Category: Євросоюз

The European Union’s enlargement commissioner urged Balkan leaders Thursday to stop stoking regional tensions and fully embrace their European future. Johannes Hahn addressed the prime ministers of Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia and Serbia, who met in Sarajevo as part of preparations for a summit of some EU and western Balkan nations to be held in Trieste, Italy on July 12.   Hahn said the EU understood it was in its “hard-headed self-interest” to promote the troubled region’s future within the bloc when U.S policy for that part of the world is unclear and there are “unprecedented levels of involvement …

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Ten people were injured in an eruption on Mount Etna on Thursday when magma flowing into snow caused a violent explosion that sent stones and rocks flying into the air, emergency services said. Among those hurt near the summit of Etna on the island of Sicily were members of a television crew filming for the BBC. “Running down a mountain pelted by rocks, dodging burning boulders and boiling steam — not an experience I ever ever want to repeat,” the BBC’s science correspondent Rebecca Morelle wrote on Twitter. “BBC team all okay — some cuts/ bruises and burns. Very shaken …

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Tucked away in Spain’s Pyrenees mountains, patients at psychiatric facility Benito Menni stretch out across floor mats and stroke greyhound puppies Atila and Argi. Puppy love is part of the treatment for conditions such as schizophrenia. The facility, based in a town near the border with France, uses the dogs to help patients with intellectual disabilities and mental health conditions develop social skills and a sense of autonomy. Alongside misty views of green rolling mountains, petting sessions with the eight-month-old puppies have a calming effect serving as an emotional outlet for patients who struggle to connect with others. Playing with …

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Banks could revolutionize the fight against human trafficking and modern slavery by reporting suspicious transactions and other financial activity that ring alarm bells, according to a report on Wednesday. Financial institutions hold data on traffickers and their victims that could play a vital role in combating trafficking — as long as they also collaborate with groups working to stop the trade and supporting survivors, the report said. The report by Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) was launched at an event in London opened by Britain’s interior minister, Amber Rudd, who announced 6 million pounds ($7.4 million) of aid money to tackle …

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The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said on Thursday that its monitoring mission to Ukraine will be extended by one year. “The OSCE Permanent Council, in a consensus decision taken at its meeting in Vienna today, agreed to renew the mandate of the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine by one year until 31 March 2018,” the organization said in a statement. The OSCE, a security and human rights watchdog that includes both Russia and Ukraine as members, has been monitoring the conflict in eastern Ukraine since March 2014. …

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The United Nations has announced an Arab-heavy shortlist for candidates to replace Bulgarian Irina Bokova as head of the world body’s cultural agency. The nine names competing to be Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, include four Arab candidates. Egypt has been lobbying hard for its choice, former minister Moushira Khattab, after it lost the 2009 nomination to Bokova. She is stepping down this year after two terms. There has never been an Arab chief in the organization’s 72-year-history. UNESCO is frequently a theater for political disputes between Israel and Arab nations over the …

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One person was injured Thursday when a letter bomb exploded in the Paris office of the International Monetary Fund, police said. No damage was reported in the explosion and police quickly evacuated staff from the building before securing the area. International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde called the letter bombing a “cowardly act of violence.” “We are working closely with the French authorities to investigate this incident and ensure the safety of our staff,” she said. The IMF letter bomb comes a day after a similar package arrived at the German Finance Ministry containing low grade explosives. The package was …

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Russia says it was not involved in any unlawful cyber activities, a day after the U.S. Justice Department announced indictments for two Russian spies and two other people suspected of stealing personal information of millions of people in a 2014 hack of Yahoo. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday that no Russian office, including the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) was involved. U.S. Assistant Attorney General Mary McCord said the four indictments include two FSB officers and two hackers who helped them in the intrusion. The FSB officers, identified as Dmitry Dokuchaev and Igor Sushchin, “protected, directed, facilitated and …

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U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to get tough on trade partners like China, Mexico and Germany. Now his Treasury chief, Steven Mnuchin, will get his first opportunity to confront them all in one room. The meeting of the 20 most powerful economies’ finance ministers in Germany this week is likely to be dominated by talk about whether to commit to free trade, as previous meetings have, or implicitly accept that some countries may put up barriers, like tariffs, as Trump has promised. The officials are also scheduled to discuss their longstanding ban on manipulating currencies to gain economic advantage. …

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Multiple Twitter accounts were hacked Wednesday to include tweets branding the Netherlands and Germany as “Nazi” and disseminating pro-Turkish government messages. The messages, in Turkish, are part of an escalation of tensions between Turkey and Europe ahead of a Turkish referendum on expanding presidential powers. Using the hashtags #Nazialmanya (NaziGermany) or #Nazihollanda (NaziHolland), hackers infiltrated hundreds of accounts of politicians, high-profile CEOs, publishers, government agencies and NGOs. Some of the accounts hacked include news organizations Die Welt and BBC North America as well as French politician Alain Juppe, the account of the European Parliament, and non-government organizations, including Amnesty International. …

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Angelina Jolie is set to teach a master’s course at the prestigious London School of Economics this fall as a visiting professor. The London Evening Standard reports the 41-year-old actress and filmmaker gave a preview of her class Tuesday with a lecture at the school’s Centre for Women, Peace and Security. She told the newspaper before the lecture that she was “a little nervous,” but she hoped to do well because the talk was “very important” to her.   The Standard reports that Jolie will be lecturing in an unpaid post in September as part of a master’s program on …

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When U.S. President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel sit down for a ‘get to know you’ session at the White House Friday, the entire future of the Transatlantic relationship will be hanging in the balance. The leaders of two of the world’s most powerful economies have seemed to be on a collision course since candidate Trump accused Merkel of ‘ruining Europe” with liberal immigration policies, spoke ill of NATO, and hinted at a trade war. Merkel, for her part, scolded Trump for imposing a travel ban on immigrants from six mostly Muslim countries, and reminded him that any …

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Nearly four in 10 U.S. colleges and universities have reported a decline in international student applications, according to a recent survey by six higher education groups. The study, of 250 American colleges and universities, found the highest number of declines were from applicants from the Middle East.  Universities report declines of 39 percent in undergraduate applications from the Middle East, while applications from graduate students from the region have decreased by 31 percent. According to the Institute of Higher Education, the majority of Middle East students are from Saudi Arabia, Iran and Kuwait. The report mentions that according to institution-based …

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Pope Francis said Wednesday that employers who fire workers for unclear economic reasons are committing a “very grave sin” and should ensure dignified work for all their employees.   Francis made the comments at his Wednesday general audience after appealing for a resolution to a labor dispute at Sky Italia, where employees are facing job cuts and relocation as the satellite channel moves offices from Rome to Milan. Francis called for a solution that respects the rights of all, “especially families.”   Speaking off-the-cuff, he added: “Those who for economic reasons or to conclude unclear negotiations, close factories and business …

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Kremlin officials and Russian lawmakers are denying published reports that Moscow has deployed a team of special forces and drones to a military base in Egypt near the Libyan border. The denials came Tuesday, following multiple reports that Russian military activity had been spotted near the Mediterranean coastal town of Sidi Baranni, 100 kilometers from the Egyptian-Libyan frontier. Those reports, quoting anonymous U.S. officials, say increased Russian involvement may be part of a push by Moscow to support renegade Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar. Haftar and his so-called Libyan National Army are aligned with a government in eastern Libya that …

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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday ordered his officials to seal an agreement which will, in effect, incorporate the armed forces of Georgia’s breakaway South Ossetia region into the Russian military’s command structure. Georgia condemned the move, which is likely to spark accusations from its Western allies that the Kremlin is absorbing the breakaway region into Russia by stealth, even though under international law it is part of Georgia’s sovereign territory. Moscow has de facto controlled South Ossetia, a sliver of mainly mountainous land in the northeast of Georgia, for years. But it has, on paper at least, treated South …

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Poland’s prime minister says a government-proposed bill calling for the dismissal of Foreign Ministry staff and diplomats who worked under communism is “necessary.”   The ruling conservative party has made it a priority to remove from top state jobs people whose careers developed under communism.   On Tuesday, the government of Prime Minister Beata Szydlo approved a draft law that would lay off all Foreign Ministry employees hired before communism ended in 1989.   Szydlo said the proposal, which still faces a vote by legislators, would improve Poland’s diplomatic work.   It would not cover Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski, who …

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It’s been a year since the European Union signed a deal with Turkey to stem the flow of migrants from the Mideast and Asia into Greece, in return for $6 billion in aid. On the surface, the deal appears a success, as the numbers arriving on Greek shores have fallen by over 90 percent. But aid agencies say the figures disguise the hardship still being felt by 60,000 migrants stuck in camps or unable to find safety as the borders through the Balkans to Western Europe remain closed. Aid groups accuse the European Union of abandoning its responsibilities. “Certainly, when …

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A two-year-long political crisis in Macedonia is entering a dangerous phase, with nationalists accused of stirring up ethnic tensions in a bid to disrupt a corruption probe. Thousands of ethnic Macedonians have held evening protests against three ethnic Albanian parties forming a coalition government with the Social Democrats. The country’s president, Gjorge Ivanov, has sided with the protesters and so far has withheld approving a coalition government that would shut out the main nationalist party. European Union leaders and analysts say the mounting political confrontation could spin out of control, adding to increasing ethnic tensions across a destabilizing Balkans. A …

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Turkey said Monday it is suspending high-level ties with The Netherlands as part of a series of sanctions protesting moves by Dutch authorities to bar Turkish ministers from holding rallies in support of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The two countries have been at odds for days after Turkey’s foreign minister and home minister were prevented from attending events meant to boost support for an upcoming referendum that would give Erdogan wider power. Monday’s sanctions include banning the Dutch ambassador, who is currently out of the country, from returning to Turkey and suspending diplomatic flights.The range of sanctions did not appear …

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