Greek neo-Nazi ideologue Christos Pappas will not turn himself in, says lawyer
Greek authorities have been forced to acknowledge that the neo-Nazi ideologue behind Golden Dawn’s unhindered embrace of national socialism has evaded arrest as other members of the extremist group headed to prison.
In an admission that is likely to raise embarrassing questions, police said on Friday they had been unable to find Christos Pappas, the party’s de-facto number two.
Continue reading...Exclusive: European commission insists letting UK nationals use e-gates would breach EU law
Boris Johnson has clashed with Brussels over an 11th-hour attempt to save British passport holders from hours of delays at European airports from the end of the year.
The government is seeking continued use by UK nationals of the automatic e-gates used by EU nationals at airports and Eurostar terminals. The move is seen by the European commission as an attempt to keep Britons in faster lanes rather than having to queue up with the rest of the world after the end of the transition period.
Continue reading...Deal includes departure of all foreign fighters for at least three months and prisoner exchange
Rival forces in Libya have agreed a permanent nationwide ceasefire including the departure of all foreign fighters and mercenaries from the country for a minimum of three months.
“This is a good day for the Libyan people,” said Stephanie Williams, the acting head of the United Nations mission in Libya. She added that she saluted the courage and patriotism of the negotiators who made the deal at UN-sponsored talks in Geneva between military officers representing forces in the east and west of the country.
Continue reading...Covid has tanked the gains he made in the economy and any new stimulus could be too late
It all looked so simple for Donald Trump as he took the stage at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January this year. At the start of an election year, the annual gathering of the global business elite was an opportunity to launch his campaign.
It was one Trump eagerly seized. The next 30 minutes was one long boast, detailing how a US economy that had allegedly been on its knees under Barack Obama had been transformed under his stewardship.
Continue reading...Ex-worker tells documentary series staff would post on articles about Dov Charney
A documentary series has revealed how American Apparel helped fuel its founder’s bad boy mythology in order to bolster interest in the clothing company online.
In the nine-part Big Rad Wolf, a former employee reveals she would leave approved fake comments under salacious articles about Dov Charney on celebrity media blogs such as Gawker and Jezebel, in order to manufacture his reputation as predatory.
Continue reading...Roman Prymula photographed leaving Prague restaurant that appeared to be illicitly open
The Czech Republic’s health minister is set to lose his job after visiting a Prague restaurant in what appeared to be a breach of emergency coronavirus regulations he had put forward in an effort to win the country’s increasingly desperate battle against coronavirus.
Roman Prymula, an epidemiologist and the main architect of the Czech regulations, was photographed on Wednesday night by the tabloid Blesk leaving the establishment, which appeared to be illicitly open to high-profile guests, hours after a fresh lockdown was imposed to combat the country’s soaring caseload.
Continue reading...Moniker has spread far beyond its Irish origins – but risks suffering the same fate as Kevin
Liam is set to become the new Kevin, researchers predict, as the mellifluous moniker graduates from its Irish origins and rises up baby name charts around the world.
Fewer Liams were born in the Republic of Ireland last year (334) than in Germany (an estimated 3,800), Spain (962), Sweden (760), Belgium (575) and Switzerland (443). For American baby boys, the short form of Uilliam or William has been the most popular choice for three years running, with 20,502 boys named Liam born in the US in 2019 alone.
Continue reading...Experts explain the best way to wash masks, how to handle them – and how to prevent ‘maskne’
We hook them on to our faces, laugh, sneeze and sputter into them, then crumple them into our bags or pockets only to retrieve them and do it all again. Yet despite official advice that we should be wearing a fresh face covering each time we enter an enclosed public space, a YouGov poll revealed many people are going several wears between washes – and 15% of Brits don’t wash their reusable masks at all. Similarly, more than half of those opting for disposable masks are rewearing them – 7% of them indefinitely so.
Face coverings are designed to catch the respiratory droplets we emit from our mouths and noses, but given that they’re our own respiratory droplets, is this really so bad? We examine the evidence.
Continue reading...Deposition made in 2016 as Maxwell faced questions about late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
Prince Andrew asked Ghislaine Maxwell for information about a woman who had accused him of sexual misconduct while she was underage, court documents appear to show.
The deposition, relating to Maxwell’s relationship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that she had given during past civil litigation involving the accuser, Virginia Giuffre, was unsealed on Thursday, moments before a court-imposed deadline.
Continue reading...Instances of alleged beatings and sexual assaults against asylum seekers continue to blight special units
Croatia has dismissed allegations of violence by its border patrol after new reports emerged this week of border police allegedly beating, robbing and sexually abusing migrants.
On Wednesday the head of home affairs for the European Commission, Ylva Johansson, said that she was taking the allegations “very seriously”.
Continue reading...Familiar issues of discrimination and child marriage are being taken to the stage through interactive theatre in remote villages
High in the mountains of a remote village in western Nepal – a region once home to a fierce Maoist insurgency – a large crowd is gathering.
Women arrive with babies strapped to their fronts; children sit at the edge of the makeshift stage; local officials take up ad hoc seats. Not only is this the first time a play has been performed here – it is the first time a vehicle has ever reached the village. Whatever this travelling theatre group intends to perform, it is a spectacle not to be missed.
Continue reading...Violent enforcement of lockdown has led to legal action aiming to force police reform and accountability
A nervous energy filled downtown Mombasa on the afternoon of 27 March. It was the first day of Kenya’s dusk-to-dawn curfew to curb the spread of Covid-19, and baton-wielding police were patrolling the streets of the coastal city as people rushed to get home. Confrontation was expected. Kenya’s police have a reputation for being heavy-handed even without the excuse of enforcing a nationwide curfew. But no one anticipated the brutality that was about to take place.
The centre of the violence was the Likoni ferry terminal. Huge crowds had built up as commuters tried to get on ferries which were running at lower capacity due to new social distancing rules. Suddenly, hordes of police officers in riot gear appeared. They threw teargas into the crowds, lashing out at innocent men, women and children and forcing them to the ground. Dozens were made to lie on top of one another while others sat choking, vomiting and rubbing their burning eyes.
Continue reading...Former national security contractor fled US in 2013 after leaking documents on American government surveillance operations
The former US security contractor Edward Snowden has been granted permanent residency in Russia, his lawyer said on Thursday.
Snowden, a former contractor with the National Security Agency, has been living in Russia since 2013 to escape prosecution in the US after leaking classified documents detailing government surveillance programs.
Continue reading...Pedro Sanchez stops short of curfew; Belgium bans fans from sports matches; remdesivir approved by FDA for US
More than half a million people in the US could die from Covid-19 by the end of February next year, but around 130,000 of those lives could be saved if everybody were to wear masks, according to estimates from a modelling study.
The estimates, from a study by researchers at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, show that with few effective Covid-19 treatment options and no vaccines yet available, the U.S. faces “a continued COVID-19 public health challenge through the winter”.
Large, populous states such as California, Texas and Florida will likely face particularly high levels of illness, deaths and demands on hospital resources, the study found.
US president Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 221,000 Americans so far, has become the top election issue for him and Democratic candidate Joe Biden. Polls have shown that Americans trust Biden more than Trump to handle the crisis.
Filming in Venice of Mission Impossible 7 with Tom Cruise has been temporarily suspended due to a suspected case of Covid among the film crew.
Officially, a reason has not yet been given by the film’s production company, but, according to Italian media reports, the over 100 extras were told there was a suspected case of Covid-19 among the Americans and that, as a result, filming would be postponed to a later date.
Continue reading...Antiviral treatment is first to treat coronavirus approved by FDA; France extends curfew; Study finds between 130,000 and 210,000 US deaths could have been avoided. Follow the latest
Australia’s Victoria state - the epicentre of the country’s Covid-19 outbreak - on Friday reported that active coronavirus cases have fallen to a four-month low, paving the way for an acceleration in the easing of social distancing curbs, Reuters reports.
The nation’s second-most populous state, which recorded just one new infection in the past 24 hours, said there are now 100 active cases - the lowest since 19 June.
“This is a good number. This is a very clear sign that the strategy is working,” Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters in Melbourne.
The active infections are a relief to state authorities amid heightened fears of a fresh cluster after a case in a school in Melbourne’s northern suburbs prompted authorities to order 800 people to self-isolate.
However, with new case numbers in single digits for nine consecutive days, Andrews is expected to announce on Sunday an accelerated timetable for easing restrictions in a boost to Australia’s ailing economy.
Melbourne’s roughly 5 million residents were granted more freedom to move about on Monday after a months-long lockdown, but public gatherings remain tightly limited and retailers and restaurants must operate only on take-away or delivery orders.
Australia has recorded just over 27,400 Covid-19 infections, far fewer than many other developed countries. Victoria accounts for more than 90% of the 905 deaths nationally.
Mexico’s health ministry reported on Thursday 6,612 additional cases of the novel coronavirus and 479 more deaths in the country, bringing the official number of cases to 874,171 and the death toll to 87,894.
Health officials have said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.
Mustafa al-Kadhimi also urges Europe to assist the Middle Eastern nation’s debt-ridden economy
Iraq’s prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, has warned that he is being forced into an impossible balancing act between the US and Iran, as he urged Europe to come to the aid of his country’s debt-ridden economy.
Appointed as prime minister in June, Kadhimi – a British citizen and former journalist – came to power after unprecedented street protests over corruption, and has since governed with a simple programme of early elections, better security and preventing the collapse of his oil-dependent economy.
Continue reading...A court document containing detailed information about Ghislaine Maxwell and her relationship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was unsealed on Thursday morning in New York just moments before a court-imposed deadline.
This document, an April 2016 deposition, is among about a dozen long-awaited Maxwell files that have been unsealed, with the first filing involving Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre’s lawyer alleging the British socialite avoided a question “about allegedly ‘adult’ sexual activity related to Jeffrey Epstein”.
Continue reading...With little of the homemade Pacific brew available in Australia, prices have skyrocketed, and there’s been a spike in seizures at the border
The questions are asked quietly, but urgently: “Kava, do you have any? Do you know where to get any? Have you heard what they are paying for it in Sydney?”
When Pasifika meet in Australia, it is often kava that dominates: now, it is the absence of it.
Continue reading...Bank’s Malaysia division agrees to plead guilty to violating foreign bribery laws
Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay $2.9bn (£2.2bn) to settle a US-led investigation into its role in the 1MDB corruption scandal.
The settlement is expected to draw a line under a years-long saga that has cast a shadow over one of the most recognisable names on Wall Street. Goldman Sachs’ Malaysia division also agreed to plead guilty to violating foreign bribery laws linked to the alleged looting of the country’s sovereign wealth fund, 1MDB.
Continue reading...Victor Gevers claimed he had access to president’s account, De Volkskrant reported, but Twitter said ‘we’ve seen no evidence’
Donald Trump’s Twitter account was allegedly hacked last week, after a Dutch researcher correctly guessed the president’s password: “maga2020!”, Dutch media reported.
Victor Gevers, a security expert, had access to Trump’s direct messages, could post tweets in his name and change his profile, De Volkskrant newspaper reported.
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