News in Brief
Greece to seek EU rail funds as workers’ strike grows
REUTERS – Greece will seek additional EU funding for urgent safety upgrades to the rail network, the government said on Monday, as public sector workers planned a widespread walkout to protest the country’s worst train crash that killed 57 people last week.
Labour unions say the rail network has been severely weakened by cost-cutting and under-investment, a casualty of the debilitating debt crisis which afflicted Greece from 2010 to 2018.
Estonia’s PM Kallas wins reelection
AP – The center-right Reform Party of Prime Minister Kaja Kallas overwhelmingly won the Baltic country’s general election, while a far-right challenger lost seats in a vote that focused on national security and the economy.
Preliminary returns from a completed ballot count showed the Reform Party, the senior partner in the outgoing three-party coalition government, received 31.2% of the vote — the biggest share in Sunday’s election.
That translates into 37 seats at Estonia’s 101-seat Parliament, or Riigikogu, an increase of three seats from the 2019 election.
Israeli air force reservists protest over legal reforms
AFP – Dozens of Israeli air force pilots said they will boycott military training in protest at cabinet judicial reforms.
In a letter sent to the chief of staff, 37 pilots threatened to not attend a training day due on Wednesday.
Judicial reform is a cornerstone of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration, an alliance with ultra-Orthodox and extreme-right parties which took office in late December.