Category: Євросоюз

Thousands of Romanians took to the streets of Bucharest in freezing temperatures on Saturday as anti-government protests continued for an 11th consecutive day. Protesters are demanding the resignation of Romanian Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu, holding the illuminated screens of their mobile phones into the air each night at 9 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) to remind the government of their presence. Romania has seen massive protests in the past two weeks against a government decree that would have diluted the anti-corruption fight that has targeted top officials. The Social Democrat-led government has withdrawn the emergency decree easing penalties for corrupt …

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The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan says Russia, Pakistan and Iran are pursuing their own agendas with regard to the fragile country, complicating the fight against terrorism and extremism. “We’re concerned about outside actors,” General John Nicholson told VOA’s Afghan service in an interview. Russia, which had an ill-fated intervention into Afghanistan that started in 1979 and ended nearly a decade later, has been trying to exert influence in the region again and has set up six-country peace talks next week that are excluding the United States. Nicholson worries about Russia’s links with the Taliban. “Russia has been legitimizing the …

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The forested landscape of Russia’s Karelia is dotted with a necklace of decaying concrete bunkers stretching from the Gulf of Finland to the shores of Lake Ladoga. During World War II, the defensive line held back the Finnish Army, which participated with the Germans in the 900-day siege of Leningrad. But now, environmentalists say, it presents a serious danger: radioactivity. The St. Petersburg branch of the Bellona environmental NGO has measured radiation in some of the bunkers at more than 1,000 times background levels. The levels of radiation from alpha particles exceeded the limits of their detection equipment — 30,000 particles …

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Prime Minister Beata Szydlo suffered injuries in a car crash in southern Poland Friday and was flown by helicopter to Warsaw for medical tests, even though doctors and her spokesman said that she was not badly hurt.   The accident occurred shortly before 7 p.m. in the southern town of Oswiecim, which is Szydlo’s hometown. Szydlo, 53, was traveling in a convoy along the town’s main road when another car drove into her black Audi limousine, causing it to hit a tree.   The state broadcaster TVP published an image of the limousine with the front of the car bashed …

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Italy has signaled it wants Russia’s help to stabilize Libya and bring an end to the migrant crisis. Moscow supports the Libyan army’s General Khalifa Haftar, seen as a rival to the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli. As Henry Ridgwell reports, some European Union states fear Russia has ambitions to extend its influence in Libya, and are reluctant to support Italy’s move. …

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From a flimsy rubber dinghy drifting 16 kilometers off Tripoli, the Libyan coast guard rescued more than 100 migrants this week, including a baby just a few weeks old. Close to 9,500 migrants have crossed the Mediterranean already this year — putting 2017 on course to be a record year. The European Union agreed this month to give the Tripoli government $213 million to bolster its security forces and coast guard; however, Italy wants a renewed push for a permanent political solution to the chaos in Libya — and it’s looking to Moscow for help. The might be a wise …

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Private intelligence companies are part of a booming business in London and the British government complains it is having trouble retaining talented agents who are being drawn by high salaries and more growth opportunities in a blossoming industry estimated to be worth $19 billion.   “Our mission is to fill a gap of knowledge or information in any situation,” said Patrick Grayson, founder and CEO of GPW, a respected mid-sized London intelligence firm. “There’s always something people should or could know in addition to what they do know. Our job is to answer that question. To fill that gap in …

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A majority of Europeans opposes any more immigration from Muslim-majority countries, according to a poll conducted before U.S. President Donald Trump signed a controversial executive order temporarily curtailing immigration from seven countries in the Middle East and Horn of Africa. The survey points to “significant and widespread levels of public anxiety in Europe over immigration from mainly Muslim states,” say analysts at Chatham House, the British research organization. The survey found that most people across the 10 European Union countries polled want to stop all future immigration from Muslim-majority countries. Chatham House found opposition to Muslim immigration is more intense …

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Historical tensions between Turkey and Greece erupted again recently over disputed territory in the Aegean Sea. This latest dispute centers on uninhabited islands, which 21 years ago brought the countries to the brink of war. Although few are predicting a military confrontation this time, there are fears of diplomatic repercussions. Tensions rose when Turkish and Greek warships faced off in the Aegean Sea over the islets, which Turkey calls Kardak and Greece Imia. Athens accused Turkish fighter jets of violating its airspace a record 138 times in one day. The islets are claimed by both Ankara and Athens. Turkish political …

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Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Ljubljana would be a good place for him to meet U.S. President Donald Trump, but that the decision about where to meet was not Moscow’s alone. Putin made the comments after Slovenia offered its capital as a venue for a first meeting between the Russian and U.S. leaders, though no date for such a meeting has yet been agreed. “As regards Ljubljana, Slovenia in general, it is of course a brilliant place to have a dialogue of such a sort. But it doesn’t depend only on us, it depends on a whole …

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Russia’s Constitutional Court on Friday ordered a review of the conviction of prominent anti-Kremlin activist Ildar Dadin and said a law that criminalized protests had to be applied more proportionately. Though the ruling did not strike down the law, which human rights activists have called draconian, it may make it harder to jail peaceful protesters as Russia gears up for a presidential election next year. Kremlin-watchers widely expect President Vladimir Putin to run again, for what would be his fourth term, though he has not yet confirmed if he will do so. Dadin, 34, was sentenced to three years in …

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan approved a constitutional reform bill Friday for holding a national referendum that would usher in a more powerful presidency. Speaking on state-run TRT television, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said the referendum on the issue is expected to be held on April 16. In January, the Turkish parliament approved a new 18-article constitution to create an executive presidency along the lines of those in the United States and France. The government said the changes, which will abolish the office of prime minister, will ensure more effective leadership, but critics say the changes would open the …

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Four people have been arrested in and around Montpellier, southern France, on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack, police and justice sources said on Friday. Those in custody included a 22 year-old man and his 16 year-old girlfriend, both known to authorities for connections with radical Islam, after authorities found TATP explosives and other bomb-making materials in his home. France remains on high alert over possible Islamist militant attacks. More than 230 people have died in a series of assaults since the beginning of 2015 and the country has been under state of emergency rules since November the same year. …

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U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met Thursday with the European Union’s chief diplomat, Federica Mogherini, as the two governments struggle to find solid footing despite the U.S. president’s support of Britain’s decision to leave the EU. Mogherini’s task Thursday was to test the waters for Europe’s relationship with the new Donald Trump administration, beginning with Tillerson, the top U.S. diplomat. Afterward, Mogherini pronounced the meeting in Washington, D.C., “fruitful” and said the United States and European Union have many issues on which they would like to cooperate closely. Trump has praised Britain for its Brexit plans and has repeatedly …

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Former Dutch peacekeepers and bereaved Bosnian Muslims confronted painful memories Thursday at the opening of a new permanent exhibition in Srebrenica, where Serb forces massacred more than 8,000 people in 1995. The Dutch soldiers were meant to protect the local population, but they were lightly armed and had no orders to confront the Bosnian Serb army commanded by General Ratko Mladic. They stood by as his forces overran the enclave, declared a “safe zone” by the United Nations. They rounded up local men and boys, killed them and dumped their bodies in pits, in Europe’s worst atrocity since World War …

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The Baltic states will press the United States and NATO to take additional security measures in the region ahead of a large Russian military exercise planned for September, Lithuania’s president said on Thursday. NATO has already started to deploy four battle groups of about 1,000 soldiers each to the Baltic states and Poland, part of efforts agreed under previous U.S. president Barack Obama to deter Russia from interfering in the region. The three small Baltic republics and Poland have felt especially vulnerable since Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014 and its support for pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine. …

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Nine Republican senators have signed a letter calling on President Donald Trump to take a tough stance when dealing with Russia, though they did encourage the president to “seek common ground.” The letter, spearheaded by Senator Corey Gardner and signed by several other high-profile Republicans, including John Cornyn and Lindsey Graham, said it is important to cooperate with Russia when necessary, but also stresses the need to confront Moscow on issues like cyber hacking and its aggressive actions in Ukraine. The letter which was made public Thursday says although the senators believe the United States “should seek common ground with …

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The European Union’s enlargement commissioner on Thursday urged Macedonia’s political parties to agree quickly on the formation of a new government and end the Balkan country’s long-running political crisis. The turmoil, triggered by a surveillance scandal in 2015, has threatened to destabilize a country that hopes to join NATO and is among several candidates to join the EU. Neither the conservative VMRO-DPMNE party nor the Social Democrats emerged from a December election with a big enough majority to form a government without the support of ethnic Albanians. In late January, coalition talks between the VMRO-DPMNE, which won the largest share …

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Britain is set to begin the process of leaving the European Union at the end of March. Members of the House of Commons voted Wednesday to back the legislation, and it goes to the House of Lords. Zlatica Hoke reports the legislation received strong backing in Parliament’s lower chamber. …

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Far-right leader Marine Le Pen looks set to win the first round of France’s presidential election in April, according to a new survey issued on Thursday, with other polls indicating she will lose the runoff to centrist Emmanuel Macron. Harris Interactive said a poll of voting intentions for the April 23 first round indicated that Le Pen, who heads the anti-immigrant and anti-EU National Front, would get 24 percent, with Macron taking 21 percent. Francois Fillon, a conservative who was favorite to win  election only two weeks ago but has seen his campaign damaged by scandal, trailed on 19 percent. …

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