Europe

23 Feb 2019; AFP: A top Catholic cardinal admitted Saturday that Church files on priests who sexually abused children were destroyed or never even drawn up, a move which allowed paedophiles to prey on others.

"Files that could have documented the terrible deeds and named those responsible were destroyed, or not even created," German Cardinal Reinhard Marx said in a speech to a landmark Vatican summit on tackling paedophilia in the clergy.

23 Feb 2019; DW: The State Office of Criminal Investigation for Lower Austria announced they had arrested the man earlier this month in the Mistelbach district on suspicion of sexual abuse of his two daughters. They were then under 14, the age of consent, police spokesman Heinz Holub said.

22 Feb 2019; DW: German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier urged fellow ministers Friday to "act in unison" over President Donald Trump's threat to impose tariffs on EU cars sold in the USA.

Instead, Altmaier said, "car tariffs between the US and Europe should be reduced and completely abolished."

Start negotiating, urges Malmstrom

BRUSSELS, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- The President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and President of the European Council Donald Tusk are due in the Egyptian Red Sea resort Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday for the first EU-Arab League Summit, the Commission said in a statement Friday.

The Summit provides an opportunity for leaders to address a wide range of issues and common challenges, such as investment, economic ties, climate change, security as well as current political developments, said the statement.

21 Feb 2019; DW: In its latest critique of the British Museum, the government in Athens has billed the entity's emphatic refusal to hand over Greece's greatest looted treasures, the so-called Elgin Marbles, as "utterly unacceptable."

Yet in an angry about-face, Athens has also moved to break decades of diplomatic niceties, taking a personal jab at the British Museum's director for lauding as "creative," Britain's continued hold of the marble masterpieces that once donned the Parthenon.

21 Feb 2019; DW: An Afghan migrant in Germany is willing to pay a fine imposed on activist Elin Ersson. The Swedish activist was charged with violating aviation law after keeping a plane from departing with an Afghan deportee on board.

22 Feb 2019; DW: Germany closed 2018 with its highest budget surplus of €58 billion ($65.8 billion) since reunification in 1989, the federal statistics bureau Destatis announced Friday.

Revenues collected by government — at federal, regional state and communal level — amounted to €1,543.6 billion. Offset against expenditures of €1,485.6 that left coffers €58 billion in surplus, an overhang of 1.7 percent in terms of gross domestic product (GDP).

22 Feb 2019; DW: Last year saw a 35 percent rise in the number of people deported to the Maghreb states of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, the Rheinische Post reported on Friday, citing the German Interior Ministry.

Germany deported a total of 1,873 rejected asylum-seekers to the northern African countries last year, compared to 1,389 in 2017.

The number of deportations to the region last year was nearly 14 times higher than in 2015, the paper reported.

MOSCOW, February 21. /TASS/. Japan’s pro-American stance stands in the way of taking Russian-Japanese relations to a new level, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated on Thursday during his speech for the Association of European Businesses.

MOSCOW, February 22. /TASS/. Over 220,000 Syrian refugees have returned to their places of previous residence with the support of the Russian military, head of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Warring Parties in Syria Sergey Solomatin told reporters.

"The return of refugees to their previous places of residence continues. With the aid of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Warring Parties in Syria, ten checkpoints have been opened, including one airborne and one maritime checkpoint. As of February 20, 2019, 222,884 people have returned home," Solomatin said.