Category: Євросоюз

Virtual-reality-based therapy combined with standard treatment reduced paranoia and anxiety in people with psychotic disorders, scientists reported Friday. In clinical trials involving 116 patients in the Netherlands, virtual reality exercises led to less fraught social interactions, a team wrote in The Lancet Psychiatry. More research is needed to confirm the long-term benefits of such technology, which gave the impression of being in an alternate reality populated by lifelike avatars. Avoiding public places, people Up to 90 percent of people with psychosis suffer from paranoid thoughts, leading them to perceive threats where there are none. As a result, many psychotics avoid …

READ MORE

Turkey and Russia’s presidents have reportedly agreed to meet with their Iranian counterpart in Istanbul in the near future. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke Thursday amid growing tensions between the countries over Syria.The two also agreed to increase coordination between their forces in Syria. The telephone conversation follows a tumultuous few days in Syria. Saturday, a Russian made missile was blamed by Ankara for the destruction of a Turkish tank and the killing of eight Turkish soldiers in the Syrian Kurdish enclave of Afrin. The deaths were the worst loss for Turkey since …

READ MORE

Russia has warned Islamic State is turning northern Afghanistan into a “resting base” of international terrorism and a “bridgehead” for establishing its “destructive” caliphate in the region. The “international wing of Daesh” is spearheading the effort of terrorists spilling over the borders of Syria and Iraq and moving worldwide, asserted Russian ambassador to Pakistan, Alexey Dedov. Daesh is the Arabic acronym for IS. “With clear connivance, and sometimes even with direct support of certain local and outside sponsors, thousands of militants of various nationalities are consolidating under the banners of Daesh there (in northern Afghanistan), including jihadis from Syria and …

READ MORE

The top surviving suspect of the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, stayed mostly silent during a much awaited trial appearance Monday in Brussels. The trial is for a case involving a shootout with Belgian police. Salah Abdeslam quickly shattered any hopes he might finally talk about his role in the 2015 Paris attacks, the deadliest in recent French history. Bearded, long-haired and clad in a white polo, Abdeslam arrived under tight security at the main courthouse in Brussels.  He first refused to stand or answer questions but then claimed Muslims were unfairly judged and said he would only respond to …

READ MORE

The International Rescue Committee has announced Project Core — a $1 million job training program for refugees in Germany. The IRC is collaborating with computer giant Intel to to equip at least 1,000 migrants with “critical skills in information and communications technology and other in-demand sectors of the German economy.” “It is exciting and encouraging to see that opportunities are being extended to refugees living in the country,” IRC President David Miliband said.  He thanked Intel for its cooperation and commitment. “The work we will do together epitomizes the power of partnerships to develop the right solutions and create meaningful …

READ MORE

A senior U.S. cybersecurity official has told NBC News that Russian hackers successfully penetrated the voter registration rolls of several U.S. states prior to the 2016 presidential election.  Jeanette Manfra, head of cybersecurity at the Department of Homeland Security, said Russia targeted 21 states, and “an exceptionally small number of them were actually successfully penetrated.” NBC News said Wednesday that it had contacted the 21 states that were targeted. Five states, including Texas and California, said they were not attacked.  Jeh Johnson, DHS secretary during the 2016 presidential election, told NBC, “We were able to determine that the scanning and …

READ MORE

The International Rescue Committee on Wednesday announced the creation of Project Core, a $1 million job training program for refugees in Germany. The IRC said it would collaborate with computer giant Intel to equip at least 1,000 migrants with “critical skills in information and communications technology and other in-demand sectors of the German economy.” “It is exciting and encouraging to see that opportunities are being extended to refugees living in the country,” IRC President David Miliband said.  He thanked Intel for its cooperation and commitment. “The work we will do together epitomizes the power of partnerships to develop the right solutions and …

READ MORE

Russian presidential hopeful Ksenia Sobchak, a Russian TV celebrity and socialite, has told VOA that the rumors are true: If her father’s old political mentor, President Vladimir Putin, were guaranteed a personally safe exit from public life, he would willingly retire from politics. “Yes, I think [he really would retire],” she said. “It’s just hard to convince him that there’s an exit and that he can trust those people who guarantee that, and that nothing like what happened to [former Chilean dictator Augusto] Pinochet or [former Libyan dictator Moammar] Gadhafi would happen to him. He’s really afraid of that.” Sobchak, …

READ MORE

Chancellor Angela Merkel finally reached a deal Wednesday to form a new German coalition government, handing the powerful finance ministry to the country’s main center-left party in an agreement aimed at ending months of political gridlock. The center-left Social Democrats’ leaders now have one last major hurdle to overcome – winning their skeptical members’ approval of the deal. Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union, its Bavaria-only sister, the Christian Social Union, and the center-left Social Democrats agreed after a grueling final 24 hours of negotiations on a 177-page deal that promises “a new awakening for Europe.” “I know that millions of …

READ MORE

French President Emmanuel Macron stood firm in the face of growing nationalist demands in Corsica Wednesday, rejecting calls for increasing autonomy in the once-restive Mediterranean island. Wrapping up his first visit there since Corsican nationalists swept elections in December, Macron projected the image of a strong unified France and said “non” to demands to recognize Corsican as a second official language. He also ruled out the creation of the status of “Corsican resident.” “There is one official language — it’s French,” he said in a speech in Corsica’s second town of Bastia. His address received scant applause. The language recognition …

READ MORE

Russian cyberspies pursuing the secrets of military drones and other sensitive U.S. defense technology tricked key contract workers into exposing their email to theft, an Associated Press investigation has found. What ultimately may have been stolen is uncertain, but the hackers clearly exploited a national vulnerability in cybersecurity: poorly protected email and barely any direct notification to victims. The hackers known as Fancy Bear, who also intruded in the U.S. election, went after at least 87 people working on militarized drones, missiles, rockets, stealth fighter jets, cloud-computing platforms or other sensitive activities, the AP found. Employees at both small companies …

READ MORE

The United States said on Tuesday it was “deeply troubled” by Turkey’s re-arrest of the chairman of the local arm of Amnesty International, and called on its NATO ally to end its state of emergency and safeguard the rule of law. U.S.-Turkish relations have been strained recently by a series of disagreements, especially over the Syria crisis. Taner Kilic was one of 11 human rights activists arrested last year on what Amnesty International has said were “bogus terrorism charges.” He is the only one of the 11 still jailed after eight months in detention, the rights group said. Kilic was …

READ MORE

The 28-member European Union faces an aggregate of pressures, including slow economic growth, persistently high unemployment, escalating populism, a migrant wave, the threat of terrorism, and a resurgent Russia. Amid these difficulties, the future shape and character of the EU is being questioned. VOA’s Jela de Franceschi probes the topic with three veteran observers of all things Europe. …

READ MORE

A Paris judge on Tuesday denied bail to a controversial Swiss Muslim scholar facing rape accusations, as fresh allegations promise to further complicate one of France’s most prominent sexual assault cases to date. Oxford University professor Tariq Ramadan, 55, was charged with rape late last week, following two French women’s accusations of brutal sexual experiences in hotel rooms years before. Ramadan was questioned for two days before being taken into custody Friday. Swiss media have reported allegations that Ramadan had sexual relations with teenage girls at a Geneva school where he taught in the 1980s. In addition, French media have …

READ MORE

French President Emmanuel Macron travelled to Corsica on Tuesday to confront demands for greater autonomy for the restive Mediterranean island by nationalists buoyed by unprecedented political strength. Macron paid homage to Claude Erignac, the island’s prefect who was shot dead by separatists in Ajaccio two decades ago, and will later meet nationalist leaders before setting out his vision for Corsica in a speech on Wednesday. Corsica’s relationship with mainland France has long troubled French presidents. Separatists waged a 40-year militant campaign, blowing up police stations and mansions owned by mainlanders and carrying out assassinations, before laying down arms in 2014. …

READ MORE

Czech parties launched talks Tuesday on a law making it easier to call national referendums, presenting a tricky balancing act for the ruling ANO party as it seeks support for a new government while preventing an unthinkable Czexit vote. Since Britain voted in 2016 to exit the European Union, European officials have been determined to avoid more anti-EU votes elsewhere, including the Czech Republic, one of the bloc’s most euroskeptic countries according to polls. Governments in Prague have been largely cool to deeper EU integration and the bloc’s migration policies, although membership has not yet come into question. But with …

READ MORE

North Korea has been getting equipment and technology for its nuclear weapons program through its embassy in Berlin, Germany’s intelligence chief says. “When we detect something of this sort, we prevent it,” BfV head Han-Georg Maassen told German public television NDR Monday. “But we can’t guarantee that we will be able to detect and thwart all cases.” Maassen says German authorities suspect underground markets and shadow buyers got their hands on the parts and the North Koreans procured them in Germany.  He did not say exactly what equipment the North Koreans bought, but said it is likely duel-use technology, meaning …

READ MORE

European Central Bank head Mario Draghi said Monday that it’s too soon to declare victory over weak inflation – indicating it would be premature to set a definite end date for the bank’s money-printing stimulus despite a strengthening economy. Draghi’s statement to a session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, said that continuing economic growth means inflation would eventually tick up toward the bank’s goal of just under 2 percent, from an annual 1.3 percent in January.  “While our confidence that inflation will converge towards our aim of below, but close to, 2 percent has strengthened,” Draghi said, “we …

READ MORE

The United States says it is confident that both the U.S. and Russia will have honored their commitments under the bilateral Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) by the Monday deadline.  U.S. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said there is good news to report on deadline day, which is also the eighth anniversary of the new Start treaty taking effect. “The United States has met the central limits of the New Start treaty in August 2017. We assess at this time that Russia has also progressed toward meeting those limits. We have no reason to believe that the Russian government …

READ MORE

Lithuania’s president said Monday Russia has deployed additional nuclear-capable missiles in its Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad on a permanent basis, calling it a threat to Europe.   President Dalia Grybauskaite told reporters after visiting NATO troops in the central Lithuanian town of Rukla that “Iskander missiles are being stationed in Kaliningrad for permanent presence as we speak.” She called it a threat not only to Lithuania but to “half of all European countries.”   NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller, who also visited the Rukla base where the military alliance’s multinational battalion is stationed, said Grybauskaite’s assertion, if true, …

READ MORE