The Global News Desk 115

Slovakia and Hungary blocked EU sanctions against Georgia. As protests continued, Hungary and Slovakia blocked an attempt to impose EU sanctions on Georgian officials.  Kaja Kallas, an Estonian politician and diplomat, urged sanctions against Georgian state personnel who were allegedly involved in the suppression of pro-European protesters. Meanwhile, a second measure to prevent visa-free travel for Georgians with diplomatic and service passports will move forward, as it only requires a qualified majority.  The European Commission is in charge of creating the strategy, according to Euronews. High Representative Kaja Kallas had proposed sanctions on Georgia during a foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels in early December 2024. "I think it would be a geostrategic mistake to push this country back now," the Austrian foreign minister told reporters on Monday, in addition to advocating for dialogue. We need to keep talking. In Georgia, the majority still desired EU membership...

BERLIN, Germany —  Barbel Bas, the president of the Bundestag, said on Monday that most of the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag) voted against Chancellor Olaf Scholz's cabinet, opening the door for early elections in February. Of the 717 lawmakers who cast ballots, 394 opposed Scholz's bid for chancellor, 207 voted in favor of him, and 116 refused to vote. He slumped very short of the 367 majority required to win. The elections for a new parliament will take place on February 23, 2025. Early in November, Scholz's coalition government fell apart after he dismissed Christian Lindner, the head of the Free Democratic Party and Finance Minister, for refusing to approve new budget projections for 2025 and increased aid for Ukraine.  The opposition also attributes the deteriorating economic situation to Olaf Scholz's coalition government.  Source: Sputnik 

European News — A security source informed the media on Sunday that 14 people were killed and 249 more were seriously injured by a Cyclone on the French island territory of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean.  The powerful hurricane progressed close to Mozambique's coast after wreaking havoc on Mayotte's shantytowns, the French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau warned that the final toll might be high.  Damage to airports and electrical distribution will likely hamper the efforts of rescue workers and supplies being transported by air and sea in an area where even clean drinking water was already facing chronic shortages.  Government officials in the French area in the Indian Ocean said Sunday that Cyclone Chido's route of devastation over Mayotte might kill "several hundred people. "All stuff has been swept away, everything is destroyed," said one of the Cyclone victims, whose property was wrecked in the Kaweni neighborhood in Mamoudzou's east - France's l...

The Irish government has taken out millions of euros from several Israeli firms. About 3 million euros have been pulled from the Irish Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) global equities portfolio by the Irish National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), according to a statement made by Yedioth Ahronot on Friday.  The move to divest includes shareholdings worth a total of 2.95 million euros in 6 entities: Bank Hapoalim BM, Bank Leumi-le Israel BM, Israel Discount Bank, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank Ltd, First International Bank, and Rami Levi Chain Stores. Irish Finance Minister Michael McGrath described the measure as the "right decision." "ISIF believed that the risk profile of these investments no longer fits within its investment parameters and that the commercial objectives of these investments may be accomplished through other investments. " The decision will be implemented as soon as possible in the coming weeks," he added.  Irish Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik ...

Czech emergency services said on December 21 that at least 15 people were killed and 24 more were injured in a shooting at Charles University in Prague.  The Czech police report that the attacker, who acted alone recognized as a university understudy, is among the dead. At about 5 pm in the afternoon at the time of publication, the Prague Emergency Medical Service reported eleven people with critical injuries, eight with serious injuries, and five with minor wounds were received.  Prague is the Czech Republic's capital and largest city, as well as the historical capital of Bohemia. On the banks of the Vltava.  At about 3 p.m., the shooting started at the Faculty of Arts on Jan Palach Square in Prague's Old Town. During a news conference at 6 p.m. police claimed the suspect was a 24-year-old from a hamlet outside Prague, and his father had been discovered dead earlier in the day.  Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, extended her sympath...