Tag Archives: Europe

CBS News reports: Prime Minister Theresa May has managed to hash out a draft agreement with the European Union on the terms of Britain’s looming divorce from the EU, and to convince her own divided cabinet that the deal is a better than the default alternative — a “no-deal Brexit.” May emerged from her official residence at No. 10 Downing …

The Guardian reports: The centre of London ground to a halt as an estimated 700,000 people from all over the UK marched peacefully on parliament to demand a second referendum on Brexit. It was the biggest outpouring of public opposition to government policy since the anti-Iraq war protest in 2003. The number who descended on the capital to call for …

Radio Free Europe reports: Romania’s top court has ruled that gay couples should have the same family rights as heterosexuals, a judgment that comes ahead of a national referendum seeking to ban same-sex marriage. The Constitutional Court ruled that same-sex couples had the same rights to a private and family life as heterosexuals and should “benefit from…. legal and juridical …

Italy’s The Local reports: US President Donald Trump receives Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Monday, welcoming to the White House a European populist with like-minded views on immigration and trade. The visit will begin with a one-on-one meeting followed by more extensive bilateral discussions, the White House said. Trump praised Conte as “great” after meeting him at the recent …

The Telegraph reports: It was the week that Emmanuel Macron, the slick young French president who once said that he hoped to rule above the political fray like the Roman god Jupiter, was brutally reminded that he is, after all, a mere mortal. His top aides were grilled on live television and the opposition shut down Parliament. And to cap …

The Daily Beast reports: Steve Bannon plans to go toe-to-toe with George Soros and spark a right-wing revolution in Europe. Trump’s former White House chief advisor told The Daily Beast that he is setting up a foundation in Europe called The Movement which he hopes will lead a right-wing populist revolt across the continent starting with the European Parliament elections …

Reuters reports: Chancellor Angela Merkel, vowing to stay in office despite challenges at home and abroad, said she would work on Germany’s “under pressure” relationship with the United States but that Washington could no longer be relied on to deliver world order. In a wide-ranging news conference, Merkel described Germany’s relationship with the United States as “crucial”, even after U.S. …

Reuters reports: Germany’s foreign minister said on Monday Europe could not rely on Donald Trump and needed to close ranks after the U.S. president called the European Union a “foe” with regard to trade. “We can no longer completely rely on the White House,” Heiko Maas told the Funke newspaper group. “To maintain our partnership with the USA we must …

Politico reports: U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to break with NATO and conduct American security unilaterally — if allies do not immediately meet higher military spending targets, NATO officials and diplomats said. Trump warned of “grave consequences” if allies do not immediately meet higher spending targets, derailing a morning meeting of NATO leaders with the leaders of Georgia and Ukraine …

The Associated Press reports: A few dozen right-wing extremists have blocked a gay rights march on its route to Poland’s holiest Catholic shrine while the prime minister was attending an event at the religious site. About 1,000 people with rainbow-colored banners and umbrellas were heading toward the Jasna Gora shrine in the southern city of Czestochowa when they came across …

The Economist reports: Like many others at an LGBT pride parade in Kokkola, a small town in Finland, Sebastian Tynkkynen is proud to be bisexual. Unlike most of them, he is also proud to be anti-immigrant. Mr Tynkkynen represents the nationalist Finns Party (formerly the “True Finns”) on the city council of nearby Oulu. He also used to lead the …

The BBC reports: Customers across the UK and Europe have been unable to pay for their purchases with Visa cards because of a network failure. Some shoppers reported they were stuck in queues in supermarkets and petrol stations as Visa transactions could not be processed. Banks have advised customers that they can still withdraw cash from ATMs. Visa says it …

The Guardian reports: Ireland has voted by a landslide to legalise abortion in a stunning outcome that marks a dramatic defeat for the Catholic church’s one-time domination of the Republic. The Irish electorate voted by 1,429,981 votes to 723,632 in favour of abolishing a controversial constitutional amendment that gave equal legal status to the lives of a foetus and the …

Krebs On Security reports: Authorities in the U.S., U.K. and the Netherlands on Tuesday took down popular online attack-for-hire service WebStresser.org and arrested its alleged administrators. Investigators say that prior to the takedown, the service had more than 136,000 registered users and was responsible for launching somewhere between four and six million attacks over the past three years. The action, …

The Guardian reports: A former head of the Catalan police force who drew widespread praise for his handling of the Barcelona terror attacks in August last year has been charged with belonging to a criminal organisation for his role in the events leading up to Catalonia’s illegal declaration of independence two months later. Josep Lluís Trapero belonged to a “complex …

PBS NewsHour reports: Ride-hailing service Uber suffered a new blow Wednesday as the European Union’s top court ruled that it should be regulated like a taxi company and not a technology service, a decision that crimps its activities around Europe and could weigh on other app-based companies, too. Uber, which is wrapping up a particularly punishing year, sought to play …

Deutsche Welle reports: Same-sex couples will be allowed to marry in Austria from 2019, according to a ruling by the country’s Constitutional Court announced on Tuesday. Same-sex couples in Austria have been able to enter only into “registered partnerships” since 2010, with nearly the same rights of married couples. But the court ruled that “the distinction between marriage and registered …

The Catholic Herald reports: Polish MPs have approved a bill that will phase out Sunday shopping by 2020. The Sejm, the lower house of Poland’s parliament, passed the bill by 254 to 156 to restrict Sunday shopping to the first and last Sunday of the month until the end of 2018, only on the last Sunday in the month in …

The Associated Press reports: Poland’s state-run news agency PAP says Polish authorities banned Richard Spencer from entering 26 countries in Europe’s visa-free Schengen area for five years. The news agency cited unnamed sources close to Poland’s Foreign Ministry. A source close to the Polish Foreign Ministry confirmed to the Associated Press that the ban has taken effect. He spoke on …

The Associated Press reports: Tens of thousands of nationalists marched in a demonstration organized by far-right groups in Warsaw Saturday, as Poles celebrated their country’s Independence Day. But the march has become the largest Independence Day event in recent years, overshadowing official state observances and other patriotic events. Some participants expressed sympathy for xenophobic or white supremacist ideas, with one …