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Russia warns West after 'unacceptable' sanctions
Moscow (AFP) - Moscow hit back at Western capitals Wednesday for sanctioning senior Russian officials over the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, warning its foes "not to play with fire". The Kremlin accused Washington and Brussels of interference after the US and the EU introduced fresh penalties Tuesday over Navalny, who was jailed last month on returning from Germany where he was recovering from exposure to a nerve agent. The sanctions further erode ties between Moscow and the West following Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014. "We believe such measures are absolutely unacceptab...
AFP
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US concludes Russia poisoned Navalny, joins EU in sanctions
Washington (AFP) - The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on senior Russian officials in a coordinated action with the European Union as US intelligence concluded that Moscow orchestrated the near fatal poisoning of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. In his first major action against Russia since taking office, President Joe Biden's administration said it was freezing any US assets and criminalizing transactions with seven senior Russians including the director of the FSB security service. US intelligence assessed "with high confidence" that officers of the FSB, successor to the KGB...
AFP
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Austria to produce own Covid-19 vaccine with Israel and Denmark
Austria no longer wants to rely exclusively on the European Union for coronavirus vaccines and will develop a version against future variants together with Denmark and Israel, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced on Tuesday. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) had been too slow to approve Covid-19 vaccines and there were issues with the vaccines' supply and delivery, Kurz said ahead of a trip to Israel. "I am happy that [European Commission President] Ursula von der Leyen took the initiative so early for procuring vaccines for the EU. But we already have to prepare now for future dangerous Covi...
DPA
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US says Russia poisoned Navalny, imposes sanctions
Washington (AFP) - The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on seven senior Russians as it said its intelligence concluded that Moscow was behind the poisoning of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. In action coordinated with the EU, the United States renewed demands that Russia free Navalny, who was arrested in January upon his return to Moscow as he spurred massive rallies through his allegations of corruption by President Vladimir Putin. "The intelligence community assesses with high confidence that officers of Russia's Federal Security Service FSB used a nerve agent known as Novich...
AFP
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CETA trade pact safe in Germany for now as top court throws out case
A bid to challenge the controversial CETA trade deal between the European Union and Canada in Germany's Constitutional Court has proved unsuccessful - but further legal complaints are looming. Judges in Karlsruhe declared the complaint filed by the hard-left party Die Linke "inadmissible," stating that it failed to show how the Bundestag parliament had violated any rights in signing on to the pact. The challenge focused on parliamentary procedure rather than the contents of the deal itself, which critics say threatens to erode environmental, consumer and employee protections. The opposition pa...
DPA
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More than 2,000 alerts for dangerous products in EU in 2020
The EU registered 2,253 alerts for dangerous non-food products in its member states in 2020, the European Commission said on Tuesday. EU countries warn each other of products - such as chargers, tools, or clothes - that do not comply with the bloc's safety standards. The biggest group of notified products are toys: 27 per cent of notified dangerous goods came from that category. Hazards include, for example, cuts, choking, or chemical risks. Most alerts came from Germany. "All those products ...did not adequately protect consumers," European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders said in a p...
DPA
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Top German court throws out complaint against EU-Canada trade deal
A bid to challenge the controversial CETA trade deal between the European Union and Canada in Germany's Constitutional Court has proved unsuccessful. Judges in Karlsruhe declared the complaint filed by the hard-left party Die Linke "inadmissible." The challenge focused on German parliamentary procedure in signing onto the agreement, rather than the contents of the deal itself, against which other legal complaints are looming.
DPA
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Austria to produce own Covid-19 vaccine with Israel and Denmark
Austria no longer wants to rely exclusively on the European Union for coronavirus vaccines and will develop a version against future variants together with Denmark and Israel, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced on Tuesday. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) had been too slow to approve Covid-19 vaccines and there were issues with the vaccines' supply and delivery, Kurz said ahead of a trip to Israel. "I am happy that Ursula von der Leyen took the initiative so early for procuring vaccines for the EU. But we already have to prepare now for future dangerous Covid-19 mutations," Kurz wrote on T...
DPA
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EU leaders pledge to cooperate more closely on defence
The 27 leaders of the European Union want to sign off on a new shared defence strategy early next year, part of a push to improve security cooperation, European Council President Charles Michel said. "We want to increase defence investment, and we want to enhance civilian and military capabilities and operational readiness," Michel told the press after a leaders' videoconference on Friday. The EU has been trying to coordinate more closely on security matters in recent years, for example with plans to jointly fund defence development projects. The overarching aim is greater strategic autonomy, ...
DPA
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EU eyes more 'responsibility' for its own security
Brussels (AFP) - EU leaders agreed Friday that the bloc should take more responsibility for its own security, insisting Brussels needs to be a strong partner for NATO and the United States. Debate has raged for decades over what role Brussels should play on defence, and individual nations have often been reluctant to agree moves to integrate military capabilities. "We want to act more strategically, to defend our interests and to promote our values," European Council President Charles Michel tweeted after a video summit. "We need to increase our ability to act autonomously and strengthen our...
AFP
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