ICJ dismisses Croatia and Serbia genocide claims: The International Court of Justice has rejected claims of genocide by Serbia and Croatia against each other during the Croatian war of secession from Yugoslavia. Neither side had provided sufficient evidence to demonstrate the „specific intent required for acts of genocide“. What is generally called ethnic cleansing does not constitute genocide, Judge Tomka said in his ruling against Serbia’s claim. Acts of ethnic cleansing may be part of a genocidal plan but only if there is an intention to physically destroy the target group.
usatoday.com, bbc.com, reuters.com
Washington will not ship arms in near future: According to Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser to President Barack Obama, the United States will not be delivering arms to the Ukraine in the near future. The best tool that the US has to apply pressure on Russia is the economic pressure through the sanctions, Rhodes said. The West is exploring several options for increasing pressure on Russia apart from more sanctions. Meanwhile, Russians will no longer be allowed to enter Ukraine without an international passport.
reuters.com, nytimes.com
Greece moves away from debt writeoff: The new Greek government has retreated from the idea of writing off debt, instead suggesting that it could be exchanged for bonds that would be repaid only if the Greek economy grew. Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has suggested the new deal for exchanging debt with bailout creditors. Varoufakis will meet with European Central Bank President Mario Draghi in Frankfurt on Wednesday and plans to meet on Thursday in Berlin with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble. Varoufakis added that he would negotiate separately with the European Commission, the IMF and the European Central Bank but not with the troika.
wallstreetjournal.com, theguardian.com, bbc.com
EU tax probe widened to Belgium: The European Commission has widened its corporate tax probe to include Belgium’s rules on so-called excess profit in its fight against illegal tax advantages for companies. The Commission is investigating whether the tax regimes of certain EU nations amounts to state aid. The Commission said Belgium’s tax arrangements meant as much as 90 percent of the profits a multinational corporation made in the country could be deducted from the its corporation tax bill.
abcnews.com, theguardian.com, bbc.com
ECJ declares German nuclear-fuel tax to be legal: The Advocate General of the EU Court of Justice, Maciej Szpunar, said that the German nuclear-fuel tax doesn’t violate EU rules on creating taxes on electricity. He also dismissed claims that the tax violated EU state aid regulations. German energy giants RWE, E.ON and EnBW had lodged a complaint following Berlin’s decision to introduce the tax at the beginning of 2011. The tax has cost those companies billions.
bloomberg.com, dw.de
European Pegida-offshoots fail to reach masses: The orginial anti-Islamisation Pegida movement in Dresden is currently in a deep crisis, but offshoots of the movement are still rallying in other German and European cities. But while rallies in Germany have often attracted more than 20,000 people in recent weeks, only a few hundred took part in Monday’s rally in Vienna and similar demonstrations in Copenhagen and Pargue. Marches on a smaller scale have since been held in the Czech Republic, Denmark and Norway.
bbc.com
Cheaper Producer prices fell an annual 2.7 percent nasdaq.com
UN Security Council Veto powers and Germany meet with Iran npr.org
IS Jordanian hostage burned alive bbc.com
„Merkel is like Hitler, he took our country, she is waging an economic war.“
Panos Kammenos, the founder of the centre-right anti-austerity party „Independent Greeks“ will continue to make inappropriate statements as the country’s new defense minister.
tagesspiegel.de„I am not alone. That means a lot.“
The Dutch journalist Frederike Geerdink, who is facing five years in prison in Turkey for supposed „terrorist propaganda“ after highlighting the struggle of the Kurds, shows her gratitude for the international support on Twitter.
independent.co.uk
Mattarella sworn in: The 73-year-old Sergio Mattarella, a Sicilian constitutional court judge closely associated with the fight against organised crime, was sworn in on Tuesday in Rome as Italy’s new president. In his first speech, Mattarella has called for more reforms and growth in his country, saying that Italy is in need of a new horizon of hope. Mattarella has promised to fight corruption and organized crime such as the mafia.
wallstreetjournal.com, yahoonews.com, bbc.com
Greece sells government limousines: The new Greek government plans a fundamentally new approach to governing, different from the governments of its predecessors. Tsipras’ government will not just be spending money, it also plans to save some. The company cars of government officials will be sold. Instead, ministers should take cabs or their own private cars. Any business trips by government officials will be booked in the economy class.
spiegel.de, europeonline-magazine.eu
Podemos campaigns against Germany: The Spanish newcomer party Podemos is attempting to increase its popularity by taking a critical stance against Germany. Cause for frustration are the German consolidation policies. Spain is being called a slave of Germany by Spanish politicians. The better that the party does in polls, the more it emphasizes an anti-German atmosphere with comparisons to the Secod World War and talk of a supposed „Fourth Reich“.
dw.de
Spain’s smallest fishing enterprises are threatened: The traditional small scale fishing in Spain has little chance to keep up with the large high tech fishing fleets. In 2006, more than 10,000 small ships with a maximum length of up to 12 meters were spread out along the coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The Spanish Ministry of Agriculture now counts only 7,600. The Spanish government is on the side of the large corporations and rejects an EU proposal to ban bottom trawling, although this could save the ecosystem from overfishing and help smaller fishing enterprises.
worldfishing.net
Russia considers price controls for essential food products: Due to the fall of the Russian Rouble and the increasing inflation, Russian officials are thinking about putting a price cap on essential food products. The Russian government may also give the state competition watchdog more power in enforcing existing retail market regulations. Leading retail food chains in Russia have already announced that the price increases of their products are far below the rate of inflation.
businessinsider.com
French police arrest jihadists: French counter-terrorism police arrested eight people in Paris and Lyon suspected of participating in recruiting young people for the fight in Syria. The jihadists are suspected of involvement in a jihadist network organizing recruitment and departures to Syria. According to French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, this shows that France is fully determined in its fight against terrorism. The arrests in the Paris and Lyon areas are not linked to the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January.
bbc.com, nbcnews.com, cnn.com
Czech Republic Police arrest man throwing wooden blocks at cars n-tv.de
Turkey Intellectuals warn about propaganda against Armenians derstandard.at
France Soldiers in front of Jewish Center attacked with knife nbcnews.com
5,360 people have already died in the conflict in eastern Ukraine according to the United Nations.
theguardian.com
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More new billionaires: The number of billionaires in the world is increasing, but for the first time the rich are not getting simultaneously richer. The new record number of 2,089 dollar billionaires in 68 countries was calculated by Briton Rupert Hoogewerf, who lives in Shanghai. Almost half of all billionaires are from the United States and China. The number of Russian billionaires fell by ten to 93, their assets diminished by five percent.
welt.de