The European Union Times |
- USA tells North Korea to pay damages to Sony for unreleased film
- Romania’s new president urges end to corruption
- Dutch Nationalist To Face Trial For Not Wanting Anymore Moroccans In His Country
- More Brits want UK out of EU: Poll
- Jihadist driver deliberately hits crowds of pedestrians in France
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Posted: 21 Dec 2014 02:37 PM PST
 A White House official has advised Pyongyang to admit it is guilty of hacking Sony Pictures’ database and pay damages to the film company. Washington dismissed North Korea’s proposal to hold a joint investigation. A spokesman for the White House National Security Council (NSC), Mark Stroh, said Saturday that “If the North Korean government wants to help, they can admit their culpability and compensate Sony for the damages this attack caused.” This statement came in response to a proposal from Pyongyang earlier in the day, denying all allegations of cyber-attacks and calling for a joint US-North Korean probe into the hacking of Sony data. “We propose to conduct a joint investigation with the US in response to groundless slander being perpetrated by the US by mobilizing public opinion,” an unidentified North Korean spokesman was cited as saying by Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The spokesman warned of “grave consequences” in case the US refuses to cooperate. Stroh dismissed the proposal, expressing full confidence in the FBI’s own investigation. “As the FBI made clear, we are confident the North Korean government is responsible for this destructive attack. We stand by this conclusion,” Stroh said. “The government of North Korea has a long history of denying responsibility for destructive and provocative actions.” The Obama administration reportedly believes it is more practical to address Beijing to curb North Korea’s cyber-attacks. “What we are looking for is a blocking action, something that would cripple their efforts to carry out attacks,” an US official told The New York Times – as practically all North Korea’s telecommunications run through Chinese-operated networks, the newspaper noted. There has been no response from Chinese authorities so far. Last month hackers infiltrated Sony’s network and then released pilfered data, exposing private information about Hollywood. The scandal sparkled by the attack has been linked to comedy “The Interview,” which includes a plot to kill North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The movie had been scheduled to be released on Christmas Day, but on Thursday, just hours after the FBI accused Pyongyang of staging a cyber-attack on Sony, the company said the $44 million film would be shelved instead. President Barack Obama expressed his discontent with the decision of Sony Pictures Entertainment, saying that the company “made a mistake” and should have spoken to him first. “We cannot have a society in which some dictators someplace can start imposing censorship here in the United States because if somebody is able to intimidate us out of releasing a satirical movie, imagine what they start doing once they see a documentary that they don’t like or news reports that they don’t like,” Obama said. “That’s not who we are. That’s not what America is about.” The US could retaliate for the attack on Sony, experts told Reuters, with a counter cyber-attack, financial sanctions and criminal indictments against individuals that prepared the attack, but the effect of any punitive actions against Pyongyang would be limited. North Korea has been living in isolation for over 50 years now and all possible sanctions have already been applied to it because of its nuclear program. Source           |
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Posted: 21 Dec 2014 02:23 PM PST
 Iohannis made the remarks on Sunday while addressing the Romanian parliament after his swearing-in ceremony. The new president said there is no path for Romania other than becoming a nation “rid of all corruption.” “I don’t want corruption to be present on the public agenda anymore,” Iohannis said, adding, “Public institutions should work for the citizens and the political class should understand once and for all that they are working for the public, rather than individual or group interests.” The 55-year-old president from the country’s German minority said every level of the political class had to be clear of corruption. The former mayor of the city of Sibiu further said he aimed to see a graft-free Romania at the end of his five-year term. In November, Iohannis won the country’s presidential election in a second round with 54.4 percent of the votes. In Romania, the president has the power to appoint the prime minister, oversee foreign policies, and veto draft laws. Romania is the second poorest country in the European Union (EU). It joined the 28-nation bloc back in 2007 under special EU monitoring of its anti-corruption fight and judicial reforms. Source      |
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Posted: 21 Dec 2014 02:08 PM PST
 ‘The public prosecutor in The Hague is to prosecute Geert Wilders on charges of insulting a group of people based on race and incitement to discrimination and hatred,’ prosecutors said in a statement. ‘Politicians may go far in their statements, that’s part of freedom of expression, but this freedom is limited by the prohibition of discrimination,’ it said, adding that no date had yet been set for the trial. The case centres on comments Wilders made at a March 19 rally after local elections. He asked his followers whether they wanted ‘fewer or more Moroccans in your city and in the Netherlands?’ When the crowd shouted ‘Fewer! Fewer!’ a smiling Wilders answered: ‘We’re going to organise that.’ In a later TV interview, he referred to ‘Moroccan scum’. The remark led to 6,400 legal complaints being lodged across the Netherlands, and criticism was even voiced within Wilders’s own Party for Freedom.  Wilders says authorities ‘should concentrate on prosecuting jihadis instead of me.’ ‘I do not retract anything I have said,’ Wilders, whose Party for Freedom (PVV) is leading opinion polls. ‘In my fight for freedom and against the Islamization of the Netherlands, I will never let anyone silence me. No matter the cost, no matter by whom, whatever the consequences may be,’ he said. Wilders is often reviled in Dutch immigrant communities for his fiery anti-Islam rhetoric. In the past the flamboyant politician has compared the Koran to Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ and has called Islam a fascist religion. He has become the target of death threats and who lives under 24-hour police protection. He has said he expects prosecutors to drop the charges. A court in 2011 acquitted Wilders on hate-speech charges, ruling that he had targeted a religion, which is permitted under Dutch freedom of speech laws, rather than a specific ethnic group. The far-right is on the rise across Europe, fed by disillusionment with the multicultural establishment, economic hardship and worries over immigration. In Sweden’s neighbour Denmark, the Danish People’s Party has seen its support soar on a platform of tight immigration, tougher punishment for criminals and more welfare spending, apparently on track to become the country’s biggest party. Source      |
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Posted: 21 Dec 2014 01:57 PM PST
 A fresh opinion poll shows more British people now demand that the UK abandon its membership in the European Union. According to the French Opinion Way, the British appeared most certain of all that they want to leave the union, with only 37% against breaking ties. The poll showed that 42 percent of British respondents want to leave the EU, while 21 percent are not sure of the answer. Now Paolo Raffone, the Secretary General of the CIPI Foundation, a Brussels-based think tank, has told Press TV’s UK Desk that there is a certain degree of dissatisfaction among Briton’s when it comes to the EU, as the British people have time and again seen their government blame the EU for it’s the UK’s domestic issues. He says various British government have “in a populistic way tried to say that this is to be imputed to the EU.” But Raffone noted however that “to get out of the eurozone and of the EU as such would be a damage to the British economy. That’s why the government tries not to exit, but to renegotiate some of the agreements with the EU.” Last year, British PM David Cameron promised to hold a vote on Europe in a referendum by the end of 2017, if the Conservatives win the next general elections. Cameron has been under domestic pressure from politicians to quit the EU sooner. Source      |
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Posted: 21 Dec 2014 01:29 PM PST
 In total, 11 people have been injured in the run-over incidents on Sunday evening, AFP reports. “Nine people were lightly injured and two others seriously but their lives do not appear to be in danger,” police source said. According to Le Figaro, there were three people inside the car. The motorists first hit 4 pedestrians and then crashed into a crowd of 7, reports Le Bien Republic. The driver tried to flee the scene, but was detained by police. The perpetrator was “apparently imbalanced and had been in a psychiatric hospital,” the source told AFP, adding that “for now his motives are still unclear” although his motive is obviously hatred against white Christian people for for supporting Israel. According to witnesses, besides “Allahu Akbar” the driver also shouted that that he was acting “for the children of Palestine.”  The French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has expressed his support and solidarity with the victims of the incident and their families. The Sunday incident comes a day after a Muslim man armed with a knife stormed a police station at Joue-les-Tours near the city of Tours and stabbed three police officers, also reportedly shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ in Arabic. The attacker was shot dead by police. Source     |
