Articles by "europe"
Twitter Facebook

2 minutes

Italy on Friday reported a record 627 new deaths from the novel coronavirus and saw its world-leading toll surpass 4,000 despite government efforts to stem the pandemic’s spread.
The Mediterranean country’s daily death rate is now higher than that officially reported by China at the peak of its outbreak around Wuhan’s Hubei province.
Italy’s previous one-day record death toll was 475 on Wednesday.
Italy has seen more than 1,500 fatalities from COVID-19 in the past three days alone.
It has now recorded the five highest one-day tolls officially registered around the world.
Italy’s total number of deaths now stands and 4,032. Infections rose by nearly 6,000 to 47,021.
The nation of 60 million currently accounts for 36.6 percent of the world’s coronavirus deaths.
“There are so many people walking around who have the virus and who are at risk of infecting others,” Matteo Bassetti, the director of the infectious diseases department at Genoa’s San Martino clinic, told Italy’s AGI news agency.
“The 40,000 cases we are talking about could actually be 100 times higher.”
The Italian government intends to extend a ban on public gatherings and the shutdown of almost all businesses past their March 25 deadline.
Regional leaders and city mayors are urging the Italian government to adopt even tougher restrictions such as a ban on outdoor exercises and the closure of all stores on Sundays.
AFP
Join Geezgo for free. Use Geezgo's end-to-end encrypted Chat with your Closenets (friends, relatives, colleague etc) in personalized ways.>>
March 20, 2020
Twitter Facebook

Germany’s federal cybersecurity agency is investigating whether China’s Huawei Technologies could be a security threat after warnings from other countries, the Funke group of newspapers reported on Friday, citing Economy Minister Peter Altmaier.

The government currently has no own information on whether the Chinese company could be a security threat, Altmaier was quoted as saying, adding that the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) had been activated.

Altmaier told Funke that talks on security standards for the mobile network were ongoing, adding that Germany needed to protect itself “in all sensitive areas, from hospitals to telecommunication.”

His comments appeared to push back against reports that Berlin had reached a consensus not to exclude Huawei from building next-generation 5G networks, deciding instead to impose tougher compliance rules on foreign vendors.

Huawei, the global networks market leader with annual sales exceeding $100 billion, faces international scrutiny over its ties to the Chinese government and suspicion Beijing could use its technology for spying. The company denies this.
Join Geezgo for free. Use Geezgo's end-to-end encrypted Chat with your Closenets (friends, relatives, colleague etc) in personalized ways.>>
February 08, 2019
Twitter Facebook

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will express concerns about the growing presence of China’s Huawei in Hungary and neighboring countries during a visit next week, a senior administration official said on Friday.

During his visits to Hungary and Slovakia, Pompeo will also discuss ways to bolster security relationships with both countries, including clinching deals on defense cooperation, the official told reporters.

“In Hungary, the Secretary will give particular focus to the role of China in central Europe and express our concerns about the growing presence of Huawei in Hungary,” the official said, adding he will “urge regional leaders to heed the warnings of countries from Asia-Pacific who have found themselves in difficult straits as a result of working too closely with the Chinese.”

Huawei Technologies plans to create a European logistics center in Hungary and boost production capacity in the central European country this year.https://www.geezgo.com/sps/53677
Join Geezgo for free. Use Geezgo's end-to-end encrypted Chat with your Closenets (friends, relatives, colleague etc) in personalized ways.>>
February 08, 2019
Twitter Facebook

A French priest was Friday sentenced to five years, two without parole, for sexually assaulting four young female parishioners, one of whom was just nine when the offenses started, and embezzling 100,000 euros ($115,000) to pay one of his victims.
The trial was held behind closed doors at Colmar Criminal Court, in northeast France, which publicly announced the sentence late Friday.
The 60-year-old cleric, who will have to spend at least two years behind bars and be under restrictions for the rest of his term, could have faced up to 10 years in prison.
The priest will also have to undergo psychological treatment, which he has already started, according to his lawyers.
Under the judgment, he is forbidden from contacting his victims or any activity involving minors. He is also barred from staying in the Alsace region, where the offenses were committed.
His sentence was lighter than that sought by the public prosecutor, who had asked for four years in prison followed by three years under a supervision order.
The trial was held behind closed doors at the request of three of the four victims, who were minors at the start of the offenses, the youngest just nine.
The attacks, which continued after three of the victims were adults, took place between 2001 and 2006 and between 2011 and 2016.
The priest, who was remanded in custody for three months at the start of the case in September 2016, “bitterly regrets the crimes that he has acknowledged (...) and offers his apology to the victims and to people (...) injured by such intolerable acts,” his lawyer Thierry Moser said in a statement.
He had admitted to having diverted more than 100,000 euros in money destined for the Church and transferred it to one of the victims, then an adult, in exchange for sexual favors.
In total, he paid her more than 240,000 euros, including a portion of his personal wealth.
The victim, now 29, had been charged with “concealment of breach of trust” but was released after the court found there was insufficient evidence to prove she knew the source of the money.
France’s Catholic Church has been roiled in recent years by claims against priests which have come to light in the wake of a global move by victims of abuse to come forward with evidence.
https://www.geezgo.com/sps/53433
Join Geezgo for free. Use Geezgo's end-to-end encrypted Chat with your Closenets (friends, relatives, colleague etc) in personalized ways.>>
February 02, 2019
Twitter Facebook

After escaping poverty in Pakistan and spending two hard years in Greece without family or money, Manassif Raza proudly stands in his new hair salon, receiving his first customers.
“I feel more confident now that I am working, I feel my future will be better,” the Pakistani, who is in his twenties, says in the poor Athens neighborhood of Agios Panteleimonas, home to many immigrants and refugees.
His achievement is particularly precious in a nation struggling with severe unemployment, where migrants face an uphill battle to get work.
“Here in Greece you often have to make it by yourself ... I had to do a lot of undeclared work: cleaning houses or hotels, washing dishes in restaurants ... I couldn’t even afford to rent a house so I was hosted by some friends for a while,” Manassif adds.
After nearly a decade of crisis and drastic cuts in public spending, Greece’s economy is beginning to recover. Unemployment has fallen but is still the highest in the eurozone at 18 percent, and even higher among young people.
Over 70,000 refugees and migrants live in the country in the wake of a mass influx of people, most of whom were fleeing war-torn Syria.
Just 10 percent of those in Greece have jobs, says Dimitris Skleparis, a politics lecturer at the University of Glasgow working on refugee issues.
“Refugees in Greece receive no orientation or training support (from the state),” he said.
Fortunately, there are private initiatives. In 2017, Citi Foundation teamed up with the International Rescue Committee to help refugees start businesses in Greece through local partners.
One of them is chef Moussa, who came to Greece after the deaths of his parents and younger brother in Ivory Coast over five years ago.
“For me, business is first of all, do something that you like,” he says in an IRC video, which says he is now opening the first Ivorian restaurant in Athens called “Our Home.”
“All of us, we have an idea, we have a dream. I am a refugee I come to another country I try to make my dream come true.”
On the day of a visit by AFP, a group of around 20 refugees from Afghanistan, North Africa, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast sit in an Athens classroom, learning how to give a PowerPoint presentation.
They will then have two weeks to show their projects to a jury of business people and NGO staff.
Successful applicants are given a startup fee of around €1,000 ($1,140). Over 150 people have been trained by the program.
“It’s only a small amount but it’s encouraging nonetheless,” says Touria, a 31-year-old woman from Morocco.
She also wants to open a restaurant, but at the moment, Greek bank loans are hard to come by, she notes.
Another initiative is Project Layali, meaning “my nights” in Arabic, which helps fund refugee businesses and assists applicants with the onerous task of navigating Greek bureaucracy for permits.
Manassif says he was contacted by them a year ago, while he was still training to be a hairdresser.
The project “got the salon for free through someone we know,” says Marine Liakis, who is French-Greek and helped to launch the initiative.
“But to build the business, we had to gather a lot of paperwork, spend hours in administrative offices and secure funds... for a foreigner in Greece, opening a commerce is a real battle,” she adds.
Project Layali in December also opened a shop near central Syntagma Square selling handicrafts made by refugees, who receive all the proceeds.
Shaghayegh Farhang, a 26-year-old woman from Iran, is one of the artists whose objects are sold here.
“For a long time, I hated Greece because I felt I couldn’t express myself here either,” says Shaghayegh, a self-taught photographer who left her country over two years ago because of the censorship imposed by the religious authorities.
“With this project now, I start to find a new goal in my life. I want to continue my artworks and maybe study,” she adds.
https://www.geezgo.com/sps/53433
Join Geezgo for free. Use Geezgo's end-to-end encrypted Chat with your Closenets (friends, relatives, colleague etc) in personalized ways.>>
February 02, 2019
Twitter Facebook

A French drug suspect on the run since escaping from an Indonesian jail nearly two weeks ago has been recaptured, police said on Saturday.
Felix Dorfin — who faces the death penalty if convicted — was found hiding in a forest in North Lombok on Friday night, police said, and was returned to jail in Mataram, capital of the island.
Wearing disheveled black clothes and looking tired, Dorfin initially tried to bribe officers to let him go.
“He didn’t resist arrest, but wanted to bribe our officers,” North Lombok police chief Herman Suriyono said Saturday, adding he was found following a tip-off from locals in the area.
After being checked by medical teams he was returned to jail.
The 35-year-old Frenchman was arrested in September allegedly carrying a false-bottomed suitcase filled with four kilograms (8.8 pounds) of drugs — including cocaine, ecstasy and amphetamines — at the airport on the holiday island next to Bali.
On Friday officials said a female police officer had been arrested for allegedly helping Dorfin escape in exchange for Rp 14.5 million (around $1,000).
Jailbreaks are common in Indonesia, where corruption is endemic at all levels of society and inmates often held in squalid and poorly guarded prisons.
In 2017, four foreign inmates tunneled their way out of Bali’s Kerobokan prison.
Two of them were captured a few days later, but an Australian and Malaysian are still at large.
Join Geezgo for free. Use Geezgo's end-to-end encrypted Chat with your Closenets (friends, relatives, colleague etc) in personalized ways.>>
February 02, 2019
Twitter Facebook

 
 
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis said he was looking to write a new page in the history of relations between religions with his visit to the United Arab Emirates from Sunday.
“I am happy ... to write on your dear land a new page in the relations between religions, confirming that we are brothers although different,” he said in a video message to the Emirati people released Thursday.
In the message, in Italian but also dubbed into Arabic, the pope thanked Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan for his invitation to participate in an interfaith meeting on “human fraternity” from February 3 to 5.
He said the visit would give him the opportunity to again see “friend and dear brother” Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb, the head of Egypt’s top Sunni Muslim authority, whom he met on a visit in 2017.
Francis has made boosting ties between Christianity and Islam a cornerstone of his papacy.
The pope said he believes the interfaith meeting reflects “the courage and willingness to affirm that faith in God unites rather than divides, brings together despite differences, and turns away from hostility and aversion.”
Francis also said the United Arab Emirates was “a land that seeks to be a model of coexistence, human fraternity and the meeting of diverse civilizations and cultures, where many find a safe place to work and live freely in the respect for diversity.”
“I look forward to meeting a people who live in the present with their eyes on the future,” he added.
The UAE prides itself on its religious tolerance and cultural diversity, and most Gulf Arab states have long allowed Christians to worship in churches.
Nearly 80 percent of the population of the UAE is Muslim, while Christians constitute around nine percent, according to the Catholic News Agency.
Many of the Catholics are workers from Africa, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and the Philippines, though some are locals.
Continue Reading
Join Geezgo for free. Use Geezgo's end-to-end encrypted Chat with your Closenets (friends, relatives, colleague etc) in personalized ways.>>
February 01, 2019
Twitter Facebook

The European Commission has added Saudi Arabia to an EU draft list of countries that pose a threat to the bloc because of lax controls against terrorism financing and money laundering, two sources told Reuters on Friday.

The move comes amid heightened international pressure on Saudi Arabia after the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate on Oct. 2.

The EU’s list currently consists of 16 countries, including Iran, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen and North Korea, and is mostly based on criteria used by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global body composed by wealthy nations meant to combat money laundering and terrorism financing.

But the list has been updated this week, using new criteria developed by the EU Commission since 2017. Saudi Arabia is one of the countries added to the updated list which is still confidential, one EU source and one Saudi source told Reuters.

Saudi authorities did not immediately respond to request for comment.

The move is a setback for Riyadh at a time when it is striving to bolster its international reputation in order to encourage foreign investors to participate in a huge transformation plan and improve financial ties for its banks.

Khashoggi, a columnist for the Washington Post and a critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed and dismembered by Saudi agents at its Istanbul consulate on Oct 2, provoking widespread revulsion and damaging the kingdom’s image.

Apart from reputational damages, the inclusion in the list complicates financial relations with the EU. The bloc’s banks will have to carry out additional checks on payments involving entities from listed jurisdictions.

The provisional decision needs to be endorsed by the 28 EU states before being formally adopted next week.
Company Ownership

A second EU official said other countries are likely to be added to the final list but declined to elaborate as the information is still confidential and subject to changes.

An EU commission spokesman said he had no comment on the content of the list as it had not been finalised yet.

Countries are blacklisted if they “have strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism regimes that pose significant threats to the financial system of the Union,” the existing EU list says.

Under the new EU methodology, jurisdictions could also be blacklisted if they do not provide sufficient information on ownership of companies or if their rules on reporting suspicious transactions or monitoring financial customers are considered too lax.

Saudi Arabia missed out on gaining full FATF membership in September after it was determined to fall short in combating money laundering and terror financing.

The government has taken steps to beef up its efforts to tackle graft and abuse of power, but FATF said in September that Riyadh was not effectively investigating and prosecuting individuals involved in larger scale money laundering activity or confiscating the proceeds of crime at home or abroad.

The EU has reviewed 47 jurisdictions, including the United States, Russia and Switzerland, before updating its list. EU countries were not screened.
 
https://www.geezgo.com/sps/53003
Join Geezgo for free. Use Geezgo's end-to-end encrypted Chat with your Closenets (friends, relatives, colleague etc) in personalized ways.>>
January 26, 2019
Twitter Facebook

Russian authorities have arrested three men on suspicion of beating a 97-year-old World War II veteran to death while robbing the home where she lived alone.

Assailants entered the woman's home through a window, covered her with a blanket, beat her in the head, stole 20,000 rubles ($300), and fled the scene, the regional Investigative Committee branch in the southern Stavropol Krai said on January 25.

She died in the hospital two days after the January 10 attack in the village of Kursavka, it said.

The three suspects had installed a new window at the woman's home in the spring of 2018 and also stole money from her at that time, the statement said.

State-run news agency RIA-Novosti cited officials as saying that 120,000 rubles had been stolen in the robbery in the spring, and that the 20,000 stolen on January 10 was money she had been saving to pay for her funeral.

The Investigative Committee did not release the name of the victim or the identities of the suspects, who face up to 15 years in prison if tried and convicted.
 
https://www.geezgo.com/sps/52936
Join Geezgo for free. Use Geezgo's end-to-end encrypted Chat with your Closenets (friends, relatives, colleague etc) in personalized ways.>>
January 26, 2019
Twitter Facebook

The Greek parliament has narrowly approved a historic agreement to normalize relations with neighboring Macedonia, in a move welcomed by the European Union.

Greek lawmakers on January 25 voted 153-146 in favor of the deal, which has already been ratified by Macedonia's parliament.

The agreement, signed last year by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his Macedonian counterpart Zoran Zaev at Lake Prespa along the border separating Macedonia and Greece, could pave the way for Macedonia to seek membership in the EU and NATO.

"Today is a historic day," Tsipras said in a tweet he posted after the vote.

"Today we write a new page for the Balkans. The hatred of nationalism, dispute and conflict will be replaced by friendship, peace and cooperation," Tsipras added.

"We warmly welcome the next crucial step in the ratification of the Prespa Agreement, taken with today's vote by the Hellenic Parliament," European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, and Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said in a joint statement after the vote.

The agreement has been backed by Western countries that want to limit Russian influence in the Balkans. But it has faced opposition, mainly from nationalists in both Greece and Macedonia who argue it gives away too much to the other side.

"From the very beginning, the European Union has strongly supported the historic agreement signed by Prime Ministers Tsipras and Zaev, following negotiations under the auspices of the UN," the EU statement said.

"It took political courage, leadership, and responsibility on all sides to resolve one of the most entrenched disputes in the region. Both countries have seized this unique opportunity which sets an example of reconciliation for Europe as a whole and will give a further boost to the European perspective of the region."

European Council President Donald Tusk said the two countries had achieved "mission impossible."

"They had imagination, they took the risk, they were ready to sacrifice their own interests for the greater good," Tusk wrote on Twitter.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the vote in a tweet, saying it is "an important contribution to the stability and prosperity of the whole region."

"I look forward to the future Republic of North Macedonia joining NATO,” he added.

Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev congratulated the Greek prime minister on the vote in a message posted on Twitter.

"Congratulations my friend, Alexis Tsipras. Together with our peoples we reached a historical victory. Long live the Prespa Agreement! For eternal peace and progress of the Balkans and in Europe!"

Both prime ministers faced political opposition and struggled to ratify the deal.

The ratification vote came after three days of heated debate and some violent protests against the deal, aimed at ending a nearly three decade-long dispute that has kept Macedonia from joining the Western military alliance and the European Union.

Several small protests against the deal were under way in Athens, but only a few dozen demonstrators attended because of the torrential rain.

On January 24, as lawmakers debated the deal, demonstrators clashed with police outside, some of them chanting “traitors.”

Police fired tear gas and stun grenades after some in the crowd hurled rocks and other objects in their direction.

Police later said they arrested 10 people and detained another 133 on suspicion of committing or planning acts of violence. A new protest has been called outside parliament on January 25.

Under the agreement, Macedonia changes its name to the Republic of North Macedonia. The deal could unblock Macedonia's bids to join NATO and the European Union, long blocked by Greece.

Tsipras secured the parliamentary majority needed to get the accord approved with support from independent and opposition lawmakers.

"After one year of negotiations, discussions and exhaustive diaologue, we are reaching the end of a tough and painful process," Tsipras told parliament during a heated debate on January 24.

The ratification vote in parliament originally was scheduled for January 24. Debate was extended until January 25 to allow the large number of registered speakers to have their say.
 
https://www.geezgo.com/sps/52935
Join Geezgo for free. Use Geezgo's end-to-end encrypted Chat with your Closenets (friends, relatives, colleague etc) in personalized ways.>>
January 26, 2019
Twitter Facebook

Activist Group Publishes 'Hacked E-Mails' From Russia

A self-described "transparency collective" has released a massive trove of hacked e-mails and leaked documents from what it describes as "Russian politicians, journalists, oligarchs, [and] religious, and social figures."

The materials were published online on January 25 by a group calling itself Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDOS), which says it is "aimed at enabling the free transmission of data in the public interest."

The co-founder of the group, U.S. journalist Emma Best, said the materials would include various archives of hacked and leaked materials related to Russia that have been difficult for researchers to locate, the Daily Beast reported on January 25.

The group's website would bring together these materials into one location online, Best said.

A day before the release, Best, a transparency activist focusing on national-security matters, told RFE/RL that some of the documents slated for release had not "previously" been found by the group.

"The rest is rather obscure and largely unknown or forgotten," Best said.

"We can’t certify that any portion of it has never been released, though," Best added.

Numerous batches of private e-mails and documents from Russian officials and businessman have been published online in recent years, including those purportedly from the e-mail account of senior Kremlin aide Vladislav Surkov.

Ukrainian hackers claimed responsibility for an alleged 2016 hack of Surkov’s e-mail account, the contents of which appeared to show his office’s involvement with Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

The Kremlin at the time did not explicitly say that the contents of those materials were fraudulent but suggested they may have been forged.

DDOS said the documents it released on January 25 included materials from "nationalists," "separatists," and "terrorists" operating in Ukraine.

https://www.geezgo.com/sps/52932
Join Geezgo for free. Use Geezgo's end-to-end encrypted Chat with your Closenets (friends, relatives, colleague etc) in personalized ways.>>
January 25, 2019
Twitter Facebook

Kingdom was determined to have fallen short in combating money laundering and terror financing, Reuters reports.

The European Commission has added Saudi Arabia to an EU draft list of countries that pose a threat to the bloc because of lax controls against "terrorism financing" and "money laundering", sources told Reuters news agency.

The move comes amid heightened international pressure on Saudi Arabia following the brutal murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The EU's list currently consists of 16 countries, including Iran, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and North Korea, and is mostly based on criteria used by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global body composed by wealthy nations meant to combat money laundering and terrorism financing.

But the list has been updated this week, using new criteria developed by the EU Commission since 2017. Saudi Arabia is one of the countries added to the updated list that is still confidential, one unidentified EU source and one unnamed Saudi source were quoted as saying.

A second EU official said other countries were likely to be added to the final list but declined to elaborate as the information is still confidential and subject to change.

An EU commission spokesman said he had no comment on the content of the list as it had not been finalised yet.

Saudi authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Killing Khashoggi

The move is a setback for Riyadh at a time when it is striving to bolster its international reputation in order to encourage foreign investors to participate in a huge transformation plan and improve financial ties for its banks.

Khashoggi, who was a columnist for The Washington Post and a vocal critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed inside Riyadh's consulate in Istanbul in October.

His gruesome murder and Saudi Arabia's shifting narrative over his death provoked widespread criticism and damaged the kingdom's image.

Apart from reputational damage, the inclusion on the list complicates financial relations with the EU. The bloc's banks will have to carry out additional checks on payments involving entities from listed jurisdictions.

The provisional decision needs to be endorsed by the 28 EU states before being formally adopted next week.
Saudis fall short

Countries are blacklisted if they "have strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism regimes that pose significant threats to the financial system of the Union", the existing EU list says.

Under the new EU methodology, jurisdictions could also be blacklisted if they do not provide sufficient information on ownership of companies, or if their rules on reporting suspicious transactions or monitoring financial customers are considered too lax.

Saudi Arabia missed out on gaining full FATF membership in September after it was determined to fall short in combating money laundering and terrorist financing.

The government has taken steps to beef up its efforts to tackle graft and abuse of power, but FATF said in September that Riyadh was not effectively investigating and prosecuting individuals involved in larger scale money laundering activity, or confiscating the proceeds of crime at home or abroad.

https://www.geezgo.com/sps/52911
Join Geezgo for free. Use Geezgo's end-to-end encrypted Chat with your Closenets (friends, relatives, colleague etc) in personalized ways.>>
January 25, 2019
Twitter Facebook

Amid deep divisions, Greek parliament approves Macedonia name-change deal to end neighbours' protracted dispute.

After decades of claims, counterclaims and, at times, ugly politics, Athens and Skopje have resolved one of Europe's most intractable conflicts.

A lengthy, stormy debate in Greece's 300-seat parliament concluded on Friday with a majority of 153 legislators voting in favour of a deal seeking to end the two neighbours' long-running dispute by renaming the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as the Republic of North Macedonia. A total of 146 MPs voted against the deal and one abstained.

"Today is a historic day. Greece protects an important part of its history, the heritage of ancient Greek Macedonia," said Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Twitter at the end of a bruising process which saw his ruling coalition ally quit earlier this month.

Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev congratulated Tsipras and hailed the outcome as a "historical victory".

According to the contentious Prespes Agreement, signed in June last year, the small Balkan country will now be internationally recognised as North Macedonia in exchange for Greece unblocking its path towards NATO and European Union membership. Its language will be recognised as "Macedonian" and its citizens as "Macedonian/Citizen of the Republic of North Macedonia".

The vote in Athens, which came nearly two weeks after MPs in Skopje narrowly approved the name change, settles the countries' 27-year dispute.

Societies in both countries, however, remain polarised.

In Athens, thousands of people waving flags and chanting "traitors" gathered outside the Greek parliament building on Thursday evening to protest against the agreement.

Similar protests were held in other parts of the country, mostly in northern towns where opposition to the deal is stronger, polls showing six in 10 Greeks rejecting the agreement.

Athens has long opposed the use of the name Macedonia for its neighbour, which declared independence in 1991 following the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, saying it implied a territorial claim over the Greek province with the same name as well as an appropriation of Greece's cultural heritage. Skopje has denied the allegations.

"Certain Greeks oppose the deal because they believe that the term Macedonia historically belongs to the Greeks. Therefore the use of 'Macedonia' by our northern neighbour it's like an historical theft committed against 'Greekness'," Dimitris Christopoulos, professor of political science at Panteion University in Athens, said.

In Skopje, opponents of the deal have also taken to the streets in recent months.

Trajko Slaveski, a former minister of finance and current member of the opposition VMRO-DPMNE party, described the agreement as a defeat for his country.

"The deal represents a sheer capitulation under the irresponsible demands of a neighbouring country, both a NATO and EU member, and as such could not be supported," Slaveski told Al Jazeera.

For Slaveski, it's not only a matter of legitimacy but also about heritage and identity.

"The name of the country, and, moreover, the identity, culture, and history of its people has been changed under immense pressure, with numerous breaches of our constitution and respectful laws. This undermines the very foundations of our country and society, with grave consequences for our future," he argued.

Still, others believe the agreement holds positive implications for the two countries, both at the regional and European level.

"The deal shows that the carrots and sticks of the EU process work and that the EU can function as a peace project, while it reaffirms the presence of NATO and the EU in the region," Nikos Skoutaris, senior lecturer in European Law at the University of East Anglia, said.

The deal will also enable greater cooperation in many areas, including in dealing with the refugee crisis and fostering better economic ties, according to Gjorgji Filipov, a diplomat in Skopje.

"Macedonia and Greek are winning and losing something, but finally is for the good of both sides," he said.

https://www.geezgo.com/sps/52909
Join Geezgo for free. Use Geezgo's end-to-end encrypted Chat with your Closenets (friends, relatives, colleague etc) in personalized ways.>>
January 25, 2019
Twitter Facebook

OSLO: Global warming will make life harder for mammals and birds hunting in polar seas by perking up fish that were slow, stupid and easy to catch in icy waters, scientists said on Thursday (Jan 24).

Seals, whales, penguins and other warm-bodied creatures rule polar seas partly because their constant internal temperatures let them put on bursts of speed and stay more alert than cold-blooded prey, they wrote in the journal Science.

But rising temperatures in the Arctic Ocean and seas around Antarctica are slowly enlivening fish, from small capelin to large sharks, whose bodies and brains go slow in frigid waters.

"Overall, warm-bodied predators are favoured where prey are slow, stupid, and cold," the scientists, led by John Grady at Michigan State University, wrote in the study.

"Being faster than your prey or enemies ... is an important advantage for surviving and getting food," Grady told Reuters in an e-mail of the findings by scientists in the United States, Germany, Canada and England.

DEADLIER SHARKS

"Faster sharks are deadlier sharks. The most vulnerable mammals and birds are those that feed on fast-moving fish and have to worry about shark predators: this includes many penguins, puffins and sea lions," he wrote.

The wide diversity of marine mammals and seabirds in polar regions is a biological oddity, because species tend to be more varied nearer the equator. The warm-body advantage in frigid waters helps explain the paradox.

The scientists estimated that every 1 °C (1.8 Fahrenheit) increase in sea surface temperature will lead to a 12 per cent decline in the abundance of marine mammals.

Almost 200 governments pledged in the 2015 Paris climate agreement to limit a rise in temperatures to "well below" 2 °C above pre-industrial times by phasing out fossil fuels. But governments are lagging behind and temperatures are expected to rise 3 °C (5.4F) or so by 2100, the U.N. estimates.

The polar power struggle between warm- and cold-blooded creatures is one aspect of warming that is also driving many species of fish and other marine life towards the poles or to the depths.

And scientists have found that thick layers of blubber, a sign of health for Arctic mammals, have thinned on harp seals and minke whales in recent years. That may signal that they are losing out to rival cod in catching smaller fish.

"Cod have invaded some of the areas where the harp seals and minke whales used to feed without competition," Tore Haug, a scientist at Norway's Institute of Marine Research, told Reuters. He was not involved in Thursday's study.
https://www.geezgo.com/sps/52898
Join Geezgo for free. Use Geezgo's end-to-end encrypted Chat with your Closenets (friends, relatives, colleague etc) in personalized ways.>>
January 25, 2019
Twitter Facebook

KIEV: A Ukrainian court on Thursday (Jan 24) found ex-president Viktor Yanukovych guilty of high treason and sentenced him in absentia to 13 years in prison for asking Russia's Vladimir Putin to send troops to Ukraine.

In 2014, Yanukovych was ousted as a result of a bloody uprising after his attempts to quell it failed.

He fled the country and asked Putin to send troops to Ukraine to help restore his control over the country.

"Yanukovych committed a crime against the foundation of Ukraine's national security," judge Vladyslav Devyatko said in Kiev's Obolon district court.

Yanukovych was also found guilty of "complicity in waging an aggressive war against Ukraine," Devyatko said, adding his prison term would begin "the moment he is detained."

The 68-year-old former Ukrainian president did not attend the trial and is believed to be living in Russia.

Earlier in the day authorities had beefed up security around the court as judges took turns reading out their ruling.

The court in Kiev has held hearings on the case since 2017.

Yanukovych faces a number of other criminal probes including over usurpation of power and using force against demonstrators.

In late 2013, the Moscow-backed president sparked massive protests when he refused at the last minute to sign an association accord forging closer ties between Ukraine and the European Union.

More than 100 people were killed in the violence when riot police cracked down on protesters in Kiev's iconic "Maidan" square in 2014.

After Yanukovych fled the country, Putin revealed a special operation organised by Moscow that exfiltrated the Ukrainian leader.

Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in 2014 and supported Russian-speaking insurgents in the east of the ex-Soviet country.

The conflict in eastern Ukraine has claimed more than 10,000 lives despite repeated international efforts to forge a lasting ceasefire.

Russia views the chain of events that led to Yanukovych's ouster as a coup orchestrated by Washington.

Yanukovych has all but vanished from view since his violent suppression of street protests and little is known about how Ukraine's former strongman passes his day.

FROM EASTERN UKRAINE

Yanukovych was born in the now conflict-torn Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.

For two decades he served as a transport manager in Donetsk before moving into politics in the late 1990s.

He became the region's governor in 1997, with close ties to local oligarchs, and eventually prime minister under president Leonid Kuchma in 2002.

In 2004, he was initially proclaimed the winner of a presidential election amid allegations of vote-rigging and charges of interference from Moscow.

The election triggered the pro-democracy Orange Revolution and was eventually declared fraudulent.

Six years later Yanukovych returned to beat Orange Revolution co-leader Yulia Tymoshenko in a bitter presidential contest.

In the years that followed, he became deeply unpopular for his corrupt, lavish lifestyle.

https://www.geezgo.com/sps/52871
Join Geezgo for free. Use Geezgo's end-to-end encrypted Chat with your Closenets (friends, relatives, colleague etc) in personalized ways.>>
January 25, 2019
Twitter Facebook

Three watercolour paintings attributed to the former Nazi leader Adolf Hitler have been seized by German police.

The works were up for sale at the Kloss auction house in Berlin, but taken on suspicions of forgery, police say.

The separate works depict a mountain scene, a river and a distant figure sitting beneath a tree.

They were created in the early 20th Century while Hitler, later guilty of some of the worst crimes in history, worked as a painter in Munich.

The BBC understands that the raid took place at about 10:30 local time (09:30 GMT) following a tip off.

Berlin police tweeted that they had opened an enquiry into "attempted fraud" and "falsification of documents".

The starting price for each painting was €4,000 ($4,500), according to AFP news agency. All the watercolours carried a seal of authenticity given by an expert.

A police spokeswoman, Patricia Brämer, told the BBC that investigators were looking into whether their authenticity had been "faked".

No arrests have been made.

No-one from Kloss auction house was immediately available for comment.

The paintings' elderly sellers reportedly did not want to be identified.

"If you walk down the Seine and see 100 artists, 80 will be better than this," Heinz-Joachim Maeder, a spokesperson for the Kloss auction house in Berlin, earlier told Reuters.

"The value of these objects and the media interest is because of the name at the bottom," he added.

Strong demand had been expected from online bidders in the UK, Scandinavia, the US and Russia.

Prior to World War One, in which he fought, Hitler worked in Vienna as a casual labourer and an artist, drawing postcards and paintings.

He was twice rejected from the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts.

In his book Mein Kampf, he claimed to have produced as many as three paintings a day.

In Germany, it is legal to sell paintings by Hitler so long as they do not contain Nazi symbols.

While in power, Hitler allegedly ordered the collection and destruction of his artworks, but several hundred are known to still exist.

Many are held by the US Army, which confiscated them at the end of World War Two. The collection has never been exhibited.

Others are held in the private collections of individuals and institutions. One of the largest is housed at the International Museum of World War II in the US.

In 2014, a watercolour of a registry office in Munich sold for €130,000 ($148,000) at an auction in Nuremberg, southern Germany. The picture came with a bill of sale and a signed letter by Nazi military commander Albert Bormann.

Others have been auctioned for lower amounts. Mullock's of Shropshire sold a collection of 13 artworks in 2009 for €130,000. All were signed: A. Hitler.

https://www.geezgo.com/sps/52858
Join Geezgo for free. Use Geezgo's end-to-end encrypted Chat with your Closenets (friends, relatives, colleague etc) in personalized ways.>>
January 24, 2019
Twitter Facebook

A Plateau State High Court sitting in Barkin Ladi on Wednesday sentenced a 34-year-old dismissed solider, Sunday Umaru, to death by hanging, for hacking his lover to death over a text message, he found on her phone.

Justice S.P. Gang handed down the sentence after finding Umaru guilty of killing his girlfriend, Charity Thomas, on January 23, 2016.

Delivering the judgment, Gang declared that Umaru “mercilessly took the life of Charity Thomas in cold blood” and had to face the full wrath of the law.

“This sentence is mandatory; the law states that any person convicted of murder shall be punished with death by hanging.


“The sentence of this court upon you is that you, Sunday Umaru, will be hanged by the neck until you are dead. May God have mercy on your soul,’’ Gang declared.

Umaru, an ex-military man, was dragged before the court on July 14, 2016, for allegedly killing his lover.

Umaru, a married man, was a Private in the Nigerian Army and was serving at the Special Task Force (STF), Sector 7, Barkin Ladi, at the time of the incident, on January 23, 2016.

At his arraignment, Umaru faced a charge of culpable homicide.

He was specifically accused of killing his lover, Charity, who visited him from Kaduna State, by stabbing her with a knife in the stomach, slaughtering her thereafter and dumping the body by the roadside.

According to the prosecutor, Emmanuel Awe, the accused person committed the crime on January 23, 2016 in Barkin Ladi Local Government area of Plateau State.

Awe, while reading out the charge, said that Charity’s lifeless body was found the next day, January 24, 2016, by neighbours and some soldiers, who trailed the blood marks to the accused person’s house.

“Friends of the accused, who were the military men that evacuated the body, also recognised the girl as Umaru’s lover, who was seen with him the previous day.”

The accused, he further told the court, quickly fled his base and returned to his family at the Rukuba Barracks in Bassa Local Government.

The prosecutor said that a team of military men mobilised and went after the accused and arrested him at his home in the barracks, while in the company of his family.

He said that during the investigation, the police discovered several gory pictures and videos of the deceased that the accused took with his phone, immediately after the murder.

The Nigerian Army quickly tried the accused and dismissed Umaru after finding him guilty of killing his lover.

Counsel to the accused, Mr David Adudu, told NAN after the judgment that he was not satisfied with the death sentence death passed by the court.

“I will get a copy of the judgment, study same and raise possible grounds for an appeal,” he said.
https://www.geezgo.com/sps/52829
Join Geezgo for free. Use Geezgo's end-to-end encrypted Chat with your Closenets (friends, relatives, colleague etc) in personalized ways.>>
January 24, 2019
Twitter Facebook

MOSCOW: Russia said on Wednesday that Israel should stop carrying out what Moscow called arbitrary airstrikes on Syria, days after the Israeli air force targeted what Israel said were Iranian forces there.

Israel has repeatedly attacked what it describes as Iranian targets in Syria and those of allied militia, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describes the effort as an open-ended campaign to push back arch-foe Tehran.

The strikes have long caused friction between Israel and Russia, which apart from Iran is Bashar Assad’s other major foreign backer.

Israeli officials have spoken in the past of an agreement with Moscow under which they have made clear their strikes on Syria would not threaten Assad, while Russia has promised to help limit Iranian influence near the Israeli frontier. A hotline set up since 2015 is aimed at ensuring Russian forces in Syria are not surprised by Israeli attacks.

“The practice of arbitrary strikes on the territory of a sovereign state, in this case, we are talking about Syria, should be ruled out,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, in answer to a question from Russian news agency TASS about recent Israeli airstrikes on Syria.

She said such strikes added to tensions in the region, which she said was not in the long-term interests of any country there, including Israel.

“We should never allow Syria, which has suffered years of armed conflict, to be turned into an arena where geopolitical scores are settled,” TASS cited her as saying.

Her comments follow Israeli strikes in Syria on Monday. Israel did not immediately respond.

Earlier on Wednesday, Netanyahu signaled that the Syria sorties would continue.

“The IDF (Israel Defense Force) is the only military that is fighting the Iranian army in Syria,” he said during a visit to an Israeli army base. “I am certain in our ability to defeat the enemy.”
https://www.geezgo.com/sps/52778
Join Geezgo for free. Use Geezgo's end-to-end encrypted Chat with your Closenets (friends, relatives, colleague etc) in personalized ways.>>
January 24, 2019
Twitter Facebook

Italy has pledged to finance a feasibility study for a planned rail line linking the Eritrean port city of Massawa and the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed disclosed on Monday.

Abiy, who arrived in Rome on official duty said Italy had agreed to fund the first phase of the study. He was speaking during a joint press briefing with his Italian counterpart, Giuseppe Conte.

Financing would be the first step to a route which would be crucial to trade between the two countries. No further details have been given as to how much the project will cost or a time line.

An analyst commenting on the development said Italy had only agreed to finance the study. Biruk Terrefe added that the route will go through Mekelle, capital of the northern Tigray region then through to Awash (via Kolombocha) and to Addis Ababa (via Adama.)

Ethiopia’s most crucial rail line is the line that links Addis Ababa to Djibouti. The Chinese-built line launched in 2016 is the main import and export channel for Ethiopia. Majority of the landlocked nations’ trade comes via Djibouti.

Abiy had earlier met with the Italian President Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinal Palace with both leaders discussing historical relations and bilateral cooperation in key areas.

The PM’s very busy day saw him hold meetings with other international development partners. He visited the St. Stephen of the Abyssinians Church located in the Vatican City State before meeting with the Holy Father Pope Francis.
https://www.geezgo.com/sps/52689
Join Geezgo for free. Use Geezgo's end-to-end encrypted Chat with your Closenets (friends, relatives, colleague etc) in personalized ways.>>
January 22, 2019
Twitter Facebook

Italy’s deputy prime minister Luigi Di Maio on Monday insisted that France’s policies in Africa have created poverty and caused migration.

Maio’s remarks came hours after France summoned the Italian ambassador to Paris to protest the original assertions made over the weekend.
Italy’s accusations

Speaking on Saturday in central Italy, Di Maio attacked France’s Africa policy, the latest chapter in a war of words between Rome and Paris since the anti-establishment 5-Star-Movement and far-right League won power last year.

If we have people who are leaving Africa now it’s because some European countries, and France in particular, have never stopped colonizing Africa.

“If we have people who are leaving Africa now it’s because some European countries, and France in particular, have never stopped colonizing Africa,” said Di Maio, who leads the 5-Star.

“If France didn’t have its African colonies, because that’s what they should be called, it would be the 15th largest world economy. Instead it’s among the first, exactly because of what it is doing in Africa.”

Di Maio added that France was manipulating the economies of 14 African countries that use the CFA franc — a colonial-era currency which is underpinned by the French Treasury.

“France is one of those countries that by printing money for 14 African states prevents their economic development and contributes to the fact that the refugees leave and then die in the sea or arrive on our coasts,” he said.
France reacts

Ambassador Teresa Castaldo was summoned on Monday afternoon by the chief of staff of European Affairs Minister Nathalie Loiseau, the French diplomatic source said.

“It’s not the first time the Italian authorities have made unacceptable and aggressive comments,” the French diplomatic source added.

France argues that the CFA franc has brought welcome monetary stability to the countries that use it, but French President Emmanuel Macron said in 2017 that it was up to African governments to decide what to do with the currency.
Italy wants France sanctioned

The new Italian government has frequently clashed with Paris, be it on immigration or policy in Libya, eager to mark the difference between itself and the previous center-left administration which had good ties with the French authorities.

“I’ve stopped being a hypocrite talking only about the effects of immigration and it’s time to talk about the causes,” Di Maio said at the weekend.

“The EU should sanction all those countries like France that are impoverishing African countries and are causing those people to leave.”
https://www.geezgo.com/sps/52691
Join Geezgo for free. Use Geezgo's end-to-end encrypted Chat with your Closenets (friends, relatives, colleague etc) in personalized ways.>>
January 22, 2019

Afrogalaxy

Contact Form

Name

Email *

Message *

Powered by Blogger.
Javascript DisablePlease Enable Javascript To See All Widget