Europe

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission on Thursday condemned Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa’s criticism of a reporter who wrote a piece suggesting that media freedom was under pressure in his country, a member of the European Union.

In a tweet, Jansa accused Politico reporter Lili Bayer of lying in her story entitled “Inside Slovenia’s war on the media”, in which she quoted journalists and watchdogs as saying Jansa was creating a climate of fear in the media.

18 Feb 2021; MEMO: The Undersecretary of Iraqi Foreign Ministry Nizar Al-Khair Al-Sayed said yesterday that the Vatican wishes Iraqi authorities to provide protection for Pope Francis during his visit to the country next month, adding that he wishes to arrive onboard an Iraqi airplane.

LONDON (Reuters) - Facebook’s move to block all media content in Australia is a staggeringly irresponsible attempt to bully a democracy and will stiffen the resolve of legislators across the world to get tough with the tech giants, a senior British lawmaker said.

“This action - this bully boy action - that they’ve undertaken in Australia will I think ignite a desire to go further amongst legislators around the world,” Julian Knight, chair of the British Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, told Reuters.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian court on Thursday was expected to hand down a verdict in the trial of Anastasia Shevchenko, an anti-Kremlin activist whom state prosecutors want jailed for five years for carrying out activities on behalf of an “undesirable” group.

Shevchenko, 41, a mother of two in southern Russia’s Rostov-on-Don, was put under house arrest in early 2019 in what her supporters say is a politically motivated case to stop her activism and punish her for showing dissent publicly.

TBILISI, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia announced his resignation on Thursday.

Gakharia said in a statement that he decided to step down because he could not reach an agreement with the ruling party over the arrest warrant issued against Nika Melia, a parliament member and head of the United National Movement opposition party.

He believed it was wrong to arrest Melia when there is a danger of political escalation in the country. 

ROME, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Newly sworn-in Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi won a confidence vote in the Senate on Wednesday night.

Draghi's government was supported by a vote of 262-40 with two abstentions in the Senate.

In a speech prior to the vote, Draghi outlined his government program going forward.

"The main duty we are called on to fulfill is to fight the pandemic with every means at our disposal," Draghi said. "The virus is everyone's enemy."

BUDAPEST, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- The first batch of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine purchased by Hungary arrived at Budapest on Tuesday.

The shipment was welcomed at the Liszt Ferenc International Airport by Tamas Menczer, state secretary from the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Chinese Ambassador to Hungary Qi Dayu.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch lawmakers are holding a debate Thursday on hastily drawn up legislation underpinning the country’s coronavirus curfew after a judge ordered the measure scrapped earlier this week.

The lower house of parliament is expected to support the legislation, which would then go to the senate on Friday — the same day that government lawyers go to court to appeal the order banning the 9 p.m.-to-4:30 a.m. curfew.

PARIS (AP) — European plane maker Airbus lost 1.1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) last year amid an unprecedented global slump in air travel because of the pandemic, but expects to deliver hundreds of planes and make a profit in 2021 despite uncertainty about when people will resume flying en masse.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A court in Belarus on Thursday sent two female journalists to prison on charges of violating public order after they covered a protest against the nation’s authoritarian president.