Five Stories from Europe You May Have Missed

[rpannier]

1. Italian MP chased out of parliament by security for protesting green pass

An Italian MP was filmed being chased out of parliament by security guards after waving a placard in protest against the country’s “green pass” scheme.

Video footage shows the man dodging security as they try to grab the sign, which says “no green pass”, out of his hands.

The politician is chased out of the chamber by one guard as numerous other MPs make their way down to the floor holding similar signs.

The parliamentary session was temporarily suspended amid cries of “shame” aimed at those protesting.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/italy-green-pass-mp-parliament-video-b1893624.html


2. Submarine robot captures underwater footage of ancient Roman ship laden with wine jars – video

An ancient Roman ship carrying a cargo load of wine jars, or amphorae, has been found underwater in the Mediterranean Sea off the Italian island of Sicily. The vessel was discovered during an underwater reconnaissance expedition by the island's Regional Agency for Environment Protection. The findings will shed light on Rome’s trade activity in the Mediterranean, where the Romans traded spices, wine, olives and other products in north Africa, Spain, France and the Middle East

https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2021/jul/30/submarine-robot-captures-underwater-footage-of-ancient-roman-ship-laden-with-wine-jars-video


3. Balkan Survivors Of Notorious 'Ethnic Cleansing' Camp Fight Mockery On Serbian TV

The dozens of internment camps that sprung up in the former Yugoslavia are one of the most brutal and well-chronicled aspects of the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

Their discovery, early in the fighting, provided some of the most poignant and incriminating evidence that combatants were waging ethnic cleansing in newly won territories.

Now, a group of surviving detainees from one of the most infamous concentration camps in a Serb-controlled region of Bosnia-Herzegovina has filed suit in Belgrade to challenge televised statements downplaying its wartime horrors and mocking one of its most iconic inmates.

Plaintiffs include Fikret Alic, the Bosniak man who became a lasting symbol of Balkan atrocities after his skeletal frame was shown behind barbed wire at the Trnopolje internment camp near Prijedor, in what is now northwest Bosnia.

https://www.rferl.org/a/balkan-camp-alic-photo/31385822.html

4. Local Staff At U.S. Embassy, Consulates In Russia Dismissed To Meet Kremlin Deadline

The United States says it has laid off nearly 200 local employees from its diplomatic missions in Russia ahead of an August 1 deadline set by the Kremlin to do so -- a move made by Moscow in response to U.S. sanctions and the expulsion of Russian diplomats from the United States.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on July 30 that the layoffs are regrettable and will severely impact the operations of U.S. diplomatic missions in Russia.

"Starting in August, the Russian government is prohibiting the United States from retaining, hiring, or contracting Russian or third-country staff, except our guard force,” Blinken said. “We are deeply saddened that this action will force us to let go of 182 local employees and dozens of contractors at our diplomatic facilities in Moscow, Vladivostok, and Yekaterinburg.”

The layoffs will potentially impact the safety of U.S. personnel "as well as our ability to engage in diplomacy with the Russian government," he added.

https://www.rferl.org/a/us-embassy-consulates-staff-russia-/31386356.html

Another story can be read at

https://www.euronews.com/2021/07/30/us-mission-in-russia-forced-to-let-go-of-over-200-staff


5. Poland's president changes tune on judicial reform amid row with EU

In a significant shift in tone, Poland’s president Andrzej Duda said on Friday his country will need to change its law on disciplining judges, which has sparked an escalating battle with Brussels over the rule of law.

Duda was commenting on letters from the head of Poland’s top court urging leaders to bring Polish legislation in line with EU law.

Duda told state agency PAP that he agreed with the court president and that “everything indicates that legislative changes will be needed”.

snip

His words struck a different tone from the government's insistence in recent years that the disciplinary procedures were only for the good of the judiciary and that the EU had no say on the organisation of Poland's or any other EU member's justice system.

https://www.euronews.com/2021/07/30/poland-s-president-changes-tune-on-judicial-reform-amid-row-with-eu

[empedocles]

1. TY

[2naSalit]

2. K&R

[captain queeg]

3. I wasn't even aware of who the current Secretary of State was

I guess that’s a bad thing for me but also an indicator of a return to normality in the US government. TFG’s appointees we’re always in the news causing trouble

[McKim]

4. Thanks, Americans Need More International News

Thanks for this Kpete. Americans need more international news. It has been dwindling the past two decades and slowed down to a trickle during the Trump Era. It matters because we are actors in the larger world and spending billions for it. We have become isolationist and self centered instead of informed and part of this big big world.

[BradBo]

5. I really like this segment.

Keep it regular. Maybe once a week with quick world updates of news that not earth shattering but news all the same.