tagged w/ European News
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The European Commission has carried out surprise inspections at several major oil companies over possible price manipulation in breach of EU anti-trust rules.
The Commission did not name any of the companies involved in Tuesday's raids, but British energy giant BP, Shell and Norway's Statoil said that their offices had been visited.
"Officials carried out unannounced inspections at the premises of several companies active in and providing services to the crude oil, refined oil products and biofuels sectors," the EC said.
Statoil said a raid at its headquarters in Stavanger, Norway, was carried out with the assistance of Norwegian anti-trust officials.
BP and Shell offered no details, but said they were cooperating with authorities.
"We can confirm that Shell companies are currently assisting the European Commission in an inquiry into trading activities," a Shell spokesman said.
Platts, the world's leading oil price reporting agency, also confirmed it was being investigated.
The raids represent one of the biggest cross-border actions since the Libor rigging scandal.The European Commission has carried out surprise inspections at several major oil... more
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One of Britain's most wanted fugitives, armed robber Andrew Moran, has been arrested at a luxury villa on the Spanish coast, police from both countries have said.
Armed officers found the 31-year-old relaxing by the swimming pool when they raided the villa in the town of Calpe on the Alicante coast on Friday, Britain's Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) said.
The arrest, not publicly announced until Sunday, came about four years after Andrew Terence Moran absconded from his trial for armed robbery in Britain, assaulting a security guard and vaulting over the dock. He fled the country and was later convicted in his absence.
Police video footage showed how officers approached a swimming pool while hiding behind walls before pouncing on Moran as he relaxed in red swimming trunks.
As soon as police jumped over the walls, Moran tried to flee, leaping onto the tiled roof of a pool-side outhouse.
Spanish police said the fugitive, who they described as a "dangerous fugitive", had "attempted to flee and violently resisted the officers".One of Britain's most wanted fugitives, armed robber Andrew Moran, has been... more
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Turkey's foreign minister has blamed the world's inaction on the Syrian conflict for the "barbarian act of terrorism" that claimed dozens of lives near the border.
Ahmet Davutoglu's comments in Berlin came a day after a twin bombing in the small town of Reyhanli, in the southern Turkish province of Hatay bordering Syria, that left at least 46 people dead and 100 others wounded.
They also followed a vigorous denial by Syria of any links to Saturday's blasts - the deadliest incident on Turkish soil since the Syrian conflict began.
Holding Turkey indirectly responsible for the blasts, which took place just a few miles from the main border crossing into Syria, Omran al-Zoubi said: "Syria did not commit and would never commit such an act because our values would not allow that."Turkey's foreign minister has blamed the world's inaction on the Syrian... more
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At least three people have died and several are missing in the water at the port of Genoa, after a container ship, the Jolly Nero, hit a control tower in a night-time accident.
The collision on Wednesday, which saw the vast metal structure bend by 45 degrees, revived painful memories in Italy of a deadly cruise ship disaster last year.
Part of the tower, in which about 14 people were present at the time of the accident at around half past midnight local time, crashed into the water.
One of the victims was reported by some media to be a woman in her 30s, while the other two were male.
Rescue workers dived into the waters around the port - one of the busiest in Italy - in a frantic search to find about 10 people believed to be missing. Six others were reported seriously injured.
An employee of the Messina Line company, which is based in Genoa and owns the Jolly Nero, confirmed that "there was an accident when the ship was leaving the port. It ran into the tower, but we don't know why at this point, nor how many people are hurt".At least three people have died and several are missing in the water at the port of... more
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A high-profile neo-Nazi trial that focuses on ten mostly racially motivated murders by an underground far-right gang has started in Berlin, Germany's capital.
Beate Zschaepe, believed to be the last surviving member of the National Socialist Underground (NSU) group, and four others accused of assisting the gang, are being tried.
Zschaepe, 38, is charged with complicity in the murder of eight Turks, a Greek and a policewoman between 2000-2007, as well as two bombings in immigrant areas of Cologne, and 15 bank robberies.
The case has been controversial as for several years the police wrongly blamed the murders on the Turkish mafia.
"With its historical, social and political dimensions the NSU trial is one of the most significant of post-war German history," lawyers for the family of the first victim, flower seller Enver Simsek, said in a statement.
The case has shaken a country that believed it had learned the lessons of its past, and has reopened a debate about whether Germany must do more to tackle the far-right and lingering racist attitudes.A high-profile neo-Nazi trial that focuses on ten mostly racially motivated murders by... more
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Russia's new "Mariinsky II" theatre has opened in St Petersburg with a gala conducted by Valery Gergiev and other star performers.
The modern ballet and opera house was inaugurated on Thursday and complements the historic and original Mariinsky Theatre.
The event coincided with the 60th birthday of the opera director Gergiev and was broadcast live. Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the opening.
Performers at the gala included the great Spanish tenor Placido Domingo and the Russian soprano Anna Netrebko, whose early career at the Mariinsky catapulted her to international stardom.
Al Jazeera's David Chater, reporting from St Petersburg, said that it was Putin's political muscle that made sure there was enough money for the project.
He said the Mariinsky II is part of Putin and Gergiev's dream is to make St Petersburg a capital of culture.
The new theatre, which cost a total of $700m, lies just behind the famous Mariinsky Theatre, which was founded in the 18th century and was the birthplace of the ballets like Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty and Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet.Russia's new "Mariinsky II" theatre has opened in St Petersburg with a... more
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A German woman claims she was one of Adolf Hitler's food tasters but that, for more than half a century, she did not tell anybody what she did during the second world war.
A few months after her 95th birthday, Margot Woelk finally opened up about her secret, revealing that she spent two and a half years as one of the 15 young women who sampled Hitler's food to make sure it was not poisoned before it was served in the so-called Wolf's Lair.
"That was the heavily guarded command centre in what is now Poland, where he spent much of his time in the final years of World War II," she said.
"Hitler was so paranoid that the British would poison him, it was the talk of the day, we all knew about it."
Woelk recalled her experience as girl in her mid-twenties during a meeting with the Associated Press news agency. She flipped through a photo album in the same Berlin apartment where she was born in 1917.
"That's why he had 15 girls taste the food before he ate it himself," she said. "For two and half years we had fears whether we survive it or not. But we had to eat it. He was a vegetarian."A German woman claims she was one of Adolf Hitler's food tasters but that, for... more
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Britain is set to honour Winston Churchill, its revered war-time prime minister, with a banknote featuring his portrait and the famous declaration: "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat".
Mervyn King, the outgoing governor of the Bank of England, announced the plan on Friday after travelling to Churchill's home Chartwell in Kent, southern England, to present the design to his family.
Churchill's image will appear on a new £5 note to be issued in 2016.
"Sir Winston Churchill was a truly great British leader, orator and writer. Above that, he remains a hero of the entire free world," King, who is to be replaced in July by Canadian Mark Carney, told members of the Churchill family.
But the Bank of England said that while the plan was for Churchill to feature on the £5 note, that decision had not been finalised.
The blue-green design sets Churchill, who as prime minister led the country to victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, against the backdrop of Westminster and the Nobel Prize medal which he won for literature in 1953.
Churchill, no stranger to the British currency after his face was emblazoned on a five shilling piece in the 1960s, joins the ranks of Isaac Newton, William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens who have all adorned banknotes in the past.Britain is set to honour Winston Churchill, its revered war-time prime minister, with... more
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Jailed Pussy Riot punk-rocker Nadezhda Tolokonnikova has pleaded to be released on parole from her two-year sentence, arguing that she had already spent enough time in prison for the group's protest against President Vladimir Putin.
"I have spent enough time in the prison camp. I've had enough of studying it. Six months is time enough," Tolokonnikova told the judge at her parole hearing on Friday, the RAPSI legal news agency reported.
The parole hearing could theoretically see Tolokonnikova, a 23-year-old opposition activist and philosophy student at the elite Moscow State University, released immediately.
The 2012 trial of Tolokonnikova and two other members of the provocative feminist band grabbed worldwide attention, with stars such as Madonna, Sting and Yoko Ono voicing their support.
Tolokonnikova is serving a two-year sentence for hooliganism motivated by religious hatred along with her bandmate Maria Alyokhina.
A third woman, Yekaterina Samutsevich, received a suspended sentence.
Read More From SourceJailed Pussy Riot punk-rocker Nadezhda Tolokonnikova has pleaded to be released on... more
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Thirty-eight people are feared dead after a fire raged through a psychiatric hospital outside Moscow, Russian emergency officials and media reports said.
There were believed to have been 41 people in the one-storey hospital in the town of Ramenye when the fire broke out in the early hours of Friday and three were evacuated, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.Thirty-eight people are feared dead after a fire raged through a psychiatric hospital... more
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Most of Lufthansa's, Germany's national airline, domestic, European and long-haul flights have been cancelled due to strikes by ground personnel and cabin crews.
"Due to strike action announced for April 22, nearly all Lufthansa flights to German and European destinations must be cancelled," the airline announced in a statement.
The firm said it had scheduled only around 20 of its usual 1,650 short-haul flights for Monday, and warned that long-haul routes would also be seriously affected.
At Frankfurt airport, Europe's third-busiest hub, 46 out of 50 intercontinental flights would be scrapped, with long-haul flights from Munich also grounded.Most of Lufthansa's, Germany's national airline, domestic, European and... more
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A French family of seven kidnapped by the al-Qaeda-linked armed group, Boko Haram, in Cameroon in February have been freed and are in the hands of officials in the central African state, President Paul Biya has said.
Biya made the announcement in a statement read on national radio which said the hostages - a father, mother, four children aged 5 to 12, and an uncle - had been "handed over last night to Cameroonian authorities".A French family of seven kidnapped by the al-Qaeda-linked armed group, Boko Haram, in... more
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Participants in the Madrid marathon later this month will pay tribute to those killed and injured in Boston, the president of the Spanish race, Guillermo Jimenez said on Tuesday.
The Madrid event is due to take place on April 28 and Jimenez said that it would go ahead with greater security measures in place after Monday's twin bomb blasts that killed three and injured more than 100 in Boston.Participants in the Madrid marathon later this month will pay tribute to those killed... more
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Prosecutors in Turkey have charged a retired general with attempting to kill late President Turgut Ozal, in a last-ditch effort to keep the investigation open two decades after his death, according to local media.
An Ankara court accepted an indictment on Tuesday seeking life imprisonment for retired General Levent Ersoz.
The indictment lists Ozal's wife and son as plaintiffs and accuses Ersoz of "attempting to or succeeding in an attempt to murder the president", according to Turkey's Dogan News Agency.Prosecutors in Turkey have charged a retired general with attempting to kill late... more
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French ministers have disclosed their personal wealth for the first time in a move that President Francois Hollande hopes will restore confidence in his scandal-hit Socialist government.
The assets of 37 ministers and of Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault were published online on Monday on a specially created website.French ministers have disclosed their personal wealth for the first time in a move... more
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Greece's unemployment rate reached a new record of 27.2 percent in January, new data has showed, reflecting the depth of the country's recession after years of austerity imposed under its international bailout.Greece's unemployment rate reached a new record of 27.2 percent in January, new... more
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In France, there's concern that the fierce debate over a new law introducing gay marriage is spilling over into violence.
The French Senate is voting overnight on the bill, to pass it back to the National Assembly for a second reading.In France, there's concern that the fierce debate over a new law introducing gay... more
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G8 foreign ministers meeting in London have said they are "appalled" by the rising death toll of more than 70,000 in the Syrian conflict and urged all countries to boost contribution to a UN aid appeal for the country.
But they have made no mention of supplying arms to the rebels as the opposition has demanded, saying only that there should be greater "humanitarian" assistance for those caught up in a conflict that is now in its third year.G8 foreign ministers meeting in London have said they are "appalled" by the... more
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An election monitoring group in Russia is being sued by the government for not registering as a foreign agent.
The NGO Golos gathered evidence of alleged substantial fraud at the polling booths in the last parliamentary election.
The prosecution is the first of its kind under a law introduced last year that requires NGOs that receive funding from abroad to register as so-called "foreign agents".An election monitoring group in Russia is being sued by the government for not... more
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Iraq executed almost twice as many people last year compared to the year before, while India and Pakistan resumed executions after abandoning the practice for years, global human rights group Amnesty International said on Tuesday.
In its annual report, Amnesty said China still led the top five countries carrying out executions, followed by Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the United States.Iraq executed almost twice as many people last year compared to the year before, while... more
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