Peace summit in Minsk: Angela Merkel, Francois Hollande, Petro Poroshenko und Vladimir Putin have started peace discussions in Minsk. The foreign ministers of the four countries were invited to a so-called extended format of the talks. Surprisingly, the separatist leaders travelled to Belarus as well. At the outset of the negotiations, massive battles continued in eastern Ukraine. A US General announced a training mission of the American armed forces in Ukraine.
bbc.com, cnn.com, theguardian.com
Informal EU meeting to discuss Greece: At the EU summit in Brussels, Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the EU Finance Ministers could not reach an agreement on financial measures to rescue the crisis-ridden country. The European Finance Ministers already held a meeting last night to discuss the country’s future. Russia has pledged its support for Greece. At a meeting with his Greek colleague Nikos Kotzias, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also spoke about a planned gas pipeline through the Black Sea and possible military cooperation of the two countries.
dw.de, euractiv.com, wallstreetjournal.com
Financiers of terrorists were HSBC bank customers: The Swiss Leaks documents of the international banking giant HSBC show that the private Swiss arm of the company allowed thousands of customers to engage in tax evasion schemes and money laundering linked to terrorism and arms trafficking. According to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ findings, HSBC managed accounts containing tens of millions of dollars for Saudi Arabian businessmen suspected of donating money to Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, HSBC had committed to take measures against financiers of terrorists.
ibtimes.co.uk, newsweek.com
More than 300 dead in latest Lampedusa shipwreck: The United Nations Refugee Agency UNHCR fears that more than 300 refugees have died in the shipwreck off the Italian island of Lampedusa. The migrants had attempted to cross the Mediterranean in four rubber boats, some of the boats are still missing. The death toll is based on the accounts of nine survivors who arrived on Italian shores on Wednesday. Some 107 people were rescued by the Italian coast guard and a merchant ship. Based on accounts from survivors, the death toll may surpass 300.
theguardian.com, usatoday.com, europeonline-magazine.eu
Country of origin labels for processed foods: The European Parliament has decided that consumers should know where the meat in processed food comes from, backing with a large majority the country of origin meat labelling regulation for processed food and urging the Commission to enshrine it in legislation. Currently, only the origin of beef and beef products has to be labelled within the European Union.
foodmanufacture.co.uk, euractiv.com
Sharing of airline passenger information: In order to protect the EU against terrorist attacks, the European Parliament no longer blocks a proposed law for the retention of EU airline passenger data. MEPs believe the EU needs new data protection rules and the sharing of airline passenger information to fight terrorism. One proposed law, the Passenger Name Record, would force airlines to share data across the EU. Christian Democrats, Liberals, and Conservatives have agreed on a corresponding resolution.
euronews.com, europa.eu
Cooperation Frankfurt/Oder and Slubice combine heating networks n-tv.de
Fight against youth unemployment MEPs debate Commission’s plans europa.eu
Treatment costs MEPs debate costly medical procedures europa.eu
„These are currently crucial hours and days.“
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warns the conflicting parties against a failure of the peace talks in Minsk.
faz.net„On January 13, 2012, I partly died too. It is hard to call ‘life‘ what I am going through.“
The captain of the shipwrecked Costa Concordia cruise liner, Francesco Schettino, insists that he had been made a scapegoat by the media.
europeonline-magazine.eu
Berlin pays last respects to Richard von Weizsäcker: The former president Richard von Weizsäcker played a leading role in helping Germany face up to its Nazi past and encouraged dialogue with the former communist regime. In a state funeral in Berlin’s Cathedral, some 1,400 mourners, among them many current and former politicians from Germany and abroad, paid tribute to von Weizsäcker, who died on January 31. Current President Joachim Gauck told the packed church in a speech that Weizsäcker was an outstanding president and a democrat by conviction. His final resting place is a graveyard in Dahlem, in southwestern Berlin.
dw.de
Islamist fighters jailed in Belgium: A court in Antwerp, Belgium, found a total of 45 members of the Sharia4Belgium group guilty of terror-related offenses. The leader of a group, Fouad Belkacem, had sent jihadists to Syria and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. The group helped recruit dozens of young Belgian Muslims as fighters for extremist groups in Syria such as IS. Many of the accused were not at the court for the ruling. Most are said to still be in Syria, and some may already be dead.
bbc.com, nytimes.com, cnn.com
Switzerland runs first deficit since 2005: The Swiss government has reported the country’s first budget deficit in almost a decade. The country ended last year with an unexpected deficit of 124 million Swiss francs (133.92 million dollars) after receipts and expenditure came in below budget. This marked the first budget without a surplus in nine years and came as a big surprise as spending last year was cut by 2.1 billion francs. Swiss Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said the country would investigate the shortfall in revenues.
reuters.com, dw.de
Switzerland proposes draft law to curb immigration : One year after the Swiss voted „No“ on large-scale immigration in a referendum, the Swiss government now proposed a draft law to limit immigration from the EU. Switzerland risks violating bilateral treaties such as the free movement of labour with the EU. The government plans to set yearly limits for the number of people allowed to move to Switzerland to work, without giving any more details. The country is seeking talks with the EU in order not to violate any treaties.
reuters.com, financialtimes.com
Portugal repays its debts: The Portuguese Finance Minister has reportedly started making arrangements to repay about 14 billion euros borrowed from the International Monetary Fund. As Greece readies to fight the IMF, Portugal wants to pay it off early. The amount, 14 million euros, is roughly half that handed to Portugal by the institution and about a fifth of the total given to the country by the bailout Troika in 2011. Taking Ireland as its example, Portugal plans to make an early repayment of its IMF bailout loans after it managed to raise almost half of its planned gross bond issuance for this year.
bloomberg.com
Regional elections in Catalonia: The leader of the wealthy Catalonia region, in a direct challenge to the government in Madrid, called for early parliamentary elections for Sep. 27 that will be structured to serve as a referendum on declaring independence from Spain. The vote will be held just a few months before Spain is expected to hold a general election, and exactly a year after he signed a decree calling an independence referendum which was blocked by Madrid in the courts. Pro-independence parties in Catalonia will this time around have to face the sudden rise of the left-wing anti-establishment party Podemos.
yahoonews.com, wallstreetjournal.com
France Prostitute has doubts about Strauss-Kahn’s depiction yahoonews.com
Italy Costa Concordia captain Schettino guilty of manslaughter bbc.com
More than 600 refugees charged the border fence separating the Spanish enclave of Melilla from Morocco on Tuesday. At least 35 managed to climb the high barrier an reach EU territory.
taz.de
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British decide on greatest love letter of all time: According to a new British poll, songwriter Johnny Cash’s letter to his wife, June Carter Cash, is the greatest love letter of all time. Originally written in 1994 on June’s 65th birthday, the letter reads: „We get old and get used to each other. We think alike. We read each others minds. We know what the other wants without asking.“ Winston Churchill’s letter to his wife Clementine was ranked second. Ernest Hemingway, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Richard Burton were also in the top ten. The poll was compiled by life insurance company Beagle Street as a PR tool for Valentine’s day.
independent.co.uk, rollingstone.com