Category: Євросоюз

World leaders and environmental groups have expressed their disappointment with U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the landmark Paris climate accord, the global effort to deal with the effects of climate change. French President Emmanuel Macron said in both French and English that he believed Trump has made a historic mistake.  Macron said U.S. scientists and entrepreneurs would ‘find in France a second homeland,” inviting them to live in France where they could “work together on concrete solutions for our climate, our environment.”  Macron added in France they would work to “make our planet great again,” a play …

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The Trump administration’s announcement to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Change agreement is prompting swift reaction around the globe. Jesusemen Oni has more. …

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The Black Eyed Peas and Robbie Williams will join Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber and other stars at a charity concert Sunday in Manchester, England. Live Nation said Thursday that girl group Little Mix had also been added to the show being held in response to the Manchester bombing that took place at Grande’s concert in the city last week. Twenty-two people died at the show. Katy Perry, Coldplay, Miley Cyrus, Pharrell Williams, Take That and Niall Horan also will perform. The event, “One Love Manchester,” will take place at Emirates Old Trafford. Tickets went on sale Thursday. Proceeds will go …

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A French prosecutor opened an investigation Thursday into a close ally of President Emmanuel Macron, putting the new leader under growing pressure to clean up his own government after he campaigned to improve ethical standards in politics.   Macron stayed awkwardly silent after the announcement of the investigation into Territorial Cohesion Minister Richard Ferrand, an early ally who played a pivotal role in the presidential campaign.   The investigation comes at a bad time for Macron and his government, as they are striving to get a majority in parliament in two-round legislative elections this month to push through his pro-business, …

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Excitement is building in Russia as it prepares for the first time to host the FIFA (International Federation of Association Footballs’) Confederations Cup later in June. The football (soccer) tournament, from June 17 to July 2, is seen as a test for Russia when it hosts the 2018 World Cup games. VOA’s Moscow Correspondent Daniel Schearf reports. …

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Social media companies like Facebook, Twitter and Google’s YouTube have stepped up both the speed and number of removals of hate speech on their platforms in response to pressure from the European Union to do more to tackle the issue, according to the results of an EU evaluation. Facebook won particular praise for reviewing most complaints within a 24-hour target timeframe set down in a code of conduct agreed in December by the European Commission, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube Calling the results “encouraging” for the Commission’s push for self-regulation, Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova said the proportion of offending items …

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A new report showed greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union rose in 2015, the first increase since 2010, even as European officials on Thursday urged the United States to remain part of a global climate pact. Emissions grew by 0.5 percent compared with 2014, mainly due to increases from transportation and a colder winter, the European Environment Agency said.   Greenhouse gases are a major contributor to man-made climate change and most countries around the world have pledged to reduce emissions under the 2015 Paris Agreement.   The report was released as the EU is trying to emphasize its …

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Manchester suicide bomber Salman Abedi likely purchased most of the key bomb components himself and many of his actions were carried out alone, according to British police investigating the attack. Officers in the northern English city have arrested 16 people since the attack in a packed concert hall killed 22 children and adults and injured 116 others last week. “Our inquiries show Abedi himself made most of the purchases of the core components and what is becoming apparent is that many of his movements and actions have been carried out alone during the four days from him landing in the …

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The European Union should continue accession negotiations with Turkey but a reintroduction of the death penalty would clearly put an end to the process, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Wednesday. Turkey abolished the death penalty in 2004 as part of a campaign for EU membership. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has said he will approve its reinstatement if parliament submits such a proposal or if the measure is backed in a referendum. “I am not of the opinion that the accession negotiations with Turkey should be stopped now,” Juncker said in Berlin during a debate with students about the …

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The European Commission president on Wednesday said that it was the “duty of Europe” to stand up to the U.S. if President Donald Trump decided to pull his country out of the Paris climate change accord. Jean-Claude Juncker said that “the Americans can’t just get out of the agreement,” adding that “it takes three to four years” to pull out. Juncker went on to say that the Group of Seven leaders “tried to explain this in clear, simple sentences to Mr. Trump” at a recent summit in Italy. He said that even though “it looks like that attempt failed” … …

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Kosovo’s political parties have started campaigning for the June 11 parliamentary election.   Nineteen parties, five coalitions and backers of two citizen initiatives will be seeking support from 1.8 million voters. There are 120 seats in parliament at stake, 20 of them reserved for ethnic Serbs and other minorities. The election is being held about a year earlier than scheduled because Prime Minister Isa Mustafa’s government lost a no-confidence vote. The most contested issues will be two agreements signed in 2015: a border demarcation deal with Montenegro and one with Serbia that gives more powers to ethnic Serbs in Kosovo. …

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United Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will meet the rival leaders of ethnically divided Cyprus at U.N. headquarters in New York amid faltering reunification talks, officials said Wednesday.   Cyprus government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said that the meeting Sunday evening will aim to carry out a review of the state of play in negotiations that are now at a standstill.   Aleem Siddique, a U.N. spokesman in Cyprus, said the U.N. chief looks forward to welcoming the leaders to New York.   Last week, U.N. envoy Espen Barth Eide broke off mediation efforts after the island’s Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and …

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Days after President Donald Trump’s first overseas trip, the contentious relationship between the news media and the White House was on full display. Embattled White House press secretary Sean Spicer abruptly cut short the first post-trip press briefing after once again lecturing reporters about their treatment of the president. It comes as reports circulate of an impending shakeup among White House communications staff, as VOA’s Bill Gallo report. …

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U.S. President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has agreed to hand over documents to the Senate intelligence committee in connection with its investigation into Russia’s efforts to influence last year’s U.S. presidential election. Flynn had previously refused a subpoena from the committee, with his lawyers asserting the request was too broad in what it was seeking.  The committee filed a more narrow subpoena, and Flynn is now expected to provide some personal documents and those related to two businesses by next week. The House intelligence committee is conducting its own investigation, and on Tuesday Trump’s personal attorney, …

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A prominent Azeri dissident and journalist who was kidnapped near his home in the capital of Georgia has turned up in custody in Baku, Azerbaijan, less than 24 hours after he disappeared. Efqan Muxtarli has been charged with illegally crossing the border from Georgia into Azerbaijan and smuggling 10,000 euros in cash, his attorney told VOA Tuesday. Known for years as a fierce critic of Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, Muxtarli presumably could face other charges in his homeland related to his dissident activities. Human-rights advocates have called for immediate action to investigate Muxtarli’s apparent abduction, but Georgian government officials have …

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Time stands still in a former Soviet military hospital in Budapest that was abandoned when the last Russian troops left Hungary in 1991. Soldiers wounded in Afghanistan were among those treated here. Now the 70,000 square meter (17 acre) complex lies derelict — its walls crumbling, its floors torn up, its windows broken. Traces of the Russian presence are everywhere. In one of the apartments where doctors and soldiers lived with their families, a copy of the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda has been left behind. It dates from Nov. 20, 1988, and the front page details a visit by Mikhail …

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Democracy and political legitimacy are increasingly under threat from attacks by politicians like U.S. President Donald Trump on “fake news” and free speech, former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden told a conference on Tuesday. “The costs of autocracy is illegitimacy, and though none of us have wished for this, it is increasingly near,” Snowden told the Estoril Conferences, a meeting held this week in Portugal on human rights and migration. Snowden was speaking through video link from Moscow, where he has been in asylum since 2013 after he revealed secret details of surveillance programs by U.S. intelligence agencies. …

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Migrants rescued from a rubber boat that left Libya last week said as many as 30 people were trampled or drowned during their voyage as this year’s Mediterranean death toll climbed to more than 1,700, the U.N. said on Tuesday. They arrived in Pozzallo, Italy, on Monday and said their boat lost its motor and took on water hours after leaving Libya. Some fell in the sea and drowned and others were trampled during the panic, including a small child, leaving between 20 and 30 dead. Two bodies were recovered. Migrant arrivals by sea to Italy are up about a …

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France’s new president, Emmanuel Macron, hosted his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, at the Palace of Versailles near Paris Monday. In what he called “extremely frank, direct” talks, Macron criticized Russian media outlets for efforts to influence the French presidential election. He also questioned brutal treatment of the gay and lesbian community in Chechnya and Russia’s role in eastern Ukraine and Syria. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports. …

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Ecuador’s new President Lenin Moreno described WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as a “hacker” but said he would continue to receive asylum in the South American country’s embassy in London. “Mr. Assange is a hacker. That’s something we reject, and I personally reject,” Moreno told journalists on Monday. “But I respect the situation he is in, which calls for respect of his human rights, but we also ask that he respects the situation he is in.” Moreno’s tone is a sharp break from that of his predecessor Rafael Correa, who had said Assange was a “journalist and granted him asylum in …

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