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Russian missiles target civilian areas as EU officials visit Kyiv

2Feb

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Russian missiles target civilian areas as EU officials visit Kyiv

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian missiles hit residential areas in an eastern Ukrainian city Thursday for the second time in 24 hours, while top European Union officials held talks with the government in Kyiv as the war with Russia approaches its one-year milestone. The latest strikes in Kramatorsk came as rescue crews searched for survivors in the rubble of an apartment building hit late Wednesday by a Russian missile that killed at least three people and wounded 21 others. At least one more victim was thought to be under the debris, Ukraine’s presidential office said. “Kramatorsk again shattered by explosions — the Russians made two more rocket strikes,” regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko wrote in a Telegram post. He said at least five civilians were wounded in the latest strikes, which ...

Another sign Europe’s conservative alliance between Hungary, Poland, and Czechia is dead

28Jan

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Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Politics, Slovakia

Another sign Europe’s conservative alliance between Hungary, Poland, and Czechia is dead

Conservatives across Europe are split over the war in Ukraine, with the Visegrád Four (V4) increasingly looking like an alliance only in name. By DENES ALBERT Poland and Czechia are once again pressuring Hungary and putting the Visegrád Four (V4) alliance under threat over Hungary’s stance on the war in Ukraine — despite Hungary being one of the few countries that has backed them in the past on key issues like migration and national sovereignty. This time, Poland and Czech Republic canceled a meeting of the Visegrád Four countries’ parliamentary leaders in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava. The move comes after a long series of hostile statements and gestures against Hungary from its former allies, which have led to an unraveling of the conservative alliance that once served as a co...

Czech Republic: Left-leaning Pavel defeats Babiš to become next president

28Jan

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Czech Republic

Czech Republic: Left-leaning Pavel defeats Babiš to become next president

Pavel is fiercely supportive of Ukraine, backs the introduction of euthanasia and same-sex marriage, and promotes adoption rights for homosexuals. Former army chief Petr Pavel will become the next president of the Czech Republic after defeating former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš in this weekend’s presidential election. Numerous media outlets called the election in favor of Pavel on Saturday afternoon after initial reporting predicted Pavel will win 58 percent of the vote to Babiš’ 42 percent. “We can already say with certainty that Petr Pavel will be elected president of the Czech Republic today. There will also be a record turnout in the presidential elections,” said Martin Buchtík from the STEM research agency. With 97 percent of the vote counted, turnout remained over 70 perc...

A Porsche and Spanish holidays: Zelensky fires 11 ministers and officials in anti-corruption shake-up

24Jan

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Ukraine

A Porsche and Spanish holidays: Zelensky fires 11 ministers and officials in anti-corruption shake-up

Kyiv: Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed several ministers and banned top officials from travelling abroad in a clampdown on corruption. Almost a dozen ministers and administration officials lost their jobs in the biggest shake-up of Ukraine’s government since the start of the war. The most prominent head to roll was that of Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of Zelensky’s presidential office, who had been accused of siphoning off expensive cars including a Porsche for personal use. The president ordered the clearout after a series of scandals involving figures at the Defence Ministry and prominent members of his team. Ukraine has been pressured by Western governments to demonstrate progress on anti-corruption as a condition of extensive foreign financial and military aid. ...

It’s over – the Brexit debate is finished

24Jan

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European Union, UK

It’s over – the Brexit debate is finished

By Femi Oluwole The party who are in charge of Brexit have effectively admitted that undoing Brexit would help to fix the UK’s economic crisis. The Brexit debate has finally finished. The Conservative Party – the party in charge of Brexit – have effectively admitted that undoing Brexit would help to fix the UK’s economic crisis. It’s over. February marks seven years since the B-word infected every political discussion in the UK. There’s a reason why it split families and ended friendships. Both sides considered themselves to be saving the British people from catastrophic harm. Why was that? It’s because major politicians and journalists painted Brexit as the way to save the UK from poverty and tyranny under the EU. In 2016, Rishi Sunak told us: “If we leave the EU, we will immediat...

How can the EU list Iran’s IRGC as a terrorist organisation?

24Jan

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European Union, Politics

How can the EU list Iran’s IRGC as a terrorist organisation?

A court ruling in an EU state is needed before any decision can be made When the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said on Monday that the bloc cannot list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group without a court ruling, it appeared to be an attempt to push back after calls by European politicians for the powerful Iranian organisation to be sidelined. This raises questions about what Europe can do next to obtain the listing for the IRGC and what the consequences could be, analysts and an EU offcial have told The National. “It is something that cannot be decided without a court decision first,” Mr Borrell told reporters in Brussels, as he arrived at a meeting of foreign ministers. “You cannot say I consider you a terrorist because I don’t like you.” Pressure has been...

Ex-German spy chief under pressure over far-right leanings

24Jan

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Intelligence, Germany

Ex-German spy chief under pressure over far-right leanings

A former German spy chief jockeying for influence in Berlin faces possible expulsion from his party over what it called his embrace of far-right language and conspiracy theories. Hans-Georg Maassen is running to lead a hard-right faction of Germany’s main opposition party, the Christian Democratic Union, which nominated him in a failed bid to become an MP in 2021. He has become an increasing embarrassment to the party after raging against migration, alleging a range of left-wing conspiracies, sowing doubts about vaccines, and recently speaking of “racism against white people”. The CDU’s general secretary Mario Czaja said on Tuesday that Mr. Maassen should resign from the party amid calls for a formal disciplinary process. He said Mr. Maassen was moving closer to the far-right Alterna...

Seizing on EU tensions with US, Xi tells Europe to keep investing in China

1Dec

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Politics, China, European Union, United States

Seizing on EU tensions with US, Xi tells Europe to keep investing in China

European Council chief Charles Michel makes a muted reference to anti-lockdown protests in China. Beijing's top leader Xi Jinping told the European Union on Thursday to keep up its investments in China, seizing on deepening European fears that the U.S. is becoming a more hostile trade rival to Brussels. "China expects the EU to ... share China's supersize market opportunities," President Xi said, according to state media Xinhua, in a meeting with his European Council counterpart Charles Michel in Beijing. "[China and the EU] should jointly oppose decoupling, and jointly oppose politicization and weaponization of trade and technology. China will remain open to European companies, and hopes that the EU would reject interference and provide Chinese companies with a fair and transparent b...

South Africa President Ramaphosa faces threat of impeachment over ‘Farmgate’ scandal

1Dec

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Crime & Law, South Africa

South Africa President Ramaphosa faces threat of impeachment over ‘Farmgate’ scandal

The South African government has announced that it will take action against the country's president, who has been caught up in a scandal, after the publication of a parliamentary report that could lead to his impeachment. President Cyril Ramaphosa "may have committed" violations and misconduct, a parliamentary committee charged with investigating the murky burglary affair that has embarrassed the president ahead of an election crucial to his political future concluded in a report released late Wednesday. The ruling African National Congress (ANC) meets in mid-December to choose its next leader. Whoever emerges victorious will become head of state after the 2024 general elections, if the ANC, wins the election. In the wake of the report, which has clearly stunned the Ramaphosa camp, th...

Ex-US VP Pence tells Trump to apologize for dining with white supremacist Fuentes

29Nov

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Politics, United States

Ex-US VP Pence tells Trump to apologize for dining with white supremacist Fuentes

Former Vice President Mike Pence said Donald Trump should apologize for dining last week with rapper Ye and a well-known white nationalist, saying his former boss showed “profoundly poor judgment” and should denounce “their hateful rhetoric without qualification.” Pence is the most prominent Republican to criticize the former president for his meeting last week at his Mar-a-Lago resort with Ye, who was formerly known as Kanye West and has lost business partners after making anti-Semitic remarks, and white supremacist Nick Fuentes. “President Trump was wrong to give a white nationalist, an anti-Semite and a Holocaust denier a seat at the table, and I think he should apologize for it,” Pence said in an interview on Monday. Pence said in the interview he doesn’t believe Trump is antisemi...