Author: Eros Tripilis

Evidence from the European Parliament’s graft investigation provides a record of more than 300 alleged attempts to manipulate EU democracy. Call them the Qatargate annual reports. A vast cache of leaked documents from the police investigation into the biggest corruption case to hit the EU in decades — seen by POLITICO — uncovers the full extent of the European Parliament’s money- Over four years the files suggest that key suspects, including former Member of the European Parliament Pier Antonio Panzeri and his aide Francesco Giorgi, meticulously recorded alleged attempts to manipulate the Parliament, the EU’s foremost democratic body, and wider…

Archaeologists excavating a sanctuary honoring the ancient Greek goddess Artemis have announced they discovered a significant number of structures, as well as plentiful relics, including gold and silver jewels. A “monumental building in the heart of the sanctuary” was first found in 2017, according to a recent social media post from Greece’s Ministry of Culture. Another temple was found in 2023. Excavating this second temple turned up “rich relics” and jewelry, the ministry said. Other excavations found buildings from the ninth and eighth centuries B.C. The excavations are conducted annually by a group of Swiss and Greek archaeologists, the Ministry of Culture said…

Swedish envoy to Qatar has described the bilateral ties as excellent, saying the partnership has deepened in recent years. In an exclusive interview with The Peninsula, Ambassador H E Gautam Bhattacharyya said strong ties between Qatar and Sweden in several areas will continue to deepen in future in areas of common interest, including industry, sustainability, and innovation. “Sweden and Qatar have excellent bilateral relations and have been growing since we established diplomatic relations 50 years ago. Next year, it will be ten years since the Swedish embassy in Doha has been established. Our collaboration has grown across the board. We…

South Korea’s Industry Minister Bang Moon-kyu met with a senior Greek official Thursday and discussed ways to boost bilateral cooperation on the eco-friendly shipbuilding industry and the overall economy, the industry ministry said. During a meeting with Kostas Fragogiannis, Greece’s deputy foreign and economic minister, Bang called for joint efforts to expand bilateral trade and investment and to diversify trade items, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Two-way trade stood at US$2.13 billion in 2022, compared with $3.34 billion in 2021 and $1.66 billion in 2020, government data showed. Bang also proposed stronger bilateral cooperation on the…

Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat has met with the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó to mull promoting localization of the railway industry in Egypt, according to a statement. The two sides also discussed ways to boost the private investments in Egypt as well as the activation of the memoranda of understanding (MoUs) signed at the Egyptian-Hungarian joint committee held earlier this year. This came on the sidelines of Al-Mashat’s visit to Hong Kong to attend the Belt and Road Summit 2023. Source : Zawya

Frankfurt (22/09 – 58.33) Since May 2022, the Tajikistani authorities have stepped up their ongoing crackdown on Pamiris, an ethnic, linguistic and religious minority originating from the Pamir mountains in Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast of Tajikistan. They have arbitrarily detained hundreds of Pamiris, including civil society activists and human rights defenders, and imprisoned over 200 of them after convictions in unfair trials, in a campaign aimed at stripping the local communities of their leadership and dismantling their civil society. The authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Pamiri civil society activists, journalists and human rights defenders who have been detained solely…

Germany will test a nationwide alarm system to warn of an impending emergency on September 14, authorities announced on Friday. The German Interior Ministry and the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) said that German citizens would be warned at 11 a.m. (0900 GMT) via various channels. “We are relying on using a mix of warning methods,’’ said ministry official Julianne Seifert. The warning messages would be disseminated through radio and television channels as well as mobile phones via warning apps like Nina. Sirens and information boards in cities would broadcast the messages on public transit platforms…

Italy celebrated the return Friday of 266 antiquities from the United States, including Etruscan vases and ancient Roman coins and mosaics worth tens of millions of euros (dollars), that were looted and sold to U.S. museums and private collectors.The returned items include artifacts recently seized in New York from a storage unit belonging to British antiquities dealer Robin Symes, officials said. In addition, the haul that arrived in Rome included 65 objects that had been offered by a collector to Houston’s Menil Collection, but were declined. The art unit of Italy’s Carabinieri paramilitary police said the owner of the collection…

Close to 1000 migrants have arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa after crossing the Mediterranean Sea by boat, news agency ANSA reported. Some 270 people in six vessels were brought to shore by the Italian coastguard early on Sunday. On Saturday, 718 people travelling in 27 boats had reached the small island, some 130 kilometres east of Tunisia. According to ANSA, the migrants have travelled from Congo, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Guinea, Nigeria, Senegal and Mali and said to have departed from the Tunisian coastal towns of Sfax, Gabes and Mahdia. The reception centre on Lampedusa, with facilities…

Germany to invest €20bn in its semiconductor industry to attract global chipmakers, including Intel and Taiwan-based giant, TSMCGermany has announced plans to invest up to €20bn (US$22bn) in its semiconductor industry in the run-up to 2030. Germany is seeking to attract global chipmakers to set up factories in the country, and plans to invest around €20bn (US$22bn) in the semiconductor industry over the coming years, the country’s economy ministry told Reuters this week. Germany’s chips move has been made possible by the European Union (EU) European Chips Act, which seeks to double the EU’s supply chain market share in semiconductor…