Monthly Archive 29/09/21

Ексміністр закордонних справ стане наступним прем’єр-міністром Японії

Кішіда, найімовірніше, буде обраний наступним прем’єр-міністром 4 жовтня в парламенті

У Данії збираються продовжити заборону на розведення норок

Нинішня заборона, яка була запроваджена минулого року після того, як коронавірус поширився на кілька сотень норкових ферм, і спонукала уряд наказати вбити всіх норок у країні, діятиме до 2022 року.

German Election: Olaf Scholz Narrow Favorite to Succeed Angela Merkel

It’s still not clear who will be the next leader of Germany, after Sunday’s election failed to give any party a ruling majority. Talks between rival parties over forming a coalition government are under way. As Henry Ridgwell reports, Olaf Scholz is the narrow favorite to take over from Angela Merkel as chancellor — but the outcome remains uncertain. 

Camera: Henry Ridgwell Produced by: Henry Ridgwell, Marcus Harton 

 

In Spain, the Push is on for Squatter’s Rights

The pandemic has made Spain’s affordable housing crisis worse and civil organizations are now pressuring the government to pass a housing law that includes making available vacant, foreclosed homes. The push is causing new friction between Spanish political factions and raising concerns among real estate investors. Jonathan Spier narrates this report by Alfonso Beato in Barcelona.

Camera: Alfonso Beato

 

ПАРЄ затвердила кандидатуру російського судді у ЄСПЛ

Напередодні ПАРЄ відхилила українських кандидатів н апосаду судді ЄСПЛ після відповідної рекомендації комітету

Swedish PM Offers Condolences to Victims of Goteborg Explosion

Sweden’s prime minister offered his sympathy, and the Home Affairs minister said the government is aiding in the investigation after an explosion and a fire at a Goteborg apartment building early Tuesday left at least 20 people injured.  

Emergency officials say they were alerted to the blast just before 5 a.m. local time in the Annedal district in central Goteborg, Sweden’s second-largest city. Fires spread to several units of the building, and emergency responders had to rescue several people. At least 16 people were taken to the hospital. Fire crews battled the blaze for several hours.

At a news conference in Stockholm, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven and Home Affairs Minister Mikael Damberg discussed the incident with reporters. Lofven said he expressed the government’s sympathy for all those affected, saying an incident like this hits hard on “our whole society.”

Damberg said the explosion was not caused by “anything natural” but that investigators are exploring several hypotheses.

“The incident may be an accident, but it may also be an attempted attack on one or more people who were inside the building.” Police spokesperson Thomas Fuxborg echoed similar sentiments.

Damberg said police have, so far, been questioning witnesses, knocking on doors, and gathering surveillance videos from the area. He said the formal, technical investigation will start as soon as possible.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters.

Командувачі армії США заявили Конгресу, що воліли б залишити кілька тисяч солдат у Афганістані

«Те, що афганська армія, яку ми навчали, просто розтанула, у багатьох випадках без жодного пострілу – був для всіх нас несподіванкою»

YouTube видалив два німецьких канали RT

YouTube закрив два канали – RT DEта і Der Fehlende Part (DFP)

Kremlin Critic Navalny Hit With New Probe, Could Face 10 More Years in Prison

Jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny is facing a new criminal probe by Russian investigators that could lead to 10 more years in prison.

The investigation, launched Tuesday by the Russian government’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, accuses Navalny of creating and directing an “extremist network” the goal of which was “changing the foundations of the constitutional system in the Russian Federation,” according to a statement by the committee.

Investigators also accuse Navalny and his allies of setting up social media accounts to promote Navalny’s banned Anti-Corruption Foundation “in order to promote criminal activity.”

“The illegal activities of the extremist network were aimed at discrediting state authorities and their policies,” investigators said.

The probe comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s party won lower house parliamentary elections earlier this month.

Navalny’s allies were banned from running in the elections, and last week, Navalny, in a message from prison, said the election had been stolen.

Navalny, 45, is currently serving a two-and-a-half year sentence on a 2014 embezzlement conviction that was widely seen as politically motivated.   

The sentence was suspended but Navalny was arrested for parole violations in January when he returned to Russia from Germany, where he was recovering from what he said was a nerve agent attack by the Kremlin. Russian officials deny his allegation.  

In June, Navalny’s foundation was outlawed as “extremist,” and authorities blocked websites run by his network, charging them with distributing propaganda. Two of Navalny’s top allies, Ivan Zhdanov and Leonid Volkov, are also facing criminal investigations.  

 

Росія: Навальному інкримінують «створення екстремістської спільноти»

Олексій Навальний, Леонід Волков і Іван Жданов підозрюються у створенні спільноти і керівництві нею

Прем’єр-міністр Ізраїлю: Іран переступив усі ядерні «червоні лінії»

Нафталі Беннет наголосив, що упродовж останніх років ісламська республіка зробила «великий крок вперед» у здобутті технологій виробництва ядерної зброї та здатності збагачувати уран

Через день після землетрусу на Криті зафіксували чергові підземні поштовхи

Найсильніший з десятків поштовхів зосередився за 22 кілометри на південний схід від Іракліона, столиці Криту

У Будапешті назвали «втручанням» реакцію Києва на контракт з «Газпромом»

Для Угорщини енергетична безпека – це питання безпеки, суверенітету і економіки, а не політичне питання, заявив глава МЗС Угорщини після підписання угоди з «Газпромом»

У Росії визнали «небажаною» міжнародну організацію спостерігачів за виборами

Приводом для ухвалення цього рішення стало те, що «діяльність ENEMO представляє загрозу основам конституційного ладу і безпеки Російської Федерації», мовиться на сайті російської Генпрокуратури

Britain Warns Citizens of Hong Kong Extradition Threat

Concerns are growing over the reach of the national security law that China imposed on Hong Kong as Britain warned several of its citizens that they could face arrest and extradition to the former British colony. 

China passed the national security law in June 2020 in response to months of anti-government protests in Hong Kong. Beijing claimed the law was necessary to restore order to the territory and, in its words, “protect people’s rights.” Critics say the law curtails basic democratic freedoms and is aimed at suppressing political opposition. Over 140 people have been arrested under the legislation since it was introduced, including opposition lawmakers, activists, journalists and media executives.

 

Among those arrested was opposition activist Andy Li, who was charged with foreign collusion in 2020 after allegedly lobbying foreign governments to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and China.

Several British citizens were named in the court papers relating to Li’s case. Earlier this month, the British government contacted them to warn they could face arrest and extradition to Hong Kong if they traveled to any country that had an extradition agreement with the Chinese territory.

U.S.-born British citizen Bill Browder was among at least five people contacted by the British Foreign Office. He has successfully campaigned in several countries for Magnitsky sanctions against human rights abusers, named after his lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in a Russian jail in 2009.

Browder told VOA Monday that his involvement stemmed from that lobbying. “Specifically, my name was mentioned because I was having discussions with various people about Magnitsky sanctions against the Hong Kong officials who were involved in this suppression of democracy,” he said. “After alerting me to my name being in the document, the (British) Foreign Office officials pointed out to me that the Chinese national security law doesn’t just apply domestically to residents of Hong Kong; it applies to anyone, anywhere in the world. And I guess the point of their reach out was to alert me to that fact and to the possibility that I may be subject to some type of persecution myself from the Chinese authorities for being involved in these discussions.”

Browder has already faced several attempts by Russia to have him arrested and extradited on fraud charges through Interpol, the global agency that communicates arrest warrants between police forces. Browder says those charges are clearly politically motivated, but he is, nevertheless, limited as to where he can travel.

“I basically contain my travel to what I describe as ‘rule of law’ countries. So, for example, I won’t travel to South Africa, even though I actually own a home in South Africa, because it’s not really considered to be a rule of law country, whereas I would travel to Germany regardless of what treaties they have because I know that a court will not hand me over to Russians or Chinese on politically motivated cases,” Browder said.

China has not commented on the British government’s warnings. More than a dozen countries have extradition agreements with Hong Kong, including India, South Africa and Portugal. Several countries, however, tore up their extradition treaties with Hong Kong following the introduction of the national security law. These include Britain, the United States, Australia, Germany and France.

 

British pro-democracy activist Luke de Pulford, who had also been named in the Hong Kong court papers relating to the prosecution of Andy Li, was approached by the British Foreign Office last week. He told VOA that Britain should stand up to Beijing.

“It’s a really sad indictment and reflection on the U.K.’s cowering before China. We’re now in a situation that having failed to honor their promises to the people of Hong Kong, the U.K. is telling people that they can’t go to third countries because they might end up in prison. They might be extradited to China,” de Pulford recently told VOA.

Under the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration signed between Britain and China before the 1997 handover of Hong Kong, Beijing promised to maintain the territory’s autonomy under the so-called Basic Law and the principle of “one country, two systems.”

In a statement, the British government told VOA: “The UK will not look the other way on Hong Kong, and we will not duck our historic responsibilities to its people. As a co-signatory to the Joint Declaration, we will continue to stand up for the people of Hong Kong, to call out the violation of their freedoms, and to hold China to their international obligations.”

Britain Warns Citizens of Hong Kong Extradition Threat

Concern is growing over the reach of China’s so-called national security law that it recently imposed on Hong Kong. Britain warned several of its citizens that they could face arrest and extradition to the former British colony. Henry Ridgwell reports from London. 

Camera: Henry Ridgwell

 

5.8 Quake Hits Crete, Killing One

A magnitude 5.8 earthquake rocked the Greek island of Crete Monday morning, leaving at least one person dead and several injured.

Across the island, people were reportedly seen running out of buildings and homes, while many older buildings suffered damage.

“The earthquake was strong and was long in duration,” Heraklion Mayor Vassilis Lambrinos told private Antenna television.

Greek authorities dispatched civil engineers around the island to assess damage.

“We are urging people who live in damaged older buildings to remain outdoors. One aftershock can cause a collapse,” seismologist Efthimios Lekkas, who heads Greece’s Earthquake Planning and Protection Organization, told The Associated Press. “We are talking about structures built before 1970. Structures built after 1985 are built to a higher standard that can withstand the effect of an earthquake.”

Crete is a popular tourist destination, and according to reports, the quake did not disrupt international flights to Heraklion, nor did it cause serious damage to hotels.

The only known fatality was in the town of Arkalochori, which is about 30 kilometers outside of Heraklion. A man was reportedly working on the renovation of a chapel when the dome caved in.

Some information in this report comes from Reuters and The Associated Press.

Щеплені російською вакциною «Спутнік V» невдовзі не зможуть в’їхати у США

США відмовлятимуть у в’їзді іноземцям, щепленим від коронавірусу вакцинами, не схваленими ВООЗ

Blue Origin оголосила дату наступного туристичного космічного польоту

Наступна місія стартує 12 жовтня. Ракета стартуватиме з пускового майданчика у Західному Техасі о 15:30 за Києвом

У Німеччині повідомили про імовірний розподіл місць у новому складі Бундестагу

Жодна з партій не зможе самостійно сформувати новий уряд