But but but … let’s say the elephants did end up in Germany — which originally triggered Botswana’s ire by moving to bring in a ban on trophy-hunting imports, thereby nullifying a popular population-reduction method — where would be the ideal spot for them to live? We asked an expert, Nuremberg Zoo director Dag Encke, … Read more
Favorskaya, a correspondent for independent broadcaster Sotavision, was detained for a second time on Wednesday after initially serving a 10-day administrative sentence in the Moscow region on charges of disobeying police orders, Sotavision said in a post on Telegram. She had also extensively covered Navalny’s funeral in Moscow before she was detained at a cafe on an … Read more
Rutte is visiting China with the country’s Foreign Trade minister, Geoffrey van Leeuwen. The trip comes after a year in which the Netherlands decided, under pressure from the United States, to restrict some of the export of advanced chip printing machines by Dutch chips champion ASML to China. ASML estimates that the impact of the … Read more
The food travelled 200 kilometers by sea from Larnaca to a makeshift jetty off Gaza, arriving Friday. A convoy of eight trucks from the World Food Programme brought the aid to its final destination. The Cyprus government said a second vessel, Jennifer, loaded with some 500 metric tons of aid is ready to leave Cyprus … Read more
France moves to make abortion a constitutional right amid rollbacks in US and Europe POLITICO Europe France to enshrine abortion rights in constitution as a ‘guaranteed freedom’ FRANCE 24 English Why Macron hopes abortion rights are a political winner BBC.com French Senate votes to enshrine abortion in constitution, a world first The Washington Post French Senate votes to enshrine … Read more
Saying that they don’t mean to stand in the way of Rutte, a senior Eastern European diplomat said: “At least somebody has to ask, ‘OK, Mark, how are you going to deal with Russia?’” They also cite Rutte’s repeated failure to bring Dutch defense spending up to the target of 2 percent of GDP agreed … Read more
Berlin’s endorsement follows an intense 24-hour diplomatic campaign to shore up support for the Dutchman, amid ongoing hesitation from a group of around 10 countries including in Eastern Europe as well as Hungary and Turkey. POLITICO first reported on Wednesday that two-thirds of NATO’s allies now support Rutte. The U.S. declared its backing for the … Read more
After attending school in Finland and later the U.S., Belgium and the U.K., Stubb entered politics in 2004 as a member of the European Parliament. He hit the Finnish big time in 2008 when — to his own surprise — he was named foreign minister. Praised by allies for his high-energy approach to politics, he was … Read more
Omtzigt’s support was key to securing backing for a center-right majority government with four parties, including Wilders’ far-right Party for Freedom (PVV). Wilders’ party, led by the far-right firebrand who was previously considered politically toxic in the Netherlands given his hard-line views on immigration and Islam, landed a stunning victory in last November’s elections. Negotiator … Read more
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Thursday the European Commission is blackmailing Hungary by withholding billions in frozen funds over rule-of-law concerns. Orbán said the blackmail is “a fact,” even admitted by the blackmailers themselves — members of the European Parliament. “In our view, Hungary fulfils all the qualities of the rule of law, and … Read more