Новости за 25.04.2018

The proposal by the European Commission for a directive protecting whistleblowers could be a true turning point in how corruption and abuse of law is fought in the EU.

The European Commission's new strategy on artificial intelligence contains nothing that resembles French president's idea for a US-inspired agency for disruptive innovation.

Mark Lowcock, United Nations under-secretary general for humanitarian relief, told reporters in Brussels he expects $4.4bn (c.€3.6bn) in pledges to help ease the crisis in Syria. "I expect that by the end of the day we will have heard pledges for 2018 of $4.4bn," he said. Lowcock was speaking following a meeting of some 85 delegations around the world at Wednesday's Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region conference.

The European Commission on Wednesday proposed changing the EU's directive on the reuse of public sector information, expanding the sectors in which reuse of data should be made easier, to include data generated by utilities, transport and publicly-funded research. "If it is made more available for reuse, that will help our data economy and bring more growth and jobs," said commission vice-president for digital single market Andrus Ansip.

The EU should not share out military HQs for political reasons if it wants effective armed forces, Italy's former defence chief tells EUobserver.

The EU should not share out military HQs for political reasons if it wants effective armed forces, Italy's former defence chief tells EUobserver.

The EU should not share out military HQs for political reasons if it wants effective armed forces, Italy's former defence chief tells EUobserver.

A study by Brussels-based think tank Farm Europe presented on Wednesday said that in all post-Brexit scenarios it investigated, European farmers would end up with fewer agriculture subsidies. "Brexit is bad news, for farmers' incomes it is very bad news," said Farm Europe's Joao Pacheco. The decrease is not distributed evenly, with farmers in Slovakia losing 49% of direct payments in a worst-case scenario in which others suffered 2% loss.

Reporters without Borders on Wednesday in its annual report said media in Europe are facing a rise in "verbal violence from politicians." It highlights abusive comments by Czech Republic president Milos Zeman and former Slovak prime minister Robert Fico. "The unleashing of hatred towards journalists is one of the worst threats to democracies," RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said.

Social democrat party, Siumut, remains Greenland's largest party with 27.2 percent support in parliamentary elections on Tuesday. Its leader, Kim Kielsen, is in position to continue as prime minister for four years despite losing 7.1 percentage support compared to 2014. The leading opposition party, IA, led by Sara Olsvig lost even more votes but remained the second largest with 25.6 percent, followed by the Democrats at 19.5 percent.

As the EU prepares to host another summit in Brussels to address the Syria refugee crisis, it must acknowledge that the trade component of its deal with Jordan has failed in practice.

EU enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn has expressed optimism that a solution to the Macedonia name dispute can be found in the next two weeks during talks between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) staring in Vienna on Wednesday. "There must be at least one solution which would give way to the start of the EU accession talks for FYROM," Hahn told the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee.

A high court in Italy on Tuesday dismissed an appeal from a German NGO Jugend Rettet (Youth Rescue) to release its rescue boat after it was impounded some eight months ago. The boat was detained following police suspicions of "facilitating illegal immigration". The group, in a statement, described the move as part of a wider effort to criminalise NGO sea rescue operations of people fleeing Libya.

Jews in Germany have been advised by the Central Council of Jews in Germany not to wear traditional skullcaps or kippahs in big cities over fears of attacks. The council's president, Josef Schuster, told German radio that people need to take a public stand against anti-Semitism. "This is not only about anti-Semitism - it goes along with racism, it goes along with xenophobia," he said.

This week the world celebrates World Malaria Day, a time to take stock of progress to date, much of which has been made possible through investments by the EU, a world leader in development aid.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced plans for a campaign rally in Europe ahead of June elections in an attempt to reach out to Europe's Turkish communities. The tour could escalate already strained relations and put Erdogan on a collision course with the several EU member states, including Germany, which has previously banned Turkish politicians from campaigning on their soil.

Popular messaging service WhatsApp, owned by Facebook, has raised the minimum age of users in the European Union from 13 to 16. The move comes ahead of new EU-wide data protection rules that launch on 25 May. The new age limit only applies to those living in the EU.

The EU commission is to announce a charter on the ethics of artificial intelligence in a strategy paper, as the bloc looks to promote its values or risk being overshadowed by China and the US.