News in Brief
BERLIN (Reuters) -- Germany, France and Spain have reached a general agreement over the next steps in the development of a joint fighter jet, a German defense source said, with details to be hammered out by mid-May. Participants in the program will put together a list of intellectual property rights in the future jet by mid May, spelling out which will be open for use by everyone and which will remain with specific companies, the source told Reuters on Wednesday. Dassault Aviation, Airbus and Indra are involved in the scheme to start replacing France’s Rafale and German and Spanish Eurofighters from 2040, with the next step of development expected to cost 2.5 billion euros ($3.00 billion) in total.
***
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -- Europol said on Wednesday 31 suspects had been arrested in an Italian-German police operation targeting the ‘Ndrangheta mafia group. Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, said it had provided support in the operation, which involved around 800 officers and tax officials in both countries. The ‘Ndrangheta-linked group, including 65 suspects who were identified but not arrested, is "suspected of having organized the trade in cocaine between Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain using encrypted ... communication tools,” Europol said in a statement. Hospitality companies were used to launder proceeds in Italy, while in Germany the investigation focused on drug sales and tax avoidance, said Europol, whose headquarters are in the Netherlands. "In total, at least several hundreds of thousands of euros have been seized, as well as weapons, cocaine, two luxury vehicles and jewelry,” Europol said.
***
OTTAWA (Reuters) -- The Canadian province of Alberta reported its first death of a patient from a rare blood clot condition after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, its chief medical officer said. Canada has reported at least five cases of blood clots following immunization with the vaccine, but public health officials maintain the benefits of the AstraZeneca shot outweigh the potential risks. The Alberta case, of a woman in her 50s, marks the second case of blood clots, and the only death after more than 253,000 doses of AstraZeneca were administered in the province, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said in a statement on Tuesday. Canada has had 1,243,242 confirmed coronavirus cases and 24,342 deaths, according to a Reuters tally Dozens of countries paused the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in March after reports of rare, but serious, blood clots.
***
MOSCOW (Reuters) -- Russia is seeking an additional 24 million roubles ($321,586) in fines from U.S. tech giant Twitter for failing to remove content banned in Russia, the TASS news agency cited a court as saying on Wednesday. State communications regulator Roskomnadzor said last week that Twitter was complying with a demand to remove banned content, but taking too long to do so. A punitive slowdown on the service has been extended until May 15. TASS said six reports concerning Twitter, each carrying a possible fine of up to 4 million roubles over a failure to remove content, had been lodged with a Moscow court under Russia’s Administrative Offences Code. In April, a court issued three separate fines against Twitter, totaling 8.9 million roubles, over accusations it had failed to delete banned content.
***
LONDON (Reuters) -- Scotland’s main pro-independence party is unlikely to win an outright majority in Thursday’s parliamentary election, a blow to its hopes of demanding a referendum on separating from the United Kingdom, a Savanta Comres/The Scotsman poll indicated. The Scottish National Party (SNP) wants a majority in the devolved parliament to demand another referendum, although British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said he will not grant one. The Savanta Comres/The Scotsman poll indicated that the SNP would fall six seats short of winning an outright majority but that the Green Party, which cooperates with the SNP, could win as many as nine seats. The Greens in Scotland, which have cooperated with the SNP to pass legislation, are pro-independence and have not ruled out a coalition with the SNP. If there was a pro-independence majority returned to parliament, the SNP would most likely say it had a mandate for another referendum.
***
BERLIN (Reuters) -- Germany saw a big jump last year in politically motivated crimes, and offenses committed by far-right supporters hit a record high, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said. Far-right offenses were up nearly 6 percent from the previous year at 23,064, and accounted for more than half of all politically motivated crimes, the highest level since police started collecting such data in 2001. Violent crimes classified as political in nature rose by nearly 20 percent year-on-year to 3,365 and included 11 murders and 13 attempted murders, Seehofer said. "These numbers are very alarming mainly because a trend has been established over the last few years,” he said. "During the pandemic we observed a further polarization of the political discussion.” Security is emerging as a key political issue ahead of a national election in September. German intelligence fears that far-right activists are trying to exploit public frustration over lockdowns imposed to halt the spread of COVID-19 to incite violence against state institutions.
***
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -- Europol said on Wednesday 31 suspects had been arrested in an Italian-German police operation targeting the ‘Ndrangheta mafia group. Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, said it had provided support in the operation, which involved around 800 officers and tax officials in both countries. The ‘Ndrangheta-linked group, including 65 suspects who were identified but not arrested, is "suspected of having organized the trade in cocaine between Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain using encrypted ... communication tools,” Europol said in a statement. Hospitality companies were used to launder proceeds in Italy, while in Germany the investigation focused on drug sales and tax avoidance, said Europol, whose headquarters are in the Netherlands. "In total, at least several hundreds of thousands of euros have been seized, as well as weapons, cocaine, two luxury vehicles and jewelry,” Europol said.
***
OTTAWA (Reuters) -- The Canadian province of Alberta reported its first death of a patient from a rare blood clot condition after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, its chief medical officer said. Canada has reported at least five cases of blood clots following immunization with the vaccine, but public health officials maintain the benefits of the AstraZeneca shot outweigh the potential risks. The Alberta case, of a woman in her 50s, marks the second case of blood clots, and the only death after more than 253,000 doses of AstraZeneca were administered in the province, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said in a statement on Tuesday. Canada has had 1,243,242 confirmed coronavirus cases and 24,342 deaths, according to a Reuters tally Dozens of countries paused the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in March after reports of rare, but serious, blood clots.
***
MOSCOW (Reuters) -- Russia is seeking an additional 24 million roubles ($321,586) in fines from U.S. tech giant Twitter for failing to remove content banned in Russia, the TASS news agency cited a court as saying on Wednesday. State communications regulator Roskomnadzor said last week that Twitter was complying with a demand to remove banned content, but taking too long to do so. A punitive slowdown on the service has been extended until May 15. TASS said six reports concerning Twitter, each carrying a possible fine of up to 4 million roubles over a failure to remove content, had been lodged with a Moscow court under Russia’s Administrative Offences Code. In April, a court issued three separate fines against Twitter, totaling 8.9 million roubles, over accusations it had failed to delete banned content.
***
LONDON (Reuters) -- Scotland’s main pro-independence party is unlikely to win an outright majority in Thursday’s parliamentary election, a blow to its hopes of demanding a referendum on separating from the United Kingdom, a Savanta Comres/The Scotsman poll indicated. The Scottish National Party (SNP) wants a majority in the devolved parliament to demand another referendum, although British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said he will not grant one. The Savanta Comres/The Scotsman poll indicated that the SNP would fall six seats short of winning an outright majority but that the Green Party, which cooperates with the SNP, could win as many as nine seats. The Greens in Scotland, which have cooperated with the SNP to pass legislation, are pro-independence and have not ruled out a coalition with the SNP. If there was a pro-independence majority returned to parliament, the SNP would most likely say it had a mandate for another referendum.
***
BERLIN (Reuters) -- Germany saw a big jump last year in politically motivated crimes, and offenses committed by far-right supporters hit a record high, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said. Far-right offenses were up nearly 6 percent from the previous year at 23,064, and accounted for more than half of all politically motivated crimes, the highest level since police started collecting such data in 2001. Violent crimes classified as political in nature rose by nearly 20 percent year-on-year to 3,365 and included 11 murders and 13 attempted murders, Seehofer said. "These numbers are very alarming mainly because a trend has been established over the last few years,” he said. "During the pandemic we observed a further polarization of the political discussion.” Security is emerging as a key political issue ahead of a national election in September. German intelligence fears that far-right activists are trying to exploit public frustration over lockdowns imposed to halt the spread of COVID-19 to incite violence against state institutions.