Портрет засудженого в Росії українського режисера Олега Сенцова вивісили на будівлі мерії Парижа, повідомила голова французької столиці Анн Ідальго у Twitter.
«Ми вимагаємо його звільнення і підтверджуємо нашу прихильність свободі думки й повазі до демократії», – пише Ідальго.
25 липня Європейський суд з прав людини закликав засудженого в Росії українського режисера Олега Сенцова припинити голодування й прийняти лікування, яке покращить його стан.
Водночас суд вимагає від Росії невідкладно надати Сенцову необхідне лікування в медичній установі.
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Український режисер Олег Сенцов був засуджений у Росії в серпні 2015 року на 20 років колонії суворого режиму за звинуваченням у плануванні терактів в анексованому Криму. Він провину не визнає. 14 травня Сенцов оголосив безстрокове голодування, вимагаючи звільнення українських політв’язнів у Росії.
Активісти в Україні і по всьому світу продовжують вимагати від Росії та її президента Володимира Путіна звільнити незаконно утримуваних українців. Акції проходять у різних країнах і на різних континентах під гаслами #FreeOlegSentsov і #SaveOlegSentsov.
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Macedonia’s parliament has set September 30 as the date for a referendum on changing the country’s name to North Macedonia.
Macedonian lawmakers approved the measure with 68 votes in the 120-seat parliament. Opposition members boycotted the vote by leaving the room.
Greece has objected to its neighbor being called Macedonia, saying it implies territorial claims over its own province of the same name. It has blocked the former Yugoslav republic’s bid to join the European Union and NATO because of the naming disagreement.
Macedonia Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, who was elected in 2017, has pushed for an agreement with Greece to solve the dispute. In June, the two sides agreed on the name North Macedonia.
The referendum question that parliament approved Monday does not explicitly mention changing the country’s name. It says only: “Are you for EU and NATO membership by accepting the agreement between the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Greece?”
Macedonia’s nationalist opposition party, VMRO-DPMNE, criticized the wording of the referendum question. “It is manipulative,” said Igor Janusev, VMRO-DPMNE secretary general.
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Some European companies are rethinking their strategies to cushion the impact of trade tensions between the world’s two biggest economies, the United States and China.
The focus will switch back to China after a truce on tariffs emerged from U.S. President Donald Trump’s meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on July 25.
Trump and Juncker agreed to suspend any new tariffs on the European Union, including a proposed 25 percent levy on auto imports, and hold talks over duties on imports of European steel and aluminum. However, Trump retained the power to impose tariffs if no progress is made.
In the case of China, Trump threatened that he was ready to impose tariffs on an additional $500 billion of imports.
The United States has already imposed tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese imports. In return, China has levied taxes on the same value of U.S. products.
Below are recent comments from European companies on trade tensions:
Russian steelmaker MMK has delayed the launch of a project in Turkey, which was expected to add $90-$100 million to its core earnings, due to uncertainty created by global trade wars, the company said.
Siemens Healthineers plans to cushion the impact of U.S.-China trade tensions by changing its supply routes to ship goods from its European factories. The firm expects tariffs to have a low single digit million euro impact on Healthineers' results this year, which could rise to a double-digit million euro effect next year.
German automaker BMW said it would increase suggested retail prices of the relatively high-margin X5 and X6 SUV models by 4 percent to 7 percent. The company has said that it would be unable to "completely absorb" a 25 percent Chinese tariff on imported U.S.-made models.
China-based car dealers said Mercedes maker Daimler moderately raised prices in the country of its GLE midsize SUV which is produced in Alabama. Daimler is looking at ways to mitigate the impact of the trade tensions, including reviewing whether to shift some U.S. production to Asia. The company blamed tariffs for a 30 percent drop in second-quarter profit.
Wind turbine maker Siemens Gamesa warned that trade tensions would drive up U.S. costs by 2 to 4 percent, depending on the product and whether further tariffs are imposed. The company is working to reduce the impact on margins by optimizing its supply chains.
French electrical equipment company Schneider Electric foresees growth slowing in the second half of the year and expects the first extra costs linked to higher U.S. tariffs, which could reach 20 million euros.
"If the trade war escalates we are more concerned about the consequences that it can have on global macro environment," STMicro said, adding that the direct impact of trade war risks were currently negligible.
Fiat Chrysler cut its 2018 outlook, hurt by a weaker performance in China. Its operating profit for the second-quarter was negatively impacted by China import duty changes.
French mining group Eramet warned that current favorable markets could be hurt by trade rows.
Philips confirmed its sales growth target for this year but added that trade worries and the consequences of Brexit continued to cause uncertainty.
Finnish steel maker Outokumpu sees a double impact from the U.S. tariffs, with surging imports to Europe resulting in heavy price pressure, whilst in the Americas base prices have risen, benefiting local manufacturers itself.
Fellow Finnish company Valmet said tariff increases could derail the recovery and depress its medium-term growth prospects.
Chinese-owned Volvo Cars said it was shifting production of its top-selling SUV production for the U.S. market to Europe from China to avoid Washington's new duties on Chinese imports.
The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, whose members include General Motors, Volkswagen AG and Toyota, also warned on the impact of the tariffs. A study released by a U.S. auto dealer group warned that the tariffs could cut U.S. auto sales by 2 million vehicles.
Sweden's Electrolux said U.S. tariffs announced in July would have an impact of $10 million plus this year. In the third quarter. It expects raw material costs to rise by 0.5 billion Swedish crowns.
Belgian steel wire maker Bekaert reported it sees underlying operating profit 20 percent below analysts' estimates in the first half, blaming wire rod costs partly driven up by tariffs.
Swedish lock maker Assa Abloy sees a further increase in steel prices in the second part of the year in the U.S., partly due to new import tariffs.
Austrian steelmaker Voestalpine said about a third of its U.S. sales would be impacted by import tariffs, adding it was talking to its customers about who would bear the cost.
Norway's REC Silicon booked an impairment charge of $340 million "due to the market disruption from the curtailment of solar incentives in China, as well as continued trade barriers that prevent access to primary markets inside China."
Американські санкції проти Росії діятимуть і надалі, заявив президент США Дональд Трамп під час спільної прес-конференції з прем’єром Італії Джузеппе Конте в Білому домі.
«Санкції щодо Росії залишатимуться такими, якими вони є», – зазначив Трамп.
Відносини між Вашингтоном і Москвою загострилися після анексії Росією українського півострова Крим і початку збройного конфлікту на Донбасі. Після цього США запровадили проти Росії економічні санкції, які кілька разів розширювалися й посилювалися.
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Українські телеканали присвячують висвітленню ситуації на сході України в середньому від п’яти до майже 10 годин на тиждень, повідомила Національна рада з питань телебачення і радіомовлення, посилаючись на дані свого моніторингу.
Загалом в ефір розважально-інформаційних телеканалів упродовж тижня, коли проводився моніторинг, вийшло 465 повідомлень про ситуацію на сході України, повідомив член Нацради Сергій Костинський. За його словами, найбільше уваги цій темі присвячує ІСTV. За рік показник цього телеканалу значно зріс. Водночас на телеканалах «1+1» та «Інтер» порівняно з минулим роком кількість програм, присвячених цій темі, зменшилася.
Згідно з даними моніторингу, інформаційні телеканали подавали найбільше статистичної інформації, а загальна кількість повідомлень щодо ситуації на Донеччині й Луганщині становила 2544, що охоплює майже 10 годин ефірного часу. Найбільше інформації пропонують «5 канал», «Громадське телебачення», найменше – NewsNetwork і «Обоз TV».
За словами Костинського, найбільше українські телеканали повідомляють про українську армію, поточну ситуацію на підконтрольній і тимчасово непідконтрольних територіях, стан і перспективи реінтеграції тимчасово непідконтрольних територій, а також про ситуацію на сході в контексті міжнародної політики.
У Нацраді повідомили, що моніторинг здійснювали у квітні. Загалом дослідники опрацювали 2 856 годин ефірного часу 16 телеканалів. Із них п’ять – розважально-інформаційні («Україна», «1+1», ІСTV, «Інтер» і «UA:Перший»), ще 11 – інформаційні («Громадське», «Еспресо», «ПравдаТУТ», «Прямий», NewsNetwork, NewsOne, ZIK, «5 канал», «24 канал», «112 Україна», «Обоз TV»).
Збройний конфлікт на Донбасі триває від 2014 року після російської анексії Криму. Україна і Захід звинувачують Росію у збройній підтримці сепаратистів. Кремль відкидає ці звинувачення і заявляє, що на Донбасі можуть перебувати хіба що російські «добровольці». За даними ООН, за час конфлікту загинули понад 10 300 людей.
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Spanish taxi drivers blocked major city streets including Barcelona’s Gran Via and Madrid’s Castellana on Monday in a protest to pressure the government to curb licenses to online ride-hailing services such as Uber.
Union representatives were due to meet officials of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government later in the day to try to resolve the dispute, in which taxi drivers have choked main roads and snarled airports, bus and train stations since Saturday.
Along with counterparts in many other European countries, Spain’s taxi drivers say that ride-hailing apps have made it impossible to compete.
“Uber and Cabify are putting the viability of the taxi sector and 130,000 jobs at risk … The union considers this unfair competition intolerable,” the UGT union said in a statement.
Union representatives say the current law of one ride-hailing license for every 30 taxi licenses is not being respected and want an end to the practice of transferring ride-hailing permits between drivers.
With backers including Goldman Sachs and BlackRock and valued at more than $70 billion, Uber has faced protests, bans and restrictions around the world as it challenges traditional taxi operators, angering some unions.
London cab drivers are examining the possibility of bringing a class action suit against Uber after the mobile app was granted a temporary license renewal to operate in the British capital.
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Всіх затриманих під час мітингу проти підвищення пенсійного віку в Росії, що відбувся 29 липня в Москві, відпустили з відділення поліції, повідомляє правозахисний портал «ОВД-Инфо».
На ведучого акції Михайла Чичкова і координатора московського штабу Навального Олега Степанова склали протоколи про порушення правил проведення акції.
Такий же протокол оформили і на активіста, затриманого за плакат з прізвищем президента Росії Володимира Путіна і нецензурним словом.
Голову Лібертаріанської партії Сергія Бойка звинуватили в порушенні правил організації мітингу. Журналіста Sota.Vision Івана Єгорова відпустили без протоколу.
На мітингу, за різними даними, було від двох з половиною до шести тисяч учасників. Серед них були члени Лібертаріанської партії Росії, партій «Яблуко» і «Демократичний вибір», руху «Відкрита Росія», анархістських, феміністських і націоналістичних рухів, а також прихильники опозиціонера Олексія Навального.
Згідно з проектом закону, вже пройшов перше читання у нижній палаті російського парламенту, Держдумі, пенсійна реформа в Росії почнеться з січня 2019 року. До кінця її терміну пенсійний вік для чоловіків буде встановлений на рівні 65 років, а для жінок – 63 років. На даний час вік виходу на пенсію в Росії для чоловіків становить 60 років, для жінок – 55 років.
Плани уряду викликали протести в багатьох містах Росії.
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Президент США Дональд Трамп у своєму Twitter заявив, що може заблокувати роботу уряду, якщо демократи-члени Конгресу не підтримають його імміграційну політику.
«Я готовий «блокувати» роботу уряду, якщо демократи не дадуть нам голосів для захисту кордонів, в тому числі для Стіни (на кордоні з Мексикою – ред.). Мусимо позбутися лотереї, практики затримувати і відпускати і нарешті перейти до системи імміграції, що базуватиметься на чеснотах! Нам потрібно, щоб до нашої Країни приїздили видатні люди!», – написав Трамп.
Президент США може блокувати роботу уряду, якщо не підпише бюджет на наступний рік. Без його підпису уряд не може профінансувати бюджетні видатки, і робота держаного апарату призупиниться. Це може статися в жовтні.
Побудувати стіну на кордоні з Мексикою було однією з передвиборних обіцянок Дональда Трампа, проте Конгрес досі не виділив на неї гроші.
У січні цього року роботу уряду також було заблоковано і теж через незгоду між демократами і республіканцями щодо імміграційної політики. Тоді Дональд Трамп також звинувачував у цьому Демократичну партію.
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Those who have been lucky enough to enjoy the Gregorian chants and complex Renaissance melodies of the pope’s choir say it’s like hearing the angels sing. The choir sings at all the main papal events and travels around the globe to perform. Officials say the choir delivers a message of peace to people of all faiths. VOA’s Sabina Castelfranco reports from Rome.
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Колишній президент України Віктор Янукович, звинувачений у державній зраді, позивається до Генеральної прокуратури і генпрокурора України Юрія Луценка.
Як повідомляє портал «Судова влада України», Янукович подав до Печерського райсуду Києва заяву «про захист честі, гідності і ділової репутації».
Коли саме це сталося, не уточнено.
Розгляд позову призначений на 13 вересня.
Речниця генпрокурора Лариса Сарган у Facebook пов’язала подачу позову з тим, що Оболонський райсуд Києва, який розглядає справу проти Януковича, 30 липня переходить до дебатів.
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Наприкінці червня 2017 року суд перейшов до заочного розгляду в справі за звинуваченням Віктора Януковича у державній зраді.
Слідство інкримінує Януковичу три статті Кримінального кодексу України: ч. 5 ст. 27 (державна зрада), ч. 2 ст. 437 (пособництво у веденні агресивної війни); ч. 3 ст. 110 (пособництво в посяганні на територіальну цілісність і недоторканність України, що спричинило загибель людей або інші тяжкі наслідки).
Екс-президент України звинувачення відкидає. Віктор Янукович виїхав з України до Росії після розстрілів на Майдані у лютому 2014 року.
your ad hereGreece began over the weekend to begin burying the victims of the deadly wildfire that raged through crowded resort areas east of Athens last week.
Fire officials raised the death toll to 91 and said 25 people remained missing on Sunday, after last Monday’s fire raced through the area.
Hundreds attended a memorial service Sunday in Mati, a popular resort village hardest hit by the fire.
The local Orthodox Church official, Bishop Kyrillos, presided over the service.
“There’s fewer of us now than usually,” Kyrillos said. “It is the victims of the recent fire that are missing — friends, relatives and acquaintances, next-door people that we saw every day in town and on the beach.”
Fire officials said most of the victims died in the fire, but some drowned in the sea while trying to flee the blaze.
Greek authorities said the fire was the result of arson. It spread quickly because of dry conditions and winds of up to 100 kilometers per hour.
A database maintained by the Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters in Brussels shows this was the deadliest wildfire in Europe since 1900.
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The trial of President Donald Trump’s onetime campaign chairman will open this week with tales of lavish spending, secret shell companies and millions of dollars of Ukrainian money flowing through offshore bank accounts and into the political consultant’s pocket.
What’s likely to be missing: answers about whether the Trump campaign coordinated with the Kremlin during the 2016 presidential election, or really any mention of Russia at all.
Paul Manafort’s financial crimes trial, the first arising from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, will center on his Ukrainian consulting work and only briefly touch on his involvement with the president’s campaign.
But the broader implications are unmistakable.
The trial, scheduled to begin Tuesday with jury selection in Alexandria, Virginia, will give the public its most detailed glimpse of evidence Mueller’s team has spent the year accumulating. It will feature testimony about the business dealings and foreign ties of a defendant Trump entrusted to run his campaign during a critical stretch in 2016, including during the Republican convention. And it will unfold at a delicate time for the president as Mueller’s team presses for an interview and as Trump escalates his attacks on an investigation he calls a “witch hunt.”
Adding to the intrigue is the expected spectacle of Manafort’s deputy, Rick Gates, testifying against him after cutting a plea deal with prosecutors, and the speculation that Manafort, who faces charges in two different courts and decades in prison if convicted, may be holding out for a pardon from Trump.
“Perhaps he believes that he’s done nothing wrong, and because he’s done nothing wrong, he’s unwilling to plead guilty to any crime whatsoever — even if it’s a lesser crime,” said Jimmy Gurule, a Notre Dame law professor and former federal prosecutor. “Obviously, that’s very risky for him.”
Manafort was indicted along with Gates in Mueller’s wide-ranging investigation, but he is the only American charged to opt for a trial instead of cooperating with the government. The remaining 31 individuals charged have either reached plea agreements, including ex-White House national security adviser Michael Flynn, or are Russians seen as unlikely to enter an American courtroom. Three Russian companies have also been charged.
Prosecutors in Manafort’s case have said they may call 35 witnesses, including five who have immunity agreements, as they try to prove that he laundered more than $30 million in Ukrainian political consulting proceeds and concealed the funds from the IRS.
Jurors are expected to see photographs of his Mercedes-Benz and of his Hampton property putting green and swimming pool. There’s likely to be testimony, too, about tailored Beverly Hills clothing, high-end antiques, rugs and art and New York Yankees seasons tickets.
The luxurious lifestyle was funded by Manafort’s political consulting for the pro-Russian Ukrainian political party of Viktor Yanukovych, who was deposed as Ukraine’s president in 2014.
Lawyers have tangled over how much jurors will hear of his overseas political work, particularly about his ties to Russia and other wealthy political figures.
At a recent hearing, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III, who will preside over the trial, warned prosecutors to restrain themselves, noting the current “antipathy” toward Russia and how “most people in this country don’t distinguish between Ukrainians and Russians.” He said he would not tolerate any pictures of Manafort and others “at a cocktail party with scantily clad women,” if they exist.
Prosecutor Greg Andres reassured the judge that “there will be no pictures of scantily clad women, period,” nor photographs of Russian flags.
“I don’t anticipate that a government witness will utter the word `Russia,”‘ Andres said.
While jurors will be hearing painstaking detail about Manafort’s finances, they won’t be told about Manafort’s other criminal case, in the nation’s capital, where he faces charges of acting as an unregistered foreign agent and lying to the government.
Nor will they hear about the reason he’s been jailed since last month after a judge revoked his house arrest over allegations that he and a longtime associate attempted to tamper with witnesses in the case. And they won’t learn that Manafort’s co-defendant in the Washington case is a business associate named Konstantin Kilimnik, who lives in Russia and who U.S. authorities assert has connections to Russian intelligence.
Trump and his lawyers have repeatedly sought to play down Manafort’s connection to the president, yet the trial won’t be entirely without references to the campaign.
Mueller’s team says Manafort’s position in the Trump campaign is relevant to some of the bank fraud charges. Prosecutors plan to present evidence that a chairman of one of the banks allowed Manafort to file inaccurate loan information in exchange for a job on the campaign and the promise of a job in the Trump administration. The administration job never materialized.
The trial will afford the public its first glimpse of a defense that so far has focused less on the substance of the allegations than on Mueller’s authority to bring the case in the first place. At one point, his defense lawyers sued Mueller and the Justice Department, saying they had overstepped their bounds by bringing a prosecution untethered to the core questions of Mueller’s investigation — whether Russia worked with the Trump campaign to tip the election.
Ellis rejected that argument despite having initially questioned the special counsel’s motives for bringing the case. He noted that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller, had explicitly authorized Mueller to investigate Manafort’s business dealings. Mueller’s original mandate was to investigate not only potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, but also any other crimes arising from the probe.
“When a prosecutor looks into those dealings and uncovers evidence of criminal culpability,” said Stanford law professor David Alan Sklansky, “it doesn’t make sense to ask him to avert his eyes.”
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White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Sunday he believes the 4.1 percent growth the U.S. recorded in the last three months is sustainable in the coming months despite skepticism expressed by independent economists.
“There’s just a lot of good things going on,” Kudlow told CNN. He said President Donald Trump “deserves a victory lap,” with “low tax rates, rolling back regulations, opening up energy, for example. Trade reform I think is already paying off. The fundamentals of the economy look really good.”
He said “business investment spending is really booming. That’s a productivity creator. That’s a job creator. That’s a wage creator for ordinary mainstream folks, terribly important.”
Kudlow said the five calendar quarters occurring fully during Trump’s 18-month presidency have now been recorded with average economic growth of 2.9 percent for the world’s largest economy.
“I don’t see why we can’t run this for several quarters,” Kudlow said.
As the 4.1 percent growth rate for the April-to-June period was announced Friday, Trump boasted that the U.S. was on track to hit its highest annual growth rate in its gross domestic product in 13 years and predicted that as the country reaches new trade deals with other countries, the U.S. would exceed its second quarter advance.
“These numbers are very, very sustainable,” he said. “This isn’t a one-time shot.”
On Sunday, Trump said on Twitter, “The biggest and best results coming out of the good GDP report was that the quarterly Trade Deficit has been reduced by $52 Billion and, of course, the historically low unemployment numbers, especially for African Americans, Hispanics, Asians and Women.”
Skeptics less upbeat
Some independent economists, however, voiced skepticism that the $18.6 trillion annual U.S. economy would continue to advance at the same pace as the last three months.
Some forecasters said the gains in recent months were mostly, although not totally, the result of temporary factors, such as the initial boost from tax cuts Trump supported that took effect earlier this year. Most analysts say that for all of 2018 the U.S. could reach 3 percent growth, which would be the best since a 3.5 percent gain in 2005, but not again hit the annual 4.1 percent growth rate recorded last quarter.
“We believe quarter two will represent a growth peak as the boost from tax cuts fades, global growth moderates, inflation rises, the Fed tightens monetary policy and trade protectionism looms over the economy,” said Gregory Daco, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics.
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said, “The second quarter was a strong quarter, but it was juiced up by the tax cuts and higher government spending.”
In the U.S., consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of the economy, with Ian Shepherdson, the chief economist of Pantheon Macroeconomics, saying that such spending accounted for the robust second quarter.
“Consumers were really on a tear,” he said. “So to grow at 4 [percent] probably tells you people were spending the tax cuts that they enjoyed back in January, but that’s extremely unlikely to happen again.”
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