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TRIESTE, Italy, April 17 (UPI) -- Italian shipbuilder Orizzonte Sistemi Navali and DCNS of France have announced the construction of combat vessels for the navies of Italy and Egypt. Orizzonte Sistemi Navali S.p.A. said that OCCAR, the European Union agency in charge of multinational weapons procurement projects, had notified them that the Italian Navy was exercising a contract option to obtain two FREMM frigates. The frigates would be the ninth and tenth for Italy under the Italian-French FREMM, or Multi Mission European Frigates, program. The value of the option exercise carries a value of about $818.1 million. "Considering the effort...

Since October 2014, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has regularly referred to the concept of a "Mastermind" (ust akil, "supra-intellect," in Turkish) that, he says, is plotting against Turkey. This concept has been applauded by the Islamist pro-AKP media. Erdogan's December 12, 2014 speech, which focused on this "mastermind" concept, inspired the production of a two-hour "documentary" by one of the leading Turkish television channels, the pro-AKP A Haber. The film, titled "The Mastermind," first aired on March 15, 2015 and has been broadcast repeatedly since then; in addition, the Turkish Islamist pro-AKP media are circulating the film on their...

CUNGUS, Turkey — The crumbling stone monastery, built into the hillside, stands as a forlorn monument to an awful past. So, too, does the decaying church on the other side of this mountain village. Farther out, a crevice is sliced into the earth, so deep that peering into it, one sees only blackness. Haunting for its history, it was there that a century ago, an untold number of Armenians were tossed to their deaths. “They threw them in that hole, all the men,” said Vahit Sahin, 78, sitting at a cafe in the center of the village, reciting the stories...

Spain’s Socialist leader, Pedro Sánchez, has apologized after he accidentally voted for a law requiring girls under 18 to obtain parental consent for abortions. The law, introduced by the governing People’s Party and long opposed by the Socialists, was promised by the conservative PP last autumn after it abandoned its controversial attempt to reverse the country’s abortion laws. The legislation being proposed then would have turned Spain into one of the toughest places in Europe to obtain an abortion. […] On Wednesday, as social media poked fun at the opposition leader’s blunder, likening him to Homer Simpson at the control...

European Union and Arab League countries agreed Wednesday to cooperate against the terror threat posed by home-grown radicals who return home from conflicts in the Middle East, following a deadly attack on a Jewish site in Belgium by a suspected jihadi. […] Many European authorities fear that home-grown jihadists who travel to Syria and other conflict zones will come back with skills and the will to carry out terrorism. Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders described returning foreign fighters as a “huge challenge.” …

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Moscow on Monday where the issue of Middle East peace talks will be raised, Russian authorities announced Thursday. “The two leaders will hold talks concerning key aspects of Russian-Palestinian relations and their future, with particular attention on the trade, economy and humanitarian sectors,” the Kremlin said in a statement according to AFP. There will also be “an exchange of ideas on the process of Israeli-Palestinian talks and other problematic regional situations,” the statement continued, adding that North Africa would also be on the agenda. …

Conventional agriculture is causing enormous environmental damage in Germany, warns a study by the country’s Federal Environment Agency, saying a transition to organic farming and stricter regulation is urgently needed. EurActiv Germany reports. Spanning over 50% of the country, agriculture takes up by far the biggest amount of land in the country, and is one of its most important economic sectors. But intensive farming still harms the environment to an alarming extent, according to a study conducted by the Federal Environment Agency (UBA). The use of pesticides and fertilizers, as well as intensive animal husbandry, have a negative impact on...

In January, the French government appointed Laurent Stefanini as its ambassador to the Holy See, but three months later, the Vatican has not approved the appointment—leading to European media reports that the lack of approval stems from Stefanini’s homosexuality. Le Monde and Corriere della Sera reported that Cardinal André Vingt-Trois of Paris interceded with Pope Francis on behalf of the nomination of Stefanini, a former official of the French embassy at the Vatican. La Croix reported that Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, the former Vatican foreign minister who now serves as president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, also supports the...

Vatican, France In Showdown Over Gay Ambassador Vatican City (AFP) - Three months after appointing an openly gay diplomat as France's ambassador to the Vatican, Paris is still waiting for the green light from Rome. With Pope Francis entering his third year in the post, some activists see the Vatican's silence as a test of the depth of reform in the Catholic Church. While the Vatican usually declares it has accepted a candidate around a month after an appointment is made, it makes no public statements at all if the answer is no. Paris appears determined to stick with seasoned...

Secret US memo for Congress seen by Mail On Sunday says Britain's 'special relationship' with America is over Washington believes that the ‘special relationship’ between Britain and the US is over, according to a secret briefing document seen by The Mail on Sunday. The memo for members of Congress states damningly that ‘the UK may not be viewed as centrally relevant to the United States in all of the issues and relations considered a priority on the US agenda’. Dated April 2015 and drawn up to brief the Senate and House of Representatives on the impact of Britain’s General Election,...

Germany plans to bring 100 mothballed tanks back into service in what is widely seen as a response to rising tensions with Russia over Ukraine. The tanks were sold to industry as part of defence cuts after the Cold War. The German defence ministry said it would spend €22m (£16m;$24m) on bringing its total of tanks to 328. Nato officials agreed in February to create a quick-reaction force to meet the challenges posed by the Ukraine crisis and by Islamic extremists.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's defense minister said his country's government has obtained "stunning evidence" to support its claim that German World War II reparations are worth a massive 278.7 billion euros ($302 billion). ... "The evidence is so compelling that it will lead to the reopening of cases, even those that have already gone to court." ... Germany says it has already settled its reparations to Greece in post-war agreements. Sigmar Gabriel, Germany's economy minister, argued that Greece's new left-led government was attempting to use the reparations issue to influence debt negotiations. "To be honest I think it's dumb,"...

Russia is considering soon giving Greece funds based on future profits Athens would earn from shipping Russian gas to Europe as part of an extension of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project, a Greek government official said. Plans for the pipeline taking Russian gas from Turkey to Europe via Greece would be linked to lower Russian gas prices, the official added. Greece would pay back the Russian prepayment after the pipeline started operating, the official said.

If the western Balkan states were admitted to the EU, it would be beneficial to both sides, says Michael Roth, State Minister for Europe in the German foreign ministry, in an interview with DW. […] “I want to encourage the western Balkan states that want to belong to the European Union. There is no question: The road ahead of us is surely rocky, but it is worth it. We are not just an economic community, but also, above all, a union of values.” […] … “EU expansion lies in the interest of the states in the Western Balkans; it lies...

Federal Police announced on Wednesday that they had arrested record numbers of people entering Germany illegally in 2014, a 75 percent increase on the year before. Federal police chief Dieter Romann told journalists in Potsdam that his officers had stopped 57,000 people without permission to be in the country. Of these, 27,000 were detained in Germany, while a further 30,000 were stopped before they reached the Federal Republic. Most of those people came over the borders from Austria and France. …

resident Barack Obama initially touted his "historic understanding" with Iran as a transformational diplomatic step toward Middle East peace. Two days or so later, the White House called the "understanding" a "preliminary deal. " Words matter, or at least they should when the "understanding" allegedly affects a theocratic dictatorship's ability to obtain and use nuclear weapons. Both words imply a degree of agreement between parties. Regrettably, the Iranian government quickly disputed the Obama administration's claims that Tehran had made significant concessions. To say that this obvious Iranian disagreement with Obama bodes ill for the "historic understanding" is an understatement. Comparison...

The captain of the Arctic Sea freighter contacted the ship’s operating company Thursday for the first time since the ship mysteriously disappeared in July. The captain made a brief call to Solchart Arkhangelsk Ltd.’s office on his cell phone, a company spokesman said. “He said the rest of the crew on the ship is all fine,” the spokesman told Interfax. Eleven of the 15-member crew have returned to their families in Arkhangelsk, while the other four are on the ship sailing to Novorossiisk. The 11 were not allowed to contact their families for more than a week after they flew...

The framework deal with Iran doesn’t even provide safety for a year, Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Tuesday. He was reacting to a media blitz by US President Barack Obama assuring the public that the agreement would curb Tehran’s nuclear program for over a decade. Obama “says we have insurance here for 10 years, but I say we don’t have insurance here for even one or two years unless the loopholes are closed, and only then could it become a more reasonable agreement,” Steinitz said, adding that “I wouldn’t trust this [deal] if it was home insurance, and...

A search is under way for a cargo ship which may have travelled through the English Channel after apparently being hijacked by pirates. Coastguards fear the Maltese-flagged Arctic Sea, carrying 15 Russian crew, was hijacked in the Baltic sea. UK authorities made contact before it entered the Strait of Dover but the Russian navy told the Itar-Tass agency it was now looking for the ship. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said the situation was "bizarre". Spokesman Mark Clark said: "Who would think that a hijacked ship could pass through one of the most policed and concentrated waters in the world?...

The military airlifted the suspected hijackers of the Arctic Sea and most of its Russian crew from Cape Verde to Moscow on Thursday, after the lumber freighter mysteriously vanished and reappeared in the Atlantic. Eleven of the 15 crew members arrived in Moscow, while the captain and three sailors remained on the ship, which was adrift about 200 nautical miles from the West African island nation of Cape Verde. Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said the freighter was sailing to the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk. The sailors and their suspected captors arrived in two separate Il-76 cargo jets at the...