Category: Євросоюз

A British company hired to train Afghan intelligence officers billed the U.S. government for high-end cars, including Porsches and an Aston Martin, and paid the “significant others” of the firm’s top executives six-figure salaries even though there’s no proof they did any work, according to a Pentagon audit made public Wednesday. Sen. Clarie McCaskill, D-Mo., said New Century Consulting also spent $42,000 on automatic weapons, using cash to get around a prohibition in the contract on purchasing the firearms, and showered other personnel with hefty pay and bonuses they hadn’t earned. Overall, the military contractor “left taxpayers on the hook …

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German prosecutors say they’ve arrested a 29-year-old Syrian man on allegations he committed war crimes as a member of the Islamic State group in his home country.   The federal prosecutor’s office said Wednesday that Fares A. B., whose last name wasn’t released in line with privacy laws, is also accused of membership in a terrorist organization.   Prosecutors allege that he joined the Nusra Front extremist organization in 2013, and then moved to IS in 2014.   There, he was detailed to a jail and allegedly abused three prisoners. He’s also accused of beating a pickup truck driver with …

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French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has confirmed the arrest of the man suspected of ramming a car into a group of French soldiers Wednesday in a suburb of Paris, injuring six of them in what authorities say was a deliberate attack. French police shot and arrested the unnamed suspect in a car during a manhunt north of Paris. “A suspect who was driving in the car involved in the attack has been arrested on the highway between Paris and Boulogne-sur-Mer,” Philippe told lawmakers during a parliamentary session. French government spokesman Christophe Castaner said the Paris prosecutor’s office has opened a …

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NATO is sharply criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia on Tuesday — the ninth anniversary of the brief war over another renegade Georgian territory. NATO spokesman Dylan White calls Putin’s visit “detrimental to international efforts to find a peaceful negotiated settlement.” White said “NATO is united in full support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally-recognized borders.” Putin met with Abkhazia’s leader Raul Khadzhimba, reaffirming Moscow’s guarantee to protect what Putin calls Abkhazia’s “security, self-sufficiency and independence.” Georgia’s foreign ministry condemned what it says is Putin’s cynicism, as well …

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Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to Georgia’s breakaway province of Abkhazia Tuesday to express his support for separatists there and in South Ossetia on the ninth anniversary of a deadly five-day war between Moscow and Tbilisi. The Georgian government protested against the Kremlin leader’s visit to Abkhazia’s Black Sea resort Pitsunda, and the foreign ministry in Tbilisi denounced Putin’s “cynical action.” NATO said Putin’s trip was “detrimental to international efforts to find a peaceful and negotiated settlement” of the war the two countries fought in 2008. The foreign ministry said Putin’s trip to Abkhazia was a gesture meant only “for …

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Deep below London’s bustling streets, a piece of once-vital communications technology will soon be roaring back into life after years of disuse — a train. The train operates on the “mail rail” line — a 6.4-mile underground train track that once transported letters and parcels 70 feet below ground to and from sorting offices on the east and west sides of the city 22 hours each day. The line, construction of which began in 1915, ceased operations in 2003. It will be opened to the public next month as a tourist attraction, part of the new Postal Museum in the …

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Dozens of glistening pools in a small village on Croatia’s Adriatic coast stand testament to its annual salt harvests from seawater, which use a method largely unchanged for centuries. The salt works facility in Ston, which says it is the oldest in Europe, consists of 58 pools and covers about 430,000 square meters where the waters of the Adriatic are allowed to seep in and then evaporate, leaving salt behind. The first of two salt harvests this year kicked off on Tuesday, with around 35 tourists, friends and family of workers raking salt across the pans into gleaming white piles, …

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U.S.-based Human Rights Watch has called on the Turkish government to act following a spate of abductions. In a letter to Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul, the rights group called for an “urgent and effective investigation of the abduction and possible enforced disappearances of at least four men in Ankara since March 2017.” “As far as we can tell, there has not been an effective investigation,” said Emma Sinclair-Webb, senior Turkey researcher for Human Rights Watch. “The cases we’ve looked at were people abducted in broad daylight in front of witnesses. “There is a lot of evidence to investigate. We got …

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A German man believed to have provided logistical support to the Hamburg-based September 11, 2001, hijackers has died, according to a newly-released audio message from the leader of al-Qaida.   The announcement by Ayman al-Zawahri came in an August 2 audio message posted online in which he says a man he identifies as Zuhair al-Maghribi who worked for As-Sahab, the terror network’s media arm, is a “martyr.”   He says al-Maghribi is one of several who “sacrificed their lives” but doesn’t provide details on when or how they died.   Al-Maghribi is a known alias of Said Bahaji, who authorities …

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The Balkans have become embroiled in a trade war over agricultural health checks after Croatia raised import fees on some farm products by around 220 percent, triggering countermeasures by Serbia and threats from others. Last month European Union-member Croatia raised its fees for phytosanitary controls — agricultural checks for pests and viruses — on fruits and vegetables at its borders to 2,000 kuna ($319) from 90 kuna. It cited compliance with EU standards and protection of its consumers. But ministers from EU candidates Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro, as well as from fellow EU aspirant Bosnia, said the move violated their …

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Two members of the Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot were briefly detained Monday after rallying for the release of a Ukrainian filmmaker outside his Siberian prison. During Sunday’s protest in Yakutsk where Oleg Sentsov is serving his sentence, the band members unfurled a banner on a nearby bridge that read “Free Sentsov!” Longtime Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina tweeted that she and Olga Borisova were taken to a police station following their detention earlier in the day and faced a court hearing over charges of holding an unauthorized rally. Borisova later said on Facebook that she and Alyokhina were …

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Turkey is building up military forces on the Syrian border, while Turkish President Recep Erdogan steps up his rhetoric suggesting an imminent military operation into Syria. Ankara is reportedly courting Moscow for its support for a possible operation into Syria’s Afrin enclave, which is now under the control of the Kurdish YPG militia. Ankara accuses the YPG, which controls large swathes of Syrian territory along its border, of being an offshoot of the PKK, which is fighting the Turkish state. “We will take important steps to implement the new campaigns in the near future,” Erdogan declared Saturday to cheering supporters …

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Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has called a meeting the three parties in his ruling coalition after a junior partner, the ultra-nationalist Slovak National Party, unexpectedly announced it is withdrawing from the pact that brought the parties together. Fico, who called the move “absurd,” will meet leaders of the other two parties on Tuesday. He says he expects Slovak National Party chairman Andrej Danko to explain the reasons for the step. It is not immediately clear whether the move threatens the government’s existence. The coalition is made up of Fico’s leftist Smer-Social Democracy party, the Slovak National Party and a …

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Russia will speed up work on reducing dependency on U.S. payment systems and the dollar as a settling currency, RIA news agency cited Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Monday. It is a response to the new sanctions against Russia reluctantly signed into law last week by U.S. President Donald Trump. The sanctions targeted Russia’s energy sector, with new limits on U.S. investment in Russian companies. “We will of course intensify work related to import substitution, reduction of dependence on U.S. payment systems, on the dollar as a settling currency and so on. It is becoming a vital …

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The Spanish Red Cross says it has tended to 186 migrants who stormed a pedestrian border post to enter Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco.   Attempts to cross by force at pedestrian border posts are unusual as they are normally heavily policed. The thousands of sub-Saharan African migrants living illegally in Morocco normally try to scale the border fences surrounding Ceuta and Melilla, Spain’s other North African enclave, in their bid to enter Europe.   Ceuta’s Red Cross tweeted that four migrants were taken to a city hospital for injuries after the crossing early Monday.   Spain’s …

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Anti-immigration activists in Europe are trying to disrupt the flow of migrant boats from north Africa to Europe. A group of Tunisian fishermen do not like that idea and on Sunday prevented a ship carrying the far-right activists from docking at Zarzis, according to a French News Agency, or AFP, report. “It’s the least we can do given what is happening out in the Mediterranean,” the head of the local fishermen’s organization told AFP.  “Muslims and Africans are dying.” A port official said, “What? Us let in racists here?  Never.” AFP said the C-Star, a boat chartered for the activists …

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A midday nap is very much part of the Spanish traditional life style. However, having a public place in which to do so is new. Siesta & Go is the first nap bar in Madrid according to reporter Faiza Elmasry. VOA’s Faith Lapidus narrates. …

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In a vast network of tunnels carved into the rocks under the Maltese capital Valletta, faded maps of the Mediterranean hint at the place’s role in directing key battles in World War II. Malta is now restoring the 28,000 square meters (300,000 square feet) of tunnels, planning to open a huge section to the public. The compound, hidden under the picturesque port city perched on cliffs above the sea, was built by the British and served as the staging ground for major naval operations. The British military withdrew in 1979 and the compound was abandoned for almost 40 years. German …

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Russia said Sunday that the U.S. is soon sending its envoy for negotiations over unrest in eastern Ukraine to Moscow for talks about the ongoing violence. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made the announcement after an hour-plus meeting in Manila with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. It was the first high-level contact between the two countries since U.S. President Donald Trump last week reluctantly signed new sanctions into law to punish Moscow for interfering in the 2016 presidential election to help him win. Lavrov said U.S. diplomat Kurt Volker would meet with Russia’s envoy for the Ukraine crisis, Vladislav Surkov. …

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U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Monday that Russian interference in last year’s presidential election created “serious mistrust,” and that he and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed “a lot of work” that has to be done regarding U.S.-Russia relations. The two top diplomats held talks on the sidelines of a regional forum in the Philippines where Tillerson said he told Lavrov the U.S. will respond by Sept. 1 to Russia’s order to remove hundreds of diplomats and other staff from U.S. diplomatic facilities in Russia. “I told the foreign minister that we had not made a decision regarding …

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