Category: Євросоюз

The financial leaders of the world’s 20 biggest economies meet in Buenos Aires this weekend for the first time since long-simmering trade tensions burst into the open when China and the United States put tariffs on $34 billion of each other’s goods. The United States will seek to persuade Japan and the European Union to join it in taking a more aggressive stance against Chinese trade practices at the G-20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank presidents, according to a senior U.S. Treasury Department official who spoke on condition on anonymity. But those efforts will be complicated by frustration over U.S. steel and aluminum import tariffs on the EU …

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London’s new Brexit minister said he was confident he could reach a deal, on his first trip to Brussels on Thursday as the EU warned business to get ready for Britain crashing out of the bloc without agreed terms to cushion the economic disruption. Brexit campaigner Dominic Raab, appointed to the government last week after his predecessor quit over Prime Minister Theresa May’s proposals to stay close to EU trading rules, said Britain was ramping up preparations for a “no deal” but focused above all on selling her ideas to EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier. The resignation of his predecessor …

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Russia and China have requested more time to consider a U.S. request to stop deliveries of refined petroleum products to North Korea, diplomats said Thursday.   The U.S. asked a U.N. sanctions committee last week to halt the shipments after accusing North Korea of exceeding a U.N. limit on fuel deliveries through illegal imports. The U.S. claimed the imports go beyond the quota of 500,000 barrels per year allowed under U.N. sanctions and asked the committee to inform all U.N. member nations and the public that North Korea has violated the quota.   The U.S. also asked the committee to …

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The commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East says he has not received new guidance from the Pentagon on military cooperation with Russia in Syria following the Helsinki summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. “We have received no specific direction at this point,” U.S. Army General Joseph Votel, who leads U.S. Central Command, told reporters at the Pentagon via teleconference from Tampa, Florida, Thursday. Votel added that his forces are continuing communications to deconflict operations with the Russian military in Syria in order to “ensure protection” of U.S. forces. “For us right now, it’s kind …

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The U.S. State Department denounced Russia’s request to question several U.S. citizens in exchange for allowing a U.S. investigator to interrogate 12 Russians indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller for their efforts to derail the 2016 presidential election. Among the Americans the Kremlin wants to interrogate is a former U.S. ambassador to Russia. The White House said Wednesday the president has not ruled out allowing Russian officials to question Americans. VOA’S Zlatica Hoke reports. …

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U.S. President Donald Trump is calling on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to release an American pastor who has been in prison for two years awaiting trial on terrorism charges. A Turkish court Wednesday ordered Andrew Brunson to remain in jail until his next hearing on October 12. Brunson was arrested in 2016 and charged with supporting followers of U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, who has been blamed by Ankara for the failed 2016 coup against President Erdogan. Brunson is also accused of assisting the outlawed Kurdish insurgent group PKK. Trump called Brunson’s continued detention “a total disgrace” in a …

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The White House and the State Department are at odds over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s offer to allow the U.S. access to Russians accused of election meddling in return for interviews of Americans accused by the Kremlin of unspecified crimes. Even as the White House said the offer, made by Putin to President Donald Trump at their summit in Helsinki on Monday, was under consideration, the State Department called Russia’s allegations against the Americans “absurd,” suggesting that any questioning of them would not be countenanced by the U.S. The Russian claims against the Americans, including former U.S. Ambassador to Russia …

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Lawmakers are losing patience with the Trump administration’s reliance on tariffs to win trade disputes and are talking increasingly about legislative action to protect U.S. jobs. A senior Republican senator has threatened legislation to curb President Donald Trump’s trade actions, and other senators joined him on Wednesday in promising a complementary bill. Meanwhile, lawmakers are using congressional hearings to put the spotlight on the economic fallout for local farmers and businesses. The prospects for any votes on trade legislation before the August recess are dim. Still, lawmakers appear to be putting the Trump administration on notice. Sen. Orrin Hatch, the …

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U.S. President Donald Trump’s apparent quest to kindle a bromance with Russian leader Vladimir Putin has made some Americans squirm. His performance in Helsinki, expressing confidence in Putin instead of U.S. intelligence agencies, ignited outrage across the political spectrum back home. Should Beijing worry that Trump could succeed in pulling Putin away from his relationship with China and its president, Xi Jinping? Probably not, political analysts say. Trump’s charm offensive might cause Beijing a twinge of unease, given its tumultuous history with Moscow. But in this triangle, Putin and Xi are linked by strategic necessity, plus genuine personal affection.  “Trump has …

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The European Union’s antitrust regulator fined Google a record $5 billion Wednesday for illegally exploiting the powerful market share position of its Android smartphone system. The EU antitrust regulator concluded that Google, whose Android system operates more than 80 percent of the world’s smartphones, abused its dominant position to promote its own apps and services, especially the company’s search engine. The regulator ordered Google to end the illegal practices within 90 days or face more penalties. Google can appeal the decision. The decision was made Wednesday in a meeting in Brussels.   …

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Estonia was the one of the first countries to suffer a large-scale cyber-attack – and most experts say Russia was behind the 2007 strike. The Baltic country now hosts NATO’s Center of Excellence on cyber security, aimed at sharing best practices among members and allies. Japan has just joined the center, as it fears the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo could be targeted. Henry Ridgwell traveled to Tallinn and has this report. …

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As grids of lights flash red and sirens wail, teams of cyber-defense specialists snap into action as power networks and water-purification plants come under attack. They are the best in their field – and in this exercise, they are competing against one another. Operation Locked Shields, a so-called live-fire cyber exercise, is hosted annually by NATO’s Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence or CCDCOE in Estonia, is aimed at testing members’ and allies’ abilities to see off the latest hacks, malware and cyber interference. “It is about friendly competition. But what makes it the world’s biggest is first of all …

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President Donald Trump stunned many around the world with his refusal to criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin as he stood beside him in Helsinki Monday. This coming after Trump’s harsh criticism of close U.S. allies, including British Prime Minister Theresa May, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the European Union and NATO. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from Washington. …

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President Donald Trump accepted the U.S. intelligence community assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 election Tuesday, just a day after saying the opposite as he stood alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump’s reversal came after strong criticism from both parties on Capitol Hill — prompting many lawmakers to consider further action, as VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson reports. …

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Forest fires in Portugal killed 114 people last year. Before any blaze starts this year, elite firefighters are getting ready to strike back. The government has doubled the National Republican Guard’s first strike firefighting units to 1,064 soldiers as part of a plan to shift the task to professionals from volunteers. The fires in 2017 were the worst in recorded Portuguese history and led to the resignation of the interior minister and shook the government into action. It has launched dozens of measures to address what experts say is the root cause of the annual summer fires in the eucalyptus …

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The European Union’s enlargement commissioner has arrived in Macedonia to formally announce the start of preparations for the Balkan country to open accession talks with the bloc next year. Johannes Hahn on Tuesday congratulated Macedonia for recently signing a deal with Greece resolving a decades-old dispute over the country’s name. He urged the public to vote in favor of the deal, which changes the name to North Macedonia, in a referendum this fall. “This sets a strong example for others in the region to strengthen good neighborly relations,” said Hahn. The deal was key to allowing Macedonia to start the …

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Winning the soccer World Cup has turned the French, long-time pessimists, into optimists, but has not boosted President Emmanuel Macron’s popularity, a survey showed on Tuesday. Some 62 percent of the French polled by the Odoxa polling institute on July 16, the day after the French team’s thrilling 4-2 defeat of Croatia in Moscow, said they were now optimistic about the future. In March 2016, when Odoxa last asked the question, 53 percent of them were “pessimistic.” Some 82 percent of the French think Les Bleus’ victory will boost national pride, 74 percent of them think it will improve France’s …

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German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer faced accusations on Tuesday of having illegally deported a suspected Islamist militant who once served as Osama bin Laden’s bodyguard just one day after a court said he should be allowed to stay in Germany. German authorities deported the man, identified only as Sami A., to his native Tunisia last Friday despite previous concerns that he might be tortured back home and despite the administrative court verdict a day before the deportation. German opposition politicians criticized Seehofer’s interior ministry for its handling of the case. “You don’t bend the rule book,” Greens party leader Robert …

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A Dutch company that presented the world’s first lab-grown beef burger five years ago said Tuesday it has received funding to pursue its plans to make and sell artificially grown meat to restaurants from 2021. Mosa Meat said it raised 7.5 million euros ($8.8 million), mainly from M Ventures and Bell Food Group. M Ventures is an investment vehicle for German pharmaceuticals company Merck KGaA. Bell Food is a European meat processing company based in Switzerland. Smaller investors include Glass Wall Syndicate, which supports several companies looking into cultured meat or meat substitute products aimed at consumers concerned about the …

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A man who identified himself as a working journalist was escorted out a room where a joint press conference in Helsinki between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin was scheduled to be held. Sam Husseini had received press credentials for the event through U.S.-based magazine The Nation. Husseini was holding up a sign that read, “Nuclear weapons test ban.” …

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