Category: Євросоюз

Launching a startup is no easy feat. Launching one outside your native country is even harder. But for certain French startups, the French government is there to help. A government-sponsored competition that began last year offers startups marketing and promotional assistance.   The Creative Next Challenge is a series of competitions sponsored by Business France, the nation’s international business development agency. Each competition offers French entrepreneurs working abroad the chance at official endorsement and international exposure.   French startup founders who have set up shop outside of France (prior winners include entrepreneurs in India, South Korea and the United Arab …

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Using sweet treats and months of patient coaching, scientists in England have taught a group of bumblebees how to play soccer. The 18-month study at Queen Mary University of London saw scientists train 50 bees to move a small yellow ball to a circled location in order to score a goal and receive a sugary food reward. The first group of bees then showed others in the colony how to play, with the second group impressing scientists by expanding the game. “The bees solved the task in a different way than what was demonstrated, suggesting that observer bees did not …

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Poland faces the possibility of losing its voting rights in the European Union over issues related to democracy and the rule of law. The EU is trying to determine whether to apply Article 7 — a measure intended to punish countries seen as violating fundamental rights. In its 60-year history, the European Union has never had to trigger Article 7. When the regional grouping gave Poland until the end of February to implement several reforms to its judicial independence and democratic institutions, it seemed that Article 7 might be the next step if the EU determined that Poland was not …

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Russia says it will veto a draft U.N. resolution blaming the Syrian government for some chemical weapons attacks in Syria if it is brought to a vote. “The resolution prejudges the results of the investigation, it is one-sided [and] based on insufficient evidence,” Russian Deputy U.N. Envoy Vladimir Safronkov told reporters after a closed meeting of the council to discuss the issue. The Security Council created a special OPCW-U.N. (The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) Joint Investigative Mechanism — known as JIM — in August 2015 to study several chemical weapons attacks that took place in Syria since …

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Former president Barack Obama can not run again for president in the U.S., but that isn’t stopping a group of French fans who are trying to get him to run in their upcoming election. Paris has been canvassed with “Obama17” signs, which urge people to visit a website to sign a petition for the former U.S. president to run. According to the website, Obama is their choice “because he has the best resume in the world for the job.” The site also alludes to the rising popularity of right-wing parties in France. “At a time when France is about to …

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The United States and Russia need to enhance communication to avoid accidents in the skies over Syria because airspace is shrinking as Islamic State loses more territory, a top U.S. Air Force general said Friday. General Herbert Carlisle called for greater communication, stopping short of coordination, with Russia over Syria through a channel that Moscow and Washington already have for avoiding each other. In 2015, they agreed to create a ground communication link and outline steps their pilots could take to avoid an inadvertent clash over Syria. “It is going to become more and more complex as time goes on, …

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The International Organization for Migration reports a surge in the number of migrant deaths on the Mediterranean Sea’s central route linking Libya to Italy in the first two months of the year. The IOM estimates 326 migrants and refugees have died this year while transiting by sea from Libya to Italy, compared to just 97 fatalities during the same period last year. While the numbers are alarming, IOM spokesman Joel Millman said they do not reflect the full scope of the sea tragedies as many bodies are never recovered and an unknown number of victims remain missing. He said most …

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There is a “reservoir of public support” in Europe for something like U.S. President Donald Trump’s travel ban on citizens from seven majority Muslim states, according to a poll by London policy institute Chatham House. As Henry Ridgwell reports from Dresden, Germany, the poll indicated support for ending Muslim immigration averaged 55 percent across 10 European countries. …

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France’s presidential race took a new turn on Thursday as independent Emmanuel Macron raised the curtain on a partnership with veteran centrist Francois Bayrou to help him beat the far-right’s Marine Le Pen. “Political times have changed. We cannot continue as before. The National Front is at the gates of power. It plays on fear,” Macron said, referring to Le Pen’s once-shunned party. Opinion polls appeared to show the 39-year-old Macron, a political novice who has never held elected office but who has soared to become a favorite to enter the Elysee, was already benefiting from the new-born alliance announced …

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Italy’s top organized crime prosecutor expressed concern about increased cannabis traffic from Albania while meeting with justice officials in the Balkan nation Thursday. Saying marijuana shipments from Albania had increased threefold since this time last year, Franco Roberti called the influx a result of expanding cannabis growth on the eastern side of the Adriatic Sea and said that sales of the illicit drug were linked to financing Islamist extremism. Addressing journalists after a news conference that unveiled Albania’s nationwide operation to prevent the planting of cannabis, Roberti called his findings “more than a mere investigative hypothesis.” “We are convinced, based …

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Georgia lacks judicial independence and concerns persist over selective justice in the ex-Soviet state, rights watchdog Amnesty International said Thursday in its annual country report for 2016. It listed several court cases, including an ownership dispute over Georgia’s biggest independent television station Rustavi 2 and detention of ex-premier Vano Merabishvili, as attempts to silence critical voices in the country. Thousands of Georgians rallied Sunday in the capital Tbilisi in support of Rustavi 2. Government officials have denied involvement in the case. “Concerns over the lack of judicial independence and selective justice were raised, by both local and international observers,” Amnesty …

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Pope Francis told his followers Thursday that it was better to be an atheist than one of “many” Catholics who he said led hypocritical double lives. “So many Catholics are like this,” he said during morning Mass at his residence at the Vatican. “There are those who say, ‘I am very Catholic, I always go to Mass, I belong to this and that association,’ ” the head of the 1.2 billion-member Roman Catholic Church said, according to a Vatican Radio transcript. But, he suggested, those people should also say, ” ‘My life is not Christian, I don’t pay my employees …

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Nearly 1,300 officials were sent to trial last year in Romania in corruption cases with damages amounting to 260 million euros ($273 million), the country’s chief anti-corruption prosecutor said Thursday   Laura Kovesi Codruta, who heads the country’s anti-graft agency, said three ministers, 17 lawmakers, 16 magistrates and 20 state company officials were among high-level cases targeted by the agency last year.   Kovesi, presenting the agency’s annual report to senior judges, prosecutors and magistrates at the ornate National Military Circle in downtown Bucharest, said prosecutors need predictable laws to do their job.   Last month, the government issued a …

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Widespread media coverage last month helped shine a light on the conditions for refugees inside Belgrade’s crumbling barracks. But with an official camp recently opened specifically to accommodate them, some have chosen to remain in the bleak shelter. John Owens reports on why from Belgrade. …

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The Brit Awards recognized big international stars, including Drake and Beyonce, and a cross section of homegrown talent Wednesday, but the ceremony was overshadowed by the much-missed David Bowie and George Michael.   Bowie, who died in January 2016 at age 69, was crowned British male artist of the year and won British album of the year for “Blackstar,” released days before his death.   Bowie’s son, filmmaker Duncan Jones, accepted the best album award on behalf of his father.  “This award is for all the kooks, and all the people who make the kooks,” Jones said. “Kooks” is the …

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U.N. sponsored talks on reunifying Cyprus have suffered a blow after Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci backed out of Thursday’s meeting. The Turkish Cypriots are angered over a bill passed by the Greek Cypriot parliament ordering schools to celebrate a 1950 referendum calling Cyprus part of Greece. The vote had no legal standing at that time. Akinci says the bill must be rescinded if the talks are to continue. Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades says he regrets Thursday’s session has been canceled and said on Twitter he is ready to resume talks at any time. He says it was a …

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Two U.S. lawmakers say the time has come for the United States to supply Ukraine with lethal weapons to better defend itself against Moscow-backed separatists, saying that a “confrontational” Russian President Vladimir Putin shows no sign of easing the pressure on Kyiv. …

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Dutch police have detained a security official in the group responsible for protecting anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders on suspicion of leaking classified information, a spokesman said Wednesday. The extent of the security breach and whether it has had any effect on the tight security cordon that constantly surrounds the far-right Wilders was not immediately clear, but the leader of the populist Party for Freedom reacted angrily on Twitter.   “If I can’t blindly trust the service (DBB) that has to protect me, I can no longer function. This is unacceptable,” Wilders said in a tweet directed at Dutch Prime Minister …

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A senior European Parliament politician on Wednesday called on the Albanian opposition Democratic Party not to block a judicial reform – the main step toward launching Albania’s membership negotiations with the European Union.   Albania’s Democrats, who have been protesting for a week for free and fair elections in June, plan to boycott parliament next week. That may stop the justice system reform, which aims to create institutions for the vetting of some 800 judges and prosecutors.   The reform seeks to root out bribery and ensure that judges and prosecutors are independent from politics. Brussels says its implementation is …

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There is sunshine outside, but in Belgrade’s crumbling barracks, the darkness is broken only by the dim flicker of fires, around which huddle groups of refugees desperate to leave Serbia. Many have left this smoke-filled, decrepit shell in recent weeks and gone to an official camp specifically opened to accommodate them. However, of the hundreds of refugees who have chosen to remain, some calculate that the poor conditions are worth enduring. “This is a very difficult life, a very dirty life,” explained 16-year-old Afghan Said Abid, who fled his home seven months ago because of threats from the Taliban against his …

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