Category: Євросоюз

Corsican nationalists seeking greater freedoms for the French island were sworn in as its leaders Tuesday, setting the stage for a potential standoff with Paris, which has given short shrift to their demands. The nationalists, who have governed the island of 330,000 people for the past two years, achieved their best-ever performance in December’s regional election. The Pe a Corsica (For Corsica) alliance won two-thirds of the seats in a new regional assembly, a result which it said gave it a strong mandate to pursue a campaign for more autonomy from the highly centralized French state. The election coincided with …

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President Rumen Radev on Tuesday vetoed anti-graft legislation passed by Bulgaria’s parliament, saying the bill failed to offer the means to effectively investigate corruption networks. Radev acted only a day after Bulgaria, the European Union’s poorest country, assumed the six-month, rotating presidency of the bloc for the first time since it joined the EU in 2007. Bulgaria has made scant progress towards stamping out graft and organised crime, and the European Commission, the EU’s executive, has repeatedly rebuked the Black Sea country for failing to prosecute and sentence allegedly corrupt officials. According to Transparency International, Bulgaria is the EU’s most …

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The U.N. Security Council has welcomed six new non-permanent members — Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Peru, and Poland. The six new countries, voted on by the 193-member General assembly for two-year terms, will have a strong voice in matters dealing with international peace and security during their time on the U.N.’s most powerful body. “Peace and security are difficult to achieve,” Kazakh envoy Kairat Umarov, who took the rotating presidency in January, told council members at a special ceremony.  “You are going to have a real chance to make a difference.” Flags of the six new member …

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Moldovan President Igor Dodon on Tuesday rejected a decision by the country’s constitutional court to suspend his powers temporarily due to a wrangle between him and the pro-Western government over ministerial appointments. Dodon had earlier blocked the government’s choice of new ministers in a reshuffle, accusing the nominees of incompetence and saying some had links to a notorious scandal in which around $1 billion was siphoned out of the banking system. In retaliation, the ruling coalition appealed to the constitutional court to suspend Dodon’s powers so that the government could push through its choice of ministers. The Moscow-backed Dodon has …

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A series of mild to moderate earthquakes rattled Macedonia early Tuesday, causing panic and minor damage to houses near the epicenter. No injuries were reported. Macedonia’s National Seismological Observatory says the strongest earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 4.8 and struck at 5:24 a.m. local time (0324 GMT), 145 kilometers (90 miles) southeast of the capital, Skopje, in the Dojran area near the border with Greece.   The quake, which occurred at a depth of about 15 kilometers, was also felt in Greece and Bulgaria.   The observatory says about 100 mild tremors were registered since late Monday. …

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Airlines recorded zero accident deaths in commercial passenger jets last year, according to a Dutch consulting firm and an aviation safety group that tracks crashes, making 2017 the safest year on record for commercial air travel. Dutch aviation consulting firm To70 and the Aviation Safety Network both reported Monday there were no commercial passenger jet fatalities in 2017. “2017 was the safest year for aviation ever,” said Adrian Young of To70. To70 estimated that the fatal accident rate for large commercial passenger flights is 0.06 per million flights, or one fatal accident for every 16 million flights. The Aviation Safety …

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Britain may impose new taxes on tech giants like Google and Facebook unless they do more to combat online extremism by taking down material aimed at radicalizing people or helping them to prepare attacks, the country’s security minister said. Ben Wallace accused tech firms of being happy to sell people’s data but not to give it to the government which was being forced to spend vast sums on de-radicalization programs, surveillance and other counter-terrorism measures. “If they continue to be less than co-operative, we should look at things like tax as a way of incentivizing them or compen­sating for their …

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Two people have died from fireworks injuries during New Year celebrations in Germany, but the country avoided a repeat of the mass groping in Cologne in 2016 amid heightened security and efforts to protect women from sexual harassment. In the Brandenburg region outside Berlin, police said Monday that a 35-year-old man died after igniting fireworks, and a 19-year-old suffered fatal head injuries after he set off a homemade device.   Multiple fireworks injuries also were reported across the country. Police in Cologne said there were seven cases of sexual harassment, while Berlin police reported 13 and seven arrests as several …

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Winter storm Carmen has cut power to about 65,000 households in western France and is moving south, power grid company Enedis said on Monday. Earlier on Monday, some 40,000 households in the Brittany region experienced power cuts but 30,000 have now been reconnected said Enedis, which has mobilized 1,500 staff to restore fix power lines. Enedis, a unit of French state-controlled utility EDF, said in a statement the storm was now moving to the regions of Poitou-Charente, Pays de Loire and Aquitaine. Weather service Meteo France kept the French Atlantic coast areas south of Brittany on orange alert, but downgraded …

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Pope Francis on Monday recommended jettisoning life’s “useless baggage” in 2018, including what he called “empty chatter” and banal consumerism, and focusing instead on building a peaceful and welcoming world, particularly for refugees and migrants. Francis offered his reflections on paring down non-essentials as he celebrated New Year’s Day Mass Monday in St. Peter’s Basilica and later greeted some 40,000 people in St. Peter’s Square. His advice included setting aside a moment of silence daily to be with God. Doing so would help “keep our freedom from being corroded by the banality of consumerism, the blare of commercials, the stream …

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New Zealand, Australia, and surrounding Pacific Islands were among the first places to ring in 2018 with fireworks displays, parties, and other festivities. Nearly 1.5 million people gathered to watch a rainbow fireworks display above Sydney’s iconic Harbour Bridge and opera house. …

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Catalonia’s fugitive former president has called for Spanish authorities to open negotiations regarding the restitution of what he calls his “legitimate government.” Carles Puigdemont said via social media channels from Brussels on Saturday that Spain should “recognize the election results of Dec. 21 and start negotiating politically with the legitimate government of Catalonia.” Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy deposed Puigdemont and his Cabinet after Catalonia’s regional parliament voted in favor of a declaration of independence from the rest of the country in October. But pro-secession parties, including one led by Puigdemont, won the most seats in elections last week. Puigdemont …

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A group of Polish mountaineers set off for northern Pakistan on Sunday to attempt to be the first to scale K2, the world’s second highest peak, in wintertime. K2, in the Karakorum mountains along the border between China and Pakistan, is notorious for high winds, steep and icy slopes — and high fatality rates for climbers. In winter months, scant snowfall means the summit approach can turn into bare ice. More than 70 people have died climbing the peak, many of them at the Bottleneck, where a wrong step can send a climber hurtling off the South Face, where bodies …

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Prime Minister Theresa May said 2018 would be a year of “renewed confidence and pride” for Britain as it confronts the challenges of negotiating Brexit, in her New Year’s message out Sunday. Divorce talks between London and Brussels are set to move on to transition arrangements, trade and security next year as Britain prepares to leave the European Union in March 2019. May said 2017 had been a year of progress for Britain as it struck agreements on its departure bill, Northern Ireland and the rights of EU citizens, in the first phase of Brexit negotiations. “I believe 2018 can …

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Ukrainian police on Saturday freed the remaining hostages being held in a post office by a man believed to be strapped with explosives. They arrested the hostage-taker after an hourslong standoff in the city of Kharkiv. “All hostages freed in Kharkiv. The assailant was arrested,” President Petro Poroshenko wrote on Twitter, while Interior Minister Arsen Avakov published a picture of the man, with blood streaming down his face, being held by a policeman. None of the hostages were harmed. A Reuters witness saw special forces police in green camouflage rushing to the entrance of the post office, a yellow-and-white building …

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The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Saturday slammed a decision in Greece to grant asylum to a Turkish helicopter co-pilot, who fled the country after last year’s failed coup, as “politically motivated” and warned of a negative impact on bilateral relations. The co-pilot — who flew seven other Turkish military officers to Greece — was granted asylum after Greek authorities ruled that his human rights would be at risk, despite repeated requests for his extradition by Ankara. The decision “again reveals that Greece is a country that protects and embraces plotters,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that …

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Hundreds of thousands of law enforcement, military and security officials will be deployed in cities around the world to keep New Year’s Eve revelers safe as they gather to welcome 2018. In the United States, New York City officials announced they would use two-step screening, snipers, street closures and specially trained dogs to secure Times Square, where an estimated 2 million people will gather to watch the annual ball drop at midnight. In Las Vegas, 300 National Guard troops will join more than 1,500 police officers to keep safe the city’s famed Strip, home to a number of casinos, resorts and hotels. …

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At least 81 reporters were killed doing their jobs this year, while violence and harassment against media staff has skyrocketed, the world’s biggest journalists’ organization says.   In its annual “Kill Report,” seen by The Associated Press, the International Federation of Journalists said the reporters lost their lives in targeted killings, car bomb attacks and crossfire incidents around the world.   More than 250 journalists were in prison in 2017.   The number of deaths as of December 29 was the lowest in a decade, down from 93 in 2016. The largest number were killed in Mexico, but many also …

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Russian news outlet Interfax is reporting that a suspect in Wednesday’s St. Petersburg bombing was arrested on Saturday. Interfax reported that “the organizer and direct perpetrator who triggered an improvised explosive device on December 27 in a supermarket in St. Petersburg was arrested during a special operation by the FSB,” the Russian security service. The report said the suspect was handed over to the Russian Investigative Committee for further action. No other details were given. Wednesday’s blast from a homemade bomb injured at least 13 people. Militant group Islamic State claimed responsibility for the blast, according to the SITE intelligence …

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Russia’s highest court has upheld election officials’ decision to bar opposition leader Alexei Navalny from running for president in March’s election.   The Supreme Court on Saturday turned down Navalny’s appeal against the Central Election Commission’s move, saying that the decision to bar him from the race fully conforms to law.   President Vladimir Putin, whose approval ratings top 80 percent, is set to easily win a fourth term in the March 18 vote.   Navalny has campaigned for the presidency all year despite an implicit ban on his candidacy due to a fraud conviction seen by many as politically …

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