Category: Євросоюз

Congress passed the “Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act” in 2012 to punish Russian human rights abusers by banning them from entering the United States. The Magnitsky Act is back in the headlines after it was reportedly on the agenda of a recently revealed meeting last June at Trump Tower in New York involving President Donald Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr., along with the elder Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. VOA diplomatic correspondent Cindy Saine spoke with former U.S. ambassadors and veteran diplomats Laura Kennedy and John Herbst, now …

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Progress is not moving fast enough to meet an ambitious set of global goals to conquer poverty, inequality and other international woes by a 2030 deadline, slowed largely by growing war and violence, the United Nations said on Monday. Advances have been few and uneven in reducing conflict and promoting gender equality, sustainable energy, infrastructure and other key areas, the U.N. said in a report assessing the pace of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Approved in September 2015, the sweeping 15-year agenda approved by the 193 U.N. member states is a global “to-do” list to tackle such issues as …

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The Russian government is funding international radio and television outlets to provide what it calls alternative news and views. The state-funded radio Sputnik has recently opened an office in Washington, just a few blocks away from the White House, and began its broadcasts on July 1st. It follows the Russian English-language television RT, which has had a bureau in Washington for several years. Both outlets have already built audiences in Europe. Zlatica Hoke reports. …

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The United States is applauding the European Union for imposing sanctions Monday on 16 Syrian senior military officials and scientists involved in chemical weapons attacks on civilians. “The combined efforts of the United States and European Union … are part of a continuing effort in the international community to hold the Assad regime responsible for violating longstanding global norms against the use of chemical weapons,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. The 16 officials sanctioned Monday will be banned from traveling in the EU, and their European assets will be frozen. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called Monday’s actions by …

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Italian firefighters fought more than 1,000 wildfires on Monday amid high temperatures and drought, including three near Rome’s beach neighborhood of Ostia, the fire brigade said. With half the average rainfall last month and temperatures higher than normal, occasionally touching 40 degrees Celsius in the south, fields and forests have turned into perfect kindling, the national agricultural association Coldiretti said. “The situation is very serious … Rome must not be left alone to face this environmental disaster,” the city’s mayor, Virginia Raggi, said during a tour of an area hit by fire. Raggi said fires in the capital could have …

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Danish troops will get training in how to deal with Russian misinformation before being sent to join a NATO military build-up in Estonia in January, Defense Minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen said on Monday. “It is a whole new world. The Danish soldiers need to be extremely aware of that. Therefore I have arranged with the armed forces that the soldiers being sent out in January are informed and educated in how to protect themselves,” Frederiksen told Danish broadcaster DR. “It is easy to imagine they will become exposed to intimidation and fake rumors,” he said of the 200 Danish soldiers …

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EU foreign ministers approved on Monday measures to allow Ukraine to export more industrial and agricultural products free of tariffs to the bloc in recognition of reforms undertaken by Kyiv and the country’s fragile economy. By the end of September, Ukraine will be able to export greater tonnage of farm products, including grains, honey and processed tomatoes for three years. The EU will also remove for the same period import duties on fertilizers, dyes, footwear, copper, aluminum, televisions and sound recording equipment. The measures add to a free-trade agreement provisionally in place since January 2016 that has opened both markets …

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Ten Turkish human rights activists who were detained by police while attending a training workshop appeared before a court in Istanbul on Monday to face possible charges or be released from custody. The activists, including Amnesty International’s Turkey director Idil Eser, were detained earlier this month at a hotel on Buyukada island off Istanbul and questioned by anti-terrorism police. Amnesty, which has called for their immediate release, said the group was being investigated for membership in an armed terrorist organization. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made vague accusations against the 10, saying they were holding a meeting that had …

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The European Union and Britain have begun the first substantive round of negotiations on their separation, with both sides saying it is time to proceed quickly. Speaking to reporters Monday at the European Commission’s Berlaymont headquarters, Britain’s Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union David Davis said at the start of a four-day session on the divorce proceedings that “it is incredibly important we now make good progress.”   EU chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said that “We will now delve into the heart of the matter. We need to examine and compare our respective positions in order to make …

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Thousands of people rallied in Warsaw and other cities Sunday to oppose the Polish government’s controversial new court reforms and future plans to change the Supreme Court, which opponents see as a threat to judicial independence. Chanting “we will defend democracy” and waving EU and Polish flags, around 4,500 protesters attended demonstrations in the Polish capital, according to police. Smaller rallies were held in other cities across the country. The new legislation passed last week has drawn criticism from the European Union, which also said it violates judicial independence. It gives lawmakers a dominant role in appointing judges, a move …

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French President Emmanuel Macron has called for renewal of Middle East peace talks so that Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side in two states with secure borders with Jerusalem as the capital. Macron’s comments came Sunday during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Paris to mark the 75th anniversary of the deportation of Jews from France to Nazi concentration camps during World War Two. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports. …

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Swiss tennis star Roger Federer has won a record 8th Wimbledon title, defeating Croatia’s Marin Cilic in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1, 6-4. …

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has inaugurated a monument to commemorate the 250 people who died opposing a military coup a year ago . The monument opposite Erdogan’s huge presidential palace depicts Turkey’s national symbol, the moon and crescent. With tens of thousands of people attending, the inauguration ceremony after dawn prayers Sunday was called from presidential palace’s mosque. “Be sure, that none of the traitors who point a gun at our country, nation, freedom and future will ever see the light of day again,” Erdogan promised the cheering crowd. “[Those who carried out the coup] will die over and …

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Gibraltar will not be a victim of Brexit and has had guarantees from the British government it will not do a trade deal with the European Union which doesn’t include the territory, its chief minister said on Sunday. The future of Gibraltar, a rocky enclave on the southern tip of Spain captured by Britain in 1704, and its 30,000 inhabitants is set to be a major point of contention in Brexit negotiations. The EU annoyed Britain and Gibraltar in April by offering Spain a right of veto over the territory’s post-Brexit relationship with the bloc. Gibraltar, which Spain wants back, …

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Turkey’s main opposition party says the government is blocking a full investigation into last summer’s failed coup attempt and using the state of emergency imposed in its wake to hide the truth. Bulent Tezcan, the spokesman of the Republican People’s Party or CHP, said the government was using the commemorations for the anniversary of the failed July 15, 2016, coup to “write a fabricated history.”   Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressed tens of thousands of people at memorial events in Istanbul and Ankara this weekend. Turkey blames U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen for orchestrating a violent attempt to overthrow of …

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French president Emmanuel Macron told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday that France bears responsibility for mass arrests of Jews in Paris during World War II. “It was indeed France that organized this,” Macron said, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the event. Macron condemned France’s participation as well as those who denied it or blamed the Germans for the roundup of 13,000 Jews sent to Nazi death camps from the Velodrome d’Hiver, an indoor cycle track, in 1942. Netanyahu’s presence was protested by groups including the Union of French Jews for Peace (UJFP) who accuse the Israeli government of “usurping …

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Spain’s Garbine Muguruza has won her first Wimbledon title, defeating American Venus Williams in straight sets Saturday, 7-5, 6-0. The 10th seeded Williams, 37, had been seeking to become the oldest women’s Grand Slam champion but couldn’t overcome the 14th seeded Muguruza. Muguruza, who lost in the Wimbledon finals in 2015 to Venus’ sister, Serena, saved two set points in the 10th game of the first set and then won nine straight games to clinch the championship. It is her second Grand Slam title. Venus Williams was seeking her first Wimbledon title since 2008.  She has won a total of …

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France’s foreign minister has expressed concern about the deterioration of relations between Qatar and its Arab neighbors and called for sanctions that target Qatari nationals to be lifted. Jean-Yves Le Drian spoke to reporters after talks with his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, in Doha on Saturday. A group of nations that includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt accuses Qatar of supporting terrorism and has given Doha a 13-point list of demands after severing diplomatic ties in early June. Qatar has said it is willing to negotiate but will not give up its sovereignty. …

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Germany has confirmed that two of its nationals were stabbed to death in an attack at an Egyptian resort hotel. A German Foreign Ministry statement said “We can now sadly confirm that two German tourists died in the attack at Hurghada.” Officials say the female tourists were killed Friday when the assailant swam ashore from another Red Sea beach. Egyptian authorities say the man has been arrested. A German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said, “According to what we know, the act was a deliberate attack on foreign tourists – a particularly devious and criminal act that leaves us sad, dismayed and …

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As recently as last year, Rinat Akhmetshin could be seen regularly pedaling through downtown Washington, D.C., nattily dressed, with a pocket square and heavy-framed thick glasses, riding a retro hipster orange bicycle.  He also showed an affinity for vintage motorcycles, which he parked for two years in the Washington driveway of renowned investigative reporter Seymour Hersh.  Hersh later gave a public endorsement to a controversial film linked to Akhmetshin that sought to undermine a 2012 U.S. law that infuriated the Kremlin.  At the center of scandal Now Akhmetshin, a dual Russian-American citizen who has both denied and bragged about being …

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