Idomeni, Greece (AFP)—Greek police on Tuesday transferred some two thousand migrants out of the overcrowded camp of Idomeni, launching a major operation to clear up the squalid tent city where thousands fleeing war and poverty have lived for months. The operation began at dawn, and by evening officials said they had put 2,031 people on buses to newly opened camps near Greece’s second city Thessaloniki, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) to the south. “The operation […]
EU
Google invokes free speech in French fine appeal
PARIS, France (AFP) – Google said Thursday it feared for free speech if France succeeded in forcing it to apply the right to have information about a person removed from its search engines not just in France, but worldwide. Lodging an appeal against a 100,000-euro ($112,000) fine imposed by a French regulator, Google argued that French authorities should not have the right to decide beyond the country’s jurisdiction. France’s National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL) […]
ECB bond-buying scheme faces new lawsuit in Germany
FRANKFURT, Germany (AFP) – A group of German businessmen and academics are taking the European Central Bank to court over its controversial bond-buying programme, their lawyer said on Tuesday. A complaint against the ECB’s corporate sector purchase programme was filed at Germany’s highest court, the Constitutional Court, on May 12, a court spokesman told AFP. The business leaders argued that the central bank was “going beyond its mandate” in purchasing corporate bonds as part of its […]
EU Celebrates Silver Year in the Philippines
The European Union celebrated 25 years of partnership with the Philippines at the Europe Day reception in Makati City.
Bomb sweeps, bag checks as terror threat looms over Cannes
CANNES, France (AFP) — Bomb experts will carry out daily sweeps at the Cannes film festival, opening this week under maximum security as France faces its highest ever terror threat, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Monday. The glitterati, set to descend on the resort town as the festival opens Wednesday, will also have to tip open expensive handbags for inspection after climbing the red carpet into the main venue, the Palais des Festivals, which is to be […]
EU won’t sacrifice food safety for US trade deal: German minister
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) – The EU won’t sacrifice its high food safety standards for better US auto market access in a transatlantic trade deal being negotiated, a German minister said Friday. The comments by Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt were the latest criticism of the thorny negotiations toward sealing a wide-ranging pact that would create a free-trade zone covering 850 million people. Washington and Brussels want the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) completed this year […]
Spain reports first case of Zika-related microcephaly
BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) – Spanish health authorities say they have detected the country’s first known case of the microcephaly birth defect in the foetus of a pregnant woman infected with the Zika virus. “A pregnant woman was infected by Zika and dengue and the foetus has shown various defects,” the health authority of the Catalonia region said in a statement late Thursday. This was Spain’s first case of Zika-related microcephaly, a severe form of brain […]
Merkel warns of return to nationalism unless EU protects borders
ROME, Italy (AFP) — by Olivier Baube German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday urged European leaders to protect EU borders or risk a “return to nationalism” as the continent battles its worst migration crisis since World War II. As Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi kicked off two days of talks in Rome with Merkel and senior EU officials, the German leader said Europe must defend its borders “from the Mediterranean to the North Pole” or suffer […]
France hits out at US-EU trade pact
PARIS, France (AFP) – France on Tuesday took aim at a vast but controversial EU-US pact to create a free-trade zone covering 850 million people, with President Francois Hollande threatening to veto it as it stands. Hollande warned that Paris would reject the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) “at this stage” because his country opposes “unregulated free trade.” “Never would we accept the undermining of the essential principles of our agriculture, our culture, of mutual access […]
US warns Russia it will defend allies as NATO command passes
STUTTGART, Germany (AFP) Tuesday 5/3/2016 – US Defence Secretary Ash Carter warned Tuesday that NATO would defend its allies against Russian “aggression” as he presided over the passing of the alliance’s European command to a new general. Carter said NATO would “keep the door open for Russia” for cooperation on global security challenges if Moscow abandoned its “sabre-rattling”. “But it’s up to the Kremlin to decide. We don’t seek a cold, let alone hot, war with […]
EU set to extend Schengen border controls
BRUSSELS, Belgium – AFP The EU is set this week to allow countries to extend border controls in the passport-free Schengen area as a result of the migrant crisis and recent terror attacks following a request by five countries, European sources said Monday. Germany, France, Austria, Denmark and Sweden wrote to the European Commission saying the border situation remains “extremely volatile” and asking them to prolong their right to keep frontier checks. “We have a […]
Denmark extends controls on German border, EU set to authorize more
(Reuters) Denmark extended temporary controls at its border with Germany on Monday, imposed to help control an influx of migrants, as the European Commission confirmed it would shortly authorize more such extensions within the passport-free Schengen zone. Seven members of the Schengen zone, including Germany and Denmark, have introduced temporary border controls after more than one million migrants entered the European Union last year, mostly via Greece. The European Commission, struggling to prevent the […]