Category: Europe

Trudeau, Merkel differ on answering Trump call for more NATO defence spending

The pro-trade show of solidarity that Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are likely to make in Berlin later today will mask differences in how to deal with Donald Trump’s call for NATO members to boost military spending. Trump has called the 28-country alliance obsolete and Defence Secretary James Mattis told his fellow defence ministers in Brussels this week that while the U.S. still holds NATO in high regard, it expects its allies to start spending more on defence or the Trump administration will “moderate its commitment.”

Vauxhall workforce highly valued, minister told at talks on French takeover plan

The owner of Peugeot said it could buy Vauxhall and Opel from General Motors in a deal that would transform Europe’s car market Vauxhall’s brand and “committed workforce” are highly valued, Business Secretary Greg Clark has been told during crunch talks in Paris over the future of thousands of British production jobs. The minister travelled to the French capital on Thursday to meet French industry minister Christophe Sirugue and board members of PSA Group, which is in talks to acquire General Motors’ loss-making European operation.

Microsoft set to create 600 jobs in Dublin

The jobs are the latest boost to the economy following the announcement this week that US recruitment services firm Indeed is adding 500 jobs at its European base in Dublin. Microsoft’s announcement today will also be welcomed after last week’s devastating blow to staff at HP Inc’s Leixlip plant in Co Kildare, where 500 jobs are to go.

Vauxhall has plants in Ellesmere Port and Luton employing 4,500 staff

Business secretary Greg Clark will meet with Peugeot executives and the French government as he scrambles to secure thousands of British jobs at takeover target Vauxhall. The Press Association understands Mr Clark will travel by Eurostar to Paris tonight for separate meetings with French industry minister Christophe Sirugue and board members of PSA Group, which is in talks to acquire General Motors’ loss-making European operation.

UK courts Saudi spenders with new tourism office in Riyadh

The British ambassador to Saudi Arabia , Simon Collis, has expected a rise in joint investment projects between Riyadh and London, hoping the number of Saudi visitors to the United Kingdom would surge after the British Tourism Authority inaugurated its first office in Saudi Arabia. The diplomat told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Gulf countries have always been an important source for the British tourism economy.

German police say story about Arab ‘sex mob’ was wrong

To continue reading up to 10 premium articles, you must register , or sign up and take advantage of this exclusive offer: On Feb. 6, Germany’s most-read newspaper reported that dozens of Arab men, presumed to be refugees, had rampaged through the city of Frankfurt on New Year’s Eve. The men were said to have sexually assaulted women as they went through the streets; the newspaper dubbed them the Fressgass “sex mob,” referring to an upmarket shopping street in the city.

ZaorA lek: Economic certainty not only national interest – so are pluralist democracy and freedom

Economic certainty is not the Czech Republic’s only national interest – so is maintaining a pluralist democracy and free society, the Czech minister of foreign affairs, Lubomir Zaoralek, said on Tuesday. Mr. Zaoralek told the Czech National Interest conference in Prague that a number of economically developed countries were currently going through crises of democracy and that Czech history confirmed that the nation thrived when society was free.

Spanish police arrest Moroccan ISIS suspect

Moroccan man, 33, is arrested in Gran Canaria on suspicion of planning a terror attack after ‘posing with his wife and young son with ISIS badge’ Police in the Canary Islands have arrested a 33-year-old Moroccan whose hatred for the west was so great that he was prepared to ‘execute a terrorist attack with great repercussions’. The man, said to be a ‘violent jihadist supporter’, had been under constant watch since 2012 because of his potentially dangerous profile.

Government insists on ‘full courtesy’ of state visit for Trump despite petition

The Government has insisted that US President Donald Trump should be extended the “full courtesy” of a state visit to Britain later this year in response to a 1.85-million strong petition against it. In a statement, the Foreign Office said the Government “recognises the strong views expressed by the many signatories of this petition, but does not support this petition”.

German-Israeli summit delayed ‘after settlements row’

Germany said Feb. 13 that a summit with Israel planned for later this year had been delayed, with Israeli media reporting it was due to the Jewish state’s controversial new settlements law. Israel passed a new law last week that legalizes dozens of Jewish outposts and thousands of settler homes built on private Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.

La La Land wins 5 awards, including best film at British BAFTAs

La La Land, a film telling the story of an aspiring actress and a dedicated jazz musician struggling to make ends meet while pursuing their dreams, won Britain’s top movie prize Sunday. The film won the British Academy of Film and Television Arts movie awards for best film and four other prizes at the glittering ceremony at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Europe faces a horror show of risk in the next few months

The writing is on the wall for the euro and so too is the eight-year bull market for global equities and credit Doomsday may be creeping up again, but you would never guess so considering the seemingly endless appetite for global risk assets right now. Europe is heading into a perfect summer storm, but global investors remain in party spirits.

Winners’ delight at national children’s art competition

“Surprised and delighted” was one reaction from a winner in the Irish League of Credit Union’s countrywide art competition. Credit Union art competion prizewinners Darragh Hunter-Kerr , Letterkenny, Co Donegal; Eoin Herlihy , Rathmore, Co Kerry; Marty Whelan; Margaux Gilbourne , Millstreet, Co Cork; Brian McCrory, ILCU president; and Hannah Wright , Rathmore, Co Kerry.

Thousands continue protests against government in Romania

Protesters display the Romanian national flag colours during a demonstration in front of the government building in Bucharest, Romania, February 12, 2017. Inquam Photos/Liviu Florin Albei via Romanians light up fireworks follwowing the announcment made by Romanian PM, Sorin Grindeanu, in Bucharest, Romania, February 4, 2017.

Young P.E.I. band will perform for Swedish royals

A young folk band from Rustico will travel to Sweden and perform for their Majesties King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia at the famous VASA museum in Stockholm on February 21. Rustico’s Ten Strings and a Goatskin will travel to Sweden on Feb. 21 to perform for King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia at the famous VASA museum in Stockholm. Governor General David Johnston requested the bilingual trio of Jesse Periard, Caleb Gallant and Rowen Gallant perform during “The friends of Canada” event that will also include Canadian artists such as Cirque du Soleil.

Germany picks Frank-Walter Steinmeier to be president

A special assembly elected former German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier by an overwhelming majority Sunday to be the country’s new president. Steinmeier was elected in Berlin by the assembly made up of the 630 members of parliament’s lower house and an equal number of representatives from Germany’s 16 states.

Germany to elect prez, front-runner called Trump ‘hate preacher’

A German parliamentary assembly will elect the country’s new president on Sunday, with a respected former foreign minister who last year called Donald Trump one of the world’s “hate preachers” the overwhelming favorite to win. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s foreign minister until last month, has the support of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s “grand coalition” of center-right and center-left parties.

French jihadist Rachid Kassim targeted in Mosul strike: Pentagon

PanARMENIAN.Net – French jihadist Rachid Kassim , suspected of inspiring several attacks in France , was targeted in a coalition air strike near the Iraqi city of Mosul, but his death is not yet confirmed, the Pentagon said Friday, February 10, according to AFP. “We can confirm that coalition forces targeted Rashid Kassim, a senior ISIS operative, near Mosul in a strike in the past 72 hours,” said Pentagon spokesman Major Adrian J.T. Rankine-Galloway.

PM Szydlo flown to Warsaw after car crash in southern Poland

In this Tuesday Feb. 7, 2017 photo, Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo arrives at a press conference. Szydlo was in a car wreck on Friday that involved a young driver in a Fiat 500 hitting her car from the side and was being checked out in a hospital, officials and news reports said, adding she was not badly hurt.

British officials change plans for Trump visit so he can’t address Parliament: report

U.K. government officials have nixed plans for President Trump to address Parliament during a state visit later this year, according to a new report by The Guardian . House of Commons Speaker John Bercow said this week he would seek to block a speech by Trump, and the report in The Guardian said officials are now looking to schedule Trump’s trip at a time when the Parliament isn’t in session.

Anne Frank exhibition opens

The exhibition, which tells of the story of the late Jewish woman Annelies Marie Frank, one of the most prominent victims of the Holocaust, will run for a year. It is co-funded by the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum.

of Course, the rIGHT Still Thinks he’s Winning:

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko’s scandalous press conference last week was all over Russian media. Over the course of a seven-and-a-half-hour address, Lukashenko slammed Russia over a variety of grievances that have accumulated recently: what may have seemed like a sudden burst of anger was, perhaps, the logical next step in spiraling Belarusian-Russian relations.

Merkel, governors agree to step up Germany’s deportations

German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends a joint press conference with the President of Uruguay, Tabare Vazquez Rosas, as part of a meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2017. German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends a joint press conference with the President of Uruguay, Tabare Vazquez Rosas, as part of a meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2017.

Jordan Davies to Star in Funky New Family Show SUPERBOOTY in Liverpool

Not content with the hearty dose of humiliation he received on stage during his recent stint in panto at The Epstein Theatre, heart-throb Jordan Davies has come back to Liverpool for a second helping! For the Ibiza Weekender hunk has announced he will be starring in the brand new musical Superbooty which opens at Hanover Street theatre next Friday, 17th February. And the cast have promised to dish out plenty of banter and ensure the buff Welshman is the butt of their jokes.

Brexit, A Game Of Deal Or No Deal

Theresa May could not have been clearer: “No deal for Britain is better than a bad deal for Britain,” the UK prime minister said on January 17, setting out the kind of British exit from the EU that she sought to negotiate. She qualified her assertion by adding that “I am sure a positive agreement can be reached.”

Anas Modamani: Facebook, Syrian Refugee in Court Over Fake News

Anas Modamani had no idea when he posted on Facebook a 2015 selfie taken with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that he would turn into the poster boy for radical Islamic terror. The then-18-year-old met Merkel in a German refugee camp after leaving war-torn Syria and his selfie with the leader went viral because it showed Merkel’s personality in a “rare unscripted moment,” according to CNN .

MP warns over armed vigilantes targeting seagulls

Concerns have risen that seagulls will launch a fresh wave of attacks on Britons as the breeding season hits this spring Menacing seagulls are causing such havoc in Britain that vigilantes are arming themselves with guns and launching their own culls, an MP has said. Conservative MP Anne-Marie Trevelyan said locals have been “wandering the streets” of the picturesque seaside town near the Scottish border to kill the birds.

Merkel to visit euroskeptic Poland in struggle to save EU

German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits Warsaw on Tuesday for talks with Poland’s top leaders, taking efforts to save the European Union to a country that is keen to keep as much national power as possible and fears being marginalized in a “two-speed Europe.” Her trip is “one of the most important visits in Polish-German relations since 2004,” when Poland joined the EU, said Sebastian Plociennik, an expert at the Polish Institute of International Affairs.

Germany’s Merkel, Bavarian allies seek pre-election unity

Chancellor Angela Merkel is meeting her Bavarian conservative allies in a show of unity following a long-running argument over migrant policy, setting the scene for a joint campaign for German elections in September. Bavaria’s Christian Social Union has dominated its southeastern state for decades and is traditionally an important source of national election votes for the conservative bloc led by Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union.