Schulz in Athens for talks with Tsipras: The provocative course of the new Greek left-wing government is cause for concern in Brussels. Politicans across party lines emphasize that there will be no debt writedown for Athens. Greece will have to play by the rules, the European Central Bank stated. The terms of the shares purchased from the ECB will not be extended. Greek politicans back-pedalled on the occasion of a visit from European Parliament President Martin Schulz, saying that statements made had been misunderstood.
usnews.com, theguardian.com, bbc.com
Mass surveilance to fight terrorism: After talks in Riga, EU interior ministers called for more rigorous checks on citizens entering and leaving Europe and greater efforts to curb radicalization online with the help of internet service providers such as Facebook and Twitter. The ministers called for a change in the rules governing Europe‘s Schengen border-free area to enable systematic checks against passenger databases relevant to the fight against terrorism. Under the new measures, terrorist suspects attempting to travel on invalidated passports can be detained at EU border crossings and have their documents confiscated.
dw.de, theguardian.com, europeonline-magazine.eu
EU decides to extend sanctions: The EU countries have avoided another divide in their foreign policies. European Union foreign ministers agreed to extend targeted sanctions against individuals and companies in Russia and eastern Ukraine by six months. Even the new Greek government of Alexis Tsipras voted to extend the sanctions in the Ukraine crisis. New foreign minister Nikos Kotzias had swiftly dispelled suggestions that Greece would automatically torpedo any sanctions effort. The ministers agreed to extend travel bans and asset freezes against further Putin supporters.
yahoonews.com, wallstreetjournal.com, washingtonpost.com, reuters.com
Ukraine introduces bounties: The Ukrainian government plans to motivate its soldiers with bonus payments in the fight against pro-Russian separatists. The administration offers a 10,000 dollar bounty for the capture of every Russian agent fomenting unrest in the east. Nearly a dozen suspects have already been turned in. Each fighter who destroys a bicycle owned by the insurgents will receive around 600 euros. Alarmed by the Ukraine crisis, the Lithuanian defense ministry is passing out survival handbooks at schools. The handbook explains how in case of war shelters can be set up and how war affected areas can be evacuated. A Russian woman is accused of calling the Ukrainian embassy in Moscow and reporting Russian troop movement. The mother of seven is being tried at a court in Moscow.
theguardian.com, latimes.com, reuters.com
IS blocks UN aid shipments: The United Nations says it cannot deliver aid to 600,000 people in two Syrian cities controlled by the Islamic State group because the U.N. had no agreement with armed groups there. The terrorists are forcing aid organizations to put a halt on their work. The German Bundestag voted by a large majority to send as many as 100 German soldiers to northern Iraq as soon as next month, to contribute to US-led international efforts to defeat Islamic State militants. The German soldiers will be training and acting as advisors to the Kurdish Peshmerga forces.
abcnews.com, reuters.com, dw.de
Spain blames Israel: Two Israeli soldiers and a Spanish UN peacekeeper were killed in an exchange of fire between Hezbollah and Israel. Spain’s ambassador to the United Nations, Roman Oyarzun Marchesi, is blaming Israel for the death of the Spanish peacekeeper. The UN Security Council condemned the peacekeeper’s death in the strongest terms and offered its deepest sympathies.
reuters.com, abcnews.com
Human Rights Watch Human rights need to be protected in times of crisis hrw.org
WHO End of Ebola epidemic in sight cnn.com
„So far there has been not a single carrot for the Kosovo, and we want to at least taste the carrot of the EU.“
Bekim Collaku, the Minister of European Integration of Kosovo, believes in building closer ties with the EU.
derstandard.at„The danger is that Russia could drive a wedge between us.“
The Latvian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Edgars Rinkevics, stresses the importance of the EU sticking together.
reuters.com
First round of voting in Rome without results: Italian lawmakers failed to elect a new president in a first round of voting on Thursday. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi hopes to push through his candidate, the constitutional court judge Sergio Mattarella, in a fourth round when the required threshold of votes is lower. Renzi’s proposed candidate angered opposition rival Silvio Berlusconi and may strain the two men’s alliance over electoral and constitutional reforms. More than half of the 1,009 parliamentarians and regional officials had cast a blank ballot, preventing any candidate from reaching the required two-thirds majority.
theguardian.com, wallstreetjournal.com, reuters.com
Hand-over of Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Athens: Outgoing Greek Minister for Foreign Affairs, Evangelos Venizelos, was full of praise for Nikos Kotzias, who will be taking over for him, admiring his experience in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and his work by the side of former Prime Minister Giorgos Papandreou. This was considered an unparalleled affront, as the new ruling party Syriza has emphasized that it does not want to have anything to do with the established parties which had ruined the country.
faz.net, theguardian.com
Merkel visits Hungary: On Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel will travel to Hungary. Protests are expected, not against Merkel, but against the country’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The opposition hopes for support in its fight against Orban’s attempts to limit freedom of opinion.
reuters.com
Police question eight-year-old: Police in France questioned an eight-year-old boy who allegedly made comments praising the gunmen who staged the deadly attack on the weekly satirical magazine „Charlie Hebdo“. Although school authorities denied having mistreated the child or his parents, the French human rights group Collective Against Islamophobia in France strongly criticized the authorities’ practices. Meanwhile, Bulgaria has extradited a man to France who is wanted in connection with the Paris attacks. The French government has published a video online which is aimed at preventing youths from radicalization.
ibtimes.com, independent.co.uk, npr.org
Mafia crackdown in Italy: Police in northern Italy ordered the arrest of more than 160 alleged members of the Ndrangheta mafia, in what prosecutors and politicians hailed as a historic setback for the criminal organization behind much of Europe’s cocaine trade. More than 40 arrests were made in Calabria. The arrests for mafia membership, extortion, usury, money laundering and corruption followed more than four years of investigation. The brother of mafia boss Nicolino Granderacli and Giuseppe Laquinta, the father of worldfamous soccer player Vincenzo Laquinta, were amongst those arrested.
yahoonews.com, abc.net.au
Oil exploration off Canary Islands scrapped: Large deposits of crude oil were assumed to be off the coast of Spain’s Canary Islands. Although residents of the Atlantic islands had been fighting for years against plans for oil extraction, Energy giant Repsol started first exploratory drillings in November. Now, Repsol has abandoned its controversial search for oil and gas, stating that it had only found small deposits that were not worth drilling. The abandonment did not appear to be linked to the recent fall in crude oil prices or the outrage of environmental protectors.
theguardian.com
Netherlands Gunman arrested at Dutch news broadcaster bbc.com
Italy Syriza’s win encourages Italian politicians bloomberg.com
31 percent of the votes could go to the leader of France’s far-right National Front party, Marine Le Pen, if France were to vote on Sunday, according to a new poll on potential 2017 presidential candidates. French President Francois Hollande would reach 21 percent.
huffingtonpost.com
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Cologne Carnival is not Charlie Hebdo: Cologne’s Rose Monday Carnival parade draws hundreds of thousands to the city each year and many of its floats are derived from current affairs. Organizers of the parade decided to create a float as show of support for the satirical magazine „Charlie Hebdo“. Now the float has been cancelled due to security concerns. Plans to build a float with a cartoonist forcing a pencil into the barrel of a terrorist’s gun were dropped after locals expressed concerns about their safety. The organizers explained that they wanted the parade to be enjoyed by all in a free and lighthearted way.
dw.de, reuters.com