Category: Євросоюз

Russia’s former economics minister was handed an eight-year prison sentence Friday after being convicted of accepting a $2 million bribe from President Vladimir Putin’s top associate. The case against Alexei Ulyukayev has been widely seen as part of infighting between Kremlin clans. Ulyukayev was a prominent member of a group of liberal-minded Cabinet members, while his nemesis Igor Sechin is the most prominent representative of the hard-line flank of the Russian elite. Sechin heads Russia’s largest oil producer, Rosneft, and his clout seconds only that of Putin. Ulyukayev was detained a year ago at Rosneft’s headquarters following a sting operation …

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Turkey is launching an initiative at the United Nations to annul a decision by the United States to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, President TayyipErdogan said on Friday. Erdogan was speaking two days after a Muslim leaders meeting in Istanbul condemned U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision, calling on the world to respond by recognizing East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. “We will work for the annulment of this unjust decision firstly at the UN Security Council, and if a veto comes from there, the General Assembly,” Erdogan told crowds gathered in the central Anatolian city of Konya via teleconference. …

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European Union nations bickered openly over migration policy Thursday in an east-west divide centered on several nations that refuse to accept refugee quotas. The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia announced that they planned to spend around 35 million euros ($41 million) to beef up EU borders after the four countries — known as the “Visegrad Four” — were criticized for failing to show solidarity with the rest of the bloc. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte still thought it was “shameless” and said shirking responsibility by not taking in their share would wither the EU.  “If we allow this then …

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President Donald Trump thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for remarks he made Thursday “acknowledging America’s strong economic performance,” the White House said.  The two presidents spoke by phone following Putin’s annual press conference in Moscow.  They discussed ways to work together to address North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic weapons program, the White House said.  In an equally brief statement, the Kremlin said in addition to North Korea, Trump and Putin discussed relations between their two countries and agreed to stay in contact. The Kremlin made a point of noting that Trump initiated the call.  During his remarks in Moscow, Putin …

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Two people were killed and three injured Thursday night in two stabbing incidents in the southern Dutch city of Maastricht, authorities said. Police said in a tweet that one suspect had been detained on suspicion of involvement in the incidents. They released no details on the suspect or the victims. Prime Minister Mark Rutte said it was not a terror attack, echoing comments from the police. “It is terrible what happened there. People were killed and others were injured,” Rutte said at an EU summit in Brussels. The incidents happened in a residential neighborhood in the north of Maastricht, a …

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A regional train hit a school bus on a crossing in southern France on Thursday, killing four children and critically injuring 11 other people on the bus, the French interior ministry said. Photos from the scene tweeted by a local television station showed the train derailed and the bus shorn in half — with first responders gathered around. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who flew to the scene Thursday night, said authorities still didn’t know what led to the accident at the crossing in Millas, some 15 kilometers (9 miles) west of Perpignan, close to the border with Spain. Philippe said …

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Making no secret of her desire to move on with Brexit talks, British Prime Minister Theresa May won applause from EU leaders Thursday for efforts so far in agreeing to an outline of divorce terms. A day after she suffered a defeat in parliament in London over her blueprint for quitting the European Union, May told her peers over dinner in Brussels that she was on course to deliver Brexit. Offering her reassurance that they would formally endorse on Friday the launch of a second phase of negotiations on a free-trade pact and an initial transition period to it, leaders responded to …

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Turkey’s coast guard launched a dramatic rescue operation Thursday to evacuate migrants stranded on rocks in the Aegean Sea.   The coast guard said in a statement that 51 migrants attempted to illegally cross to Greece on a rubber dinghy from the western province of Izmir. Authorities intervened after receiving an emergency call at 01:12 local time (1012 GMT).   Video showed a helicopter lifting a person off the rocks using a rope. The statement said five children and a woman were rescued in this way while the rest were transferred to coast guard boats with the assistance of fishermen …

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The European Union’s leaders are due to say Friday that the Brexit talks with Britain can move on to the next phase to include the key topic of trade, according to a draft statement seen by The Associated Press.   The progress comes after the sides reached a deal on the preliminary divorce issues, such as the status of Britain’s physical border with EU member Ireland. The EU had long said it wanted a deal on Britain’s exit terms before broadening the talks to include the subject of future relations.   British Prime Minister Theresa May will address EU leaders …

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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday rejected allegations of Russian interference in last year’s U.S. presidential election and said opponents of U.S. President Donald Trump spread the accusations to undermine his legitimacy. Speaking at his annual marathon news conference in Moscow, Putin expressed hope that U.S.-Russia relations will normalize. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded Putin ordered a campaign meant to influence the U.S. vote with a preference for Trump to defeat former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.Trump has said his campaign did not collude with Russia. Putin said Thursday that Russia is worried about the United States pulling out of …

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An international landmine watchdog says new uses of the weapon are “extremely rare” but that fighting in Afghanistan, Libya, Ukraine and Yemen has led to a second consecutive year of high casualties. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines said in an annual report Thursday there were 8,605 casualties, including 2,089 deaths, from mines in 2016. That includes improvised explosive devices and unexploded ordnance that are triggered like mines. Of those casualties, 78 percent were civilians, and the total included the most child casualties ever recorded. They took place in 52 countries. “A few intense conflicts, where utter disregard for civilian …

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A minority rights group has released a new report on the world’s minorities and indigenous peoples and says stronger rights protection, not walls and travel bans, are “the only effective and sustainable response” to the millions of people displaced around the world. London-based Minority Rights Group International says that as the world’s leaders prepare to sign global compacts on refugees and migration next year, the rights of the displaced will be subjugated by “the rush by most states to emphasize border control,” said Carl Soderbergh, director of policy and communications. In a news release, Soderbergh said those most likely to …

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Revenge is sweet for the makers of France’s traditional “calisson” candies, who have won a months-long legal battle with a businessman who trademarked the product’s name in China. The lozenge-shaped sweets, made of a mixture of candied fruit and ground almonds topped with icing, are widely enjoyed in France’s southern Aix-en-Provence region. Their makers were none too pleased when Chinese entrepreneur Ye Chunlin spotted a sweet opportunity in 2015 to register the “Calisson d’Aix” name for use at home, as well as its Mandarin equivalent, “kalisong”. The trademark was set to be valid until 2026, sparking angst among Provence’s sweetmakers …

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European Union leaders will grapple Thursday with one of the most divisive issues ever to face the 28-nation bloc; how to collectively share responsibility for the tens of thousands of people arriving on Europe’s southern shores in search of a better life. Ahead of an EU summit in Brussels, fresh tensions have surfaced over the perceived need for national refugee quotas. So far, solidarity with front-line nations Greece and Italy, where the refugees land, has been limited. A mandatory quota scheme was opposed mainly by eastern European nations — the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. For Europe, the political …

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A prosecutor urged United Nations judges Wednesday to overturn the acquittals of a prominent Serbian ultranationalist on atrocity charges, saying that failure to do so would inflict lasting damage to the legacy of a groundbreaking war crimes tribunal. Prosecutor Mathias Marcussen told a five-judge appeals panel that the 2016 acquittals of Vojislav Seselj on nine war crimes and crimes against humanity charges were so deeply flawed that they must be reversed or a new trial ordered. “Justice has not been done,” Marcussen said. He argued that the three-judge trial bench that found Seselj not guilty at the end of his …

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A new report commissioned by Rwanda’s government accuses France of supplying weapons to the perpetrators of its 1994 genocide in which over 800,000 people were killed, deepening a feud between the East African country and its former benefactor. The report by U.S. law firm Cunningham Levy Muse cites evidence that purportedly shows French complicity before, during and after the genocide by ethnic Hutu extremists against ethnic Tutsi and some Hutu moderates. French officials provided safe sanctuary to some genocide suspects and have obstructed attempts to bring them to justice, the report says. The report is “a damning summary of conduct …

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When Russia launched a military campaign in Syria two years ago, President Vladimir Putin sought to save his ally from imminent collapse and break Russia’s international isolation over a crisis in Ukraine. He achieved that and more, emerging as a key stakeholder in the Middle East who has brokered deals with many of its key players – from Iran to Saudi Arabia to Turkey and Israel. It’s a regional footprint that comes with a degree of clout that even the Soviet Union, which depended on a handful of Arab allies, couldn’t dream of during the Cold War era. And it …

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Ruined houses, shell craters and deserted streets — this is a typical scene in the Oktyabrsky district of Donetsk, the largest city of Ukraine’s pro-Russian rebel region that bears the same name. The self-styled Donetsk and next-door Luhansk “people’s republics” broke away from central rule in 2014 after months of violent street protests in Kyiv toppled Ukraine’s Moscow-leaning president and propelled pro-Western nationalists to power. In this calm suburb of Donetsk, many people stood aloof of politics. But then fierce clashes broke out between Ukrainian government troops and pro-Russian separatists for control over the nearby Donetsk Airport. A glistening air …

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Russia’s Olympic Committee agreed on Tuesday to support its athletes who choose to compete in next year’s Winter Games in South Korea as neutrals following a ban on the Russian national team. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) last week banned Russia from the Games, due to take place in Pyeongchang in February, for what it called “unprecedented systematic manipulation” of the anti-doping system. But it left the door open for Russian athletes with a clean history of non-doping to be invited to compete as neutrals under an Olympic flag, not a Russian one. President Vladimir Putin said last week Russia …

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Congress will allow the deadline on reimposing sanctions on Iran to pass this week, congressional and White House aides said Tuesday, leaving a pact between world powers and Tehran intact at least temporarily. In October, Trump declined to certify that Iran was complying with the nuclear agreement reached among Tehran, the United States and others in 2015. His decision triggered a 60-day window for Congress to decide whether to bring back sanctions on Iran. Congressional leaders have announced no plans to introduce a resolution to reimpose sanctions before Wednesday’s deadline, and aides say lawmakers will let the deadline pass without …

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