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Tag: European Union Countries

  • Opinion | A German Lesson for the Heritage Foundation

    In the 1980s, the CDU kept neo-Nazis down by accepting all legitimate conservative views.

    Joseph C. Sternberg

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  • Louvre Skimped on Security to Spend on Art in Years Before Heist, Says Auditor

    PARIS—France’s state auditor issued a searing assessment of the Louvre Museum’s finances on Thursday, alleging its management prioritized the acquisition of new artworks over the maintenance and security of its existing collection.

    The auditor released its 153-page report after a team of thieves used low-tech methods to break into the museum last month and steal France’s crown jewels, drawing attention to the Louvre’s porous security.

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    Noemie Bisserbe

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  • Eurozone Retail Sales Edge Lower Despite Improving Sentiment

    Retail sales in the eurozone unexpectedly inched lower in September, contrasting with some of the rosier sentiment among consumers in recent months.

    Volumes fell back 0.1%, the same rate as in August, statistics agency Eurostat said Thursday. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had instead expected a 0.2% increase.

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    Ed Frankl

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  • German Industrial Production Rebounds Weakly Amid Tentative Hopes Over Outlook

    Industrial production in Europe’s largest economy rebounded less than expected in September, amid hopes that the outlook could be changing for the sector ahead of large-scale government investment.

    Output rose 1.3% on month, Germany’s statistics agency Destatis said Thursday, offsetting some of the 3.7% decline in August. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal expected a larger 2.5% uptick.

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    Ed Frankl

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  • France to Suspend Shein Sales After Finding Childlike Sex Dolls

    The French government moved to temporarily suspend Shein’s website after authorities discovered sex dolls resembling children were being sold on its platform.

    The French finance ministry said Wednesday that it had begun the process to suspend Shein for “the time necessary for the platform to demonstrate” it has scrubbed its site of illegal products.

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    Chelsey Dulaney

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  • Rheinmetall Joint Venture Invests $577 Million to Produce Propellant Powder in Romania

    Rheinmetall RHM 2.85%increase; green up pointing triangle and Pirochim Victoria said they will invest over 500 million euros ($576.9 million) in a new propellant powder plant in Romania.

    The German arms maker and the Romanian defense company signed a deal Monday to form a joint venture, with Rheinmetall holding 51% and Pirochim owning the remainder, Rheinmetall said.

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    Cristina Gallardo

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  • Europe’s Role Reversal: The Problem Economies Are Now Further North

    The European debt crisis of the early 2010s created an image of a continent cleaved in two: The fiscally responsible core countries led by Germany versus the spendthrift southern periphery of Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain—disdainfully dubbed PIGS.

    Nowadays, there has been a role reversal. Europe’s three biggest economies are stuck in a cycle of weak growth, leading to widening budget deficits. France is the epicenter of this shift and remains mired in a budget and political crisis, while the U.K. is eyeing tax hikes to try to narrow the gap and avoid spooking markets. Famously frugal Germany and the Netherlands are taking on debt, albeit from lower levels.

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    Chelsey Dulaney

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  • Opinion | A U.S. Troop Exit From Eastern Europe?

    It’s a safe bet that most Americans won’t notice if the U.S. pulls an Army brigade out of Romania, but you can bet Vladimir Putin will. Behind a reshuffling of U.S. forces abroad is a larger debate within the Trump Administration about America’s posture in the world, and senior Republicans in Congress are expressing alarm.

    The U.S. Army confirmed last week that soldiers from a brigade combat team of the 101st Airborne Division will return to Kentucky “without replacement.” Romania’s defense ministry called the decision “an effect of the new priorities of the presidential administration”—that is, the Trump Pentagon. About 1,000 troops will remain in the country, and the U.S. footprint in Romania is a small share of the roughly 85,000 troops on the continent.

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    [ad_2] The Editorial Board
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  • Exclusive | White House to Announce Resumption of Auto Chip Shipments From China

    The White House is set to announce that the Dutch semiconductor company that paused shipments weeks ago and risked upending global car production will resume sending chips under a framework agreement reached during talks between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, people familiar with the plans said. 

    The new policy on the Dutch chips is part of a forthcoming document from the White House laying out the details of the U.S.-China trade deal signed this week, according to the people.

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    Ryan Felton

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  • Inside the Low-Tech Heist That Penetrated the Louvre

    PARIS—The thieves had prepared a jerry can of gasoline to quickly set fire to the truck-mounted lift and other equipment they had just used to penetrate the Louvre Museum and steal France’s crown jewels.

    A blaze might have destroyed evidence linking them to the crime. But the clock was ticking. Security forces were closing in. So the thieves made a critical decision: They left the truck intact and jumped on their scooters to make a getaway along the Seine River.

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    Stacy Meichtry

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  • Dutch Hard-Right Leader Geert Wilders Set to Exit Power

    Dutch firebrand Geert Wilders’s hard-right Freedom Party was on the brink of losing power after elections in the Netherlands on Wednesday, indicating that Europe’s populist politicians who draw strong support while in opposition can struggle once they are in government.

    The Freedom Party was on track to place second in parliamentary elections, according to exit polls, with a sharp drop in support, as voters punished Wilders’s party for failing to deliver on its promises.

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    Laurence Norman

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  • U.S. Reduces Troop Numbers in Romania, Signaling Shifting Priorities

    The Pentagon will no longer rotate Army combat brigades through Romania as part of a strategy that focuses on Asia and Latin America.

    Michael R. Gordon

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  • With Sarkozy in Prison, France Asks: Has the Judiciary Gone Too Far?

    PARIS—French courts have delivered one shock ruling after another this year, testing the balance of power between the country’s fiercely independent judiciary and its political leadership.

    In March, a court banned far-right leader Marine Le Pen from running for office for five years after finding her guilty of embezzling European Union funds. Then, on Tuesday, conservative Nicolas Sarkozy became the first former president to see the inside of a prison cell, after judges sentenced him to five years for conspiring to obtain campaign funds from Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi.

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    Stacy Meichtry

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  • It Sits on a Vast Haul of Mineral Wealth. Now This Arctic City Must Be Moved.

    The underground wealth beneath the Arctic city of Kiruna fuels Sweden’s economy and is a central cog in one of Europe’s core defense industries. It has also, quite literally, undermined the city’s foundation, prompting an unprecedented urban relocation project.

    Kiruna is home to one the world’s largest deposits of iron ore, used to produce Swedish jet fighters and combat vehicles. Two years ago, mining officials announced that the city, about 90 miles north of the Arctic Circle, also sits on what could be the largest find of rare earths in Europe.

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    Sune Engel Rasmussen

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  • As Putin Digs In, a Long—and Different—War With Ukraine Looms

    Russia’s refusal of a cease-fire and an aborted peace summit in Budapest have raised the grim prospect that the war in Ukraine will rage for years to come—even as the nature of the conflict transforms.

    President Vladimir Putin remains convinced that Russia will eventually wear down its smaller neighbor, causing a collapse of the Ukrainian economy and society. An elusive victory would allow him to make the case that the devastating war he unleashed nearly four years ago was worth it, after all.

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    Yaroslav Trofimov

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  • Russia’s Central Bank Cuts Key Rate as New Sanctions Loom

    Russia’s central bank on Friday lowered its key interest rate for a fourth straight meeting as an already slowing economy braces for the impact of fresh sanctions from the U.S. and the European Union in response to President Vladimir Putin’s continued war on Ukraine.

    The Bank of Russia cut its key rate to 16.5% from 17%, having begun to lower borrowing costs from a recent peak of 21% in June. The move was smaller than previous cuts.

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    Paul Hannon

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  • Sarkozy’s Five-Year Prison Term Starts With Fingerprints and a Mug Shot

    PARIS—Former President Nicolas Sarkozy began a five-year prison sentence on Tuesday, marking an unprecedented downfall for a French ex-head of state who rose to power as a political outsider with blunt law-and-order rhetoric.

    A motorcade of police escorted the 70-year-old from his home in the tony 16th arrondissement to the gates of Paris-La Santé prison in the heart of the French capital. There, guards took him into custody, leading him down to a basement office where he underwent a search and had his fingerprints taken. He then received an inmate number and had his mug shot taken before guards brought him to his cell in the isolation ward.

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    Noemie Bisserbe

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  • Vestas Shelves Plan for Polish Wind Turbine Factory on Low European Demand

    Vestas Wind Systems VWS -3.14%decrease; red down pointing triangle said lower demand in Europe has pushed it to pause the planned construction of a new factory in Poland.

    The Danish wind turbine maker last year unveiled plans to build a new blade factory in Szczecin, near the Baltic Sea coast, to support Europe’s build-out of offshore wind parks.

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    Dominic Chopping

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  • Heist at Louvre Leaves Museum Missing Priceless Jewels

    PARIS—Tourists were streaming into the world’s most visited museum on Sunday morning when a group of thieves burst in through a window of a gilded gallery on the second floor—and made off with a set of priceless royal jewels.

    Over the course of only seven minutes, three or four individuals used a truck-mounted elevator to reach a balcony outside the Galerie d’Apollon, which houses France’s crown jewels, French officials said. There, the thieves used an angle grinder to cut a hole in a window to get inside, they added.

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    Sam Schechner

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