News in Brief

Date: 09 May 2023 - 22:26

News ID: ۱۱۴۸۷۲

STRASBOURG (DW) -- German Chancellor Scholz called for “an enlarged and reformed” European Union that is more “geopolitical” in outlook and actions. His speech came as lawmakers celebrate the post-WWII peace among European Union members. Speaking to the European Parliament, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the “European Union need to change,” adding “Europe must turn to the world.”  He said the world is increasingly becoming multipolar and that Europe should look for more global cooperation on equal terms. “Those who are nostalgic for the dream of a European world power, those who serve national superpower fantasies, are stuck in the past,” Scholz said in his speech on Tuesday.

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SYDNEY/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- A cross-party delegation of Australian lawmakers said on Tuesday they met U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, urging her to help drop the pending extradition case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and allow him to return to Australia. The “Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Group” said it had informed the U.S. envoy of “the widespread concern in Australia” about the continued detention of Assange, an Australian citizen. The meeting comes ahead of U.S. President Joe Biden’s scheduled visit to Australia this month for the Quad leaders’ summit. Assange is battling extradition from Britain to the United States where he is wanted on criminal charges over the release of confidential U.S. military records and diplomatic cables in 2010. Washington says the release of the documents had put lives in danger. Assange’s supporters say he is an anti-establishment hero who has been victimized because he exposed U.S. wrongdoing, including in conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. If extradited, Assange faces a sentence of up to 175 years in a maximum security prison.

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PARIS (AFP) -- The Paris police force and France’s interior minister faced questions and criticism over why a march of around 600 neo-Nazis through the streets of the capital was authorized at the weekend. The annual rally Saturday by far-right extremists dressed in black came as authorities clamp down on protesters banging saucepans against the government, with new restrictions put in place to prevent President Emmanuel Macron from being drowned out by the noise during speeches. The march saw several hundred men from far-right groups march with flags and chant slogans to commemorate the death of a far-right activist, Sebastien Deyzieu, in 1994. France marked its traditional May 8 public holiday on Monday to commemorate the victory of Allied forces over Nazi Germany in 1945 and the lives lost in the fight against fascism.

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OTTAWA (Reuters) -- A man who threw gravel at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the 2021 election campaign was sentenced to 90 days of house arrest and one year of probation by a court in Ontario, according to his lawyer. Trudeau was hit by a handful of gravel in 2021 while on the campaign trail as he made his way past a crowd shouting their opposition to COVID-19-related mandates and restrictions. The prime minister was not injured and his Liberal Party went on to win the election. Shane Marshall later pleaded guilty in March to a charge of common assault related to that incident. Ontario court Justice Kevin McHugh found Marshall’s conduct had the potential to cause serious injury to a senior politician, though his remorse and lack of a criminal record were mitigating factors in the sentencing, Marshall’s lawyer, Luke Reidy, said in an email.

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TOKYO (Reuters) -- Japan and South Korea are set to agree early next month to link their radars via a U.S. system to share real-time information on North Korea’s ballistic missiles, a person with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday. Defense ministers from Japan, South Korea and the United States plan to reach an agreement on the sidelines of an Asian defense summit to be held in Singapore early next month, said the person, who declined to be identified because the discussions are not public. The Japanese government’s top spokesperson, Hirokazu Matsuno, said no decision has been made yet on the planned agreement, without elaborating. South Korea’s presidential office said the country would form a group with Japan and the United States to share information about North Korea’s missiles, news agency Yonhap reported.

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UNITED NATIONS (AFP) -- More than 600 people died in gang violence last month in Haiti, where the authorities did not have the capacity to protect civilians, the United Nations said on Tuesday. “Every report I get from Haiti underlines the scale of the suffering and rams home the message that Haitians need urgent support and they need it now,” said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk. He repeated his call for the international community to send a specialized armed force to help Haiti’s police and authorities restore order. The Caribbean nation, the poorest in the Americas, has been gripped by a political and economic crisis since the assassination in July 2021 of president Jovenel Moise. Rival gangs now control most of the capital, Port-au-Prince. In its quarterly update for January to March published on Tuesday, — the UN said violence was “becoming more extreme and more frequent (and) spreading relentlessly as gangs seek to extend their control”.