Europe

Davis promises independent UK amid fresh Brexit tensions

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) – Brexit minister David Davis will seek to reassure eurosceptics about the government’s strategy for leaving the EU on Friday after fresh splits emerged in the ruling Conservative party. Prime Minister Theresa May rebuked her finance minister, Philip Hammond, on Thursday after he suggested Britain would only move “very modestly apart” from the EU’s economy after Brexit. Meanwhile backbench MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, who leads a group of more than 50 Brexit-supporting Conservative MPs, […]

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Defiant Pakistani radio fights on from Prague

by Jan FLEMR Agence France-Presse PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AFP) – With its Pakistan bureau shut by authorities last week, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Pashto-language station is broadcasting from its headquarters in a distant Prague, waiting for “the dust to settle,” according to its senior editor. The Islamabad office of Radio Mashaal, or Torch in Pashto, targets some 10 million people in areas along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan. It was closed for airing content “against the interest of […]

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Protesting French prison guards reject government proposals

by Joseph Schmid Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) – French prison guards pushed ahead with work stoppages and pickets Friday after two unions turned down the government’s latest offer to end a nearly two-week crisis after a series of attacks by inmates. But French President Emmanuel Macron said his justice minister Nicole Belloubet, who has been negotiating with union leaders this week to end France’s worst prison blockade in 25 years, had his full support. “The […]

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Trump apologises for retweeting far-right British group

by James PHEBY Agence France-Press LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) – US President Donald Trump made a rare apology on Friday over his decision to re-tweet anti-Muslim videos posted by a British far-right group, a move which strained tensions with London. “If you’re telling me they’re horrible racist people, I would certainly apologize if you’d like me to do that,” he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain, referring to the group Britain First. Trump sparked outrage in Britain […]

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Job-killing’ robots, AI under scrutiny in Davos

by Pol Costa Agence France Presse DAVOS, Switzerland (AFP) — “Artificial intelligence and robots will kill many jobs.” It’s a depressingly blunt statement for anyone to make, but even more so as it is the prediction of Jack Ma, CEO of the Chinese online sales giant Alibaba. The rise of AI — its huge potential and fears over its potentially negative consequences — is just one of the big issues discussed at the World Economic […]

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Ariane 5 satellites in orbit despite earlier ‘lost contact’

KOUROU, France (AFP) — Two commercial satellites have been successfully placed in orbit by an Ariane 5 rocket, Arianespace said Thursday, despite mission control briefly losing contact with the craft. “Both satellites were confirmed separated, acquired and they are on orbit,” Arianespace said in an updated statement after the lift-off from the Kourou Space Centre in French Guiana. The European space workhorse blasted off at 7.20 pm (2220 GMT) carrying satellites for Luxembourg’s SES and […]

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Three dead as packed Italy commuter train derails

by Céline Cornu Agence France Presse MILAN, Italy (AFP) — Three women were killed and a dozen people seriously injured after a packed Italian commuter train derailed on Thursday near the northern city of Milan. Witnesses told the media the regional train began to shake heavily as if it were running over rocks, before braking suddenly and derailing. Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni promised that full light would be shed on the circumstances of the […]

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Four months after vote, Merkel in final lap of coalition talks

BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel will on Friday begin a final stretch of negotiations with Germany’s second biggest party to form a government, four months after an inconclusive election left the country in political limbo. Merkel will meet with Social Democrat leader Martin Schulz and the chief of her Bavarian allies, Horst Seehofer, at 0800 GMT, sources close to the talks told AFP. As Germany’s European partners are beginning to be weary over the long-running […]

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EU starts countdown to settle refugee quotas row by June

by Lachlan CARMICHAEL Agence France-Presse SOFIA, Bulgaria (AFP) – EU ministers stuck Thursday to opposing east-west camps as they started a countdown to try and overhaul Europe’s asylum rules by June when the three-year-old migration crisis could flare anew. The minister from  Bulgaria, which holds the six-month rotating EU presidency ending June 30, said he would introduce proposals to “try to find a balance between the member states” split over refugee quotas. “Today we will see if […]

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New party gives voice to Russian speakers in Cyprus

LIMASSOL, Cyprus (AFP) – Muscovite pensioner Svetlana Bogomilova emerges from a Russian grocery store into the Mediterranean sunshine near the Limassol beachfront in Cyprus. “It is very convenient here,” the retired teacher told AFP as a family with a pushchair strolled by chatting in Russian. “There is everything you could need.” Across the European Union’s most easterly member it is easy to spot the influence of the island’s sizable Russian-speaking community. In the seaside city of Limassol […]

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Trump takes ‘America First’ message to Davos elite

by Andrew Beatty and Jitendra Joshi Agence France-Presse DAVOS, Switzerland (AFP) – The world’s political and business elite headed Thursday into a compelling encounter with President Donald Trump as the United States bids to carve out a competitive edge in trade, taxes and currency rates. A day after appearing to cast aside decades of US support for a strong currency, Trump’s Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he was relaxed about the dollar’s short-term value, doing little to […]

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Cars, castles and communism: things to know about the Czech Republic

PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AFP) – The Czech Republic emerged from four decades behind the Iron Curtain to become a member of the European Union and one of Europe’s tourist hotspots. Here are five things to know about the central European country of 10.6 million people that kicks off a second-round presidential election run-off on Friday. Prague, an architectural gem Its capital is a popular tourist magnet, boasting a picturesque historic center that entered the UNESCO heritage […]

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