Category: Євросоюз

When President Xi Jinping took the stage in Davos in January and painted China as a champion of free markets ready to fill the global leadership role vacated by the United States, German officials couldn’t help but chuckle. Their expectation was that Donald Trump, due to be inaugurated as U.S. president days later, would quickly temper his protectionist campaign rhetoric and patch up ties with Western allies, leaving little space for Beijing. Six months later, as Xi arrives in Berlin for a highly symbolic visit with German Chancellor Angela Merkel before a Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, what seemed …

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Work is underway in Poland’s capital to close streets and set the stage for President Donald Trump, who is due to deliver a public speech during his visit to Poland on Thursday.   Workers are building platforms at a downtown Warsaw square where Trump will speak, and colorful posters can be seen across the city inviting people to attend the event. Signs are up to show traffic diversions from areas where Trump will be during his brief stay in Warsaw.   The speech is hosted by the U.S. Embassy and Ambassador Paul W. Jones has invited the public to attend. …

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Russia and China have agreed on a need for a freeze on North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs as well as large-scale joint military exercises by the United States and South Korea. Hours after Pyongyang announced a missile launch Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he would coordinate with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to promote their plan to combat North Korea’s growing missile threat. “We’ve agreed to robustly promote our joint initiative to find a solution to the Korean issue based on the Russian step-by-step program, and the Chinese ideas of concurrently freezing DPRK’s nuclear activity, as well as …

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U.S. President Donald Trump has joined Pope Francis in offering any help they can for a terminally ill British infant. Trump said in a Twitter comment Monday that if there was anything he could do for Charlie Gard, the 10-month-old child with a rare genetic disease, “we would be delighted to do so.” The baby’s parents, Chris Gard and Connie Yates, have lost European court decisions to doctors who want to take the baby off life support at a London hospital after reaching the conclusion that he has no chance of survival. The parents, refusing to accept the medical prognosis, …

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French president Emmanuel Macron vowed to uphold his campaign promises to bring about deep changes in France during a joint parliamentary session Monday at the Palace of Versailles. One of his first measures would be to lift the state of emergency that has been in place in France since 2015, but he promised to harden permanent security measures to fight Islamic extremism and other threats. Macron said his government “will work to prevent any new attack, and we will work to fight [the assailants] without pity, without regrets, without weakness.” He also stressed the need to “guarantee full respect for …

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Feted by some British newspapers as proof of a Brexit vote windfall, Britain’s recent export recovery ranks as the worst among Europe’s major economies, according to one closely-watched measure. Surveys of manufacturers across Europe published by data firm IHS Markit on Monday underlined Britain’s challenge as it tries to become an export-led dynamo outside the European Union. The export orders gauge of the UK Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers’ Index slid to a five-month low in June. While still indicating growth in exports, it left Britain as the weakest performer in terms of foreign orders, barring Greece, among big western European economies …

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A dispute in Turkey over the removal of the theory of evolution from schools is set to escalate further.   Turkey’s main teachers’ union, Egitim Sen announced it is turning to the courts.  “Excluding the theory of evolution from the curriculum and obliging all schools to have a prayer room and water closet (for ablution) destroys the principle of secularism and the scientific principles of education,” said Egitim Sen chair Mehmet Balik, “We will open a lawsuit against these regulations and take these implementations to court.” The education ministry argues there is no religious or political agenda behind the reform …

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French President Emmanuel Macron has announced military and financial support to a group of countries fighting terrorism in Africa’s Sahel region. Macron was in Mali on Sunday to consolidate western backing for a five-nation regional force against the militants. During his visit, an al-Qaida-affiliated group based in Mali released a video of six foreign hostages it is holding for ransom. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports. …

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Two gunmen opened fire outside a mosque in the southern French city of Avignon Sunday, wounding eight people. Police said they are “not at all treating it as terrorist-related,” the regional newspaper La Provence reported. Reports from witnesses said two men got out of a car near the mosque and opened fire with a shotgun and another weapon, local authorities said. Two of the eight people wounded were hospitalized, but their injuries reportedly were not serious. La Provence said four people were wounded outside the mosque and four members of a family were hit by shrapnel in their apartment about …

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With an eye on anti-globalization protests brewing in Hamburg before this week’s G20 summit, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday leaders will have to focus on sustainable and inclusive economic growth rather than their own prosperity. In her weekly podcast, the German chancellor said this year’s G-20 summit will delve into issues championed by protesters such as distribution of wealth and consumption of resources — alongside related issues like climate change, free markets, consumer protection and upholding social standards. Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched against the meeting in the rain in Hamburg on Sunday in a prelude to the July …

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The chief executive of Russia’s Kaspersky Lab says he’s ready to have his company’s source code examined by U.S. government officials to help dispel long-lingering suspicions about his company’s ties to the Kremlin. In an interview with The Associated Press at his Moscow headquarters, Eugene Kaspersky said Saturday there’s never been any truth to rumors of his work with Russian intelligence. But he acknowledges it’s unusual for a successful company to operate independently of the government in Russia, saying, “I do understand why we look strange.”   But he says the firm never cooperates with cyberespionage, saying he shuts down …

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Pope Francis is calling for an end to the violent anti-government protests in Venezuela and expressing solidarity with families of those killed. Francis led thousands of people in prayer for Venezuela on Sunday as he noted the country is to mark its independence on Wednesday.   He said, “I assure this dear nation of my prayers and express my closeness to the families who have lost their children in the protests. I appeal for an end to the violence and for a peaceful and democratic solution to the crisis.”   At least 80 people have been killed since anti-government protests …

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An al-Qaida-linked group in Mali has released a proof-of-life video showing six foreign hostages, a group that monitors jihadist communications says, shortly before the French president’s arrival in the West African country for an anti-terror summit.   The recently formed Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen issued the video Saturday on Telegram, the SITE Intelligence Group said. The video shows Stephen McGowan of South Africa, Elliot Kenneth Arthur of Australia, Iulian Ghergut of Romania, Beatrice Stockly of Switzerland, Gloria Cecilia Narvaez of Colombia and Sophie Petronin of France.   “No genuine negotiations have begun to rescue your children,” a narrator says.   …

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France and its African partners must work together to wipe out Islamist militants in the volatile Sahel region, President Emmanuel Macron said at the opening of a summit in Mali’s capital Bamako on Sunday. Leaders of the G-5 Sahel bloc — Mali, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Niger and Chad — were expected to launch a new multi-national force at the meeting aimed at combating Islamist militants and illegal activity in the vast arid zone. “Every day we must combat terrorists, thugs, murderers … who we must steadfastly and with determination eradicate together,” said Macron, who was making his second visit to Mali since …

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The interior ministers of France, Germany and Italy will meet in Paris Sunday to help Italy deal with masses of migrants arriving on its shores. Italy is struggling to respond to the influx of tens of thousands of migrants and threatened earlier this week to close its ports to migrant rescue boats in order to force the vessels to go to other Mediterranean countries. Officials say French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb, German counterpart Thomas de Maiziere and Italy’s Marco Minniti will meet European Union Commissioner for Refugees Dimitris Avramopoulos in Paris Sunday to discuss the situation. Watch: EU Pledges Support …

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“I was 12 years old when I was raped. I did not understand what was happening.” Nelle is now 36 years old. But in 1993 when war broke out in Burundi, armed men came to her village near the capital, Bujumbura. They killed her mother and father and six siblings. She was raped, but she survived. “I saw people were killing each other. They were running away and killing each other. I hid myself under dead bodies for five days,” she said. Nelle’s story of survival was long and difficult to tell.  After living through years of instability, she told …

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Ukraine has blamed Russian security services for a massive cyber attack that started in the last week in Ukraine and eventually spread to computers across the world. Ukraine’s security agency, the SBU, said in a statement Saturday the attack bore resemblances to past hacks of Ukrainian infrastructure by the Russian security services. “The available data, including those obtained in cooperation with international antivirus companies, give us reason to believe that the same hacking groups are involved in the attacks, which in December 2016 attacked the financial system, transport and energy facilities of Ukraine, using TeleBots and BlackEnergy,” the statement said. …

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World leaders from past and present gathered in the French city of Strasbourg Saturday to honor the late former German chancellor Helmut Kohl, who is credited with forging the reunification of East and West Germany in 1990. Kohl, who died June 16 at the age of 87, is the first national leader to be honored with a ceremony at the European Parliament’s seat in Strasbourg. Several world leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Theresa May and former U.S. president Bill Clinton were on hand to pay respects to Kohl’s family. Clinton, during his …

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Turkey has always prided itself on being a secular state. The nation enshrined the separation of church and state in its constitution by constitutional amendment in 1928. But that was nearly a century ago, and about 99 percent of the nation’s citizens are now identified as Muslim. Watch: Evolution vs. Erdogan: Turkey Struggles with Basic Science The current government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has received some criticism for eroding the country’s historic commitment to secularism and moving the nation in a more fundamentalist direction. Recently, in a decision that many saw as moving Turkey away from secularism and …

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The United Nations called on Venezuela on Friday to uphold the rule of law and freedom of assembly, and criticized President Nicolas Maduro’s government for moves against the chief state prosecutor. Critics of Maduro have taken to the streets almost daily for three months to protest against what they call the creation of a dictatorship. The protests, which have left nearly 80 dead, frequently culminate in violent clashes with security forces. Ruling Socialist Party officials have launched a series of attacks against chief state prosecutor Luisa Ortega, from accusations of insanity to promoting violence, after her high-profile break with the …

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