The foreign ministers of the Visegrad Group including the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, on Thursday met with the French foreign minister Jean-Yves le Drian in Bratislava to discuss issues regarding the future, security and competitiveness of the European Union.
At a joint press conference with his counterparts after the event, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said the most important objectives for Hungary regarding the future of the EU are reviving the bloc’s competitiveness and security.
“We, central Europeans, have done extremely well in these aspects… so we are justified in making propositions,” Szijjarto said. Growth in central European countries has outstripped the EU average and its policies focusing on citizens’ security have succeeded in stemming the inflow of migrants, he said.
The bloc’s competitiveness can only be maintained through a robust inner competition, Szijjarto said. Large countries should therefore refrain from passing regulations curbing the competitiveness of central and eastern European members, he added.
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One such regulation would be tax harmonization, which would lead to steep tax hikes in those countries, he said. Thanks to their strong financial and budgetary discipline, CEE countries can afford lower taxes, he said.
It is “unacceptable” that France should aim to “pass on” the effects of its “irresponsible tax policies” to Europe, he said.
Regarding security in Europe, Szijjarto said “it was high time” that the EU stopped “organizing migration” and set about stopping it. Stopping migration is especially important now that the terrorist organization Islamic State has been defeated and “thousands of mercenary terrorists are making their way back to Europe”, while tens of thousands of migrants are stranded in the Western Balkans, waiting for access to the EU, he said.
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A view of the Jakarta skyline looking north, Jakarta, Indonesia August 2, 2016. Picture taken August 2, 2016. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside
February 19, 2019
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia has submitted a bid to host the 2032 Olympics, the state news agency said on Tuesday, after winning praise for hosting last year’s Asian Games, though it could face competition from India and a joint bid by North and South Korea.
Indonesia’s ambassador to Switzerland submitted a letter from President Joko Widodo to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last week.
“The IOC has acknowledged Indonesia’s capabilities during the Asian Games and Asian Paragames of 2018,” the Antara news agency quoted Ambassador Muliaman D. Hadad as saying.
“We feel that is a strong foundation.”
A senior official in the coordinating ministry for human development and culture, Gunawan, who goes by one name, confirmed the bid.
If Southeast Asia’s most populous nation wins the opportunity to host the summer Olympics, it would become the fourth Asian country to do so, after Japan, China and South Korea. The IOC will pick the 2032 host by the year 2025.
Tokyo is to host the next Summer Olympics in 2020, with Paris holding the 2024 Games and Los Angeles confirmed to host the event four years later.
(Reporting by Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
Rexford Lynn Keel Jr. is seen in a photo provided Sunday March 17, 2019 by the Pima County NC Sheriff’s Department. Keel Jr. was arrested Sunday on the outskirts of Tucson, Arizona, by state troopers. North Carolina authorities say they obtained an arrest warrant Friday accusing Keel of murder in his wife’s death. (Pima County Sheriff’s Department via AP)
NASHVILLE, N.C. – A North Carolina man accused of killing his wife has appeared in court to face a murder charge after being captured in Arizona.
WRAL-TV reports that 57-year-old Rexford Lynn Keel Jr. requested a court-appointed attorney and made no statements during a brief hearing on Tuesday.
Keel was arrested March 17 in Arizona on an arrest warrant accusing him of killing his 38-year-old wife.
Diana Alejandra Keel went missing March 9. Her body was found in another North Carolina county. Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone said it appears she died of multiple stab wounds, and that he wants to take a closer look at the 2006 death of Keel's first wife, which was ruled an accidental fall.
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ISLAMABAD – Pakistan's top court has ordered the country's former military ruler to appear before a special tribunal hearing a treason case against him or forfeit his rights to a defense.
The Supreme Court said Monday it was giving Gen. Pervez Musharraf a last chance to voluntarily appear before the tribunal. The top court said it acted on a petition by attorney Taufeeq Asif.
Musharraf was indicted in 2014. He left Pakistan for Dubai in 2016 for treatment and has not returned to the country since then. Last month, he was hospitalized in Dubai.
The treason case against Musharraf was brought by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government charging the military ruler with treason for imposing a state of emergency in 2007.
Musharraf toppled Sharif's government in a 1999 bloodless coup.
FILE PHOTO: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny pays respect to founder of Russia’s oldest human rights group and Sakharov Prize winner Lyudmila Alexeyeva in Moscow, Russia December 11, 2018. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo
April 9, 2019
MOSCOW (Reuters) – The European Court of Human Rights ruled on Tuesday that Russia violated the rights of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny by placing him under house arrest in 2014 and imposing other restrictive measures on him.
Navalny was held under house arrest for months from February 2014 while he and his brother Oleg were investigated for embezzlement in a case his supporters called politically motivated.
The court in Strasbourg said in a judgment that the house-arrest order had not been justified and that tough restrictions on him communicating with the outside world had been out of proportion with the criminal charges he faced.
It said it was “apparent he had been treated in that way in order to curtail his public activities”.
“Victory,” Navalny wrote on social media in response to the ruling. “I am sure this ruling will have important consequences for all those in Russia who are constantly subjected to this kind of lawlessness.”
The 42-year-old anti-corruption campaigner is Russia’s most prominent opposition figure. He sought to compete in Russia’s presidential elections in March 2018, but was barred because of a prior conviction.
President Vladimir Putin won re-election by a landslide.
(Reporting by Tom Balmforth and Maxim Rodionov; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
“Outdated laws” need fixing to deal with the surge in illegal immigrant families crossing the U.S. border with Mexico, a top Border Patrol official said Friday.
Historically 70 to 90 percent of apprehensions at the border were quickly returned to Mexico, Hastings said.
Now, 83 percent of those apprehended have come from the Central American northern triangle which includes Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, and of those 63 percent are “family units” and children who cannot be returned, he said.
“There are no consequences that we can apply to this group currently,” Hastings said. “We’re overwhelmed. If you look at agents there doing a tremendous job trying to deal with the flow.”
The law dictates children have to be released after 20 days of detention.
“Up to 40 percent of our agents are processing at any given time,” he said. “That should say that in and of itself is pulling from those border security resources.”
President Trump on Friday blasted liberal billionaire activist Tom Steyer for his continued push to impeach Trump — with Trump claiming Steyer is “trying to remain relevant” and doesn’t have the “guts” to run for the White House himself.
“Weirdo Tom Steyer, who didn’t have the ‘guts’ or money to run for President, is still trying to remain relevant by putting himself on ads begging for impeachment,” the president tweeted. “He doesn’t mention the fact that mine is perhaps the most successful first 2 year presidency in history & NO C OR O! [Collusion or Obstruction]”
Trump and his allies have pointed to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia report’s conclusions that there was no evidence of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign and its decision not to make a conclusion on obstruction of justice as a vindication for the president.
Steyer has been one of the leaders backing a push to impeach Trump and founded “Need to Impeach” and has kept up that push since the report’s release. He announced on Thursday that he was calling on Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to support impeachment proceedings.
On Friday he responded to Trump’s tweet, calling him “angry and scared.”
“I know you want it all to go away. But for the sake of the country you must face your transgressions. Rage away, but that anger doesn’t matter,” he said in a tweet. The truth and the people will prevail.”
Impeachment hearings have been backed by a number of House Democrats, as well as 2020 presidential hopefuls Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Kamala Harris, D-Calif. However, Pelosi has long been skeptical of impeachment proceedings against Trump.
“I’m not for impeachment,” Pelosi told The Washington Post in an interview last month. “Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country. And he’s just not worth it.”
A Florida measure that would ban sanctuary cities is set for a vote Friday in the state’s Senate after clearing its first hurdle earlier this week.
The bill would effectively make it against the law for Florida’s police departments to refuse to cooperate with federal immigration officials.
“The Governor may initiate judicial proceedings in the name of the state against such officers to enforce compliance,” a draft version of the Senate bill reads.
A House version of the bill, which passed by a 69-47 vote Wednesday, adds that non-complying officials could be suspended or removed from office and face fines of up to $5,000 per day. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to sign off on the measure, although it’s not clear which version.
Florida Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith (D-Orlando), during a press conference at the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee, speaks out against bills in the House and Senate that would ban sanctuary cities in the state. (AP)
Florida is home to 775,000 illegal immigrants out of 10.7 million present in the United States, ranking the state third among all states.
Nine states — Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, North Carolina, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas — already have enacted state laws requiring law enforcement to comply with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Florida doesn’t have sanctuary cities like the ones in California and other states. But Republican lawmakers say a handful of their municipalities — including Orlando and West Palm Beach – are acting as “pseudo-sanctuary” cities, because they prevent law enforcement officials from asking about immigration status when they make arrests.
“There are still people here in the state of Florida, police chiefs that are just refusing to contact ICE, refusing to detain somebody that they know is here illegally,” Florida Republican Rep. Blaise Ingoglia said earlier this month. “So while the actual county municipality doesn’t have an actual adopted policy, they still have people in power within their sheriff’s department or police department that refuse to do it anyway.”
Florida’s Democratic Party has blasted the anti-Sanctuary measures, while the Miami-Dade Police Department says it should be up to federal authorities to handle immigration-related matters.
“House Republicans today sold out their communities to Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis by passing this xenophobic and discriminatory bill,” the state’s Democratic Party said Wednesday after the House passed their version of the bill. “It’s abhorrent that Republican members who represent immigrant communities are now turning their backs on their constituents and jeopardizing their safety.
“Florida has long stood as a beacon for immigrant communities — and today Republicans did the best they could to destroy that reputation,” they added.
Fox News’ Elina Shirazi contributed to this report.
FILE PHOTO: Supporters of the Spain’s far-right party VOX wave Spanish flags as they attend an electoral rally ahead of general elections in the Andalusian capital of Seville, Spain April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo/File Photo
April 26, 2019
By John Stonestreet and Belén Carreño
MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s Vox party, aligned to a broader far-right movement emerging across Europe, has become the focus of speculation about last minute shifts in voting intentions since official polling for Sunday’s national election ended four days ago.
No single party is anywhere near securing a majority, and chances of a deadlocked parliament and a second election are high.
Leaders of the five parties vying for a role in government get final chances to pitch for power at rallies on Friday evening, before a campaign characterized by appeals to voters’ hearts rather than wallets ends at midnight.
By tradition, the final day before a Spanish election is politics-free.
Two main prizes are still up for grabs in the home straight. One concerns which of the two rival left and right multi-party blocs gets more votes.
The other is whether Vox could challenge the mainstream conservative PP for leadership of the latter bloc, which media outlets with access to unofficial soundings taken since Monday suggest could be starting to happen.
The right’s loose three-party alliance is led by the PP, the traditional conservative party that has alternated in office with outgoing Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialists since Spain’s return to democracy in the 1970s.
The PP stands at around 20 percent, with center-right Ciudadanos near 14 percent and Vox around 11 percent, according to a final poll of polls in daily El Pais published on Monday.
Since then, however, interest in Vox – which will become the first far-right party to sit in parliament since 1982 – has snowballed.
It was founded in 2013, part of a broader anti-establishment, far-right movement that has also spread across – among others – Italy, France and Germany.
While it is careful to distance itself from the ideology of late dictator Francisco Franco, Vox’s signature policies include repealing laws banning Franco-era symbols and on gender-based violence, and shifting power away from Spain’s regional governments.
TRENDING
According to a Google trends graphic, Vox has generated more than three times more search inquiries than any other Spanish political party in the past week.
Reasons could include a groundswell of vocal activist support at Vox rallies in Madrid and Valencia, and its exclusion from two televised debates between the main party leaders, on the grounds of it having no deputies yet in parliament.
Conservative daily La Vanguardia called its enforced absence from Monday’s and Tuesday’s debates “a gift from heaven”, while left-wing Eldiario.es suggested the PP was haemorrhaging votes to Vox in rural areas.
Ignacio Jurado, politics lecturer at the University of York, agreed the main source of additional Vox votes would be disaffected PP supporters, and called the debate ban – whose impact he said was unclear – wrong.
“This is a party polling over 10 percent and there are people interested in what it says. So we lose more than we win in not having them (in the debates),” he said
For Jose Fernandez-Albertos, political scientist at Spanish National Research Council CSIC, Vox is enjoying the novelty effect that propelled then new, left-wing arrival Podemos to 20 percent of the vote in 2015.
“While it’s unclear how to interpret the (Google) data, what we do know is that it’s better to be popular and to be a newcomer, and that Vox will benefit in some form,” he said.
For now, the chances of Vox taking a major role in government remain slim, however.
The El Pais survey put the Socialists on around 30 percent, making them the frontrunners and likely to form a leftist bloc with Podemos, back down at around 14 percent.
The unofficial soundings suggest little change in the two parties’ combined vote, or the total vote of the rightist bloc.
That makes it unlikely that either bloc will win a majority on Sunday, triggering horse-trading with smaller parties favoring Catalan independence – the single most polarizing issues during campaigning – that could easily collapse into fresh elections.
(Election graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2ENugtw)
(Reporting by John Stonestreet and Belen Carreno, Editing by William Maclean)
LANCASTER, Pa. – The Amish population in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County is continuing to grow each year, despite the encroachment of urban sprawl on their communities.
The U.S. Census Bureau says the county added about 2,500 people in 2018. LNP reports that about 1,000 of them were Amish.
Elizabethtown College researchers say Lancaster County’s Amish population reached 33,143 in 2018, up 3.2% from the previous year.
The Amish accounted for about 41% of the county’s overall population growth last year.
Some experts are concerned that a planned 75-acre (30-hectare) housing and commercial project will make it more difficult for the county to accommodate the Amish.
Donald Kraybill, an authority on Amish culture, told Manheim Township commissioners this week that some in the community are worried about the development and the increased traffic it would bring.
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