Category: Євросоюз

When McDonald’s opened its first Russian restaurant in 1990 in Moscow, it was not unusual to see wedding receptions held there, so strong was the appeal of the quintessential American brand at the end of the Cold War. In recent years, with U.S.-Russia ties increasingly frosty, the fast-food chain has pursued a different strategy: Go native. “We say it every time: We are a Russian company,” Khamzat Khasbulatov, the head of McDonald’s Russia, told Reuters. “I don’t think there’s a single company that can call itself more Russian than us.” Nearly all the restaurant’s suppliers are Russian and its executives …

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Activists have launched a court action to try to stop the British government from selling arms to Saudi Arabia. Critics accuse the Saudi-led coalition of violating international law through its bombing of civilian areas as it battles Houthi rebels in Yemen. In October last year, 13-year-old Zuhair and his family were attending the funeral of a local sheikh in Sana’a. More than 1,000 people were packed in the community hall when warplanes fired two missiles at the building. More than 140 people were killed and 500 injured. Zuhair recalls the moments after the explosions. “My uncle carried me away,” he …

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British lawmakers voted Wednesday to allow Prime Minister Theresa May to go ahead with proceedings for withdrawing Britain from the European Union. The vote in Britain’s House of Commons means attempts by Brexit opponents to soften the terms of the withdrawal were thwarted. They had tried to attach conditions to the bill that would delay the start of Brexit talks, planned by March 31. WATCH: U.K. Votes to Allow Government to Trigger Brexit The vote Wednesday evening was 494-122. The bill now goes to the House of Lords, a non-elected body of lawmakers that is expected to pass the bill …

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Turkey’s military said Wednesday that Syrian rebel forces with Turkish support have taken control of strategic hills surrounding the Islamic State-held town of al-Bab. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war in Syria, said Turkish forces and allied Syrian rebels launched an operation late Tuesday and seized territory on the western outskirts of al-Bab. The town is a key area in northern Syria that increasingly is becoming a focal point of the multi-party conflict. Syrian forces have advanced from the south to within about 3.5 kilometers of al-Bab, the Observatory says. Turkish and rebel fighters are …

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A Russian judge has declared opposition leader Alexei Navalny guilty of embezzlement, a decision that may prevent him from running in next year’s presidential election, according to Interfax news agency. The regional judge in the city of Kirov was still reading the full verdict and sentencing Wednesday afternoon. Prosecutors have requested a five-year suspended sentence. Interfax cited a lawyer for Navalny as saying the conviction would disqualify him from running in the next presidential election. Russian President Vladimir Putin has not said whether he will seek another term in office. Navalny first became publicly known for exposing fraud in Russian …

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel appeared on Tuesday to win promises of closer cooperation from Poland’s eurosceptic rulers, during a visit to Warsaw to discuss reforms essential for the European Union to tackle mounting divisions over its future. Europe’s most powerful leader needs the backing of Poland, wary of any increased powers for Brussels, to agree reforms in March, on the 60th anniversary of the founding Rome Treaty. In the same month, Britain plans to give notice of leaving. Governed by the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, Poland is lobbying for an overhaul of the EU’s fundamental rulebook, its treaty, …

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Germany and NATO on Tuesday underscored their commitment to beefing up the defense of eastern Europe’s border with Russia as the first of four new battalions under the North Atlantic alliance’s banner arrived in Lithuania. In moves agreed last year under former U.S. President Barack Obama, NATO is expanding its presence in the region to levels unprecedented since the Cold War, prompted by Russia’s annexation of Crimea and accusations — denied by Moscow — that it is supporting a separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine. The German-led battle group in Lithuania will be joined this year by a U.S-led deployment in …

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The wife of Russian journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza, a prominent opposition activist and Kremlin critic, says “acute poisoning” has left her husband gravely ill in a Moscow hospital. Yevgenia Kara-Murza said Tuesday that doctors told her “an unidentified substance” caused massive organ failure in her husband last week. The rapid and sudden deterioration in his health, which reportedly occurred just hours before he was to leave Moscow for a trip to the United States, prompted hospital staff to place the 35-year-old activist in a medically-induced coma. Since then, Kara-Murza is said to have been in critical but stable condition. However, there …

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The Palestinian Authority is calling for the international community to punish Israel for a new law that legalizes thousands of Jewish homes built on Palestinian-owned land in the West Bank. The law passed Monday in the 120-member Knesset, Israel’s parliament, by a vote of 60-52.  Under the legislation, about 100 settlement outposts that were built without government approval are now legal under Israeli law. The vote sparked outrage in the Palestinian Authority (PA) that rules parts of the West Bank, with officials accusing Israel of legalizing land theft in violation of international law. “Such a law signals the final annexation …

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The Paris prosecutor’s office says France’s former president Nicolas Sarkozy is to face trial in an inquiry into alleged campaign finance fraud during his 2012 presidential campaign. The office said Tuesday that Sarkozy and 13 others will go to court to answer allegations that his failed presidential campaign spent well above the legal ceiling.   Sarkozy’s camp say it will appeal the decision.   The news may further erode public trust in politics as Sarkozy’s former no. 2, Francois Fillon, their party’s candidate in this year’s presidential election, fights for his political life over an investigation into whether well-paid political …

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Greece, which has been struggling for years with high debts and painful rates of unemployment, is making progress toward reducing its massive budget problems and restoring economic growth, the International Monetary Fund said Monday.   But the IMF said the country’s debts remain “unsustainable” over the long term.   The IMF predicts Greece’s economy will reach long-run growth of just under 1 percent a year, unimpressive but an improvement on years when the economy was shrinking. And Greece will meet the IMF’s target by reporting primary annual budget surpluses – which do not include interest payments – equal to 1.5 …

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At least a half-million people rallied in Romania in the past week to protest legislation that would decriminalize some corruption offenses. Street protests in the capital, Bucharest, continue, even though the government scrapped a move that would protect politicians from prosecution for corruption. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports that some protesters demand the resignation of the government of Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu. …

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British lawmakers on Monday rejected the first set of proposed amendments to legislation that would give Prime Minister Theresa May the right to notify the European Union of Britain’s intention to leave the bloc. During seven hours of debate, lawmakers voted against a series of attempts by pro-EU lawmakers to attach extra conditions to May’s plan to begin divorce talks by March 31. Monday’s votes were on the issues of parliamentary scrutiny of the withdrawal process and the involvement of Britain’s devolved administrations. Further votes, on which the government could face greater opposition, are due to take place on Tuesday …

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Giant Internet firms Facebook and Google joined forces with news organizations on Monday to launch new fact-checking tools designed to root out “fake news” stories in France ahead of the country’s presidential election. Social networks and news aggregators came under fire during the U.S. presidential vote when it became clear they had inadvertently fanned false news reports. Facebook, said it would work with eight French news organizations, including news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP), news channel BFM TV, and newspapers L’Express and Le Monde to minimize the risk that false news appeared on its platform. Facebook, the world’s biggest social network, …

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The head of the European Central Bank expressed concern about the Trump administration’s moves to relax financial oversight, saying such deregulation helped pave the way for the global financial crisis.   During a hearing in the European Parliament, ECB President Mario Draghi was asked about Trump’s efforts to revisit parts of the Dodd-Frank regulations aimed at keeping risk-taking banks from sparking a repeat of the 2007-9 financial turbulence that launched the Great Recession.   “Frankly, I don’t see any reason to relax the current regulatory stance which has produced a much, much stronger banking – and, generally, financial services – …

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Romania’s prime minister said Monday he may fire the justice minister for mishandling a contentious decree that has sparked the country’s largest anti-government protests since communism ended.   Premier Sorin Grindeanu said the emergency decree to decriminalize some official misconduct approved by his cabinet last week had “led to division” among Romanians. Grindeanu suggested Justice Minister Florin Iordache may lose his job over the move within days.   Although the government repealed the measure Sunday, the unrest its move sparked continued Monday. Thousands of people gathered outside the government offices for the seventh consecutive evening, yelling “Resignation!” and waving Romanian …

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A week-long surge in violence in and around the government-held town of Avdiyivka in eastern Ukraine appeared to be winding down on Monday, as schools reopened and power and water supplies resumed following the worst clashes in months. Last week aid agencies warned of a looming humanitarian crisis after heavy shelling between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russia separatists cut off power and water supplies to tens of thousands on both sides of the front line. A decrease in fighting around Avdiyivka on Sunday allowed emergency repairs to downed power lines and its around 20,000 residents were able to turn their lights …

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The speaker of Britain’s lower house of parliament says he is “strongly opposed” to letting U.S. President Donald Trump address parliament during a state visit to Britain later this year. John Bercow said Monday that a speech to parliament is “not an automatic right, it is an earned honor.”   He said he would have opposed the invitation even before Trump’s temporary ban on immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries. “After the imposition of the migrant ban by President Trump I am even more strongly opposed,” he said.   Bercow said that while Britain values its relationship with the United States …

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