Category: Євросоюз

One of President Vladimir Putin’s top allies said on Sunday she saw no logic in deploying U.N. peacekeepers along the border between Russia and Ukraine, something Kyiv and Washington favor. Putin this month suggested armed U.N. peacekeepers be deployed to eastern Ukraine to help protect ceasefire monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and to help end a conflict between Ukrainian troops and Russia-backed separatists, which has killed more than 10,000 people since 2014. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called the proposal “interesting,” while Kurt Volker, the U.S. envoy to Ukraine peace talks, says the suggestion …

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Britain eased its terrorist threat level Sunday from “critical” to “severe” after police arrested a second suspect in the bombing of a subway train in London. Home Secretary Amber Rudd said the second arrest was an indication that “good progress” was being made int the investigation of Friday’s attack that injured 30 people, all but one of whom have now been released from hospitals. The “severe” threat level indicates British authorities now believe another attack is highly likely, while the “critical” designation meant an attack was seen as imminent. Police said in they arrested a 21-year-old man in the west …

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Four young female U.S. tourists were attacked with acid Sunday in the French city of Marseille by a woman who has been arrested, the Marseille prosecutor’s office said. Two of the tourists were injured in the face in the attack in the city’s main Saint Charles train station and one of them has a possible eye injury, a spokeswoman for the Marseille prosecutor’s office told The Associated Press in a phone call. She said all four of the tourists, who are in their 20s, have been hospitalized, two of them for shock. She said a 41-year-old female suspect has been …

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Stuck in a refugee camp on the Greek island of Chios with poor internet and little credit, Abrar Hassan, like many others, was unaware that the tech world had been falling all over itself to help him. More importantly, he was unaware of his rights and how best to prepare for the asylum interviews that would determine whether the 19-year-old, who fled a murderous family feud in Pakistan, had a future in Europe. There has been an explosion of digital software applications, hackathons and websites since the refugee crisis filtered into Western public consciousness, with the tech world offering a …

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A French journalist held for 51 days on terror charges in Turkey has returned to Paris. Free-lance journalist Loup Bureau was met by his parents Sunday at Charles de Gaulle airport, according to the campaign group Reporters Without Borders. Bureau said his release came as “a bit of a surprise”, as he saw no signs pointing to his release Friday, a day after French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian met with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara. Bureau was detained July 26th on the Turkey-Iraq border under anti-terror legislation. He was reportedly being held because images were found on …

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The Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday denied it had bombed U.S.-backed militias in Syria, saying its planes only targeted Islamic State militants and that it had warned the United States well in advance of its operational plans. U.S.-backed militias said they came under attack on Saturday from Russian jets and Syrian government forces in Deir al-Zor province, a flashpoint in an increasingly complex battlefield. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias fighting with the U.S.-led coalition, said six of its fighters had been wounded in the strike. But Major-General Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the …

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Hundreds of people marched in Athens, Greece, Saturday in an anti-racism protest to commemorate the killing of an activist rapper by a member of the Greek ultranationalist political party Golden Dawn. Scuffles broke out between police and a few dozen protesters who broke off from the march and began heading toward the Golden Dawn offices. Blocked by police from reaching the offices, the protesters threw firebombs and police responded with tear gas. The march was to commemorate rapper Pavlos Fyssas, whose music conveyed anti-fascist messages. Fyssas’ stabbing death in 2013 resulted in an investigation of Golden Dawn, which had been …

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Ukraine’s top prosecutor has said former Georgian President and Ukrainian regional governor Mikheil Saakashvili will not be arrested for defying authorities with his dramatic return to the country after his citizenship was canceled. In his comments on Saturday, Prosecutor-General Yuriy Lutsenko also said that Saakashvili, who is wanted in Georgia on allegations of corruption during his presidency, would not be extradited and suggested the stateless ex-leader may have a document allowing him to remain in Ukraine. “Saakashvili will not be arrested in this case, Saakashvili cannot be extradited from this country while he has a residence permit or other document …

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The United Nations reports world hunger is rising because conflicts and problems related to climate change are multiplying. The report finds about 815 million people globally did not have enough to eat in 2016 — 38 million more than the previous year. The statistics in this report are particularly grim. They show that global hunger is on the rise again after more than a decade of steady decline. The report, a joint product by five leading U.N. agencies warns that malnutrition is threatening the health of and compromising the future of millions of people world-wide. The report says 155 million …

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Would a 15-year-old girl be married off by her parents in violation of the law? Would another girl, who looks even younger, get justice after an alleged statutory rape at the hands of an older man? In their impoverished communities in Uganda, the answers hinged on the fact that one girl had a birth certificate and the other didn’t. Police foiled the planned marriage after locating paperwork that proved the first girl was not 18 as her parents claimed. The other girl could not prove she was under the age of consent; her aunt, who’s also her guardian, has struggled …

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It was a Friday in June, a short workday before a public holiday weekend in Ukraine, and cybersecurity expert Victor Zhora had left the capital, Kyiv, and was in the western city of Lviv when he got the first in a torrent of phone calls from frantic clients. His clients’ networks were being crippled by ransomware known as Petya, a malicious software that locks up infected computers and data. But this ransomware was a variant of an older one and wasn’t designed to extort money — the goal of the virus’ designers was massive disruption to Ukraine’s economy. “I decided …

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London police say they are “chasing down suspects” in their investigation to determine who is responsible for the rush-hour bomb attack on a city subway. Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said police have the remnants of the improvised explosive device that was partially detonated Friday morning on a subway car at the Parsons Green station. Images of the bomb posted on social media appear to show a bucket on fire that had been placed inside a plastic bag close to a railcar door. Prime Minister Theresa May said after the attack that the country’s Joint Terrorism Analysis Center decided to raise …

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The Roman Catholic Church and U.S. officials confirm that a high-ranking diplomat at the Vatican’s Embassy in Washington, D.C., has been recalled to Vatican City over accusations he possessed child pornography. The Holy See released a statement Friday saying U.S. State Department officials had informed the Vatican on August 21 of evidence the diplomat may have violated child pornography laws in the United States. The statement said the official, a priest, has been recalled to Vatican City and an investigation is underway. The statement does not give the priest’s name and says that the investigation is “subject to investigative confidentiality.” …

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Iceland’s nine-month-old, center-right government collapsed Friday after a small coalition member quit and the country’s prime minister called for a new election “as soon as possible,” according to Icelandic media. The centrist Bright Future Party quit over an attempt by the prime minister’s father to help clear a convicted pedophile’s name. It said in a Facebook post that there was “a serious breach of trust” behind its departure. Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson took office in January with his Independence Party, the Reform Party and the centrists. Together the three parties held the slimmest of majorities — 32 of the 63 …

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Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim warned Friday that the Iraqi Kurdish plan to hold an independence referendum was a “grave mistake.”  Iraqi Kurdistan regional President Masoud Barzani has called for the referendum on Sept. 25 in the semi-autonomous area. Turkey, which borders the Iraqi Kurdish region, has strong ties with Barzani, but Ankara has been stepping up its pressure to call off the vote. “There are 10 days left (to the referendum). Therefore, I want to repeat our friendly call to Masoud Barzani:  Correct this mistake while there is still time,” Yildirim said Friday to supporters. The warning was followed …

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President Donald Trump has responded to North Korea’s most recent missile launch with a vow that the United States and its allies will not be intimidated. Trump made the remark Friday during a speech to military personnel and their families at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, just outside Washington. He said North Korea’s launch hours earlier showed Pyongyang’s “utter contempt for its neighbors and for the entire world community.” Earlier in the day, NATO called for a global response to North Korea’s latest launch of a missile, which flew over northern Japan just days after the United Nations imposed new …

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The Kremlin appears to be touting a major shift in policy on east Ukraine and possibly preparing local pro-Russian separatists for the reintegration of the disputed region of the Donbas into Ukraine. A local news site in separatist-controlled Donetsk reported midweek that the Kremlin is likely to engineer the replacement of the current military-tilted Donbas leaders with two former Ukrainian lawmakers, both onetime allies of ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, currently in exile in the Russian capital. The news site, Novosti Donbassa, also reported that Vladislav Surkov, a key member of the inner circle of advisers of Russian President Vladimir Putin, …

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A decision by the BRICS nations to name and denounce specific terrorist organizations in Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere is sparking debate among academics and analysts in China. Earlier this month, the group, comprised of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, extended their support to Kabul’s counterterrorism efforts during a meeting in China. The move caused some nervousness in Islamabad, forcing Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif to first visit Beijing and then fly to Tehran, canvassing support for his country. This was the first time China had publicly denounced Pakistan-based terror groups, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, which had earlier been censured by …

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At least 18 people were injured, many with burns, following a blast early Friday on a packed rush-hour commuter train in London that police are treating as a terrorism incident. Armed police descended on the Parsons Green underground subway station after commuters reported an explosion and a fire. London police say an improvised explosive device was the source of the fire. The police say their investigation is being supported by input from MI-5, Britain’s domestic intelligence agency. British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson appealed for calm and said it was important not to speculate.  London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the British …

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U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged China to cut oil exports to North Korea to force Pyongyang to rein in its nuclear weapons program during his visit to London on Thursday. Tillerson’s trip to Britain comes days after the United Nations Security Council imposed new sanctions on North Korea. He said he had hoped for stronger measures from the U.N., and urged Beijing to use its leverage. “I am hopeful that China, as a great country, as a world power, will decide on their own and will take it upon themselves to use that very powerful tool of oil …

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