Category: Євросоюз

The number of anti-Semitic crimes in Germany rose by 2.5 percent last year despite an overall drop in politically motivated crimes, statistics showed on Tuesday, reinforcing fears about growing hostility after several high-profile attacks in Berlin. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said that 1,504 anti-Semitic offenses were reported in 2017, up from 1,468 in 2016, though he said there had been fewer attacks on hostels housing refugees. “It is not surprising that the so-called “imported anti-Semitic crimes” are rising – even if at a lower level. But I want to make clear that almost 95 percent of anti-Semitic crimes in 2017 …

READ MORE

Thousands of Hungarians protested outside parliament on Tuesday against what they described as Viktor Orban’s authoritarian rule, after parliament convened for its first session following an election that gave the premier a third straight term. Right-wing nationalist Orban has increased his control over the media and put allies in charge of formerly independent institutions. His hostility to accepting migrants into Hungary has put him in conflict with the EU, but proved popular in last month’s vote, particularly in rural areas. Orban is due to be elected prime minister on Thursday in a vote expected to be a formality, and address …

READ MORE

The court examining war crimes against ethnic Serbs in Kosovo said on Monday it has appointed a new chief prosecutor, who will pick up the court’s efforts to issue its first indictments, three years after it was established. The court said U.S. prosecutor Jack Smith will succeed fellow American David Schwendiman, who stepped down March 31, a setback for the court, which politicians in Kosovo have long tried to abolish. The Specialist Chamber was set up in The Hague in 2015 to handle cases of alleged crimes by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) guerrillas during the 1998-99 war that led …

READ MORE

The ruling Czech ANO party expects a deal on a coalition with the Social Democrats (CSSD) by Friday, ANO chairman and Prime Minister Andrej Babis said on Monday. The ANO won elections last October but fell short of a parliamentary majority and since then most parties have refused to cooperate with it because Babis faces fraud charges. An ANO minority cabinet lost a vote of confidence in January and has since ruled as a caretaker. “[The agenda] is in the final stages, I believe it will be absolutely clear by Friday and then we will only wait for the (CSSD) …

READ MORE

European Union states are wrestling over how to reform their broken migration and asylum system, pushing for a deal at a leaders’ summit in June over the highly-politicized issue that has defied resolution for nearly three years. The dispute has divided the bloc between southerners on the Mediterranean shore where most refugees and migrants land from the Middle East and Africa against ex-communist states that refuse to host part of the arrivals. Wealthy destination countries such as Germany are also pushing for a deal under which no one could bail out completely from hosting those coming. The latest proposal would …

READ MORE

An Uzbek journalist was cleared of conspiring against the government and released Monday, in a court ruling that Amnesty International said offered a “glimmer of hope” after years of crackdowns on reporters and dissidents. The court in Tashkent also ordered an investigation into “violations” during the inquiry into Bobomurod Abdullayev — his legal team had said he was tortured during his detention. “I am extremely glad that I have come out of there alive,” Abdullayev told reporters after the hearing which rights campaigners had described as a test of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s promised liberal reforms. Abdullayev was detained in the …

READ MORE

Pope Francis has yet to comment on the latest developments regarding Cardinal George Pell, the highest-ranking Catholic Church official charged with sexual offenses, who faces trial in Australia. Sabina Castelfranco reports from Rome calls have been mounting for greater efforts in the worldwide fight against pedophilia in the Roman Catholic Church. …

READ MORE

Air France’s share price dived Monday after its CEO quit and the French government warned that the country’s flagship carrier might collapse. A new strike Monday over wage demands, meanwhile, prompted the cancellation of about 15 percent of Air France flights worldwide. The number of striking staffers appears to be slightly declining as the airline enters its 14th day of walkouts this year, but the labor action has already cost the company more than 300 million euros ($360 million) in a matter of weeks.   Air France’s share price plunged nearly 13 percent at the open Monday and was trading …

READ MORE

Vladimir Putin, who has been either president or prime minister of Russia since 1999, was sworn in for a fourth term as president Monday at the Grand Kremlin Palace’s ornately-decorated Andreyevsky Hall.  With his hand on a gold-embossed copy of the constitution, Putin said, “I consider it my duty and my life’s aim to do everything possible for Russia, for its present and for its future.” He will not be able to run for a fifth term as president unless there is a change to Russia’s constitution which prohibits more than two consecutive terms.  Putin annexed Crimea from Ukraine during …

READ MORE

Britain’s Foreign Secretary is set to lobby the Trump administration to remain a party to the 2015 agreement struck between Iran and world powers to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Boris Johnson is meeting Monday with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and National Security Adviser John Bolton with Iran as one of the top agenda items, according to Johnson’s office. “The UK, U.S., and European partners are also united in our effort to tackle the kind of Iranian behavior that makes the Middle East region less secure – its cyber activities, its support for groups like …

READ MORE

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed Sunday to launch a new offensive against Kurdish militants along the country’s borders with Syria and Iraq. Turkey has conducted two previous operations aimed at Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, militants Ankara considers an extension of Kurdish fighters the Turkish government has been clashing with for three decades for control of southeastern Turkey. In an address to thousands of supporters in Istanbul in advance of June’s snap election, Erdogan said, “We will not give up on constricting terrorist organizations. In the new period, Turkey will add new ones to the Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch …

READ MORE

High school students in Germany have gathered tens of thousands of signatures in an online petition to complain about an “unfair” final English exam, saying the test was much harder than in previous years. By Sunday, the students from the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg had gathered almost 36,000 signatures — even though only 33,500 people took last month’s statewide exam.   They complained that text excerpts from American author Henry Roth’s 1934 novel “Call it Sleep” were too difficult and obscure to analyze and asked for the grading to be more lenient this year.   The final high school exams in …

READ MORE

French President Emmanuel Macron has warned that war could ensue if U.S. President Donald Trump withdraws from the 2015 deal in which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. “We would open the Pandora’s box. There could be war,” Macron told German weekly magazine Der Spiegel. But he added: “I don’t think that Donald Trump wants war.” Trump is set to decide by May 12 whether to pull out of the Iran deal. Trump has all but decided to withdraw but exactly how he will do so remains unclear, two White House officials and a …

READ MORE

Polish rescue workers on Sunday found the body of 38-year-old coal miner, the first fatality after an earthquake hit a coal mine in southern Poland. Three other miners have been missing some 900 meters (2,950 feet) below ground since Saturday morning at the mine in the town of Jastrzebie-Zdroj, close to Poland’s border with the Czech Republic. One of them has been located but was not rescued yet, a mining official said Sunday.   The head of the Jastrzebie Coal Company, Daniel Ozon, said the latest miner pulled out of the Zofiowka mine was pronounced dead after he had been …

READ MORE

Nearly a year ago, an investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller was tasked by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein with exploring any links or coordination between the Russian government and “individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump,” and, additionally, “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation,” according to the appointment order. Since the order was issued on May 17, 2017, the investigation has grown into a multipronged effort that has resulted in criminal proceedings against 19 people — five U.S. nationals, 13 Russians and one Dutch national — and three Russian organizations. Here …

READ MORE

Two missing coal miners were found hurt but conscious after a quake struck a mine Saturday in southern Poland, and scores of rescue workers were still trying to reach five other missing miners, a Polish mining company said.  The rescue operation was launched at 11:25 a.m. Saturday after a temblor occurred at the Zofiowka coal mine, said Katarzyna Jablonska-Bajer of the Jastrzebie Coal Company. The mine is located in the southern town of Jastrzebie-Zdroj near Poland’s border with the Czech Republic.  She said four miners were quickly brought to the surface but contact was lost with seven others who were …

READ MORE

Trauma surgeons in London said U.S. President Donald Trump had missed the point after he linked a wave of knife crime in the British capital to a ban on handguns. Anger also flared in France after Trump, in a speech to the National Rifle Association (NRA), used his hands in a gesture to mimic the shooting of victims in Paris in 2015.  Trump, who is due to visit Britain on July 13, told members of the NRA in Dallas, Texas, on Friday that a “once very prestigious” London hospital, which he did not name, had become overwhelmed with victims of …

READ MORE

French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged the “pain of colonization” Saturday during a visit to New Caledonia that was rich with symbolism and emotion as the South Pacific archipelago prepares to vote on whether to break free of French rule. Wrapping up a three-day trip, Macron said, “France would not be the same without New Caledonia” — but he was careful not to openly campaign for the territory to stay French when it holds an independence referendum in November. The territory east of Australia has about 270,000 inhabitants including the native Kanaks, who represent about 40 percent of the population. New …

READ MORE

Russian’s most widely known opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, along with hundreds of his supporters, were detained Saturday as street demonstrations unfolded in Moscow and 90 other Russian cities to protest Vladimir Putin’s inauguration for a fourth presidential term. Within minutes of Navalny’s arrival at a protest in central Moscow, he was arrested along with his ally, Nikolai Lyaskin. Baton-wielding riot police — and even men dressed in traditional Cossack uniforms — repeatedly waded into the Moscow crowd of mostly younger Russians to make arrests. The independent monitoring group OVD-Info estimated that 1,300 people had been detained nationwide by police, who dubbed …

READ MORE

Russians angered by the impending inauguration of Vladimir Putin to a new term as president protested Saturday in scores of cities across the country – and police responded by reportedly arresting more than 1,600 of them. Among those arrested was protest organizer Alexei Navalny, the anti-corruption campaigner who is Putin’s most prominent foe. Police seized Navalny by the arms and legs and carried the thrashing activist from Moscow’s Pushkin Square, where thousands were gathered for an unauthorized protest. Police also used batons against protesters who chanted “Putin is a thief!” and “Russia will be free!” Demonstrations under the slogan “He …

READ MORE