Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Reference to Islam removed from EU governments’ declaration after disagreements
The rise of violent extremism in Europe has been linked to the failure of migrants to integrate, in a hard-debated joint declaration by EU governments on the recent terror attacks.
The statement by EU home affairs ministers was described by Horst Seehofer, Germany’s interior minister, as a “great sign of solidarity” when delivered on Friday but it had been heavily watered down from a controversial initial draft.
Bodies of 74 people wash up on beach in western Libya as baby boy dies on rescue boat
Four shipwrecks in the space of three days have claimed the lives of more than 110 people in the Mediterranean, including at least 70 people whose bodies have washed up on the beach of al-Khums, in western Libya.
According to the UN migration agency (IOM), that boat was reported to be carrying more than 120 people, including women and children. Forty-seven survivors had been brought to shore by the coastguard and fishermen, while the bodies of at least 74 people were floating near the water’s edge on Thursday.
As Biden’s victory sinks in across Brazil, Hungary and elsewhere, dreams of a rightwing global crusade appear to be fading
As the Donald Trump era draws to a close, many world leaders are breathing a sigh of relief. But Trump’s ideological kindred spirits – rightwing populists in office in Brazil, Hungary, Slovenia and elsewhere – are instead taking a sharp breath.
The end of the Trump presidency may not mean the beginning of their demise, but it certainly strips them of a powerful motivational factor, and also alters the global political atmosphere, which in recent years had seemed to be slowly tilting in their favour, at least until the onset of coronavirus. The momentous US election result is further evidence that the much-talked-about “populist wave” of recent years may be subsiding.
Hungary and Portugal have become the latest countries in Europe to impose tough new restrictions to stem the second wave of the coronavirus, as the first signs of light at the end of the tunnel emerged in France, Germany and Belgium.
As the US pharmaceuticals company Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, said their experimental Covid-19 vaccine appeared safe and more than 90% effective, Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, announced a partial lockdown.
When the mayor of Roccafiorita received a phone call in October informing him that an employee in his office had tested positive for Covid-19, his heart sank.
Set among the forests at the foot of Mount Kalfa, Roccafiorita is the smallest village in southern Italy. The average age of its 187 inhabitants is over 60. If Covid were to spread among the population, the village could disappear.
Apostolic Library, facing 100 threats a month, wants to ensure readers can trust digitised records of its historical treasures
Ancient intellects are now being guarded by artificial intelligence following moves to protect one of the most extraordinary collections of historical manuscripts and documents in the world from cyber-attacks.
The Vatican Apostolic Library, which holds 80,000 documents of immense importance and immeasurable value, including the oldest surviving copy of the Bible and drawings and writings from Michelangelo and Galileo, has partnered with a cyber-security firm to defend its ambitious digitisation project against criminals.
Bill now needs approval from upper house before becoming law
Activists in Italy have hailed a vote in the lower house of parliament to pass a bill that would make violence against LGBT people and disabled people, as well as misogyny, a hate crime.
The bill, which passed successfully despite months of protests from far-right and Catholic groups, now needs approval from the upper house, where it is backed by the ruling coalition parties, before becoming law.
Fresh lockdowns to stem the spread of coronavirus have sparked sometimes violent protests in several European countries, fuelled both by ideological fury at new government-imposed restrictions and fears of economic hardship.
As the number of infections surge and hospitals and intensive care units fill up, countries including Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain have once more introduced tough curbs on movement and gatherings.
The head of the World Health Organization has gone into self-quarantine after someone he had been in contact with tested positive for Covid-19.
With the virus again spreading rapidly across Europe and elsewhere, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is based in Geneva, made the announcement by Twitter late on Sunday night, but stressed he had no symptoms.
The four women huddling around their neighbour in an alleyway off Via dei Tribunali, in central Naples, took turns to call an ambulance. “It’s an absolute disaster!” yelled one of them, called Antonietta. “Nobody is responding, we’ve been trying for hours.”
The woman sitting on a chair in the middle of them, with her head bent forward, had a heart problem. Not even taxi drivers were answering the phone. One woman suggested calling the police. “Now do you understand why we’re so angry?” added Antonietta. “Things are so desperate here – Covid is not the only thing that is killing us.”
Demonstrations have continued across Italy as hundreds of people gathered to protest against measures imposed by the government to contain the spread of coronavirus. After four days of protests, supporters of the rightwing group Forza Nuova gathered in Piazza del Popolo where they clashed with riot police. The government has introduced a relief package for businesses affected by the restrictions, which include a 6pm curfew for bars and restaurants and the closure of gyms, swimming pools, cinemas and theatres
Police in Italy have fired tear gas to disperse angry crowds in the northern cities of Turin and Milan after protests against the latest round of anti-coronavirus restrictions flared into violence.
As the head of the World Health Organization urged countries “not to give up” in their fight to contain the virus, luxury goods shops, including a Gucci fashion shop, were ransacked in the centre of Turin as crowds of youths took to the streets after nightfall, letting off firecrackers and lighting coloured flares.
Virginia Raggi says she was told organised crime groups planned to kill her and her family
The mayor of Rome has said organised crime groups planned to kill her and her family because she was taking them on in parts of the Italian capital where they hold sway.
Virginia Raggi became the Eternal City’s first female mayor when she was elected in 2016 in a breakthrough for her party, the Five Star Movement, which now governs nationally. She is running for re-election next year.
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has said her country is on the verge of losing control of its fight against the coronavirus pandemic, telling colleagues from her Christian Democratic Union party “the situation is threatening” and “every day counts”.
In leaked comments to an internal party meeting, she told those attending of “very, very difficult months ahead” and added that “every day [would] count” in tackling the virus’s spread.
From ski resorts in the north to restaurants in the south, many Italians have been making their objections heard to the government’s latest measures to combat escalating coronavirus infections.
The prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, said the restrictions, which include the 6pm closure of bars and restaurants and complete closure of gyms, swimming pools, cinemas, theatres and ski stations, were needed so that people could enjoy a “serene Christmas”.
Different approaches are having notably different outcomes
A second coronavirus wave is sweeping continental Europe, with new infection records broken daily in many countries. There are wide variations, but almost no country has been left untouched – even those that fared well in the first wave.
Across the 31 countries from which the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control collects national data, the average 14-day case incidence rate per 100,000 inhabitants has multiplied from just 13 in mid-July to almost 250 last week.
More than 100 inmates have tested positive for covid-19 at Indonesia’s Kerobokan prison, on the island of Bali.
The Jakarta Post reports today on a growing cluster inside the notorious prison, detected after complaints of symptoms by some inmates prompted mass testing earlier this week.
Here is our full report on the latest from Victoria, Australia, where the country’s largest outbreak and which sparked one of the world’s strictest lockdowns, is being brought under control. From Calla Wahlquist:
Daniel Andrews has delayed an announcement about easing coronavirus restrictions in Melbourne pending the outcome of tests connected to an outbreak in the northern suburbs, prompting criticism from the business community, the state opposition, the federal government and his own former health minister.
In a heated press conference, the Victorian premier said he had “hoped” to be able to announce significant steps about opening up the retail and hospitality industries from the middle of the week.
The US saw its highest ever number of new coronavirus cases in the past two days, keeping the pandemic a top election issue as Vice president Mike Pence travels the country to campaign despite close aides testing positive.
The US reported 79,852 new infections on Saturday, close to the previous day’s record of 84,244 new cases, as we reported earlier.
The Czech government will almost certainly have to tighten its anti-coronavirus measures again as current curbs have not halted a surge in infections, prime minister Andrej Babis said on Sunday.
Cases are up across Europe, but the Czech Republic has recorded the sharpest rises in infections on the continent in recent weeks, Reuters reports.
Angry over a newly imposed 11pm to 5am regional curfew, demonstrators in the southern Italian city of Naples threw stones and bottles at police on Friday evening. The authorities responded with teargas. The stricter measures are an attempt to curb the spread of coronavirus, which has killed more than 37,000 people in Italy since the start of the pandemic