegedly linked to a private contractor that sent mercenaries to Syria at a meeting with the head of the Libyan army and top Russian military officials.   Novaya Gazeta reported Friday that a man seen wearing civilian dress at the meeting was Yevgeny Prigozhin. The Moscow meeting included Libyan National Army head Khalifa Hifter, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of staff of Russia’s armed forces.   Prigozhin is allegedly tied to a military contractor believed to have sent thousands of …

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Police in Barcelona have briefly clashed with Catalan separatists who are protesting a rally by Spain’s national police forces in the Mediterranean city. Catalan regional police used batons to drive back a group of separatists in the city center Saturday, stopping them from advancing toward a march by an association of Spain’s national police forces demanding higher pay. In September, a similar protest by separatists of another march by the same national police association ended in clashes with regional security forces. The violent run-ins left 14 people injured and six arrests. Spain has been mired in a political crisis since …

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A wheelchair used by the late British physicist Stephen Hawking has sold at auction for almost $400,000, with the money going to charity. The motorized wheelchair, which was used by Hawking after he was paralyzed with motor neuron disease, had been expected to sell for around $20,000 in the online auction organized by Christie’s. A copy of Hawking’s doctoral thesis, called “Properties of expanding universes” from 1965 sold for $767,000, much more than the estimate of $200,000. Proceeds from the auction will go to two charities, the Stephen Hawking Foundation and the Motor Neurone Disease Association. Hawking was diagnosed with …

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The U.S. Treasury Department has again extended a deadline for Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska to reduce his holdings in the aluminum company Rusal before sanctions take effect.  The Treasury Department said Friday that licenses allowing Rusal to continue doing business would be extended from Dec. 12 to Jan. 7.  The department said in April that it would impose sanctions on Deripaska and several companies in which he is a large shareholder, citing “malign activities” by Russia.  However, the agency has pushed back the sanction deadline multiple times since then as it works with the companies, who are looking to find new shareholders.  Rusal and its parent En+ Group have been …

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The moment Air Force One touched down Friday at Orly airport, U.S. President Donald Trump blasted a caustic message for his host, terming French President Emmanuel Macron’s call for a European military “very insulting.” In the touchdown tweet, Trump suggested Europe first pay “its fair share” of NATO before contemplating a Europe-wide force. As he stepped off his plane, accompanied by the first lady, Melania Trump, a group of White House reporters shouted questions at him about the Twitter message. Trump stared at the journalists but did not respond before entering the presidential limousine. The fresh dispute between the two leaders, …

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Turkey’s military says 25 Turkish soldiers were wounded in an accident that occurred while firing heavy ammunition. In a statement Friday, the Defense Ministry said another seven soldiers were unaccounted for following the accident, which occurred at the Sungu Tepe military base in the southeastern province of Hakkari. The province borders both Iraq and Iran. The Hakkari governor’s office said the explosion was caused by the firing of “faulty” ordnance at the base. It is not clear whether the accident happened during a combat mission or an exercise. The Defense Ministry said the wounded soldiers were transferred to a hospital, …

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Russia hosted a group of Afghan government-linked envoys along with their Taliban rivals Friday, as the Kremlin waded into efforts to end a 17-year conflict where Western efforts have repeatedly failed. “Russia stands for preserving the one and undivided Afghanistan, in which all of the ethnic groups that inhabit this country would live side by side peacefully and happily,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in a statement opening the talks in Moscow. “I am counting on you holding a serious and constructive conversation that will justify the hopes of the Afghan people,” Lavrov added, calling for “a new page …

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U.S. President Donald Trump will travel to France this weekend along with dozens of other world leaders for ceremonies to mark the centenary of the armistice that brought an end to the fighting in World War I. As Henry Ridgwell reports, relations between America and U.S. allies are tense, and France has warned that the current geopolitical climate is reminiscent of the build-up to the world wars. …

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Turkey with its Ottoman Empire was a key ally of Germany in World War I, but there are no commemorations marking the 100th anniversary of the war’s end. The defeat and occupation is a history that Turkey chooses not to commemorate. Yet as Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul, the painful memories still remain a powerful force in society. …

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Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen spoke out Thursday against what he calls the “politics of scapegoating” on the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the infamous Nazi pogrom against Jews. “We can see history as an example of where the politics of scapegoating, incitement, and exclusion can lead,” Van der Bellen said at the site where Vienna’s largest synagogue once stood. “Let us be vigilant that degradation, persecution, and the stripping away of rights may never again be repeated in our country or in Europe.” Right-wing governments espousing anti-immigrant policies have taken power in several European nations, including Italy, Hungary and …

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A recent U.S. move against Kurdish militant leaders in Turkey could complicate prospects for peace between the Turkish government and the country’s Kurdish minority, activists and analysts said. The U.S. on Tuesday offered cash rewards for information on three senior members of the Turkey-based Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey, the United States and the European Union consider a terrorist organization. Washington offered rewards of up to $5 million for information “leading to the identification or location” of Murat Karayilan, up to $4 million for Cemil Bayik and up to $3 million for Duran Kalkan. The three men have been …

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Italian police discovered 270 kg (600 lb.) of heroin hidden in a container that arrived aboard a ship from Iran, the biggest such haul for at least 20 years in Italy, police said on Thursday. The freighter had set sail from the Iranian Gulf port of Bandar Abbas and stopped off in Hamburg, Germany and Valencia, Spain before reaching the Italian port of Genoa on Oct. 17, where police discovered the heroin stashed away in a consignment of Bentonite clay. A police spokesman said investigators were not sure when or where the drugs were brought onto the ship. Police allowed …

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Spanish police say they have arrested a man who they believe intended to attack Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez over his controversial decision to exhume the remains of late dictator Gen. Francisco Franco. Police say the 63-year-old former private security guard was arrested in the town of Terrassa in the Catalonia region on Sept. 19 after a brief investigation. He remains in custody and has not been charged. The case was revealed Thursday by Spanish newspaper Publico. Police found 16 firearms in the suspect’s home, ranging from handguns to sniper rifles, but did not explain how he had managed to …

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Augustin Trebuchon is buried beneath a white lie. His tiny plot is almost on the front line where the guns finally fell silent at 11 a.m. on the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, after a four-year war that had already killed millions. A simple white cross says: “Died for France on November 10, 1918. Not so. Like hundreds of others along the Western Front, Trebuchon was killed in combat on the morning of November 11 — after the pre-dawn agreement between the Allies and Germany but before the armistice took effect six hours later. His death at …

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Spoof billboards celebrating Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “contribution” to Brexit have been put up in London by a satirical group which says it wants to secure recognition for the role Russian military intelligence played in the referendum. Britain has said it found no evidence that Russia interfered in the 2016 Brexit vote and Moscow has repeatedly denied even trying, though opponents of Brexit have repeatedly questioned whether the Kremlin played a role. In the referendum, 17.4 million voters, or 51.9 percent, backed leaving the EU while 16.1 million, or 48.1 percent, backed staying. Britain is due to leave on March …

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A North Korean worker who claims he is a victim of modern slavery in a Polish shipyard has filed a criminal complaint against a Dutch shipbuilder that bought products from the Polish firm, an activist group said Thursday. The Global Legal Action Network said in a statement that the man “endured 12-hour workdays in unsafe conditions and had much of his wages seized by the North Korean state.” The network did not release the plaintiff’s name “to protect his safety.” Dutch lawyer Barbara van Straaten, who filed the case Monday on the worker’s behalf, also is not revealing the name …

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Bullied herself online, Britain’s Princess Beatrice is determined to ensure other girls are equipped to deal with internet abuse and get the best from the digital world.  Beatrice — who as the eldest daughter of Prince Andrew and his former wife, the Duchess of York, is eighth in line to the British throne — said her bullying, about her weight and her appearance, were very public and could not be ignored.  But she said other girls faced this in private and needed to be encouraged to speak out and to know where to get support, which prompted her to get involved in campaigns against cyber bullying.  A recent study by the …

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A coalition of European militaries ready to react to crises near the continent’s borders was launched Wednesday with Finland becoming the 10th country to join, amid calls by French President Emmanuel Macron for a “real European army.” The French-led initiative would not conflict with the almost 70-year-old, U.S.-dominated NATO alliance, proponents say, but reflects in part concerns about a more isolationist United States under President Donald Trump. The European Intervention Initiative took official shape in Paris after months of negotiations with Germany, who France wants at the center of the force. Macron proposed the idea more than a year ago …

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