Category: Євросоюз

A Turkish court remanded five prominent staff from the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper in custody on Monday in a trial which President Tayyip Erdogan’s critics have condemned as an attack on free speech. The court said the newspaper correspondents and executives, some of whom have already been detained for 10 months, should remain in detention until more evidence was presented. “The court has decided to keep the arrested until witnesses are heard,” chief judge Abdurrahman Orkun Dag said after a 13-hour session, adjourning the case for two weeks. “After hearing the witnesses, we think a more healthy decision could be reached.” …

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Scientists say DNA tests on a skeleton found in a lavish Viking warrior’s grave in Sweden show the remains are those of a woman in her 30s. While bone experts had long suspected the remains belong to a woman, the idea had previously been dismissed despite other accounts supporting the existence of female Viking warriors. Swedish researchers used new methods to analyze genetic material from the 1,000-year-old bones at a Viking-era site known as Birka, near Stockholm.   Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson of Uppsala University said Monday the tests show “it is definitely a woman.”   Hedenstierna-Jonson said the grave is particularly …

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The Polish government is abandoning a plan to include in Polish passports images of landmarks that are today within the borders of Ukraine and Lithuania. Poland’s Interior Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said Monday his ministry has picked other images to include in place of the two disputed ones.   The plan had angered both of the neighboring countries, with the Ukrainian government calling it an “unfriendly step.”   The disputed images were of a Polish military cemetery in Lviv, Ukraine, and the Gate of Dawn in Vilnius, Lithuania.   The government’s proposal appeared to break a longstanding practice of not making …

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The Dutch government says it will continue contributing to the fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali and NATO’s force in Afghanistan. The Cabinet on Monday informed Parliament about the extension into next year of Dutch participation in the military missions. The foreign ministry said in a statement that the fragile international security situation means that “the Netherlands will continue to take its responsibility.” It says that the priority in the missions is “fighting terrorism and preventing irregular migration.” About 250 Dutch troops will take part in the Mali mission in …

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Some black and mixed-race residents of the hurricane-devastated French territory of St. Martin have expressed anger at a perception that white tourists were given priority during the evacuation of the island that France acquired during colonial times.   The anger over perceived discrimination — whether or not based on fact — is exposing underlying racial tensions that have long plagued France’s far-flung former colonies, especially its Caribbean islands.   St. Martin resident Johana Soudiagom told local television Guadeloupe 1ere that mainly white people were selected for evacuation on Friday following Hurricane Irma above mixed-race islanders on a boat from the French island …

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Devastation from Hurricane Irma in the Caribbean will sharpen the demands from small island nations that top fossil-fuel consumers help them cope with damage attributable to climate change, according to representatives of some of those countries. That will put island nations on a collision course with the United States and other rich countries during United Nations climate talks in Bonn, Germany, in November. The United States, under President Donald Trump, has doubts about global warming and has vowed to withdraw from a global pact to fight it, while other wealthy nations have long resisted calls to pay for climate-related “loss …

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Mikheil Saakashvili, the former president of Georgia and later a Ukrainian citizen, crossed from Poland into Ukraine in a crowd of his supporters Sunday. Saakashvili has been stateless since his former mentor, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, stripped him of Ukrainian citizenship two months ago. He is wanted in Georgia on charges related to his political career there, and Tbilisi has asked the Kyiv government to extradite him, but it is not clear whether the request will be honored. Saakashvili said he wanted to return to Ukraine to contest Poroshenko’s action stripping him of his citizenship while he was out of …

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Norwegians voted on Sunday in a parliamentary election whose outcome is too close to call, with opinion polls showing Prime Minister Erna Solberg’s centre-right government and the opposition center-left bloc running neck and neck. Solberg’s Conservatives want to cut taxes if they win a fresh four-year mandate, while the centre-left led by Labor’s Jonas Gahr Stoere seeks tax hikes to fund better public services. The outcome could also impact Norway’s vital oil industry because to form a government either Solberg or Gahr Stoere is likely to depend on one or more parties that seek to impose limits on exploration in …

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was optimistic that a dispute over how to distribute asylum seekers in the EU would soon be resolved after a court ruled on Wednesday that member states must take in a share of refugees who reach Europe. Speaking to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (F.A.S.) newspaper two weeks before a national election in which she is expected to win a fourth term, Merkel said she welcomed the court’s decision. Separately, the newspaper also reported that in negotiations between member states about redistribution, a compromise was starting to emerge which would link accepting refugees to payments …

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Prominent Russian political commentator and writer Yulia Latynina has left Russia fearing for her life, she told a Moscow radio station. Latynina’s car was set on fire at the beginning of September, weeks after unidentified assailants sprayed a poisonous substance on her house outside Moscow and the car. “I’m quite scared … I’m terrified that the people who did it were prepared for fatalities,” Latynina said of the arson. “I’m abroad, my parents are also abroad. It’s unlikely I’ll be going to Russia soon,” she told the Echo of Moscow radio station late Saturday. Latynina, who works as a columnist …

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U.S. and Russian envoys are to meet in Finland next week in a bid to calm diplomatic tensions that have risen to levels of the Cold War. The State Department’s third-ranking official, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon, will meet Monday and Tuesday with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov. Shannon and Ryabkov have held several rounds of talks this year focused on resolving irritants in U.S.-Russian relations, such as the tit-for-tat closures of diplomatic missions and expulsion of diplomats. They’re expected to address broader strategic relations and arms control as well. On August 31, in response to …

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A Spanish judge ordered police to search a printer’s shop and two offices of a regional newspaper in Catalonia as part of an investigation into alleged preparations for an illegal referendum on independence for the prosperous northeastern region. A Barcelona-based court said Saturday that the police searches took place Friday in Valls and Constanti in southern Catalonia. The court said the searches formed part of an investigation into possible disobedience, prevarication and the embezzlement of public funds by Catalan officials. The regional Catalan newspaper El Vallenc reported that “4 agents of the Civil Guard entered our newspaper.” El Vallenc said, …

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The Dalai Lama on Sunday will begin a 20-day tour of Europe, where he will give public teachings on Buddhism and also meet with scientists. The Tibetan spiritual leader arrived Friday in New Delhi, India, from which he will depart for his four-nation tour. Calling it an educational visit, he said he was looking forward to the trip, especially to a meeting with scientists in Frankfurt, Germany. “I am looking forward to the Frankfurt’s meeting. [I will be] meeting with some scientists, and also there will be some kind of commemoration [of the] late Von Weizsacker,” the Dalai Lama told …

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Turkey cautioned its citizens on Saturday to take care when traveling to Germany, citing what it said was an upswing in anti-Turkish sentiment ahead of a German national election later this month. The advisory is likely to further exacerbate tensions between the two NATO allies, whose ties have soured following last year’s failed coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his subsequent crackdown on alleged coup supporters. “The political leadership campaigns in Germany are based on anti-Turkey sentiment and preventing our country’s EU membership. The political atmosphere … has actually been under the effects of far-right and even racist …

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The U.N. refugee agency warns overcrowding and deteriorating conditions on Greece’s eastern Aegean islands are causing serious distress among refugees, leading to self-harm and riots in protest. UNHCR reports that refugees from Syria, Iraq and other destitute and conflict-ridden countries are arriving on Greece’s islands faster than the government can transfer them to the mainland for processing. In August, it notes, nearly 3,700 people arrived by sea – nearly 1,500 more than in July. UNHCR spokeswoman Cecile Pouilly says living conditions are particularly bad for refugees on the islands of Lesbos, Samos, Leros and Chios. “Many of the people have …

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Emergency services in southern Spain say they are fighting a wildfire that has forced the evacuation of 400 residents from seven towns in the province of Seville.   Authorities said Saturday that the evacuations had taken place mostly overnight because of the smoke produced by the blaze, which broke out Friday. About 120 people have been given shelter in a public library, sports center and school.   More than 130 firefighters are combating flames that they say have reached 20 meters (65 feet) in height across a front stretching 20 kilometers (more than 12 miles).   Authorities have yet to …

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Thousands of migrants desperate to get to Europe are being held in detention centers across Libya. Some are run by foreign aid agencies, others by the myriad armed groups vying for power and money. Joanne Liu, international president of the aid group Doctors Without Borders, has recently returned from visiting detention centers in Libya and told reporters that militia groups are detaining migrants in horrific conditions where they are subject to torture, rape, starvation and killing. “Basically, I will describe those detention centers are for me, manufacturers of suffering at industrial level,” she said. Migrants picked up at sea by …

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A leading humanitarian aid group has accused the European Union of being complicit in the torture, killing and rape of migrants in detention camps in Libya. The system is partially run by armed militias and people smugglers, and critics say the EU is supporting these groups in return for stemming the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean. Henry Ridgwell reports from London. …

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A Georgian citizen was reported to have died Friday in a car explosion in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said an explosive device went off inside a black Toyota Camry during rush-hour traffic. Interior Ministry spokesman Artem Shevchenko said the victim was identified as Timur Makhauri. Shevchenko said Makhauri’s wife was seriously injured in the blast and was hospitalized. Shevchenko told reporters a child was in the car with the couple. He said the child’s life was not in danger. Police were investigating. Interfax Ukraine reported that a murder case had been opened. Interfax quoted Shevchenko as saying …

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Amid rising German-Turkish diplomatic tensions, Ankara has allowed seven German lawmakers to visit German servicemen deployed at Turkey’s Konya NATO air base. For several months, Ankara had banned such visits, saying the climate in bilateral relations was inappropriate. “The way the Turkish side is billing it is that it’s a multilateral visit, it’s not bilateral,” said political columnist Semih Idiz of the al-Monitor website. “They say this visit comes from NATO, therefore Turkey has to oblige, being a NATO member.” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg reportedly had been lobbying intensively to allow the German lawmakers’ visit. The ban on German lawmakers …

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