Category: Євросоюз

A fire that engulfed a London tower block killing at least 79 people started in a Hotpoint fridge freezer and cladding on the building failed all safety tests, London police said on Friday. Police Detective Superintendent Fiona McCormack said the Hotpoint model, FF175BP, was not subject to recall and that the manufacturer was doing further tests. “We now have expert evidence that the fire was not started deliberately,” McCormack said. Police said both the insulation and tiles used in cladding at the 24-story Grenfell Tower block failed all post-fire safety tests. “Preliminary tests show the insulation samples collected from Grenfell …

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British Prime Minister Theresa May says the offer she has made on the rights of European Union citizens living in Britain after Britain leaves the EU is “very fair” and “very serious.” May has offered to allow an estimated 3 million EU citizens living in the United Kingdom to remain in Britain post-Brexit. Speaking Friday in Brussels on the second day of an EU summit, May said the government “will set out more detailed proposals on Monday.” EU leaders are not convinced her proposals are adequate, saying many questions remain. “We won’t be seeing families split apart,” May said before …

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As the dust from Oliver Stone’s politically explosive (or not, depending upon which American you ask) “Putin Interviews” begins to settle, Russian viewers were just finishing the concluding episode Thursday. In the United States, where the controversial series — four hourlong episodes — was made available to Showtime subscribers June 12-15, critics largely panned it as blatantly hagiographic. “Natural Born Buddies: The Shared Ideology of Oliver Stone and Vladimir Putin,” wrote the left-leaning New Republic; “Oliver Stone stinks” was the blunt summation of conservative Daily Caller blogger Jim Treacher, who described it as one of the only times he saw …

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When President Emmanuel Macron reshuffled his cabinet after four ministers with judicial probes hanging over them said they were quitting, he snubbed well-known heavyweights to fill the posts. As his chief of staff read out the names for vacant portfolios including defense, justice and European affairs, the reaction of many French was: who? It was unusual in a country where politics has long been perceived as the preserve of an old boys network, where political careers begin at an elite school for civil servants and last decades. And it pointed to Macron’s inclination to run government more like a business. …

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German lawmakers on Thursday approved a plan to annul the convictions of thousands of gay men sentenced for homosexuality under a Nazi-era law that remained in force after World War II. The parliament’s lower house voted unanimously for the bill, which calls for canceling convictions under what’s known as Paragraph 175. The legislation criminalizing homosexuality was introduced in the 19th century, toughened under Nazi rule and retained in that form in both East and West Germany. In all, more than 68,000 people were convicted under various forms of Paragraph 175 in both German states before it was scrapped in 1994. …

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The Church of England “colluded” to hide long-term sexual abuses committed by one of its former bishops, the head of the church said Thursday. “The Church colluded and concealed rather than seeking to help those who were brave enough to come forward,” Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said, following the release of a report on assaults committed by former bishop Peter Ball. “This is inexcusable and shocking behavior,” Welby said. Ball was jailed for 32 months in 2015 after pleading guilty to misconduct in public office and indecent assaults against teenagers and young men over a period of 20 years. …

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Britain’s Prince Harry has suggested that no one in the royal family really wishes to rise to the throne.   Harry says in an interview with Newsweek magazine that it is duty, rather than desire, that prompts the family to continue serving the British people. The prince says that the House of Windsor is “not doing this for ourselves but for the greater good of the people.”   Harry also revealed his distress at having to walk behind his mother’s coffin as a 12-year-old child following her death in a 1997 car accident. Harry and other members of the family, …

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U.S. President Donald Trump is questioning why his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, and his administration didn’t block Russia from meddling in last year’s presidential election. In a Twitter comment Thursday, Trump posed a question: “By the way, if Russia was working so hard on the 2016 Election, it all took place during the Obama Admin. Why didn’t they stop them?” In another remark, Trump noted that Jeh Johnson, Obama’s Homeland Security chief, “is latest top intelligence official to state there was no grand scheme between Trump & Russia.” Johnson told a House Intelligence Committee hearing Wednesday that he has …

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Food exporters including the United States and European Union are stepping up pressure on China to scale back plans for intensive inspections of imports that they say would hamper access to its fast-growing market.   The group, which also includes Japan and Australia, sent a joint letter to Chinese regulators asking them to suspend a proposed requirement, due to take effect Oct. 1, for each food shipment to have an inspection certificate from a foreign government. They say that would disrupt trade and ask Beijing to follow global practice by applying the requirement only to higher-risk foods.   The dispute, …

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Estimates from the British government show that 600 other high-rise buildings in the country could be covered in similar cladding to that used on Grenfell Tower, which became engulfed in flames last week in London. Following the June 14 fire, the British government asked owners of tower blocks around Britain to send in samples of any cladding material used on their buildings for testing. As of Thursday morning, authorities have found combustible cladding on at least three tower blocks, according to British officials. Samples of cladding tested British Prime Minister Theresa May said the government can test at least 100 …

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Firefighters extinguished the deadliest forest fire in Portugal’s recent history on Wednesday, though blazes persisted in nearby central and other areas of the country. The main fire, which erupted on Saturday and spread with breathtaking speed, killed 64 people as they tried to flee in cars or were engulfed in flames in remote villages in a hilly region about 200 km (125 miles) northeast of Lisbon. More than 150 people have been injured. Victor Vaz Pinto, commander of the civil protection agency, said the fire in the area near the town of Pedrogao Grande had been put out. It was …

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Romania’s ruling Social Democrats will nominate a new prime minister on Monday, their leader said, after ousting their six-month-old cabinet and edging closer to ending political deadlock. With opposition parties abstaining, the Social Democrats (PSD) and their junior coalition partner ALDE voted 241-7 to topple Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu in a no-confidence motion on Wednesday. They withdrew their support from him a week ago, saying he had failed to uphold an ambitious governing program that had won the coalition a sweeping election victory in December and a comfortable parliamentary majority. A push by Grindeanu’s government to decriminalise some corruption offenses …

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Germany will withdraw 280 troops, as well as surveillance planes and refueling jets, from the Incirlik air base in Turkey following a decision by the German parliament on Wednesday. The troops will be relocated to a base in Jordan. The move comes after Turkey refused German lawmakers access to the base, saying the diplomatic relationship between the countries needed to improve first. Germany has maintained a presence at Incirlik since 2014, when Turkey joined the coalition fighting ISIS.   “The German Bundestag (parliament) regrets very much that conditions for the continued stationing of the Bundeswehr in Incirlik are not met,” …

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The British government plans to introduce a public advocate who will act for bereaved families after any disaster, it announced Wednesday, a week after a catastrophic fire killed 79 people at a social housing tower block in London. The government response to the Grenfell Tower blaze has been widely criticized, with complaints from bereaved families and people who lost their homes that official agencies gave them no information or support. “The purpose of the Independent Public Advocate is to keep the bereaved and surviving victims of disasters informed of progress in any relevant investigation and make them fully aware how …

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German prosecutors have filed espionage charges against a man accused of spying for Turkish intelligence on a Kurdish politician and activists.   Federal prosecutors said Wednesday that the indictment against 32-year-old Mehmet Fatih S., whose full name wasn’t given in line with privacy laws, was filed in a Hamburg court.   The Turkish national was arrested in December. Prosecutors say that he had worked for a Turkish intelligence service since 2013 and was tasked in September 2015 or earlier with snooping on Kurds in Germany.   They say he focused on a Germany-based politician who at the time headed a …

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Hungary’s government said Tuesday that the United States is applying double standards in its criticism of a new law on civic groups that receive funds from foreign donors. A statement from the government spokesman’s office said the U.S. State Department was being “misled” by a disinformation campaign appearing in international media and “strongly assisted by Soros organizations.” At the center of the dispute are some civic groups supported by Hungarian-American financier George Soros, such as the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a human rights advocate which also provides legal aid to asylum-seekers, and the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union. “We would like everyone …

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The U.S. Congress will continue its look into Russian meddling in last year’s presidential election campaign with two hearings Wednesday, one in the Senate and one in the House of Representatives. Lawmakers remain divided over the question of whether President Donald Trump may have taken steps to obstruct justice in the Russia probe, an issue that reportedly has become a focus of the special counsel investigation led by former FBI director Robert Mueller. VOA’s Jim Malone reports. …

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U.S. President Donald Trump received his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko at the White House Tuesday. Poroshenko hailed the U.S.-Ukraine relationship and pledged his commitment to democracy as he sought U.S. support against Russian aggression. His visit comes as the U.S. government considers extending economic sanctions against Moscow for its role in the unrest in eastern Ukraine. Zlatica Hoke reports. …

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British Prime Minister Theresa May will begin the delicate task of running a minority government on Wednesday by setting out a softer tone on Brexit as Queen Elizabeth formally opens parliament. What is usually a ceremonial address, dominated by costumed pageantry, has become a critical test of May’s ability to run the country during its most testing period in generations. The so-called Queen’s Speech, prepared by ministers and read out by the monarch, will spell out the policies May’s government intends to pursue over the next two years. It comes at a time of unprecedented political flux with May yet …

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The United Nations Security Council is set to vote on Wednesday on a draft resolution to back a West African force to combat terrorism and arms, drug and human trafficking in the Sahel region after France weakened the language in a bid to appease the United States. The vast, arid region has in recent years become a breeding ground for jihadist groups – some linked to al-Qaida and Islamic State – that European nations, particularly France, fear could threaten Europe if left unchecked. Last year, the Sahel nations – Niger, Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania – proposed establishing special …

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