Category: Євросоюз

FIFA Council member Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah of Kuwait is resigning from his soccer roles under pressure from allegations in an American federal court that he bribed Asian officials. Sheikh Ahmad said Sunday in a statement he will withdraw from a May 8 election in Bahrain for the FIFA seat representing Asia, which he currently holds. “I do not want these allegations to create divisions or distract attention from the upcoming AFC [Asian Football Confederation] and FIFA Congresses,” said the Kuwaiti royal, who denies any wrongdoing. “Therefore, after careful consideration, I have decided it is in the best interests of …

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Pope Francis called on Sunday for the respect of human rights and an end to violence in Venezuela, where nearly 30 people were killed in unrest this month. Francis, speaking to tens of thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square for his weekly address, decried a “grave humanitarian, social , political and economic crisis that is exhausting the population”. Venezuela’s opposition is demanding elections, autonomy for the legislature where they have a majority, a humanitarian aid channel from abroad to alleviate an economic crisis, and freedom for more than 100 activists jailed by President Nicolas Maduro’s government. “I make a …

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday his country may take further action against Kurdish militants in Iraq and Syria and insisted U.S. support for such groups “must come to an end.”   The U.S. moved troops and armored vehicles through several Syrian cities and towns on Friday and Saturday in a show of force apparently intended to dissuade Turkey and Syrian Kurdish forces from attacking each other.   Kurdish officials described the U.S. troop movement as a “buffer” between them and Turkey.   The U.S. has provided air cover and other support to Kurdish forces battling the Islamic State …

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Poland’s Foreign Ministry has suspended one of its honorary consuls in the U.S. after the woman allegedly posted a digitally-altered image showing European Council President Donald Tusk dressed as a Nazi German SS officer. The image was posted on the Facebook page of Maria Szonert Binienda, recently named honorary consul in Akron, Ohio. The news agency PAP reported Sunday that she has been suspended from that position and that further decisions will be decided after Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski returns from a visit to Australia. Szonert Binienda told The Associated Press in an email that she never posted the altered …

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Turkey has dismissed nearly 4,000 people from its civil service, military, and gendarmerie, in what appears to be a purge related to last year’s attempted coup. Turkey announced the move on Saturday, saying in the government’s Official Gazette that those let go include 1,127 employees of the justice ministry, made up of prison guards, academics and religious affairs ministry employees. It appears to be one of the largest such purges since the coup attempt last July. Since that time some 120,000 people have been suspended from their jobs in civil service and the private sector, and more than 40,000 people …

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The Russian opposition movement founded by exiled Kremlin critic and oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky protested President Vladimir Putin in 32 cities Saturday, despite the fact that authorities have banned the movement and declared it illegal, and police have raided its Moscow offices. The main rally in Moscow had a few hundred protesters gathering in a park before moving to an administrative building nearby, where they submitted a letter urging Putin not to run for a fourth term in 2018. In St. Petersburg, though, police arrested a few dozen protesters after about 200 of them gathered for an unsanctioned demonstration. The demonstrations …

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Pope Francis concluded a 27 hour visit to Egypt Saturday, after delivering mass to a crowd of 25,000 Catholics and visiting a seminary. Preaching a message of “peace,” the pontiff tried to reach out to both Christians and Muslims, denouncing those who preach violence in the name of God. Pope Francis said mass in Latin to a vast throng of worshipers gathered at Egypt’s Air Force Stadium Saturday, amid strict security. Egyptian media reported that 25,000 Catholic Christians from six branches of the church attended the mass, amid a festive atmosphere. A choir of Armenian Catholics took its turn to …

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The European Union has voted unanimously to adopt guidelines to negotiate Britain’s exit from the bloc, the summit chairman said Saturday. “Guidelines adopted unanimously. [The] EU-27’s firm and fair political mandate for the Brexit talks is ready,” said EU president Donald Tusk, who tweeted from the summit where EU leaders met in Brussels without British Prime Minister Theresa May. The 27 leaders voted to approve the guidelines in less than 15 minutes. Talks with Britain will begin shortly after its general elections on June 8. These talks will focus on issues such as the welfare of EU citizens and families …

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French presidential hopeful Emmanuel Macron’s party on Saturday called for the resignation of Marine Le Pen’s father from the National Front after comments he made about a ceremony for the policeman killed in an attack in Paris. The policeman was shot dead and two others were wounded April 20, three days before the first round of the presidential election that saw Macron and Le Pen go through to the May 7 second round. The Islamic State militant group claimed the attack. Jean-Marie Le Pen, the National Front (FN) party’s founder from whom his daughter has sought to distance herself because …

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Macedonia’s rival parties are trading blame for violence in parliament, while world powers are giving opposing reactions to the events. The European Union and the United States condemned Thursday’s attack, in which protesters stormed the Macedonian parliament in Skopje, attacking opposition lawmakers after they elected an ethnic Albanian speaker. Russia blamed the events on the West, saying it had meddled in the Balkan nation’s internal affairs. Pointing fingers In Macedonia, the previous night’s violence turned into a war of words between rival politicians on Friday. Zoran Zaev, the head of the opposition Social Democrats, who were targeted in the attack, …

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France’s far-right National Front, the party of presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, has replaced its leader for the second time in three days. Jean-Francois Jalkh, who was named interim president of the party on Tuesday after Le Pen stepped down, was forced to vacate the office in response to allegations he praised a Holocaust denier. He also expressed doubts about the reality of Nazi gas chambers, which killed millions of Jews during World War II. Jalkh is being replaced by Steeve Briois. Each has served as one of the party’s five vice presidents. Another party vice president, Louis Aliot — …

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The independent Russian television channel Dozhd (Rain) reported Friday that the central executive committee of the country’s ruling party, United Russia, had distributed to its regional branches a list of 36 slogans that party activists should use during party activities next week marking the annual May Day holiday. While, according to Dozhd, the slogans include some praising the country’s president (“Putin is for the People, He is Leading Russia to Success!”) and others condemning corruption (“Praise Honesty, Jail Bribe-takers!”), none of them refers to the Russian prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, who happens to be United Russia’s formal head.   The …

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A Russian opposition movement founded by exiled Kremlin critic and oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky says it plans to go ahead with protests against President Vladimir Putin in 32 cities this weekend, despite the fact that authorities have banned the movement and declared it illegal, and police have raided its Moscow offices. The Open Russia movement’s spokeswoman, Maria Galitskaya, said the action will be held as planned. “We insist we do not breach the law since we do not conduct either a meeting, or a demonstration or a picket,” she said.  “We are carrying letters to the president’s reception (office), since someone …

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Russian prosecutors requested a 3½ year prison sentence Friday for a blogger charged with inciting religious hatred for playing “Pokemon Go” in a church. Prosecutors made the request as the trial of Ruslan Sokolovsky, 22, wrapped up in the city of Yekaterinburg. A judge said a verdict in the case would be issued May 11. Sokolovsky posted a video on his blog showing him playing the smartphone game in a church built on the supposed spot where the last Russian tsar and his family were killed. He has been in detention since October. He is charged with inciting religious hatred. …

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Tensions between Russia and the West over security in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia have surfaced at an annual defense conference in Moscow. Major flashpoints include the situation in Syria and NATO expansion. VOA’s Daniel Schearf reports from Moscow. …

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The European Union says it is taking legal action against Hungary over a new law that could force the closure of a foreign-owned university. Budapest’s Central European University was founded by billionaire George Soros after the fall of Communism. Henry Ridgwell reports Hungary’s government wants to impose tough new conditions on its continued operation, prompting street protests in the capital. …

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Scores of protesters in Macedonia have broken through a police cordon and entered parliament, attacking some lawmakers, to protest the election of a new speaker despite a months-long deadlock in talks to form a new government. …

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Scores of protesters, many wearing masks, broke through a police cordon and entered Macedonia’s parliament late Thursday, attacking lawmakers to protest the election of a new speaker despite a months-long deadlock in talks to form a new government. The protesters stormed parliament after the country’s opposition Social Democrats and parties representing Macedonia’s ethnic Albanian minority voted for a new speaker. Shouting and throwing chairs, the protesters attacked lawmakers, including opposition leader Zoran Zaev, who television footage showed bleeding from the forehead.     Television footage showed Zaev and other Social Democrat lawmakers surrounded by protesters waving national flags, shouting “traitors” …

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Tensions between Russia and the West over security in Europe, the Middle East and Asia have surfaced at an annual defense conference in Moscow. Major flashpoints include the situation in Syria and NATO expansion. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gave a stark warning about the expanding threat of terrorism and conflict across the globe at the opening Wednesday of the two-day Moscow Conference on International Security. “The situation in the world is not becoming more stable or predictable, rather the opposite,” he said. “In front of our eyes we see that tension on both global and regional levels is on …

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Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Thursday that the U.K. will probably join the United States in further military action against Syria if asked to do so, whether or not Parliament gets a vote on it.   Johnson said it would be “very difficult to say no” if the U.S. sought British help for a military mission against the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad.   British lawmakers in 2013 rejected a request by then-Prime Minister David Cameron to authorize U.K. airstrikes in response to Assad’s use of chemical weapons. Britain is part of an international coalition targeting the Islamic State …

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