Новости за 16.08.2016

After eight months and two elections, Spain's political parties edge closer to a deal that would keep Mariano Rajoy as prime minister in return for anti-corruption reforms.

Cambridge and Oxford in the UK were the only institutions from any EU member state to make the top 10 in the latest Shanghai Ranking’s Academic Ranking of World Universities. The University of Copenhagen in Denmark was the next best EU contender, but it came in 31st place. US universities dominated the survey, and some Chinese institutions made the top 100 for the first time.

Turkish prosecutors are calling for Muslim teacher Fethullah Gulen, who lives in exile in the US, to serve two life sentences and an additional 1,900 years in prison on charges of instigating the failed coup on 15 July, state news agency Anadolu has reported. The proposed penalty comes after Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan had spoken of reinstating capital punishment, a move that would have ended Turkey's EU accession bid.

The EU Commission wants online messaging services to follow the same privacy rules as telecom companies. The industry says privacy checks will hurt the market.

Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has told the Bild newspaper in Germany that thousands more migrants could be let through to EU shores unless Turkish nationals get visa-free EU access from October as previously agreed. "It's clear that we either apply all treaties at the same time or we put them all aside", he said, referring to the EU-Turkey migrant accords. The visa-free deal has stalled over Turkish counter-terrorism laws.

The EU foreign service Monday urged Israeli authorities not to demolish a Palestinian bedouin village in Sussiya, in the West Bank, "in accordance with its obligations as an occupying power under international humanitarian law". The village, which contains EU-fnded structures, has become a cause celebre in EU attempts to slow Israeli settlement expansion and promote peace talks. Israel says it should be torn down due to lack of planning permission.

The post-coup crackdown has laid bare the cracks in EU-Turkey relations, with the bloc struggling to find a united voice.

Germans may in future have to work until they are 69, the Bundesbank has said, highlighting a broad problem with the EU's ageing work force.