Category: Євросоюз

Spanish rescuers have picked up nearly 800 migrants trying the cross the Mediterranean Sea into the European Union over the past two days. Coast Guard boats pulled people off of dangerously overcrowded vessels from the Straits of Gibraltar and the Alboran Sea – two of the closest points between Spain the coast of North Africa. The U.N.’s International Organization for Migration said more than 18,000 people have reached Spain from North Africa so far this year. Spain has replaced Italy as the preferred destination for migrants from Africa, Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere trying to escape war and poverty for a …

READ MORE

Professional golfer Francesco Molinari won his first major championship Sunday, defeating an array of the sport’s top stars at the British Open in Carnoustie, Scotland. The 35-year-old Molinari became the first Italian to capture one of golf’s four major annual titles, shooting a final round 2-under-par 69. He completed a bogey-free round with a 5-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole and then waited to claim the tournament’s Claret Jug trophy as other contenders faltered at the end. For the tournament, Molinari was 8 under par, two better than a quartet of golfers, Britain’s Justin Rose, Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy …

READ MORE

On the heels of President Donald Trump’s widely-criticized Helsinki summit performance, Washington is abuzz yet again after the White House announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit the United States later this year. VOA’s Michael Bowman has this report. …

READ MORE

A former senior security aide for French President Emmanuel Macron has been charged with assaulting a protester at a May Day demonstration. In the most damaging scandal to hit Macron since he took office last year, Alexandre Benalla, who was fired by Macron Friday, and another member of Macron’s ruling party, Vincent Crase, were charged with “gang violence,” Paris prosecutors said on Sunday. A video made public by Le Monde newspaper Wednesday shows Benalla wearing a police helmet with visor as well as a police armband while dragging a woman away from the crowd and later beating a male protester …

READ MORE

Prime Minister Theresa May’s plans to leave the European Union are overwhelmingly opposed by the British public and more than a third of voters would support a new right-wing political party committed to quitting the bloc, according to a new poll. May’s political vulnerability was exposed by the survey which found voters would prefer Boris Johnson, who quit as her foreign minister two weeks ago, to negotiate with the EU and lead the Conservative Party into the next election. Only 16 percent of voters say May is handling the Brexit negotiations well, compared with 34 percent who say that Johnson …

READ MORE

Britain will only pay its EU divorce bill if the bloc agrees to the framework for a future trade deal, the new Brexit secretary warned in an interview published Sunday. Dominic Raab, who replaced David Davis after he quit the role earlier this month in protest over the government’s Brexit strategy, said “some conditionality between the two” was needed. He added that the Article 50 mechanism used to trigger Britain’s imminent exit from the European Union provided for new deal details. “Article 50 requires, as we negotiate the withdrawal agreement, that there’s a future framework for our new relationship going …

READ MORE

An unusual pop-up museum in Lisbon is delighting social media-focused visitors with colorful and dreamy displays of giant ice creams, marshmallow pools and all things sweet. As VOA’s Mariama Diallo reports, the museum’s founders say its an attraction that strives to put a smile on the faces of all its visitors. …

READ MORE

Fiat Chrysler named on Saturday its Jeep division boss, Mike Manley, to take over immediately for Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne, who is seriously ill after suffering major complications following surgery. The carmaker said British-born Manley, who also takes responsibility for the North America region, will push ahead with the midterm strategy outlined last month by Marchionne, who had been due to step down next April. Marchionne, 66, was credited with rescuing Fiat and Chrysler from bankruptcy after taking the Italian carmaker’s wheel in 2004. On Saturday, he was also replaced as chairman and CEO of Ferrari and chairman of tractor …

READ MORE

It was a week of bewilderment over what President Donald Trump really thinks about Russian interference in the U.S. election and what he and Russia’s Vladimir Putin told each other in their private meeting. The confusion was fed by Trump’s vacillating statements about the summit. On other fronts, Trump inaccurately claimed Queen Elizabeth II bestowed upon him an honor that she had never before granted during her reign and, when the president was back in the U.S., he gave a faulty account of improvements in health care for veterans. A week in review: TRUMP: “The Summit with Russia was a …

READ MORE

The International Monetary Fund warned world economic leaders on Saturday that a recent wave of trade tariffs would significantly harm global growth, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened a major escalation in a dispute with China. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said she would present the G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Buenos Aires with a report detailing the impacts of the restrictions already announced on global trade. “It certainly indicates the impact that it could have on GDP [gross domestic product], which in the worst case scenario under current measures … is in the range of 0.5 percent of GDP on a global basis,” …

READ MORE

Revelations that one of the most respected U.S. cardinals allegedly sexually abused both boys and adult seminarians have raised questions about who in the Catholic Church hierarchy knew — and what Pope Francis is going to do about it. If the accusations against Cardinal Theodore McCarrick bear out — including a new case reported Friday involving an 11-year-old boy — will Francis revoke his title as cardinal? Sanction him to a lifetime of penance and prayer? Or even defrock him, the expected sanction if McCarrick were a mere priest? And will Francis, who has already denounced a “culture of cover-up” …

READ MORE

For the past several months, intelligence and security officials in the U.S. government and private sector have cautiously marveled at the seemingly slow pace of Russian cyberattacks and influence operations using social media. Unlike in the run-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential elections, officials say so far there has been no frenzy of hacks, phishing attacks or use of ads and false news stories to penetrate voting systems, alter voter rolls or influence voters ahead of the upcoming midterm elections. Some have suggested the slowdown is the result of better preparation and better cyber tools that have allowed social media …

READ MORE

The sudden thaw between longtime enemies Eritrea and Ethiopia is opening up a world of possibilities for the neighboring countries’ residents: new economic and diplomatic ties, telephone and transport links and the end to one of Africa’s most bitter feuds. But the fledgling peace is raising new questions for Eritrea’s diaspora, tens of thousands who fled their government’s tight grip, rigid system of compulsory military conscription and endemic poverty. Now they are cautiously waiting to see how the truce will shape their homeland and perhaps offer them a chance to return. “I want to go to my country,” said Salamwit …

READ MORE

The U.S. Defense Department says it will give $200 million to Ukraine to help bolster its military’s defensive capabilities. The Pentagon said in an announcement Friday the money will be used to help fund military training, equipment and advisory assistance. All the military aid is nonlethal in nature. A timeline for delivery of the aid and equipment is to be determined later, the Pentagon said. The latest military aid brings the total U.S. security sector assistance to Ukraine to more than $1 billion since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea. Ukraine’s government has been working to make its armed forces more …

READ MORE

The White House said Friday it “is not considering supporting” a Vladimir-Putin-backed call for a referendum in eastern Ukraine in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s meeting with the Russian president. Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Antonov, revealed Friday that the two leaders had discussed the possibility of a referendum in separatist-leaning eastern Ukraine during their Helsinki summit. National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis said agreements between Russia and the Ukrainian government for resolving the conflict in the Donbas region “do not include any option for referendum.” He added any effort to organize a “so-called referendum” would have “no …

READ MORE

After hosting the World Cup, President Vladimir Putin says the country could bid for a future Summer Olympics.   Asked about hosting a Summer Olympics in Russia for the first time since 1980, Putin says feasibility studies need to be conducted “but obviously we will organize major international competitions here,” in comments reported by state news agency RIA Novosti.   Russia held the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi but its legacy was tainted by allegations of widespread doping which led to Russian athletes being forced to compete as neutrals at this year’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.   The next summer …

READ MORE

An autumn summit between President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin would focus on national security, the White House said Friday, and Moscow signaled an openness to a second meeting between the two leaders. Yet criticism of Trump over his first session with his Russian counterpart continued to swirl. A White House official said the next Trump-Putin meeting would address national security concerns discussed in Helsinki, including Russian meddling. The official did not specify if that meant Russia’s interference in U.S. elections. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal planning, said the talks would also cover nuclear …

READ MORE

Embattled British Prime Minister Theresa May found little sympathy Friday from the European Union’s 27 other nations in her quest for more flexibility as the time to negotiate an amicable Brexit divorce dwindles down. May used a speech Friday in Northern Ireland to urge EU negotiators to be more open-minded on how to solve the Irish border issue, a key sticking point in talks on Britain’s exit from the bloc, which is expected in March. She is vehemently opposed to any proposal that would keep Northern Ireland inside a customs union with the EU while the rest of the U.K. …

READ MORE

Nearly one million people in southern Ethiopia have been forced to flee their homes since April due to intercommunal violence in the Gedeo and West Guji zones, according to a survey from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).   The survey found the overwhelming majority of displaced, or more than 800,000, are living in precarious conditions in Ethiopia’s Gedeo zone. The rest are in West Guji’s Oromia region. It is not known what triggered the outbreak of violence, although disputes over borders and the allocation of pasture and water resources have long been a source of tension between people in …

READ MORE

Suriname issued a protest note to the Netherlands on Thursday after the Dutch foreign minister said the South American nation was a “failed state” because of its ethnic diversity. Stef Blok, a member of the conservative VVD party of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, has faced a firestorm of criticism over comments he made July 10 in The Hague that became public this week. “This coarse accusation against peace and stability in the Republic of Suriname can only be intended to portray Suriname and its population negatively,” Suriname’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The ministry, which summoned Dutch envoy …

READ MORE