Category: Євросоюз

British Prime Minister Theresa May was seeking to scotch a growing rebellion against her Brexit plans Monday, urging lawmakers to back her and saying a divorce deal with the European Union is 95 percent complete. May’s office said she planned to tell the House of Commons that “the vast majority” of issues are settled, including the status of Gibraltar, Britain’s territory at the tip of the Iberian Peninsula.   The prime minister also appealed to voters directly with an article in The Sun tabloid, saying “the very last stages of the talks are going to be the hardest of all” …

READ MORE

Turkey’s coast guard says two people died Monday after a boat carrying migrants sank just 50 meters off Turkey’s western coast near Bodrum. Seventeen people were rescued from the boat, according to the coast guard.  Three people were able to swim ashore, but two of them died later at a hospital, a coast guard statement said.  The coast guard said it is continuing search and rescue efforts for possible survivors.  There were no immediate details about the nationalities of the migrants.  Turkey is one of the transit countries used by migrants fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East and …

READ MORE

Norwegian resistance fighter Joachim Ronneberg, whose bravery helped keep Nazi Germany from building nuclear weapons, has died at 99. Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg called him one of the country’s heroes and possibly the last of the World War II resistance fighters. Ronneberg fled Norway when the Nazis invaded in 1940. He trained with the Norwegian resistance in Britain and returned behind enemy lines. Ronneberg led Operation Gunnerside — the 1943 secret mission that blew up a German plant producing heavy water, a necessary component in early nuclear research. The Nazis were working on building nuclear weapons and may have …

READ MORE

The killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul is unlikely to halt Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s rise to power, but could cause irreparable harm to relations with Western governments and businesses, potentially endangering his ambitious reform plans. International outrage over Khashoggi’s Oct. 2 slaying at the hands of Saudi officials, under still-disputed circumstances, has marked the greatest crisis in the 33-year-old’s rapid rise, already tarnished by a catastrophic war in Yemen and a sweeping roundup of Saudi businessmen and activists. The prince had hoped to galvanize world support for his efforts to revamp the …

READ MORE

Russia says President Vladimir Putin will ask for an explanation this week from U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton when he visits Moscow about President Donald Trump’s intention to pull the United States out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty because of alleged Russian violations of the pact. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Sunday Trump’s action “would be a very dangerous step,” accusing the U.S. of trying to assume “total supremacy” in the world. The agreement was negotiated in the late 1980s, signed by then U.S. President Ronald Reagan and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. It required the …

READ MORE

Catholic bishops are entering their final week of debate over hot-button issues facing young Catholics, including how the church should welcome gays and respond to the clerical sex abuse scandal that has discredited many in the church hierarchy.   The monthlong synod of bishops ends next Saturday with the adoption by the 260-plus cardinals, bishops and priests of a final document and approval of a separate, shorter letter to the world’s Catholic youth.   Some of the youth delegates to the meeting have insisted that the final document express an inclusive message to make LGBT Catholics feel welcome in a …

READ MORE

The vast majority of British firms are poised to implement their Brexit contingency plans by Christmas if there isn’t greater clarity over the country’s exit from the European Union, a leading business lobby group warned Sunday. The Confederation of British Industry said these could include cutting jobs, adjusting supply chains outside the U.K., stockpiling goods, and relocating production and services overseas. Fear of no deal The warning comes amid growing fears that Britain may crash out of the EU in March without a deal on the future relationship. That could see tariffs placed on British exports, border checks reinstalled, and …

READ MORE

As Saudi Arabia faced intensifying international skepticism over its story about the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a senior government official laid out a new version of the death inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul that in key respects contradicts previous explanations. The latest account, provided by a Saudi official who requested anonymity, includes details on how the team of 15 Saudi nationals sent to confront Khashoggi on Oct. 2 had threatened him with being drugged and kidnapped and then killed him in a chokehold when he resisted. A member of the team then dressed in Khashoggi’s clothes to make …

READ MORE

The official Saudi statements on the fate of journalist Jamal Khashoggi have changed several times since he mysteriously disappeared after entering his country’s consulate in Istanbul earlier this month. The latest announcement on Saturday, declaring that Khashoggi had died in a “fistfight” with officials who had gone to see him there, increased criticism of the Saudis’ handling of the case and concern about the kingdom’s possible complicity in the killing of the prominent Washington Post columnist. Here is a look at the Saudi narrative regarding Khashoggi, as it developed. Oct. 2: Khashoggi enters the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul at 1.14 …

READ MORE

France and Germany are condemning the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside his country’s consulate in Istanbul.  French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian called Saturday for an “exhaustive and diligent investigation to establish exactly who was responsible” for Khashoggi’s death. Le Drian also said “those guilty of the murder” must be held accountable for their actions. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her foreign minister, Heiko Maas, said in a joint statement Saturday that they condemned the death “in the strongest possible terms.” They went on to say “we expect transparency from Saudi Arabia” regarding the details of Khashoggi’s death …

READ MORE

Thousands of protesters gathered in central London on Saturday to call for a new referendum on Britain’s departure from the European Union. Organizers want the public to have a final say on the government’s Brexit deal with the EU, arguing that new facts have come to light about the costs and complexity of Britain’s exit from the bloc since Britons voted to leave in 2016. London Mayor Sadiq Khan from the opposition Labor Party was among those set to address the People’s Vote March, which will culminate at a rally in Parliament Square. Organizers have brought in some 150 buses …

READ MORE

Macedonia’s parliament has approved a proposal to change the country’s name, a move that could pave the way for it to join NATO and the European Union. Eighty members of parliament in the 120-seat body voted in favor of the measure Friday to rename the country North Macedonia, just surpassing the two-thirds supermajority needed to enact constitutional changes. Parliament was forced to address the issue after a September referendum on the matter failed to achieve the turnout threshold of 50 percent. According to election officials, only about a third of eligible voters cast ballots in the September referendum. However, they …

READ MORE

U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton will meet Saturday in Moscow with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, amid reports that Washington will tell Russia it plans to quit a landmark nuclear weapons treaty. The visit comes ahead of what is expected to be a second summit between presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump this year. Bolton, who will also meet Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, announced the visit to Moscow in a tweet, saying he would “continue discussions that began in Helsinki,” referring to a summit held in July. The New York Times said the Trump administration plans to inform …

READ MORE

U.S. intelligence, law enforcement and security agencies are warning that Russia is persistently targeting the country’s upcoming midterm elections. They laid out the latest evidence in new charges against a Russian national connected to the oligarch known as “Putin’s cook.” The U.S. on Friday unsealed the criminal complaint against Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova, 44, of St. Petersburg, making her the first Russian charged in connection with interference in the 2018 election. According to the criminal complaint, Khusyaynova was the chief accountant for a Russian effort dubbed “Project Lakhta,” a self-described “information warfare” operation run by the Internet Research Agency — the same …

READ MORE

The International Monetary Fund announced Friday it had reached an agreement with Ukraine on economic policies that would unlock a new loan deal that will provide nearly $4 billion. The new 14-month standby loan deal replaces an existing four-year financial aid package agreed in March 2015 and due to expire in five months, the IMF said in a statement. The agreement must be approved by the IMF board, which will come later in the year after authorities in Kyiv approve a 2019 budget “consistent with IMF staff recommendations and an increase in household gas and heating tariffs,” a step the …

READ MORE

Pakistan has criticized and downplayed rival India’s acquisition of the Russian-made S-400 Triumph air defense system, claiming Islamabad can counter the threat. New Delhi recently signed a $5.4 billion deal with Moscow to purchase what experts believe is the most modern ballistic missile defense (BMS) system available. India has said it needs the missile system that provides high-altitude protection from incoming missiles to bolster its defenses against China and Pakistan. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, in an official reaction to the pact Friday, warned the purchase of the system will “further destabilize strategic stability” and lead to a “renewed” arms race in …

READ MORE

A women-to-women investment fund is coming to Britain next month to boost financing for female-owned businesses, its founder said Thursday, as efforts grow to close the gender investing gap. SheEO has lent more than $2 million to 32 female social entrepreneurs in the United States, Canada and New Zealand to grow their businesses since 2015 in an attempt to address a global gender investment gap. “Most of the people writing checks and investing are men,” founder Vicki Saunders told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “SheEO wants to fund female innovators with great ideas to create stronger communities and a better world.” …

READ MORE

The United States suspended imports of pork from Poland Thursday because of an outbreak of the highly contagious hog disease African swine fever in that country. African swine fever has spread rapidly in Eastern Europe and China, the world’s largest pork producer, where new cases are appearing and the disease is traveling far distances. The United States is free of the disease and eager to keep it that way because infections in U.S. herds would likely kill hogs and limit pork exports. Humans are not susceptible to African swine fever, according to the USDA. The agency said it was reviewing …

READ MORE

Computer giant IBM Corp., financial services company Western Union Co. and European police launched a project Thursday to share financial data that  they said may one day be able to predict human trafficking before it occurs. The shared data hub will collect information on money moving around the world and compare it with known ways that traffickers move their illicit gains, highlighting red flags signaling potential trafficking, organizers said. “We will build and aggregate that material, using IBM tools, into an understanding of hot spots and routes and trends,” said Neil Giles, a director at global anti-slavery group Stop the Traffik, which is participating in the project. Data collection, digital …

READ MORE

Asked Thursday by reporters whether Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was dead, U.S. President Donald Trump responded it “certainly looks” as if he is and that is “very sad.” There will be “very severe” consequences if the Saudis killed him, promised Trump, speaking on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews before boarding Air Force One. Trump’s administration is willing to give Saudi Arabia a bit more time to finish its investigation into Turkish allegations that agents from the kingdom killed Khashoggi inside Riyadh’s consulate in Istanbul.   WATCH: Pressure Mounts on Trump to Confront Saudis on Khashoggi More time Secretary of State …

READ MORE