Category: Євросоюз

Italian outreach workers say there has been a significant shift in the migration pattern from Africa with many more young Nigerian women coming. And they add that many, if not most, of the young Nigerians arriving on Italian shores know they will be expected to engage in sex work. But the women have little idea how harsh their living conditions will be and how long it will take for them to pay off the debts they owe the traffickers who recruited them and got them to Italy. Few of them break free from the work, according to Appiah, a 37-year-old …

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An idyllic country manor set among the vineyards of the Loire River Valley, known for producing some of the world’s finest wines, is where France sought to pioneer its efforts to combat the radicalization of Muslim youth. The efforts were late in coming, compared with other European nations. Britain launched its campaign shortly after the 2005 London attacks. Denmark has had largely successful programs in place for years. France’s first efforts were in 2013, when it started an online campaign and a telephone hotline where relatives and teachers could report teenagers showing changes in behavior that pointed to radicalization. Watch: …

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Analysts estimate 1,700 French nationals have joined the Islamic State, responsible for attacks in France that have killed more than 200 people in the last two years. France has Europe’s largest Muslim population and a long history of extremist attacks, but it was only two years ago that it launched an effort to stop the radicalization of Muslim youth, much later than other European nations. France’s project is off to a slow, troubled start. VOA Europe correspondent Luis Ramirez explores why. …

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Three firefighters have been hurt battling a large brush fire south of the Greek capital, Athens. Authorities have ordered the evacuation of dozens of homes in two communities in Lagonissi, a coastal area 30 kilometers from Athens, after several homes and cars were destroyed in the fire. Dozens of firefighters and fire engines are taking part in the operation. Winds up to 60 kilometers per hour were hampering the firefighting effort, while temperatures in the area reached 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit). Albanian fires In Albania about 300 firefighters and military personnel are working to keep under control about 25 …

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Turkey, once considered the model of an open, secular democracy in the Muslim world, now seems to be stuck in reverse. The government is cracking down on dissidents and erasing the line between religion and state in a country that has served as the bridge between East and West. Founded nearly a century ago, the overwhelmingly Muslim republic incorporated Western thought and philosophy and focused on science. It became an early member of NATO and aimed for European Union membership. But President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, riding a wave of domestic conservatism, is turning toward increasingly authoritarian rule. The once-vibrant news …

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U.S. President Donald Trump blamed Congress Thursday for creating new tensions with Russia by approving sanctions against Moscow, and the Kremlin agreed the penalties would thwart improved relations. “Our relationship with Russia is at an all-time & very dangerous low,” Trump said on his Twitter account, overlooking the Cold War and the Cuban Missile Crisis a half century ago that brought the world to the brink of nuclear warfare. “You can thank Congress,” he said, describing lawmakers as “the same people that can’t even give us HCare!”, referring to the Senate’s failure last week to support his effort to dismantle …

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Father Carlo Ladicicco, a 65-year-old Catholic priest could be enjoying retirement after 35-years as a missionary in a remote region of Peru. Instead he is using his pension to subsidize his pastoral outreach to some of the poorest and most exploited African migrants in Italy — just a 40 minute drive from his birthplace in the country’s southern region of Campania. Sitting in his cramped, sparsely furnished rented bungalow decorated with keepsakes from his decades in the Peruvian jungle, the bustling silver-haired priest with an easy laugh says, “The mission is the same. Here is where I can really help.” …

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The German government has condemned Vietnam’s “unprecedented and blatant violation” of German and international law by kidnapping a Vietnamese citizen seeking asylum in Berlin and returning him to Hanoi to face criminal charges. The German foreign ministry expelled a Vietnamese intelligence officer and summoned Vietnam’s ambassador to hear a complaint that the incident “has the potential to have a massive negative impact on relations between Germany and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.” A statement issued in Berlin Wednesday said senior German officials have “no reasonable doubt” that Vietnamese security services and embassy staff carried out the kidnapping last week of …

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Centers like Pontourney in Beaumont-En-Veron were to be opened in France as reintegration centers, and were to be set up in every region of France. But that will not happen now: At the end of July, officials said Pontourney is closing. …

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A Georgian court on Wednesday rejected a request to postpone former President Mikheil Saakashvili’s hearing on embezzlement charges. Saakashvili’s lawyers asked Tbilisi City Court to delay the hearing because the former president has been stateless since July 26, when Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko revoked Saakashvili’s Ukrainian citizenship. Calling the request unsubstantiated, Judge Badri Kochlamazashvili ruled that the hearing would be held at the court’s discretion. Saakashvili, 49, once a lauded pro-Western reformist, served two terms as Georgia’s president, from January 2004 to November 2013. His popularity declined toward the end of his second term, in part because of a five-day …

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Italy on Wednesday sent a navy patrol boat to Libya and seized a German rescue ship in dramatic steps aimed at ending the migrant crisis that has engulfed Europe in recent years. The crew on board the Iuventa, operated by the NGO Jugend Rettet, is being questioned on the orders of the Italian prosecutor. While investigators suspect “the crime of clandestine immigration” was committed by some of the Jugend Rettet boat’s crew, prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio told reporters that “my personal conviction was that the motive is humanitarian, exclusively humanitarian.” Jugend Rettet said on its Facebook page Wednesday that it went …

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Nana Sanjaia of VOA’s Georgian service spoke with Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili, following Vice President Mike Pence’s visit to the country. Below is a transcript, edited for clarity and length. Q: Vice President Mike Pence is the highest official of the current U.S. administration who visited Georgia. What is the takeout from his visit? A: The vice president’s visit was extremely important, and so is the timing. The administration is six months in office but we’ve seen continued stable support for Georgia from the Senate, House and White House. We see how very carefully, very targeted the U.S. new administration …

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U.S. Vice President Mike Pence accused Russia on Wednesday of working to “destabilize” the Western Balkans and divide the region from the West where he said its future lies. Pence spoke in Montenegro, which joined NATO this year in defiance of Russia, on the final leg of a tour designed to reassure Eastern Europe of Washington’s commitment to its security despite doubts sowed by President Donald Trump’s lukewarm support for the Western military alliance. Montenegro, a former Yugoslav republic with a population of 680,000 and an army of 2,000, became NATO’s 29th member in June, eight months after Podgorica accused …

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Romania on Wednesday commemorated the deaths of thousands of Roma at a Nazi concentration camp, as Holocaust survivors recalled the horrors of more than 70 years ago. Romania’s foreign ministry said young generations should be educated about “this tragic episode in European history,” referring to August 2, 1944, when about 3,000 Roma were killed in the gas chambers at Auschwitz. The Elie Wiesel Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania says 50,000 Roma were deported to Trans-Dniester in the Soviet Union and 11,000 died. An exhibition opened Wednesday to commemorate the deaths. Constantin Braila, 86, a survivor who …

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Sirens wailed across Poland’s capital on Tuesday as the country marked the 73rd anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising, a doomed revolt against the occupying Germans during World War II.   Sirens sounded for about two minutes starting at 5 p.m., the hour the 1944 uprising began, bringing traffic mostly to a standstill while people stopped to pay respect to the Poles who fought and died.   President Andrzej Duda, veterans, scouts and others took part in ceremonies, as did several thousand far-right extremists who marched through Warsaw. The German Embassy in Warsaw flew its flags — a German and a …

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The United States began removing furniture and equipment from a diplomatic property in Moscow on Tuesday in the first sign of compliance with a Kremlin order to slash its presence in Russia as retaliation for new U.S. sanctions. President Vladimir Putin has ordered the United States to cut around 60 percent of its diplomatic staff in Russia by Sept. 1, and said Moscow will seize two U.S. diplomatic properties in response to sanctions approved by Congress last week. The White House has said U.S. President Donald Trump will sign the sanctions bill, meant as a response to alleged Russian meddling …

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Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and his Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borissov signed a friendship treaty on Tuesday in a move designed to end years of diplomatic wrangling and boost Macedonia’s European integration. Macedonia’s difficult relations with its bigger eastern neighbor, with which it shares close religious, historic and linguistic ties, have hampered Skopje’s efforts to join NATO and the European Union. Bulgaria belongs to both organizations. Bulgaria still does not recognize the Macedonian language, which it views as a dialect of Bulgarian. The two Balkan nations have also clashed over minority rights and the nationality of 19th century guerrillas who …

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Nearly 500 people suspected of involvement in an unsuccessful coup attempt in Turkey last year went on trial Tuesday, where they face the prospect of the death penalty if found guilty. Those on trial Tuesday include top Army generals and pilots who are accused of directing the coup and bombing government buildings. They face charges that include murder and attempting to overthrow the government. The main defendant named in the case is the U.S.-based cleric Fetullah Gulen, whom has been blamed of masterminding the coup attempt. He has denied any involvement and is being tried in absentia. The trial is …

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On the latest leg of his first official tour of Eastern Europe, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence assured regional allies the United States will stand by their side. Facing a crowd of Georgian and international journalists at government offices in Tbilisi, Pence, standing alongside his host, Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, said America first does not mean America alone. “President Trump has sent me with the simple message to you and to the people of Georgia, we are with you, we stand with you …  America stands with Georgia,” said Pence. The vice president came to Georgia, the only non-NATO …

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U.S. Vice President Mike Pence says diplomatic actions taken by Russian in response to fresh sanctions will not deter U.S. commitment to its security and that of its allies. Speaking Tuesday during a visit to Georgia, Pence said the sanctions bill President Donald Trump will soon sign sends a “very clear message” that with Russia’s activities in Ukraine and its support for Iran and Syria, its “posture has to change.” Congress overwhelmingly passed the sanctions bill punishing Russia for interference in the 2016 U.S. election, while also imposing new measures on Iran and North Korea. Russia responded by ordering the …

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