Category: Євросоюз

Russian punk group Pussy Riot on Wednesday linked the suspected poisoning of member Pyotr Verzilov with his attempt to investigate the deaths of three Russian journalists in Africa. The journalists were shot dead on July 30 in the Central African Republic (CAR) while probing a shadowy Russian mercenary group for a project founded by Kremlin foe Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Verzilov’s estranged wife, told the independent channel TV Dozhd that he received a report on the killings a day before falling ill last week. “We think that (Verzilov’s involvement in the inquiry) is one of the possible …

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Poland might not yet be ready for a permanent US military base, the head of the US Army said Wednesday, the day after Polish President Andrzej Duda offered to host “Fort Trump.” Duda went to the White House on Tuesday to reiterate Poland’s long-standing desire for a permanent US troop deployment to the eastern European country — a contentious move some worry would anger Russia and draw US troops away from long-established bases in Germany. But US Army Secretary Mark Esper told AFP when he visited Poland in January, it appeared there was not enough space on offer to fulfill …

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Another European Union leaders’ summit and more big decisions to make — on Brexit, migration and the future direction of the bloc. Or more likely there will be a postponement in making them. This time the gathering is in the hometown of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austria’s Salzburg, overlooked by the Alps. Mozart’s music was classical in style but full of contrapuntal complexities and at the Salzburg summit the EU leaders will once again grapple with “melodic” lines pulling against each other but without the skill of the composer to gather them into overall harmony. Competing views Two opposing camps …

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President Donald Trump said the United States is considering establishing a permanent military base in Poland. At a joint news conference with President Andrzej Duda at the White House Tuesday, the Polish leader said his country would not only help pay for the military facility, it would also name it “Fort Trump.” White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has more. …

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The United States says it is close to defeating Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, but officials have no plans to withdraw U.S. troops in either country in the near future. A military spokesman said Tuesday the U.S. mission is to maintain peace in some of the areas that have been ravaged by terrorism and conflict. The announcement comes after Russia and Turkey agreed to create a buffer zone between the government forces and rebels in Syria’s Idlib province. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke has more. …

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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday called the downing of a Russian military plane by Syria “a chain of tragic, accidental circumstances,” tamping down what could have turned into a tense situation with Israel. Fifteen people aboard the Russian reconnaissance jet died when the Syrians shot it down, responding to an Israeli missile strike. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told his Israeli counterpart, Avigdor Lieberman, that Israel “bears full responsibility” and that Russia had the right to retaliate. But Putin stepped in, calling it “a chain of tragic, accidental circumstances.” He said Russia would respond by “taking additional steps to …

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Dozens of European countries are backing a plan to increase the use of hydrogen as an alternative to fossil fuels to cut the continent’s carbon emissions.   Energy officials from 25 countries pledged Tuesday to increase research into hydrogen technology and accelerate its everyday use to power factories, drive cars and heat homes.   The proposal, which was included in a non-binding agreement signed in Linz, Austria, includes the idea of using existing gas grids to distribute hydrogen produced with renewable energy.   The idea of a “hydrogen economy,” where fuels that release greenhouse gases are replaced with hydrogen, has …

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Macedonia will take a big step to joining the European Union if the country supports a name change to “North Macedonia,” the official in charge of the bloc’s enlargement negotiations said Tuesday. Following talks with Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev in the capital Skopje, Johannes Hahn said the September 30 vote is a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity for Macedonians to improve their daily lives. A vote to authorize the name change would be an important step towards resolving a long-standing dispute with neighbor Greece, which has raised objections to Macedonia’s EU accession as well as blocking its NATO membership. Greece has long …

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Pope Francis decreed on Tuesday that ordinary Catholics should be consulted about issues facing the Catholic Church and that bishops gathering for periodic meetings can make binding decisions on church teaching. Francis issued new rules reforming the Synod of Bishops, the consultative body established 50 years ago to give popes an organized way of bringing bishops together to debate problems facing the church. In the past, synods have been talkfests by churchmen who made nonbinding proposals to the pope to consider in a future document. The new rules say the bishops’ final document becomes part of his official church teaching, …

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European Union regulators have opened an in-depth investigation into whether automakers BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen colluded to limit the development and roll-out of car emission control systems. The EU Commission said Tuesday that it had received information that BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen, and VW units Audi and Porsche held meetings to discuss clean technologies aimed at limiting car exhaust emissions.   The probe focuses on whether the automakers agreed not to compete against each other in developing and introducing technology to restrict pollution from gasoline and diesel passenger cars.   “If proven, this collusion may have denied consumers the opportunity to …

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Deep divisions between member states threaten to derail a European Union summit on migration, scheduled Wednesday in the Austrian city of Salzburg. Brussels wants to deploy EU border guards across the external borders, but frontline member countries like Hungary want to police their own borders. More from Henry Ridgwell in London. …

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German doctors treating Pyotr Verzilov, a member of Russian protest group Pussy Riot, said Tuesday that claims he was poisoned are “highly plausible” but stressed they can’t say how this might have occurred or who was responsible. Dr. Kai-Uwe Eckardt of Berlin’s Charite hospital told reporters that Verzilov has been receiving intensive care since arriving in Berlin from Moscow on Saturday, but his condition isn’t life threatening. Verzilov’s symptoms, together with information received from relatives and the Moscow hospital he was admitted to last week, “make it highly plausible that a poisoning took place,” Eckardt said. He said Charite doctors …

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Greece should urgently move children and other vulnerable migrants and refugees from its most overcrowded island camp to the mainland or to other EU countries for the sake of their mental and physical health, the MSF aid agency said on Monday. The appeal from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) came days after the governor of the region where the Moria camp is based said it should be closed next month unless authorities clean up “uncontrollable amounts of waste.” MSF said it had witnessed an unprecedented health crisis in the camp, Greece’s biggest and home to some 9,000 migrants, a third of …

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Slovak authorities have identified a possible witness in the murder of Slovak journalist Jan Kuciak, whose killing last February led mass protests that forced the government to resign, a state prosecutor said on Monday. It was the first development in the case in the six months since the murder. “This person may have been present at or close to the crime scene around the time the crime was committed and may have information about the crime,” the prosecutor overseeing the case told a news conference. He declined to answer questions on whether that person was a suspect or just a …

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Most Western Europeans favor at least some restrictions on the religious clothing that Muslim women can wear in public, according to research released Monday by the Pew Research Center. A median 50 percent of non-Muslim adults in the 15 countries surveyed said Muslim women should be allowed to wear religious clothing unless it covers their face. A median of 23 percent said that Muslim women should not be allowed to wear any religious clothing at all. Only 25 percent said they supported no such restrictions. Portugal stood out as the only country where a majority of respondents said Muslim women …

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Hundreds of Russian Communist Party supporters took to the central square of Vladivostok on Monday to protest against what they said was the brazen rigging of a regional election in favor of a politician backed by President Vladimir Putin. With just under 99 percent of votes counted on Sunday night, Kremlin-backed incumbent Andrei Tarasenko was trailing his Communist rival by over 2 percentage points. But on Monday, the election commission said Tarasenko had won by just over 1 percentage point, with results showing he had received almost every one of the almost 20,000 final votes counted, an unlikely turnaround that …

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on Monday during a one-day visit to the country to discuss migration and the situation in neighboring Libya. Algeria’s official APS news agency reported the meeting happened in the presence Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia and other government members. The discussions take on particular significance before April’s presidential election in Algeria. No candidate has yet emerged because everyone is waiting to learn whether Bouteflika, 81, partially paralyzed from a stroke and rarely seen in public, will seek a fifth term. Bouteflika traveled to Switzerland earlier this month for medical check-ups. Algerian …

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An anti-Kremlin activist is being treated in a Berlin hospital for what members of the Pussy Riot band have called poisoning. The publisher of a Russian online news outlet that criticizes the government, Pyotr Verzilov, reportedly lost his vision, hearing, and ability to walk Tuesday, following a court hearing Verzilov was treated in a Moscow hospital last week, but was flown to Germany late Saturday on a flight chartered by the Cinema for Peace Foundation, which has long supported his and punk band Pussy Riot’s anti-Kremlin activism. Verzilov’s wife, band member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, told the German newspaper Bild she believed …

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Chair umpire Carlos Ramos has issued a code violation to Croatia after Marin Cilic slammed his racket to the clay and mangled the frame during a tense Davis Cup match against Sam Querrey of the United States. Since it was the first violation of the match, it was only a warning. No points were deducted and Cilic did not exchange any words with Ramos. Ramos was also the umpire who gave Serena Williams three code violations in her straight-set loss to Naomi Osaka during last weekend’s U.S. Open final. The American great argued she wasn’t being treated the same as …

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London mayor Sadiq Khan has called for another referendum on Britain’s European Union membership, saying the prime minister’s handling of Brexit negotiations had become “mired in confusion and deadlock” and was leading the country down a damaging path. Britain is due to leave the European Union on March 29. But with Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit plans still not accepted, some lawmakers, as well as union and business leaders are increasingly arguing for people to have a final say on any deal struck with Brussels. May has repeatedly ruled out holding a second referendum following the vote two years ago …

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