Category: Євросоюз

Between 400,000 and 700,000 African migrants are living in camps in Libya, often under “inhuman” conditions, the chairman of the African Union Commission said Thursday at the close of a summit of European and African leaders. Moussa Faki Mahamat stressed the urgency of removing the thousands of migrants, including women and children, from the camps as he addressed the summit where migration was a top issue after recent footage of a migrant slave auction in Libya drew global horror and condemnation. At least 3,800 migrants in one camp in Tripoli need to be removed as soon as possible, Mahamat said. …

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French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday he would draw up a list of extremist organizations to convey to Saudi Arabia after its crown prince pledged to cut their funding. Saudi Arabia finances groups overseen by the Mecca-based Muslim World League, which for decades was charged with spreading the strict Wahhabi school of Islam around the world. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is seeking to modernize the kingdom and cleave to a more open and tolerant interpretation of Islam. “He never did it publicly, but when I went to Riyadh (this  month), he made a commitment, such that we …

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Iceland’s opposition leader Katrin Jakobsdóttir will become the country’s new prime minister, after her Left-Green Movement on Wednesday agreed to form a coalition government, state broadcaster RUV reported. Her party, which emerged as the second biggest party in snap parliamentary elections Oct. 28, entered coalition talks with the Independence Party, the main partner in the current government coalition, and the Progressive Party two weeks ago. Current Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson of the right-wing Independence Party called the snap election in September, after less than a year in government, as a scandal involving his father prompted a government ally to drop …

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Broadcast reporters for Russian state-funded TV channel RT will no longer be able to report daily from the U.S. Capitol. A committee that governs Capitol Hill access for broadcast journalists has withdrawn credentials for RT after the company complied earlier this month with a U.S. demand that it register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The law applies to people or companies disseminating information in the U.S. on behalf of foreign governments, political parties and other “foreign principals.” The action also comes just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed legislation allowing Russia to register international media outlets as …

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The anti-nuclear group which won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize accused the United States, Britain and France on Wednesday of snubbing its disarmament work by planning to send only second-rank diplomats to the award ceremony next month. “It’s some kind of protest against the Nobel Peace Prize,” Beatrice Fihn, director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), told Reuters of a plan by the three nations to send only deputy chiefs of mission. “They like their nuclear weapons very much and don’t like it when we try to ban them,” she said, accusing the three of wrongly opposing …

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Turkey’s deteriorating finances are hurting the country’s banks whose reliance on dollar funding makes them vulnerable to the worst-case scenario: a sudden halt or reversal of foreign investment flows. International investors are growing nervous about Turkey for a variety of reasons. But U.S. legal action against a number of Turkish individuals over alleged Iran sanctions busting – and the risk that some of the country’s banks might be sucked into the case – lies at the heart of the latest concerns. Since Turkey’s financial crisis in 2000, its banks have earned a reputation as being among the best-run in emerging …

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Pope Francis spoke of the need for “forgiveness” and avoiding “revenge” at a mass attended by tens of thousands of people in Myanmar’s biggest city, Yangon, on Wednesday. He skirted direct mention of the persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority for the second time in his four-day visit, after talking generally of religious tolerance at a meeting with diplomats Tuesday. Some 150,000 Catholics from across the country gathered at Kyaikkasan sports ground for the service, some arriving the night before to ensure their places. “Today I am very blessed — not only me but all of Myanmar,” said Sister Lucy, a 22-year-old nun …

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European and African leaders are gathering Wednesday in Ivory Coast for a summit focused on issues that affect both continents, including economic cooperation, job creation, migration, and peace and security. The two-day European Union-African Union summit in Abidjan is bringing together heads of state from 55 AU member states and 28 in Europe. “We strive to enhance societal and political resilience on the continent for the benefit of current and future generations,” AU Commission Deputy Chairperson Kwesi Quartey said at a ministerial meeting ahead of the summit. Governments on both continents have in the past few years faced the challenge …

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U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has condemned what he called Russia’s continued behavior toward its neighbors, especially Russia’s interfering in election processes and promoting non-democratic ideals. An analysts tells VOA’s Zlatica Hoke that the U.S. president’s support is crucial for the success of Tillerson’s mission. …

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Syrian government negotiators are expected Wednesday in Geneva to join U.N.-led peace talks aimed at ending nearly seven years of fighting. The talks began Tuesday with U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura meeting with the opposition delegation. He said afterward the two sides would have a chance for direct negotiations in Geneva. “We are going to offer it. We will see if this takes place. But we will be offering that,” he said. Syria’s state-run SANA news agency said the delayed arrival for the government delegation was due to the opposition’s demand that President Bashar al-Assad step down as part of …

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Pope Francis urged Myanmar’s long-suffering people to resist the temptation to exact revenge for the hurt they have endured, preaching a message of forgiveness Wednesday to a huge crowd in his first public Mass in the predominantly Buddhist nation. Local authorities estimated some 150,000 people turned out at Yangon’s Kyaikkasan Ground park for the Mass, but the crowd seemed far larger. Catholics had to apply to attend through their local churches to enter the park venue, and many dressed in matching outfits or with hats bearing the pope’s image. Francis has said his aim in coming to Myanmar is to …

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Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab has pleaded guilty to unspecified charges in connection with an Iran sanctions busting scheme and is cooperating with U.S. prosecutors, officials said on Tuesday. “I can confirm that the defendant has pleaded guilty,” said Nick Biase, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Zarrab was arrested last year and charged with conducting hundreds of millions of dollars of business transactions on behalf of the Iranian government and other Iranian entities between 2010 and 2015. Eights others, including a former Turkish economy minister, Mehmet Zafer Caglayan, and a former …

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Britain’s Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle will be married at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle in May next year, Kensington palace said Tuesday. “Her Majesty The Queen has granted permission for the wedding to take place in the chapel. The Royal Family will pay for the wedding,” the palace said in a statement, adding that further details about the wedding would be released “in due course”. The couple officially announced their engagement a day earlier, posing for photographs on the grounds of Kensington Palace hours after the announcement. The two were engaged in London earlier this month, …

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The engagement of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle dominated newspaper front pages and morning news shows in Britain on Tuesday, as royal-watchers awaited details of the couple’s spring wedding and royal relatives offered congratulations. The grandson of Queen Elizabeth II and the American actress have announced they will marry in 2018. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby says they have chosen a church wedding, and the palace is expected to reveal details of the venue later Tuesday. Markle’s future sister-in-law the Duchess of Cambridge, who is married to Prince William, said she was “absolutely thrilled.”   “It’s such exciting news,” Kate …

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The world economy is growing faster than it has in seven years and more and more people are working — but the high growth isn’t expected to last long, and wages remain stubbornly stagnant.   That’s according to forecasts Tuesday from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which urged governments to do more to ensure longer-term growth and better living standards across the board.   The group, which recommends policies for leading economies, predicts sustained growth in the U.S. this year and next and a sharper-than-expected increase in the countries that use the euro currency.   For 2019, however, the …

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French President Emmanuel Macron met with university students in Burkina Faso Tuesday, as he kicked off a three-day trip to West Africa. He is the first French president in three decades to visit Burkina Faso. President Emmanuel Macron spent three hours on Tuesday at the University of Ouagadougou, discussing migration, climate change and terrorism with a room full of students. In his remarks, the French president said he would pursue equal partnership with African nations, breaking with the more paternalistic relationship of old, a relationship between France and its former colonies known as the “francafrique.” Many in Ouagadougou welcome the …

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel will focus on expanding business ties and trying to regulate migration with Africa during an EU-Africa summit in Abidjan this week, as she comes under pressure at home to make progress faster on both fronts. Merkel is taking a break from her more than month-long drive to form a new government to attend the summit, keen to demonstrate Germany’s continued ability to act on the foreign policy front, and to underscore her commitment to Africa. She will join with French President Emmanuel Macron at the summit to focus on education, investment in youth and economic development …

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The U.S. State Department on Monday expressed concern about planned legislation it said could weaken Romania’s fight against corruption. The proposals threaten “the progress Romania has made in recent years to build strong judicial institutions shielded from political interference,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement. The statement urged Parliament “to reject proposals that weaken the rule of law and endanger the fight against corruption.” Justice Minister Florin Iordache, however, told public broadcaster TVR that the proposals wouldn’t damage the independence of the justice system. He said lawmakers would take into account U.S. concerns. Romanian magistrates, the general …

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Polish police issued a public appeal for witnesses Monday after unknown attackers smashed windows at a Muslim cultural center in the capital Warsaw, while prosecutors opened a probe into a far-right protest in the south of the country over the weekend. About a dozen windows were shattered overnight at the Muslim center, which opened in 2015 and includes a mosque, a meeting center, a shop and a restaurant. No one was hurt.   “I am 100 percent sure this was a racist, anti-Muslim attack,” Muslim community leader imam Youssef Chadid told a news conference.   He blamed it on “not …

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President Bashar al-Assad’s government has not confirmed its participation in peace talks with the Syrian opposition scheduled for this week in Geneva, the U.N. special envoy for Syria said Monday. Staffan de Mistura told the U.N. Security Council the Assad government said it would not be sending representatives to Geneva on Monday. But de Mistura held out hope saying, “We know and indeed expect that the government will be on its way shortly, particularly in light of President Assad’s commitment to [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin when they met in Sochi.” Putin hosted Assad last week for a meeting, during which …

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