Category: Євросоюз

Pressure is growing on Prime Minister Theresa May to announce her intention to resign in the next few months. Senior Conservatives told VOA it is only a matter of time before May, who’s scrambling to hang on to power, has to go. They say she faces the choice between either agreeing to go quietly or facing an immediate leadership challenge, which will throw the party into an internecine war between those who want a sharp rupture with the European Union and those championing a so-called softer Brexit that would see Britain remaining inside Europe’s Single Market and accepting continued European …

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One of the first police officers on the scene of the London Bridge attack says he was met by pandemonium, as people fled in panic and the wounded lay on sidewalks.   But he also described how, within minutes, police had killed the attackers, ushered bystanders to safety and begun treating and evacuating the wounded.   Inspector Jim Cole, who was scrambled from his south London police station, said the response was “like something out of a Battle of Britain film” as officers piled into vehicles and raced to the scene. ​Triage, shelter inside a pub   In an account …

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British Prime Minister Theresa May was seeking a deal with a small Northern Irish party Sunday to stay in power after losing her party’s parliamentary majority in a catastrophic electoral gamble just days before Brexit talks are set to start. But with May’s personal authority in tatters, there were reports that moves were afoot within her Conservative Party to dislodge her, while opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was insisting she could be ousted and he could replace her. May’s Downing Street office said Sunday she had spoken with Northern Ireland’s pro-Brexit, socially conservative Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to discuss finalizing …

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Kosovo votes in an early parliamentary election Sunday. The election was called in May when the government lost a confidence vote after the opposition accused it for not fulfilling promises to improve the country’s standard of living. Public opinion polls indicate a coalition of three former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) is in the lead. The coalition, led by former prime minister Ramush Haradinaj, is made up of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) of Kadri Veseli, the Initiative for Kosovo, NISMA, of Fatmir Limaj, and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AKK), Haradinaj. The three party …

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Danger lurks at Dracula’s castle.   Romanian authorities have closed a 13th-century fortress connected to Vlad the Impaler after a mother bear and her cubs were found roaming in the area.   The citadel, atop a mountain in central Romania, can be reached only by climbing 1,480 steps. It was shut in late May “for the safety of visitors,” its website said Saturday.   Local prefect Emilian Dragnea says the Environment Ministry had agreed to capture the four bears and relocate them elsewhere. Authorities blame people for leaving food in the area.   The citadel was repaired by 15th-century Romanian …

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Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Bahrain’s Foreign Minister that the dispute between Qatar and other Arab states should be resolved by the end of the holy month of Ramadan, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Saturday. In a joint news conference with Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed al-Khalifa, Cavusoglu said Turkey would continue its efforts to resolve the dispute, as Qatar faces isolation imposed by fellow Arab states over its alleged support for terrorism. Cavusoglu also said Turkey’s military base in Qatar, to which Erdogan approved legislation on deploying Turkish troops, was aimed at contributing …

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A boat belonging to a Spanish aid organization has rescued 391 migrants attempting the dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean Sea.   Laura Lanuza, spokeswoman for Spain’s Proactiva Open Arms aid group, says that its ship Golfo Azzurro on Saturday took on board 243 migrants from two smugglers’ boats it intercepted in international waters off the coast of Libya.   Lanuza says the migrants included one baby, a pregnant woman and several children.   The aid boat also saved another 148 migrants that it transferred to an Italian coast guard vessel.   Lawless Libya is one of the prime spots for …

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The Great British public has spoken. But as journalist Ian Hislop quipped Friday on a television comedy show, “no one knows what they said.” Hardly had the votes been counted in Britain’s indecisive election, in which no party got an outright parliamentary majority, than politicians took to airwaves and tapped away on Twitter to spin what the result meant. And crucially they debated whether the voters had rejected Brexit — or at least Prime Minister Theresa May’s hard version of a break with the European Union, which would see Britain not only relinquish EU membership but leave the single market …

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday she assumed Britain would stick to its plan for leaving the European Union after the country’s election upset, and that she wanted to work quickly on talks over Brexit. British voters failed to deliver a widely expected parliamentary majority for the Conservative party in Thursday’s general election, dealing a major blow to Prime Minister Theresa May just days ahead of difficult Brexit talks with the EU. Speaking during a visit to Mexico City, Merkel said Germany was ready for the Brexit talks, which May said would begin June 19 as scheduled, although she now …

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Conservatives attempt to form minority government backed by the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland …

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Winning the French presidency was step one for Emmanuel Macron. Step two is nailing down the parliamentary majority France’s youngest-ever president needs to be effective. That happens in legislative elections that promise a monumental shake-up of the National Assembly and the consolidation of Macron’s grip on France’s levers of power. Not only is the two-round vote, this Sunday and next, expected to install hundreds of new faces in the 577-seat lower house, but many will likely be first-time lawmakers, making good on Macron’s campaign promises to take a broom to established, old-style politics. Half of the candidates for Macron’s fledgling …

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European countries are used to hung parliaments and forming coalition governments — or being governed by minority ones. But they are more unusual in Britain, partly because of Britain’s first-past-the-post voting system. However, several elections resulted in minority governments in the early part of the 20th century and, more recently, some governments have begun with outright majorities which then were lost because of resignations, by-elections and defections. The Labour Party had a three-seat majority after the 1974 general election but, by 1977, it lost its majority status and remained in power because of a pact it formed with the Liberal …

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Britain was thrown into political uncertainty Friday after Labour, the main opposition party, made an extraordinary electoral comeback, denying Prime Minister Theresa May and the ruling Conservatives a majority in the House of Commons, largely due to a surge in youth voters. In what will rank as one of the most remarkable elections in modern British history, May’s gamble to expand her party’s parliamentary majority failed spectacularly, raising doubts that she will be able to lead a minority government with the support of Northern Ireland’s Unionists. Calls mounted from the Labour Party, the leaders of third parties and some Conservatives …

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Prime Minister Theresa May faced calls to quit Friday after her election gamble to win a stronger mandate backfired as she lost her parliamentary majority, throwing British politics into turmoil and potentially disrupting Brexit negotiations. May failed to get the 326 seats her Conservative party needs for an outright majority. She needs 18 more seats, with only 17 more seats left to declare. The result looks set to trigger a period of political uncertainty and could throw Britain’s negotiations to leave the European Union, due to start June 19, into disarray. The pound lost more than 2 cents against the …

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Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday that the United States supported peace talks on Cyprus aimed at reunifying the divided island. Pence hosted Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades at the White House on Thursday. The White House said Pence expressed hope that Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders “will agree to a settlement that would reunify Cyprus as a bizonal, bicommunal federation to the benefit of all Cypriots.” Pence also thanked Cyprus for its support for the Middle East peace talks and the fight against Islamic State. Anastasiades said that he invited Pence to visit the island and that “what satisfied me …

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The United States is wary of a French push for the U.N. Security Council to authorize a West African force to combat terrorism and trafficking in the Sahel region because it does not want the world body to help fund it, diplomats said on Thursday. France circulated a draft Security Council resolution on Tuesday to the 15-member body that would approve the force using “all necessary means” and ask U.N. chief Antonio Guterres to report on options for U.N. support to the operation. Closed-door negotiations began on Wednesday, and diplomats said the United States would prefer the council give its …

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Native American activists from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, in the U.S. state of North Dakota, have gone global with their fight to stop fossil fuel corporations from possibly fouling water sources by transporting oil on indigenous lands. Peaceful protests that began April 1, 2016, to try to stop construction of the Dakota Access pipeline largely died down in February when the main protest camp was cleared. Oil drilling began on June 1. While they may have lost this battle, the activists say the war is far from over. They say the fight for indigenous rights continues to be waged …

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Turkey’s decision to send up to 3,000 troops to Qatar further cements their growing ties, but it virtually eliminates a possible role for Ankara to mediate between Qatar and the Gulf states that have decided to isolate it for alleged support of terrorism. Both countries have found themselves increasingly isolated Turkey for the increasing authoritarian rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Qatar for its alleged financial support of extremist groups and growing ties with Iran, the main competitor to Saudi Arabia for power and influence in the region. Qatar denies the allegation. Erdogan reportedly tried to intervene after Saudi Arabia, …

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Britain goes to the polls Thursday in a snap election called in April by Prime Minister Theresa May. May says she wants a strong mandate to take to Brussels when negotiations begin on Britain’s exit from the European Union. But her hopes of winning a big majority have faded, as the main opposition Labour party appears to be closing the gap. As Henry Ridgwell reports, the campaign has been overshadowed by a series of terror attacks. …

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After three Islamist attacks in Britain in as many months, many voters in the town of Corby say security is now their major concern for Thursday’s election — and they see both Prime Minister Theresa May and her Labour challenger as weak. A once thriving steel town in central England, Corby has backed the winning party in every British general election since 1983, and if Labour is to upset opinion polls that point to victory for May’s Conservatives, this is the kind of parliamentary seat it needs to take. The town overwhelmingly backed leaving the European Union in last year’s …

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