Month: August 2018

Two Greek soldiers facing espionage charges in Turkey are due to fly home early on Wednesday after a provincial court released them, in a ruling Athens said would help to improve strained ties between the two NATO allies.

The soldiers crossed into Turkey in March, in what Greece said was an accident while they were following the trail of suspected illegal migrants.

But a court in the western province of Edirne ordered their detention the same month on suspicion of attempted military espionage.

The same court ruled for their release on Tuesday after they said in a defense statement they had crossed the border by mistake, state news agency Anadolu said. 

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras welcomed the ruling.

“The release of the two Greek officers is an act of justice which will contribute to friendship, good neighbourly relations and stability in the region,” his office said in a statement.

The conditions of their release were not immediately clear, though Greece said it was sending an aircraft to pick them up.

The prime minister’s office said his plane would fly them back to Thessaloniki, where they would be received early on Wednesday by the defense minister.

Long-time regional rivals Turkey and Greece have been at odds over a host of issues from ethnically divided Cyprus to rights in the Aegean Sea.

Rhetoric has recently been ratcheted up on both sides, particularly after the collapse of peace talks in Cyprus in July 2017.

But following a meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of a NATO summit in July, Tsipras said they had agreed to focus efforts on easing tensions in the Aegean.

Turkey has also called on Greece to return eight Turkish commandos who have sought asylum there after commandeering a helicopter to flee Turkey as a coup against Erdogan crumbled in July 2016. Turkey says they were involved, and has demanded they be returned to face trial.

In Brussels, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he was delighted by news of the Greek soldiers’ imminent release.

“As I said (before) … Turkey has nothing to fear from its European neighbors. We want to see a democratic, stable and prosperous Turkey,” he posted on his Twitter feed.
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Royal Bank of Scotland will pay $4.9 billion to settle U.S. claims that it misled investors on residential mortgage-backed securities between 2005 and 2008, the U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday.

The Justice Department said the penalty was the largest ever imposed on a bank for misconduct leading up to the financial crisis. The bank announced in May that it had reached the settlement in principle.

The government alleges RBS misled investors in underwriting and issuing residential mortgage-backed securities, understating the risks behind many of the loans and providing inaccurate data.

“Despite assurances by RBS to its investors, RBS’s deals were backed by mortgage loans with a high risk of default,” Andrew E. Lelling, U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts, said in a statement.

The Justice Department said that RBS disputes the allegations and does not admit wrongdoing, although the bank said in a statement it was happy to move on.

“There is no place for the sort of unacceptable behavior alleged by the DoJ at the bank we are building today,” RBS Chief Executive Ross McEwan said.

Dividend

In conjunction with the settlement, the bank also said it would be paying out an interim ordinary dividend of 2 pence per share on October 12 to shareholders.

The dividend is the bank’s first since its near-collapse and 45.5 billion-pound ($58 billion) state bailout in 2008.

The DOJ settlement and the resumption of dividends were two of the last big milestones in RBS’s decade-long journey back to normality. The looming Justice Department fine had weighed on the bank’s share price and prevented it from paying out to its shareholders.

Together with hefty cuts made to its investment bank and international business, a return to dividends could help shift the bank’s profile with investors from a risky bet into a safe, predictable value stock.

It also expands the market for future government share sales by enabling a broader array of investors to look at buying the bank’s shares.

Tuesday’s announcement marked the latest in a long-running series of massive settlements struck between the U.S. government and large global banks over conduct leading up to the financial crisis.

On August 1, the Justice Department struck a settlement with Wells Fargo, which agreed to pay $2.09 billion to settle similar claims.
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A bridge over an industrial area in the Italian city of Genova partially collapsed during a sudden and violent storm on Tuesday, leaving vehicles crushed in the rubble below.

Italian media reported that there were deaths, but Maria Luisa Catalano, a police official in Genoa, said that authorities were still involved in rescue efforts and did not yet know the number of victims or injured.

The disaster occurred on a highway that connects Italy to France and other vacation resorts on the eve of a major Italian holiday on Wednesday, Ferragosto, and traffic would have been heavier than usual as many Italians traveled to beaches or mountains.

The transport minister, Danilo Toninelli, called the collapse “an enormous tragedy.”

The private broadcaster Sky TG24 said that a 200-meter section of the Morandi Bridge collapsed over an industrial zone. Firefighters told The Associated Press that there are concerns about gas lines.

Photos published by the ANSA news agency on its website showed a huge gulf between two sections of the bridge.

Video captured the sound of a man screaming: “Oh god, oh, god.” Other images showed a green truck that had stopped just meters (yards) short of the gaping hole in the bridge.

Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said some 200 firefighters were responding to the accident.

“We are following minute by minute the situation for the bridge collapse in Genoa,” Salvini said on Twitter.

The Morandi Bridge was inaugurated in 1967. It is 90 meters (yards) high, just over a kilometer (about three-quarters of a mile) long, with the longest section between supports measuring 200 meters (yards).

The bridge is a main thoroughfare connecting the A10 highway that goes toward France and the A7 highway that continues north toward Milan.

ANSA said that authorities suspected that a structural weakness caused the collapse on Tuesday.
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Police in London say a man crashed a car into a group of pedestrians and cyclists before hitting a set of barriers outside of Britain’s Houses of Parliament on Tuesday, causing a number of injuries.

Authorities said officers arrested the male driver of the car on suspicion of terrorist offenses. They said there were no other people in the car, and that they did not find any weapons. They put his age as being in his late 20s.

“It certainly appears to be a deliberate act, but what the motivation is we can’t say,” London Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu told reporters.

Basu said the suspect is not cooperating with police as they try to establish both the man’s identity and motive.

He said that based on what investigators know so far, the suspect does not appear to be someone who was previously known to British counterterror or intelligence agencies.

President Donald Trump reacted to the incident on Twitter, saying “Another terrorist attack in London…These animals are crazy and must be dealt with through toughness and strength!”

The London Ambulance Service said it treated and transported two people to a hospital, and that neither had injuries that were life-threatening. Basu later said one of the people was being treated for serious injuries, while the second had been released from the hospital. A third person was treated at the crash site.

The area around the crash was closed off, as was a subway station close to the parliament grounds. Parliament is not currently in session.

Last year, a man drove a car into pedestrians on nearby Westminster Bridge, killing four people there before stabbing to death a police officer outside parliament. Police shot that attacker dead.
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Vienna has dislodged Melbourne for the first time at the top of the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index, strengthening the Austrian capital’s claim to being the world’s most pleasant city to live in.

The two metropolises have been neck and neck in the annual survey of 140 urban centers for years, with Melbourne clinching the title for the past seven editions. This year, a downgraded threat of militant attacks in western Europe as well as the city’s low crime rate helped nudge Vienna into first place.

Vienna regularly tops a larger ranking of cities by quality of life compiled by consulting firm Mercer. It is the first time it has topped the EIU survey, which began in its current form in 2004.

At the other end of the table, Damascus retained last place, followed by the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, and Lagos in Nigeria.

The survey does not include several of the world’s most dangerous capitals, such as Baghdad and Kabul.

“While in the past couple of years cities in Europe were affected by the spreading perceived threat of terrorism in the region, which caused heightened security measures, the past year has seen a return to normalcy,” the EIU said in a statement about the report published on Tuesday.

“A long-running contender to the title, Vienna has succeeded in displacing Melbourne from the top spot due to increases in the Austrian capital’s stability category ratings,” it said, referring to one of the index’s five headline components.

Vienna and Melbourne scored maximum points in the healthcare, education and infrastructure categories. But while Melbourne extended its lead in the culture and environment component, that was outweighed by Vienna’s improved stability ranking.

Osaka, Calgary and Sydney completed the top five in the survey, which the EIU says tends to favor medium-sized cities in wealthy countries, often with relatively low population densities. Much larger and more crowded cities tend to have higher crime rates and more strained infrastructure, it said.

London for instance ranks 48th.

Vienna, once the capital of a large empire rather than today’s small Alpine republic, has yet to match its pre-World War I population of 2.1 million. Its many green spaces include lakes with popular beaches and vineyards with sweeping views of the capital. Public transport is cheap and efficient.

In addition to the generally improved security outlook for western Europe, Vienna benefited from its low crime rate, the survey’s editor Roxana Slavcheva said.

“One of the sub-categories that Vienna does really well in is the prevalence of petty crime … It’s proven to be one of the safest cities in Europe,” she said.
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The Turkish lira has fallen more than 40 percent since the start of the year, 20 percent just last week, amid rising tensions between the U.S. and Turkey, and international investors’ concerns over the economy.  For Turkey, the dramatic collapse of the currency signal fears for the future, as Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.

Fruit and vegetable sellers, along with fishmongers, try to drum up business in Istanbul’s old Kadikoy market.  But trade is slow. Most people just look and walk on.

Organic shopkeeper Meltem worries for the future.

She says she is pessimistic about the future because prices will rise and the ability of people to purchase will decrease. She adds that as money in their pockets decreases, people in hardship will buy much less than before.

The fear of plummeting currency values, which continued on markets Monday, will stoke Turkey’s already double-digit inflation, which appears to be the top concern among shoppers.  Turkey relies heavily on imports, especially for energy.

Thirty-year-old Tariq, a teacher doing his weekly shopping, says he is cutting back on spending as he prepares for difficult times ahead.

He says the lira has fallen heavily and predicts unbelievable inflation because Turkey imports so much.  He says everybody in Turkey is afraid the coming inflation, especially for heating bills, will make this winter hard.

Across the street, fishmonger Huseyin proudly displays what he claims is the finest turbot in Istanbul and tries to be more positive. He acknowledges there will be problems. 

He says he does not have much to do with dollars, because if more fish are caught, they are cheaper, if less they are more expensive. But he says buyers may be affected if they are having economic difficulties.  He says if there is a good quantity of fish, then he will keep selling.

Shopkeeper Meltem warns of economic uncertainty ahead.

She says the future does not look good, because when people are hungry, they will be tempted to steal and may choose illegal means to survive.  She said things will not be any good. Many stores are closing because there is no trade anymore.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday an international conspiracy is responsible for undermining the currency, but says the financial fundamentals of the economy remain strong, and order will soon return to the markets.  

Such claims have been met with skepticism by international investors, while many economists warn the damage may have already been done to the economy, and difficult times lie ahead. 
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Turkey’s central bank failed to halt the slide of the country’s lira currency on Monday as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the United States of purposely trying to damage his country’s economy.

“We are together in NATO and then you seek to stab your strategic partner in the back. Can such a thing be accepted?” Erdogan said in the capital, Ankara.

The Turkish lira has plunged 40 percent this year, dropping 16 percent Friday and tumbling another seven percent Monday, trading at 6.9 to the dollar, up slightly from its low point.

The Turkish central bank said it would take “all necessary measures” to stabilize the country’s economy to make sure the banks have all the money they need. But world stock traders were dismayed the bank did not raise interest rates, which is what many economists believe is necessary to ease the crisis.

U.S. President Donald Trump doubled tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminum exports last Friday, in part a response to Turkey refusing to release American pastor Andrew Brunson, whom Turkey accuses of espionage.

Brunson has been detained under house arrest pending his trial. Trump has called the preacher’s detention a “total disgrace.”

Erdogan said Turkey is facing an “economic siege,” calling the decline of the lira an “attack against our country.” Yet he remained optimistic, saying “it is not at all like we sank and we are finished .The dynamics of the Turkish economy are solid, strong and sound and will continue to be so.”

On Sunday, speaking to political supporters Erdogan said “the aim of the operation is to make Turkey surrender in all areas, from finance to politics. We are once again facing a political, underhand[ed] plot. With God’s permission we will overcome this.”

“What is the reason for all this storm in a tea cup?” he said.”There is no economic reason for this … This is called carrying out an operation against Turkey.”

Erdogan renewed his call for Turks to sell dollars and buy lira to boost the currency, while telling business owners to not stockpile the American currency.

“I am specifically addressing our manufacturers: Do not rush to the banks to buy dollars,” he said. “Do not take a stance saying, ‘We are bankrupt, we are done, we should guarantee ourselves.’ If you do that, that would be wrong. You should know that to keep this nation standing is … also the manufacturers’ duty.”

Erdogan signaled he was not looking to offer concessions to the United States or financial markets.

“We will give our answer, by shifting to new markets, new partnerships and new alliances,” he said.

Erdogan has in recent years built closer ties with countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. “Some close the doors and some others open new ones,” he said.

He indicated Turkey’s relationship with Washington was imperiled.

“We can only say ‘goodbye’ to anyone who sacrifices its strategic partnership and a half-century alliance with a country of 81 million for the sake of relations with terror groups,” he said.”You dare to sacrifice 81-million Turks for a priest who is linked to terror groups?”

If convicted, Brunson, the pastor, faces a prison term of 35 years.
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Italy’s transport minister says Britain should take in 141 migrants picked up by a rescue ship that sails under the flag of the British territory of Gibraltar.

Italy continues to refuse port to ships run by humanitarian groups, and Danilo Toninelli said Monday on Twitter that Britain should take responsibility for the migrants aboard the Aquarius, operated by French humanitarian groups.

Toninelli said the rescue was coordinated by the Libyan coast guard and that the ship was now in Maltese waters.

The French aid groups SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders have called on European nations to identify a close port of safety so the 141 migrants picked up in two rescues Friday could disembark. Most of the migrants are from Somalia and Eritrea and include 67 unaccompanied minors.
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Greek authorities have ordered the evacuation of two villages and a monastery on the island of Evia near Athens after a large fire broke out in a dry pine forest on Sunday.

Agriculture minister Vangelis Apostolou, who is on the scene, told reporters that fire crews are bracing for an all-night struggle.

“Forces from the entire region have been transferred here,” Apostolou said.

Traffic on the main road that runs the length of the 180-kilometer island has been stopped and travellers are being asked to take ferries rather than drive near the blaze.

Greece is still mourning the 94 people killed in a wildfire near the coastal resort of Mati near Athens on July 23. More than 30 people are still hospitalized, several in critical condition.

The country’s worst fire calamity prompted the ouster of the heads of police and fire brigades, in addition to the minister responsible for state security.

 
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, embroiled in a bitter dispute with the U.S., a NATO ally, contended Sunday the plunging value of his country’s lira currency amounted to a “political plot” against Turkey.

Erdogan, speaking to political supporters in the Black Sea resort of Trabzon, said, “The aim of the operation is to make Turkey surrender in all areas, from finance to politics. We are once again facing a political, underhand plot. With God’s permission we will overcome this.”

U.S. President Donald Trump has feuded with Erdogan over several issues, including the detention of an American pastor in Turkey, whom Turkey has held since 2016 and accused of espionage. Turkey last month released the evangelical preacher from a prison, but is still detaining him under house arrest pending his trial, despite the demands of the U.S.

With the dispute intensifying, Trump on Friday doubled steel and aluminum tariffs on Turkey, sending the beleaguered lira plunging 16 percent, part of a 40 percent plummet for the currency this year. In early Asian trading Monday, the lira fell to a record low of 7.06 against the dollar.

“What is the reason for all this storm in a tea cup?” Erdogan said. “There is no economic reason for this … This is called carrying out an operation against Turkey.”

Erdogan renewed his call for Turks to sell dollars and buy lira to boost the currency, while telling business owners to not stockpile the American currency.

“I am specifically addressing our manufacturers: Do not rush to the banks to buy dollars,” he said. “Do not take a stance saying, ‘We are bankrupt, we are done, we should guarantee ourselves.’ If you do that, that would be wrong. You should know that to keep this nation standing is … also the manufacturers’ duty.”

Erdogan signaled he was not looking to offer concessions to the United States, or financial markets.

“We will give our answer, by shifting to new markets, new partnerships and new alliances,” said Erdogan, who in recent years has built closer ties with countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. “Some close the doors and some others open new ones.”

He indicated Turkey’s relationship with Washington was imperiled.

“We can only say ‘good-bye’ to anyone who sacrifices its strategic partnership and a half century alliance with a country of 81 million for the sake of relations with terror groups,” he said. “You dare to sacrifice 81-million Turkey for a priest who is linked to terror groups?”

American pastor Andrew Brunson, if convicted, faces a jail term of 35 years. Trump has described his detention as a “total disgrace” and urged Erdogan to free him immediately.
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A European rescue group says migrants stranded in the Mediterranean told it five ships passed them by and refused to help until one of the group’s ships finally picked them up Friday.

“It seems the very principle of rendering assistance to persons in distress at sea is now at stake,” Aloys Vimard of the group SOS Mediterranee said Sunday. “Policies designed to prevent people from reaching Europe at all costs are resulting in more suffering and even riskier journeys to safety for people who are already highly vulnerable.”

Vimard said ships may be leaving migrants at sea because they are afraid of being denied permission to dock in places of safety.

SOS Mediterranee, working with Doctors Without Borders, picked up 141 migrants Friday stuck in rickety wooden boats off the Libyan coast.

It says most came from Somalia and Eritrea and had been held in inhumane conditions in Libya before taking off. Many were suffering from malnutrition.

Libya said it was refusing to let the group’s ship, the Aquarius, dock. As of late Sunday, the Aquarius was still at sea, trying to find a place for the migrants.

SOS Mediterranee is urging European governments to heed international maritime law and allow ships to head to closest point of safety so migrants picked up at sea can get help.

It says all governments must recognize “the gravity of the humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean.”

Thousands of people from sub-Saharan Africa and countries such as Syria and Afghanistan try crossing the Mediterranean every year to escape war, terrorism, and poverty for a better life in the European Union.
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Talk about going green. One British soccer team has made it its goal to become the first professional sports team in the world to be certified carbon neutral. It’s an official designation recently awarded to the team by the Secretary in charge of Climate Change at the United Nations. But that’s not all. The team may also be the world’s first 100 percent vegan football club. VOA Correspondent Mariama Diallo has more.
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There’s an abundance of seahorses in a remote gulf off the coast of northeastern Greece … and scientists are not exactly sure why. Although seahorses exist in Greece’s seas, scientists say it’s unusual to find a stable and continued presence for a protected species ravaged by overfishing throughout the Mediterranean Sea. Local divers are enthralled by the elegant creatures and are going to great lengths to document their presence and advocate for their protection. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more.
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Iran’s official IRNA news agency is reporting that China’s state-owned petroleum corporation has taken a majority share of the country’s South Pars gas project after French oil and gas company Total announced it would pull out because renewed U.S. economic sanctions against Iran.

The Saturday report quotes Mohammad Mostafavi, an official in Iran’s state oil company, as saying CNPC now owns 80 percent of the shares in the $5 billion project, having bought shares from Total.

CNPC originally had about 30 percent of shares in the project.

The renewal of U.S. sanctions took effect on Tuesday.
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