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Europe’s week: SOTU takes centre stage and media freedom law proposed

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Europe’s week: SOTU takes centre stage and media freedom law proposed

European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen’s annual State of the European Union deal with dominated the week.

The battle in Ukraine, anti-Russian sanctions and the financial fallout from Russia’s aggression took centre stage.

The EU Fee president proposed emergency measures to deal with the power disaster, together with a windfall tax on some power corporations and binding targets to cut back consumption.

She made clear that the escalating power battle with Russia would take a look at European resolve by means of the months forward.

“This isn’t solely a battle unleashed by Russia in opposition to Ukraine. That is additionally a battle on our power. It`s a battle on our financial system. It`s a battle on our values. It’s a battle on our future. It’s about autocracy in opposition to democracy,” von der Leyen stated.

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“And I stand right here with a conviction that with the required braveness and with the required solidarity, Putin will fail, and Ukraine and Europe will prevail.”

If there was any additional proof that the EU and Ukraine have closed ranks, it was the presence of Ukraine’s first woman, Olena Yelenska.

She obtained a hero’s welcome, and lawmakers greeted her with a standing ovation.

For her husband, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who visited lately liberated areas in northeastern Ukraine, his spouse’s presence in Strasbourg was a harbinger of even nearer relations sooner or later.

“For the primary time within the historical past of the European Union, a state from exterior the EU was really represented at a particular session of the European Parliament throughout the annual State of the EU Report — that is our state. To this point, from exterior the EU. We’re working for full membership — politically, legally, symbolically.”

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The European Fee additionally proposed a brand new legislation that might prohibit using spy ware in opposition to journalists and state interference in editorial selections.

The laws goals to strengthen press freedom, guarantee a plurality of voices and improve transparency on media possession and conflicts of pursuits.

It comes at a time of reducing belief in media and rising threats in opposition to information shops and professionals throughout the continent.

A number of EU international locations are beneath scrutiny over perceived threats to press freedom. 

The Greek authorities has admitted to tapping the cellphone of an investigative journalist, Slovenia has been condemned for slashing funds to the nationwide information company, and Hungary has been criticised for permitting extreme media focus within the palms of some house owners.

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The final decade has additionally seen a string of murders of investigative journalists, comparable to Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta, Ján Kuciak in Slovakia, Giorgos Karaivaz in Greece and Peter de Vries within the Netherlands

“That is the laws for the occasions we dwell in – not the occasions we want to dwell in,” stated Věra Jourová, the Fee’s Vice-President for Values and Transparency, whereas unveiling the draft legislation.

“For some, it is going to be an excessive amount of. For others, it is going to be too little,” Jourová stated.

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Explainer-The Electoral College and the 2024 US Presidential Race

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Explainer-The Electoral College and the 2024 US Presidential Race
By Tom Hals (Reuters) – In the United States, a candidate becomes president not by winning a majority of the national popular vote but through a system called the Electoral College, which allots electoral votes to the 50 states and the District of Columbia largely based on their population. Here are …
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Russia jails American Stephen Hubbard over fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine

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Russia jails American Stephen Hubbard over fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine

A Russian court sentenced a 72-year-old American to nearly seven years in prison Monday after he was convicted on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine. 

Investigators alleged during a closed-door trial that Stephen Hubbard of Michigan was paid $1,000 a month to enlist in a Ukrainian defense unit in Izyum, a city in the eastern part of the country, where he had been residing since 2014, according to Reuters. 

The news agency cited Russian investigators and state media as saying that Hubbard was trained and given weapons and ammunition after he allegedly signed up for the mercenary unit in February 2022. Two months later, he reportedly was detained by Russian soldiers and then pleaded guilty to charges of fighting as a mercenary. 

Hubbard was sentenced to six years and 10 months in prison. He is the first American known to have been convicted on charges of fighting as a mercenary in the Ukrainian conflict, according to the Associated Press.  

RUSSIAN ARMS DEALER VIKTOR BOUT, WHO WAS TRADED FOR BRITTANY GRINER, TO SELL WEAPONS TO IRAN-BACKED HOUTHIS 

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Stephen Hubbard, a U.S. citizen accused of fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine against Russia, is seen inside an enclosure for defendants as he attends a court hearing in Moscow, on Monday, Oct. 7. (Reuters/Moscow City Court Press Service)

The charges carry a potential sentence of 15 years, but prosecutors asked that his age be taken into account along with his admission of guilt, Russian news reports said. 

Last month, Hubbard’s sister Patricia Hubbard Fox and another relative told Reuters that he held pro-Russian views and was unlikely to have fought in battle at his age. 

Russian state media is saying Hubbard plans to appeal the verdict. The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

UKRAINIAN STRONGHOLD VUHLEDAR FALLS TO RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE AFTER TWO YEARS OF BOMBARDMENT 

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Stephen Hubbard sentenced in Russia

Hubbard was sentenced Monday to nearly seven years in prison. He reportedly plans to appeal. (Moscow City Court Press Service via AP)

A court in the Russian city of Voronezh also sentenced American Robert Gilman on Monday to seven years and one month for allegedly assaulting law enforcement officers while serving a sentence for another assault. 

Robert Gilman attends court hearing in Russia

Marine veteran Robert Gilman attends a court hearing in Voronezh, Russia, on Oct. 7. (Reuters/Vladimir Lavrov)

 

Gilman, a U.S. Marine veteran, was arrested in 2022 for causing a disturbance while intoxicated on a passenger train, and then allegedly assaulted a police officer while in custody, Russian news reports say. He is already serving a 3 1/2-year sentence on that charge. 

State news agency RIA-Novosti said that last year, he assaulted a prison inspector during a cell check, then hit an official of the Investigative Committee, resulting in the new sentence.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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Asylum applications in the EU drop by 17% as countries tighten borders

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Asylum applications in the EU drop by 17% as countries tighten borders

Syrians remain the largest group among asylum seekers, while Germany, Spain, Italy and France face the most cases.

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First-time applications from people seeking asylum in the EU have declined by 17% this summer, according to Eurostat.

Syrians are still the largest group of people seeking asylum with more than 10,000 first-time applicants. Venezuelans followed them with 6,340 and Afghans with 5,930 applications.

Germany, Spain, Italy and France still host the highest number of first-time asylum applicants. These four countries are processing 76% of all first-time applications in the EU. 

According to the report, in June the EU total of first-time asylum applicants was 15.7 per 100,000 people.

Among the 70,375 seeking asylum in the EU, a bit over 2,000 are unaccompanied minors.

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The majority of underaged asylum seekers are originally from Syria (675), Afghanistan (405) and Egypt (255).

Most of these children apply for asylum in Germany, Bulgaria, Greece, the Netherlands and Spain.

How are the EU countries reacting?

Despite the drop, migration remains a buzzword across EU member states, forcing the issue to the top of the agenda.

The 17% drop in asylum applications came as some of the bloc’s countries announced new tighter border controls.

Germany decided to tighten its land borders for six months in September and has allowed its law enforcement to reject more migrants right at its borders.

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Temporary border controls are set up at the land borders with France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Denmark, adding to the existing checks, now totalling at all land crossings with nine European countries.

“Until we achieve strong protection of the EU’s external borders with the new Common European Asylum System, we need to strengthen controls at our national borders,” German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said.

The Dutch government has also confirmed its intention to ask “as soon as possible” for an opt-out clause from the EU’s migration and asylum rules.

For more information about this, watch the Euronews video in the player above.

 

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Video editor • Mert Can Yilmaz

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