Category: Євросоюз

It was called the “Miracle on Ice.” The year was 1980. The event was the winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York. Thirty-seven years ago today, an inexperienced American hockey team staged one of the biggest Olympic upsets in history, defeating the Soviet team, regarded as the finest in the world. The Soviets had won four consecutive Olympic gold medals between 1964 and 1976. With less than five seconds left on the clock, an American television commentator asked a crowd of 10,000 spectators, “Do you believe in miracles?”  He didn’t wait for an answer, yelling out a triumphant “YES!” as …

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The Russian military received a sweeping array of new weapons last year, including 41 intercontinental ballistic missiles, and the wide-ranging military modernization will continue this year, the defense minister said Wednesday. Minister Sergei Shoigu told lawmakers the air force will receive 170 new aircraft, the army will receive 905 tanks and other armored vehicles while the navy will receive 17 new ships this year. Amid tensions with the West, the Kremlin has continued to spend big on new weapons despite Russia’s economic downturn. Also this year, three regiments of Russia’s strategic nuclear forces will receive new intercontinental ballistic missiles, Shoigu …

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Bemused Swedes have been defending their record as a low-crime society in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s speech in Florida last week in which he appeared to refer to a terrorist attack in Sweden that did not happen. Trump later said he was talking about a Fox News program highlighting allegedly surging crime  statistics in Sweden and linking them to rising immigrant numbers, after a record 163,000 asylum-seekers arrived in 2015. On Monday, he tweeted: “The FAKE NEWS media is trying to say that large scale immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully. NOT!” Swedes have jumped …

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A senior Socialist minister said Tuesday that he might back centrist Emmanuel Macron in France’s presidential election, which could help Macron as he battles to maintain his campaign’s momentum. The pronouncement by Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll came as opinion polls pictured a multicandidate race in which far-right leader Marine Le Pen was holding on to recent gains, keeping debt and foreign exchange markets on edge. Two polls showed ex-banker Macron neck and neck with conservative rival Francois Fillon as favorite. A third, from Elabe, had Macron in retreat, and made Fillon of the Republicans, a former prime minister, the …

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German officials have proposed that the European Union relax some human rights safeguards so that more asylum seekers can be deported while awaiting the outcome of their cases, according to a working paper seen by Reuters. The paper is among many under discussion in Brussels as the EU, which has taken in more than 1.3 million migrants and refugees since the start of 2015, makes it tougher for them to get in and be allowed to stay. The paper said the proposal would only kick in at times of a “mass influx” of people to the bloc. “This is another …

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A former CIA agent will be handed over to Italy in the coming days to serve a four-year prison sentence after being convicted of involvement in a U.S. program that kidnapped suspects for interrogation, a lawyer said Tuesday. Sabrina de Sousa spent the night in a women’s prison near Lisbon after a Portuguese court ordered police to extradite her, her Portuguese lawyer, Manuel Magalhaes e Silva, told the Associated Press in an interview. He said she was detained Monday after a two-year fight against extradition and will be put on a plane once formalities between Portuguese and Italian police are …

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The French government and UNICEF are urging the international community to step up protection of children living in and fleeing armed conflict that affects tens of millions of youngsters. Tuesday’s conference was a chance to take stock of progress made since a decade ago, when Paris hosted a similar meeting.  But especially, it was a time to urge the world community to do more.  French President Francois Hollande described how the photo of the body of drowned Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi, who washed up on a Turkish beach, fueled a drive to welcome more refugees in Europe and elsewhere.  But …

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U.S. President Donald Trump contends the “fake news media” is defending Sweden’s immigration policies, claiming that massive immigration into the Scandinavian country has been a failure. “Give the public a break – The FAKE NEWS media is trying to say that large scale immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully. NOT!” Trump said Monday on his Twitter account. Trump’s comment extended for another day the spat he ignited with Washington’s allies in Stockholm when he suggested, erroneously, at a Saturday campaign rally that a terrorist attack had occurred in Sweden on Friday. Trump mentioned past terrorist attacks in Europe …

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Two documentaries on the plight of refugees off the Italian coast and the Greek coast have received Oscar nominations this year. “Fire at Sea,” by Gianfranco Rosi has been selected in the Feature Documentary category and “4.1 Miles” by Daphne Matziaraki has been nominated in the Short Documentary category. VOA’s Penelope Poulou spoke with Rosi about his film and how these documentaries bring public awareness to the refugees crisis in a tough political climate. …

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Russia’s long-time U.N. Ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, died suddenly on Monday in New York, a day before he would have turned 65 years old. The Russian foreign ministry announced his death in a statement, giving no details of the circumstances.  The president of the U.N. General Assembly, Peter Thomson, told VOA that he was informed Churkin had “some sort of cardiac arrest” at the Russian Mission and was taken to a hospital where he died.  Former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who was in office for most of Churkin’s time at the U.N., called him “an outstanding diplomat and an intellectual star.”  …

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A cease-fire in eastern Ukraine aimed at halting fighting between Ukrainian government forces and Moscow-backed separatists went into effect Monday. Ukrainian officials, however, warn it is at risk of falling apart. Under the cease-fire announced in Munich by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, both sides are supposed to abide by the two-year-old Minsk agreement and withdraw heavy weaponry from the front lines. Yet, just hours before the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany announced this latest truce, a separatist leader was issuing military threats. Alexander Hug, chief of a monitoring mission for the Organization for Security and Cooperation …

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French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen on Monday called Syrian President Bashar Assad “the most reassuring solution for France,” a major divergence with her nation’s official policy.   Le Pen, head of the anti-immigration National Front, spoke after meetings with Lebanese President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Saad Hariri. They were among numerous officials, including the Christian Maronite patriarch, that Le Pen was meeting on her two-day visit to Lebanon, a former French protectorate.   The trip represented the first major foray into foreign policy for Le Pen, a leading candidate in France’s April 23 and May 7 election. …

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Vice President Mike Pence says the United States will “continue to hold Russia accountable,” but that President Donald Trump has directed a search for ways to find “new common ground with Russia.” Pence’s comments came Monday in Brussels alongside European Union Council President Donald Tusk. “In the wake of Russian efforts to redraw international borders by force, we will continue to support efforts in Poland and the Baltic states through NATO’s enhanced forward presence initiative,” Pence said. “And with regard to Ukraine, the United States will continue to hold Russia accountable and demand that Russia honor the Minsk agreements beginning …

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The Kremlin says its decision to recognize passports and other documents issued by separatist authorities in eastern Ukraine is a response to Ukraine’s blockade of rebel regions. The weekend’s move by Russian President Vladimir Putin has drawn sharp criticism from Ukraine, which called it a violation of a two-year-old peace deal. Ukrainian forces have been fighting Russia-backed separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine since April 2014, a conflict that has killed more than 9,800 people Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday the decision was a humanitarian move to help struggling residents in the rebel regions, who have faced a transport blockade …

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Jewish communities in Europe say they feel especially vulnerable following the terror attacks across the continent in recent years, and want governments to dedicate extra policing and intelligence efforts to keep them safe.  Community leaders meeting at the Munich Security Conference Sunday also warned that the rise of populist far right parties threatens their way of life.  Jewish leaders say the plight of their people in Europe will always be seen in the shadow of the Holocaust.  U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence and his family travelled the few kilometers out of Munich Sunday to the site of the former Nazi concentration …

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Greece will need less in emergency loans from international lenders than originally agreed in its third bailout program due to a better-than-expected budgetary developments, the head of the eurozone bailout fund was reported on Monday as saying. Klaus Regling told German newspaper Bild that at the end of Greece’s money-for-reforms package in August 2018, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) will “probably have paid out far less than the agreed maximum amount of 86 billion euros” because the Greek budget was developing better than expected. The comments came shortly before eurozone finance ministers will meet in Brussels to assess Greece’s progress …

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A draft of President Donald Trump’s revised immigration ban targets the same seven countries listed in his original executive order and exempts travelers who already have a visa to travel to the U.S., even if they haven’t used it yet. A senior administration official said the order, which Trump revised after federal courts held up his original immigration and refugee ban, will target only those same seven Muslim-majority countries – Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Libya. The official said that green-card holders and dual citizens of the U.S. and any of those countries are exempt. The new draft …

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U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is making his first visit to Europe since taking office, to reassure allies the United States remains a staunch friend amid concerns about the new administration’s “America First” strategy and its overall approach to global affairs. Pence is scheduled to have dinner with Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel Sunday in Brussels. On Monday, Pence will meet with EU High Representative Federica Mogherini, EU Council President Donald Tusk, and other EU officials. The European Union will likely seek clarity on Trump’s prediction last month in two European newspapers that other countries would follow Britain and leave …

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Former Italian Premier Matteo Renzi has resigned as Democratic Party leader in a bid to win a fresh, stronger mandate before the national election in which populist political forces are positioned to pose the biggest challenge.   As promised, Renzi told fellow Democratic leaders at a meeting Sunday that he was resigning. But Renzi insisted he won’t submit to what he called the “blackmail” of a more left-leaning faction threatening a schism if he again seeks the top party post.   The national election, due in early 2018, might come earlier if Premier Paolo Gentiloni loses control of a frequently …

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The United States says it is disturbed by Russia’s decision to recognize passports and other documents issued by rebel authorities in eastern Ukraine.   The recognition, in an order signed by President Vladimir Putin that was announced Saturday, “is alarming and contradicts the agreed-upon goals of the Minsk Agreement,” the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine said Sunday on Twitter, referring to a two-year-old agreement on ending the fighting in eastern Ukraine. Russia was a signatory of the agreement.   More than 9,800 people have been killed in fighting between government forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine since April 2014.    President …

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