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Europe Tag

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 03, 2016 5 Comments
Devastating floods have forced officials to shut down the Louvre and evacuate priceless works of art. The Louvre houses the Mona Lisa, but workers assured people she will remain protected on her upper floor. But the most visited museum in Europe must shut down:
"Due to the level of the river Seine, the Musée du Louvre will be exceptionally closed to the public on June 3, 2016 to ensure the protection of the works located in flood zones. We apologize for any inconvenience caused," the museum said on its website.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 31, 2016 12 Comments
German police have arrested three Pakistani men who sought asylum in connection to numerous sexual assault complaints at a music festival. They are still looking for numerous other suspects. A spokesperson for the Schlossgrabenfest music festival said 26 women spoke with police about sexual assault. The police then said that 14 reports "involve several women and only after further investigations will it become clear how many of the women were victims of sexual assault." Three women told the cops the group of men "encircled" them and proceeded to harass and grope the women.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 27, 2016 2 Comments
The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) continues to take advantage of the migrant issue by blending their fighters and shipping them through Europe. Smuggler Abu Walid told CNN that ISIS has contacted people in his business in Libya in the past two months, offering up to $40,000 for 25 people. Libyan officials told the new outlet they have found ISIS members attempting to sneak into Europe disguised as migrants seeking a better life:
A senior Libyan military intelligence official in Misrata, Ismail Shukri, said that ISIS militants sought to disguise themselves by traveling with "their families, without weapons, as normal illegal immigrants." "They will wear American dress and have English language papers so they cause no suspicion."

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 26, 2016 8 Comments
Canadian Ambassador to Ireland Kevin Vickers to the rescue again! He tackled a protestor who attempted to interrupt a memorial service in Dublin. The name should ring a bell since Vickers shot gunman Michael Zehaf-Bibeau in 2014 when he ambushed Parliament Hill. Vickers served as the House of Commons sergeant-at-arms at the time.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 26, 2016 1 Comment
Portuguese intelligence officers have decided to search for other moles after they discovered one of their own passed NATO secrets to Russia. Italian police arrested Frederico Carvalhão, a senior officer in Portugal's SIS intelligence service, along with an alleged Russian SVR intelligence agent. However, SIS believe others helped Carvalhão extract confidential and sensitive information. The Telegraph reports:
Augusto Santos Silva, the Portuguese foreign minister, confirmed on Wednesday that there was “an ongoing judicial investigation” into the case. The focus is believed to be on discovering who helped Mr Carvalhão extract top-secret documents from Ameixoeira Fort, the SIS headquarters in Lisbon. The use of USB sticks is prohibited inside Ameixoeira, access to all printed documents is registered and those classified as secret have an invisible watermark to allow for the detection of anyone who has removed them. Yet Mr Carvalhão was allegedly caught while handing over six "top secret" documents covering Nato defence systems, the communication infrastructure between member countries and military bases.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 24, 2016 10 Comments
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told French Prime Minister Manuel Valls he wants to hold a one-on-one meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas instead of a multinational conference in Paris. Netanyahu thinks Abbas will use the conference as a way to ignore direct negotiations with Israel. France has scheduled the peace talks for the beginning of June without Israel or Palestinian Authority representatives. From The Times of Israel:
“The Palestinian Authority does not see the French initiative as an inducer for negotiations, but as a way to avoid them,” he said. Instead, Netanayhu said, he would be willing to meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas “in Paris or wherever,” and hold face-to-face negotiations without international mediation. “Every difficult issue will be on the table,” he said.
France plans to host another conference with Israel and Palestine in the autumn.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 23, 2016 5 Comments
Independent candidate Alexander Van der Bellen, backed by the Green Party, has become Austria's new head of state. He barely beat Freedom Party candidate Norbert Hofer. The Interior Ministry counted over 700,000 ballots, almost 12% of the country's registered voters, to determine the winner. Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka announced the results:
Van der Bellen reached 50.3 percent, 49.7 Hofer . In absolute terms, the scarcity of the result is visible: 2,254.484 votes could gather Van der Bellen, Hofer 2,223.458. The difference amounts to just 31,026 votes. The turnout was 72.7 percent, significantly higher than the first ballot reached 68.5 percent.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 15, 2016 8 Comments
A few Russian officials have demanded a Ukraine boycott after singer Jamala won Eurovision with her song "1944," which is about the USSR deportation of the Crimean Tatars. Well, maybe if Russia did not invade east Ukraine or annex Crimea, people would not hate them so much. Jamala, a Crimean Tatar, drew inspiration for the song from her great-grandmother. USSR dictator Josef Stalin deported over 200,000 Crimean Tatars to central Asia on suspicion of corroborating with Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. The 72nd anniversary of the deportation falls on May 18.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 14, 2016 2 Comments
The United States and Poland have broken ground on the site of the new defense missile site, which will probably anger Mother Russia. But what else is new? Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work tried to assure by reminding them the site will only protect NATO members:
"Today we stand at a strategic inflection point and a change in the strategic landscape," Work said at this Polish military base situated in a northern village. Europe and NATO face a range of new and complex security challenges, he said. Addressing those challenges will require a "more capable NATO alliance, one that continues to evolve and adapt to threats," he said. In efforts to protect the alliance, NATO is making important investments, including in missile defense, he said.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 13, 2016 7 Comments
The new U.S. missile defense system in Romania has sent Russia into quite a tizzy. So much so that the Kremlin mentioned nuclear war. Andrey Kelin, a senior official in the Russian Foreign Ministry, said the actions "by NATO can only exacerbate an already difficult situation." Tensions have risen between the West and Russia since the latter invaded east Ukraine and annexed Crimean in March 2014.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 10, 2016 9 Comments
Europe and Russia spent the last few days celebrating the 71st Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) to mark the end of World war II. https://twitter.com/CuriosityStream/status/729504694834331648 The German military surrendered on May 7, 1945, in Reims, France and then again on May 8 in Berlin, Germany, a week after the Red Army overtook the capital.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 04, 2016 2 Comments
A judge in Spain's National Court has sent out international arrest warrants for Russian citizens, including some close to President Vladimir Putin, allegedly linked to the mafia. Judge Jose de la Mata, who investigates organized crime, found "very serious facts" against each of the men stemming from the Troika operation. The court opened that investigation in in 2008 two mafias in Eastern Europe: Tambov and Malyshev. "(The Tambov group) maintains strong links with political, economic, legal and security powers in Russia and also with members of other international criminal organizations," he said in his report.

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 27, 2016 13 Comments
A sad irony is taking place in Brussels this weekend as a planned "March Against Fear" has been cancelled after local officials voiced safety concerns. The AFP reports, via Yahoo News:
Organisers cancel Sunday's Brussels attacks 'March Against Fear' The organisers of a "March Against Fear" planned for Sunday to mark the Brussels terror attacks said they had cancelled the event after the authorities asked them to do so because of security fears.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 26, 2016 6 Comments
This is getting to be a really, really sick habit. The other day we posted videos of anti-Israel protesters disrupting a makeshift memorial to those killed in the Brussels terror attack, by ripping up, standing on and covering up a small Israeli flag, Of course: Israel haters disrupt Brussels Memorial site: https://twitter.com/afagerbakke/status/713399122510888960 Something similar happened today, as reported by a DW News (Germany) correspondent Dana Regev.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on March 24, 2016 31 Comments
A series of bomb attacks that rocked Belgium’s capital on Tuesday, targeting Brussels airport and subway system, has now claimed more than 34 lives. Police are still hunting for suspects and just like November’s deadly Paris terror attacks, the trail once again leads to the notorious Molenbeek district of Brussels. Just last week, the Belgian Police nabbed Salah Abdeslam, the suspect of November’s Paris Attacks from this very suburb of Brussels. The fact that Europe’s most wanted terrorist could be hiding in the heart of Europe without being detected for 4 month, highlights the extend of the problem Belgium and Europe face in combatting Islamist terrorism. Belgium, with a population of 11 million, has send 440 Islamists to fight on behalf of Isis in Syria and Iraq -- highest per capita in Europe. Most of these Isis recruits come from Molenbeek district.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on March 22, 2016 90 Comments
Brussel's, the capital of Belgium, has been rocked by a series of deadly blasts this morning. According to latest reports, 23 people have been killed and 55 injured after explosions at three locations around the city. 13 people have reportedly been killed in the blasts at the Brussels’ Zaventem airport and 10 others at a blast near an EU building in the city. The casualty figure are expected to rise as fresh explosions have been reported and first responders are still engaged in relief and rescue operations.  Belgian authorities closed the Airport and suspended train services. The details are still scanty, but this could be seen as a retaliatory attacks in response to counter-terrorism raid being conducted by the Belgian Police. The timing coincides with the arrest of Salah Abdeslam, the terrorist behind November’s Paris attacks that left 130 dead. Islamic State had taken responsibility for those attacks. Belgian officials have confirmed that the attack on Brussels Airport was carried out by a suicide bomber. German broadcaster Deutsche Welle reports:

Posted by New Neo on March 19, 2016 10 Comments
Candidates of the so-called "right" or even so-called "far right" are gaining support all over Europe. Because Europe's political parties tend to be skewed somewhat to the left of ours, these terms don't mean exactly what they would in this country, but the trend is clear. Here's how an article from Vox describes the gathering strength of these parties (although it insists on labeling them "xenophobic," as though their attitude towards immigration is some sort of unjustified phobia):
Far-right parties like AfD are growing throughout Europe. Der Spiegel has a nice map on this, showing the countries where far-right parties have a presence in parliament (yellow dots) or are actually part of the government (red dots). It turns out the xenophobic far right has surged in countries as diverse as Sweden, the UK, the Netherlands, and Hungary:
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