Category: Євросоюз

The European Union handed Italy a stinging letter Thursday warning that the nation’s significantly higher deficit targets represented a deviation “unprecedented in the history” of EU budget rules — but still offered reassurances that the bloc was “not an adversary of Italy.” The dual message underlines the EU’s balancing act as it tries to prod Italy’s new populist government back into compliance with EU financial standards without enflaming the anti-Europe rhetoric that is coursing inside Italy.  Italy has until Monday to respond to the letter, which is likely to set off a back-and-forth that will go on for weeks, if …

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Several major Russian companies are exploring ways to do deals abroad without using dollars, spurred on by a U.S. threat to broaden sanctions that have impeded access of some Russian firms to the international banking system. The Kremlin has been pushing companies to conduct more deals using other currencies to reduce reliance on the dollar. Russian Alrosa, the world’s biggest producer of rough diamonds in carat terms, said it had completed a pilot deal with a Chinese client using yuan in the summer and another non-dollar transaction with an Indian client. Other companies working on similar transactions include energy firm …

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Hundreds of taxis on Thursday drove at a snail’s pace across the Polish capital Warsaw in protest at the ride-sharing app Uber and other unlicenced competitors. Other cab drivers gathered in front of the justice ministry to call for legislation to regulate the industry. Traditional cab operators argue that the Uber app and others like it represent unfair competition because their drivers can dodge the rules and restrictions that regulate professionals. “There are 12,500 legal taxis in Warsaw and around 8,000 to 9,000 unregistered working for Uber, Taxify and a couple dozen other similar app-based operators,” said Jaroslaw Iglikowski, head …

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President Vladimir Putin hailed new missiles in Russia’s military arsenals but emphasized Thursday that the country would only use its nuclear weapons in response to an incoming missile attack. Putin emphasized during an international policy forum in Sochi that Russia’s military doctrine doesn’t envisage a preventative nuclear strike. He said Moscow only would tap its nuclear arsenal if early warning systems spotted missiles heading toward Russia, in which case “the aggressor should know that retaliation is inevitable.” “Only when we become convinced that there is an incoming attack on the territory of Russia, and that happens within seconds, only after …

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The parliament in Kosovo, Europe’s newest independent state which relies on NATO troops for its protection, voted on Thursday to set up a 5,000-strong national army though its Serb minority said the move was illegal. Serb deputies, backed by Belgrade which does not recognize Kosovo’s independence, have blocked any such move in the past saying creation of a national army required a change to the constitution. But three laws promoted by the Kosovo government and passed by a parliamentary vote on Thursday simply upgraded the mandate of the lightly-armed domestic Kosovo Security Force (KSF) to become a national army – …

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It had been billed as a “moment of truth” for the tortuous Brexit negotiations that have dragged on for more than a year. But like so many other Brexit encounters, a pre-dinner meeting Wednesday between Britain’s Theresa May and the 27 other national leaders of the European Union passed without the bang of a grand finale or without a breakthrough on Britain’s future relationship with its most important trading partners. To the fury of hardline Brexiters in May’s ruling Conservative Party, the biggest takeaway from the Brussels meeting is Britain and its negotiating partners could be heading for many months …

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Germany has extradited the suspect in the killing of Bulgarian television journalist Viktoria Marinova to Bulgaria, an Interior Ministry official said Wednesday. Bulgarian Severin Krasimirov is to be charged in person with the rape and murder of 30-year-old Marinova, whose body was found in a park in her Danube hometown of Ruse on Oct 6. Police said she was beaten and raped and died of suffocation. Prosecutors have said evidence did not indicate Marinova’s death was related to her work and pointed to a random sexual crime although they are still investigating all possibilities. Krasimirov was arrested in Germany last …

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Leaders from the European Union and Britain shrugged off a weekend negotiating debacle and previous deadlines Wednesday, giving themselves several more weeks to clinch a friendly divorce deal ahead of their separation.  After the EU insisted for months that the Wednesday summit was a key meeting to get a deal, its Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said “we need much time, much more time and we continue to work in the next weeks” with his British counterpart.   British Prime Minister Theresa May also spoke about “working intensively over the next days and weeks” to achieve agreement that avoids a no-deal …

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Newly released Ecuadorian government documents have laid bare an unorthodox attempt to extricate WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from his embassy hideaway in London by naming him as a political counselor to the country’s embassy in Moscow. But the 47-year-old Australian’s new career in international affairs was nipped in the bud when British authorities vetoed his diplomatic status, effectively blocking him from taking up the post in Russia. The files were made public late Tuesday by Ecuadorian opposition lawmaker Paola Vintimilla, who opposes her government’s decision to grant Assange nationality. They largely corroborate a recent Guardian newspaper report that Ecuador attempted …

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U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday he wants audio and video intelligence from Turkey “if it exists” regarding the disappearance of a U.S.-based Saudi journalist whom Turkish officials say was killed and dismembered by Saudi agents inside Riyadh’s consulate in Istanbul. Trump’s demand at the White House came as he expressed support for Saudi Arabia, a longtime U.S. ally, and said he expects its investigation into the missing journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, would be completed by the end of the week. Saudi Arabia has denied Khashoggi was killed. When questioned on what he would do if the Saudi investigation showed that …

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Western corporate chiefs are continuing to pull out of an investment conference in Saudi Arabia next week, distancing themselves from questions about Riyadh’s involvement in the disappearance and alleged killing of a U.S.-based Saudi journalist in Turkey. At first, many of the business leaders reserved judgment on what happened to the missing journalist, Jamal Khashoggi. But as reports from Turkey have mounted alleging that Saudi agents tortured, killed and dismembered Khashoggi two weeks ago inside the country’s consulate in Istanbul, the chief executives have announced in recent days they will not be attending the three-day Future Investment Initiative conference in …

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The White House has announced plans to negotiate separate trade deals with Britain, the European Union and Japan. “We are committed to concluding these negotiations with timely and substantive results for American workers, farmers, ranchers and businesses,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said Tuesday. He added that the White House wanted to “address both tariff and non-tariff barriers and to achieve fairer and more balanced trade.” As required by law, Lighthizer sent three separate letters to Congress announcing the intention to open trade talks. He wrote that the negotiations with Britain would begin “as soon as it’s ready” after Britain’s expected exit from …

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Russian cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin says the force he felt during a Soyuz emergency landing last week was like having a concrete block on his chest. Ovchinin and U.S. astronaut Nick Hague spoke separately Tuesday about their frightening experience when an unknown mishap caused their Russian Soyuz to abort its mission 60 kilometers (37 miles) above Kazakhstan. The spacecraft was on its way to the International Space Station when the emergency lights flashed in the cabin just minutes into the flight. “There was no time to be nervous because we had to work,” Ovchinin told Russian television. “We had to go …

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Egypt’s president urged Russia on Tuesday to resume direct flights to Egyptian resorts as he discussed ways to bolster ties with Russian officials and lawmakers. Moscow suspended the flights after a bomb planted by the Islamic State group brought a Russian passenger plane down over Sinai in October 2015, killing all 224 people on board.  Flights between Moscow and Cairo resumed in April after Egyptian officials beefed up airport security. Talks about restoring direct air travel to Egypt’s Red Sea resorts have dragged on. Addressing the Russian parliament’s upper house, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi emphasized that restoring the flights was …

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Police searching the Saudi Consulate found evidence that Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi was killed there, a high-level Turkish official said Tuesday, and authorities appeared ready to also search the nearby residence of the consul general after the diplomat left the country. The comment by the Turkish official to The Associated Press further intensified the pressure on Saudi Arabia to explain what happened to Khashoggi, who vanished Oct. 2 while visiting the consulate to pick up paperwork he need to get married. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo traveled to Saudi Arabia to talk to King Salman and his son, the …

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Google says it will start charging smartphone makers to pre-install apps like Gmail, YouTube and Google Maps on Android handsets sold in Europe, in response to a record $5 billion EU antitrust fine. The U.S. tech company’s announcement Tuesday is a change from its previous business model, in which it let phone makers install its suite of popular mobile apps for free on phones running its Android operating system. It’s among measures the company is taking to comply with the July ruling by EU authorities that found Google allegedly abused the dominance of Android to stifle competitors, even as it …

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Facebook says that anyone who takes out a British political ad on the social media platform will now be forced to reveal their identity, in a bid to increase transparency and curb misinformation.   The company said Tuesday that it will also require disclaimers for any British political advertisements. All the data on the ad buyers will be archived for seven years in a publicly accessible database.   Facebook is already applying a similar system in the United States, which is holding midterm elections this year.   British lawmakers have called for greater oversight of social media companies and election …

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Germany has deported an accomplice of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States to his home country of Morocco.   Mounir al-Motassadeq had spent almost 15 years in prison in Germany before he was deported Monday to Morocco.   German media published photographs of Motassadeq wearing a blindfold and being led by two armed policemen to a helicopter. German officials confirmed he was flown out by plane from Frankfurt airport on Monday evening.   Motassadeq was convicted of helping Mohamed Atta, the alleged pilot of one of the hijacked 9/11 planes, and other suicide pilots to help …

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One of the first steps taken by Spain’s prime minister after assuming office in June was to order the exhumation of the remains of right-wing military dictator Francisco Franco from a mausoleum in the capital’s outskirts, where they have rested since he died in power a half century ago.   “Democracy cannot dignify a dictator,” Pedro Sanchez, leader of the Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), said in justifying the order. The decision was hailed by leftists, but critics warned that polarizing struggles between traditional conservatives and a new breed of left-wing populists could end five decades of bipartisan continuity since Franco’s …

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The Lehman Brothers bankruptcy threw the United States into an epoch-defining financial storm. Imagine 300 of them going bust at once. That, in relative terms, is what Iceland endured a decade ago during its banking crisis, which on this rugged island steeped in myths of gods and giants is now known as “hrunid” – the collapse. The last in a series of prosecutions of those deemed responsible started this month and the hope is that it will give this country of 330,000 people some closure after years of reckoning and reconstruction. Icelanders have become more cynical about political and business …

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