Category: Євросоюз

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Thursday during a visit to Ukraine that the Trump administration was “actively reviewing” whether to provide lethal defensive weapons to the war-torn country. When asked whether Russia might see such a move as a threat, Mattis responded, “Defensive weapons are not provocative unless you’re an aggressor.” The previous U.S. administration held the view that sales of defensive lethal weapons to Ukraine would unnecessarily provoke Russia, but Trump administration officials have reopened consideration of the previously rejected plan. “The morality of doing something that would have a counterproductive result struck [President Barack] Obama as a …

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Russian and U.S. officials traded accusations on Thursday over their respective policies in Afghanistan, pointing fingers of blame at each other. In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed regret that the main focus of U.S. President Donald Trump’s new Afghanistan strategy is “regulation by methods of force.” “We are certain this is a futile course,” Lavrov said. Asked for a response by VOA, a senior U.S. administration official said what Trump put forward Monday in a nationally televised address “is not a military-only strategy. There’s a strong diplomatic, political element, even economic element to the strategy. So, it’s just …

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U.S. interim co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassador Richard Hoagland, is retiring on August 28. Announcing his plans at a roundtable discussion at the Washington Foreign Press Center, Hoagland, currently the State Department’s principal deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, said he will be replaced by Andrew Schofer, a career foreign service officer who most recently served as charge d’affaires of the U.S. Mission to the International Organizations in Vienna. “He has experience in the settlement of the Cyprus and other conflicts,” Hoagland said.  “I think the Secretary of State and the State …

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A Spanish High Court judge on Thursday ordered another one of the four suspects arrested over twin attacks in Catalonia last week, Salh El Karib, to be freed on certain conditions, according to a court source. El Karib ran an internet cafe in the northeastern Spanish town of Ripoll where most of the alleged members of the 12-strong cell lived. Investigating judge Fernando Andreu had originally asked for him to remain in police custody pending further investigation of his possible role in the attacks, which killed 15 people in Barcelona and the coastal resort of Cambrils. El Karib will have …

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Two people were injured by an explosion in the center of Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, on Independence Day, police said on Thursday. The blast occurred at 1406 (1106 GMT), police said in a statement, giving no more details. The local television channel 112 showed a woman lying on the ground in the street near the building of the Ukrainian government. …

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Net migration to Britain has fallen to a three-year low as a growing number of European Union nationals left the country following last year’s Brexit referendum, according to official figures released Thursday. The figures from the Office for National Statistics provide evidence that the uncertainty and economic jitters caused by Britain’s vote to quit the EU are having an impact on immigration. The statistics office said net migration – the difference between arrivals and departures – was 246,000 in the year to March 31, a fall of 81,000 on a year earlier. More than half the change was due to …

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Officials in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam on Wednesday canceled a performance by the American rock group Allah-Las following a tip from Spanish police that a terror attack might be imminent. Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb said at a hastily arranged news conference that police were questioning the driver of a van loaded with gas tanks that was found near the concert venue. The vehicle was registered in Spain. Concert organizer Rotown said on Twitter that the concert venue, a former grain silo and elevator called Maassilo, had been evacuated. The decision to cancel the event was made less than …

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Spain’s northeastern region of Catalonia, hit last week by two Islamist militant attacks which killed 15 people, is to deploy more police, install bollards in Barcelona and step up security around stations and tourist landmarks. The aim is to strike a balance between security and not overloading residents with restrictions. “We’re looking at introducing [street] obstacles that could be mobile,” Joaquin Forn, who is in charge of home affairs in Catalonia, told a news conference on Wednesday. A van plowed into crowds of tourists and local residents on Barcelona’s crowded Las Ramblas boulevard last Thursday, killing 13 people. Two others …

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Britain will set out a plan to cooperate closely with Europe on data protection rules after it leaves the European Union, hoping to reassure businesses and law enforcement agencies that there will be no disruption to exchanges of information. Minister for Digital Matt Hancock said Britain was leading the way on data protection laws and had worked closely with its EU partners in developing standards. “We want the secure flow of data to be unhindered in the future as we leave the EU,” he said. “So a strong future data relationship between the U.K. and EU, based on aligned data …

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Protecting people rather than property or animals will be the priority under pioneering new German legal guidelines for the operation of driverless cars, the transport ministry said on Wednesday. Germany is home to some of the world’s largest car companies, including Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW, all of which are investing heavily in self-driving technology. German regulators have been working on rules for how such vehicles should be programmed to deal with a dilemma, such as choosing between hitting a cyclist or accelerating beyond legal speeds to avoid an accident. Under new ethical guidelines — drawn up by a government-appointed committee …

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Romania’s justice minister proposed a significant overhaul of the judicial system Wednesday, which the president called an attack on the rule of law that would set the country back a decade. Romania is seen as one of the European Union’s most corrupt states, and Brussels keeps its justice system under special monitoring. Attempts by the ruling coalition of Social Democrats and junior partner ALDE to weaken a crackdown on high-level corruption triggered the country’s largest street protests in decades at the start of the year. Justice Minister Tudorel Toader proposed a slew of changes on Wednesday, ranging from a change …

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As many as 200 migrants clashed near the northern French port city of Calais, using sticks and iron bars in five mass brawls that mainly pitted Afghans against Eritreans, authorities said Tuesday. A total of 21 migrants and six riot police were injured, none seriously, during the clashes that broke out between Monday night and Tuesday afternoon, the Pas-de-Calais prefecture said. Up to 150 migrants were involved in the last fight, which started on a road leading out of the Calais city center and moved to a highway, the prefecture said. The regional Voix du Nord newspaper said the violent …

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Ukrainian cyber security firm ISSP said on Tuesday it may have detected a new computer virus distribution campaign, after security services said Ukraine could face cyber-attacks similar to those which knocked out global systems in June. The June 27 attack, dubbed NotPetya, took down many Ukrainian government agencies and businesses, before spreading rapidly through corporate networks of multinationals with operations or suppliers in eastern Europe. ISPP said that, as with NotPetya, the new malware seemed to originate in accounting software and could be intended to take down networks when Ukraine celebrates its Independence Day on Aug. 24. “This could be …

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Chancellor Angela Merkel’s main challenger in next month’s election says he would push for the removal of U.S. nuclear weapons from German soil. The dpa news agency reported Tuesday that Social Democrat Martin Schulz also told supporters in the city of Trier on Tuesday that a government led by him would seek to limit Germany’s own military expenditures. The news agency quoted Schulz saying: “As chancellor, I will work to ensure that the nuclear weapons stationed in Germany … are removed.” U.S. President Donald Trump has pressured Germany and other NATO partners to spend more on defense. But Schulz said: …

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The Trump administration imposed sanctions on Chinese and Russian individuals and companies Tuesday, accusing them of conducting business with North Korea in ways that helped Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and missile programs. Reuters reports China’s embassy called the action a “mistake” that should be immediately corrected.  The U.S. Treasury Department said the 10 companies and six individuals helped North Korea generate revenue that could be used to pay for weapons programs. The firms and their executives do business with previously sanctioned companies and people who work with the North Korean energy sector. They are accused of helping place North Korean workers …

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U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is set to visit Ankara, Turkey in the coming days as part of a tour of the region. Mattis’ visit comes as bilateral relations between the two NATO allies are strained over Washington’s support of Syrian Kurds, whom Ankara considers terrorists. “Turkish relations are as bad as they can get,” said former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen, who served in Iraq and Washington. “But the fact Turkey’s position on the world map is extremely important, one can look on the map and see without Turkey it will be difficult for the U.S., if not impossible, getting …

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Bishops in Ireland have created detailed guidelines to address an issue the Roman Catholic Church has tried to keep under wraps for centuries: the plight of children born to Catholic priests and the women who bear them.   The policy, approved in May and made public in recent days, states the wellbeing of the child is paramount. It says the mother must be respected and involved in decision-making, and that the priest “should face up to his responsibilities – personal, legal, moral and financial.”   The guidelines are believed to represent the first comprehensive, public policy by a national bishops’ …

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Firefighters in Italy freed a 7-month-old baby and his older brother from rubble early Tuesday following a 4.0-magnitude quake on the resort island of Ischia off Naples, and rescuers were working on helping a third brother who remained trapped.   At least two people were killed in the quake that struck just before 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) Monday, while another 39 were injured and some 2,600 were left homeless. The victims were an elderly woman who was in a church that crumbled in the quake, and a second person who has been located in the rubble but not yet extracted. …

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Ford Tuesday became the latest carmaker to launch a car scrappage scheme in Britain, joining the likes of BMW and Mercedes-Benz, after months of procrastination from the government over whether to begin a national program. The U.S. automaker is offering customers a 2,000 pound ($2,580) discount off a range of Ford models when they trade in vehicles registered before the end of 2009. BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Vauxhall, the British version of the Opel brand sold on the continent, have all launched similar schemes in recent weeks to incentivize motorists to reduce emissions by replacing their gas-guzzling models with greener cars. …

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The United States is suspending the processing of nonimmigrant visas at its consulates in Russia after authorities there ordered its staff slashed by more than half in retaliation for U.S. sanctions against Russian in its election hacking. Russia’s foreign minister said Moscow would consider how best to respond to the decision, the latest tit-for-tat move in spiraling diplomatic relations. VOA’s Daniel Schearf reports from Washington. …

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