Category Archives: Europe

Hellish heat and primal fear: Croatian firefighters on frontline of climate crisis

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Firefighters are stoic about the risks they face but say climate change has affected every part of the job

A short drive and a world away from the tourist-thronged old town of Split, past retirees clambering out of cruise ships and stag parties stumbling into beachside bars, Ivan Sanader studied a smouldering hillside that stank of smoke.

The night before, he had fought a fire that charred the slope and threatened to engulf a roadside restaurant. Now, the commander of a mobile firefighter centre in Croatia was issuing orders to stop it flaring back up.

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Unilever sells Russian business after pressure from campaigners

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Dove maker’s deal with local manufacturer Arnest Group includes four factories

Unilever has sold off its Russian operations to a local manufacturing group after pressure from campaigners who claimed that the presence of the Dove and Ben & Jerry’s owner in the country was supporting the war in Ukraine.

Arnest Group, a Russian manufacturer of perfume, cosmetics and household products will take control of Unilever Rus, which includes four factories, as well as the group’s interests in Belarus. Arnest is owned by the businessman Alexey Sagal and bought the brewer Heineken’s business in the country last summer.

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North Koreans deployed alongside Russian troops in Ukraine, sources say

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Engineers said to be supporting missile launches and reports of North Koreans killed near Donetsk

North Korean military engineers have been deployed to help Russia target Ukraine with ballistic missiles, and fighters operating in occupied areas of the country have already been killed, senior officials in Kyiv and Seoul said.

There are dozens of North Koreans behind Russian lines, in teams that “support launcher systems for KN-23 missiles”, a source in Ukraine told the Guardian.

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Emmanuel Macron: We will fight hard to keep Emily in Paris in France

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Hugely successful Netflix show has been a boon to French tourism but latest season takes events to Rome

It is shameless fantasy, from high heels on cobblestones to sanitised streets free of litter and dog poo, a suspiciously blue River Seine, no homelessness and a main character so cut off from reality that French media refer to her as “the overdressed American”.

But the hugely successful Netflix series Emily in Paris – for all its stereotyping about a Chicago marketing executive’s culture clashes in France – did bring hordes of tourists to the country, boost trade and increase inquiries to estate agents in the capital. So now its departure to Rome for series 5 has become a political issue, with the president, Emmanuel Macron, announcing he’ll fight hard to keep it in France.

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New UK laws to stop repeat of P&O mass sackings scandal go before parliament

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Labour clamps down on poor working conditions at sea with laws on collective dismissal and minimum wage on cross-Channel ferries

Laws to ensure that the P&O Ferries mass sackings scandal can never recur will be laid before parliament this week as Labour clamps downs on poor working conditions at sea, with cruise and cargo ships also in its sights.

The transport secretary, Louise Haigh, said the new laws would close the loopholes exploited by P&O when it fired 800 crew without warning in 2022, and any company would now face unlimited fines for acting in such a way.

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Pedro Sánchez unveils plans to help migrants settle in Spain

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Prime minister champions migration in stance at odds with European neighbours

Spain plans to make it easier for newcomers to settle, the prime minister said, promoting migration as an effective way to protect prosperity in sharp contrast with the attitude of much of Europe.

“Spain needs to choose between being an open and prosperous country or a closed-off, poor country,” Pedro Sánchez told parliament on Wednesday. “It’s as simple as that.”

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European summit to discuss Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s ‘victory plan’ is postponed

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World leaders pull out from talks in Germany after Joe Biden withdraws due to Hurricane Milton

An international summit on Ukraine where Volodymyr Zelenskyy was going to present a “victory plan” to western leaders has been formally postponed – though the Ukrainian president will try to organise a tour of European capitals instead.

Organisers said that the Saturday meeting of about 20 world leaders at the US Ramstein airbase in Germany would be rescheduled, a day after Biden had said he had to stay at home to respond to Hurricane Milton’s landfall in Florida.

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Plan to fingerprint passengers on entry to EU to be delayed again

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France, Germany and the Netherlands have raised concerns over entry-exit system, originally due to launch in 2023

Plans to fingerprint passengers entering the EU from 10 November are to be delayed for a third time after concerns were raised by France, Germany and the Netherlands, it has emerged.

The introduction of the entry-exit system (EES) requiring non-EU citizens to have their fingerprints or photos taken before entering the Schengen area has already been delayed twice.

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‘I hope God gives me the strength to make more movies’: Scorsese addresses retirement rumours

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Director tells press conference he has ‘more films to make’ after long-planned Frank Sinatra biopic and adaptation of Shūsaku Endō’s A Life of Jesus both get delayed

Martin Scorsese has denied he is planning to retire, telling a press conference in Italy that he has “more films to make” after reports surfaced in September that two long-planned projects had been postponed.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Scorsese, 81, was speaking before an award ceremony in Turin and countered rumours he was no longer making films. “I’m not saying goodbye to cinema at all … I still have more films to make, and I hope God gives me the strength to make them.”

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Zelenskyy ‘victory plan’ summit in doubt after Joe Biden pulls out

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US president prepares for arrival of Hurricane Milton as German chancellor says meeting will be rescheduled

Joe Biden has called off a four-day trip to Germany this week that had been intended to culminate in a summit to discuss Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s “victory plan” for Ukraine.

The White House said on Tuesday evening that the president would stay at home “to oversee preparations for and the response” to Hurricane Milton, which is expected to make landfall in Florida on Wednesday.

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China puts tariffs on EU brandy in escalating trade row with Brussels

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Beijing also considering duties on European petrol cars after EU imposed extra levies on Chinese electric vehicles

China has imposed tariffs on EU brandy imports in an escalating tit-for-tat trade row with Brussels over extra levies on Chinese-made electric vehicles.

Beijing also said it was considering duties on imported petrol cars from Europe.

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Spanish tennis star Paula Badosa apologises after being accused of racism

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  • Badosa pulled eyes back with chopsticks in photograph
  • ‘I didn’t know this was offensive. I take responsibility’

The Spanish tennis star Paula Badosa has apologised after she was accused of racism over a photo that appeared to show her pulling her eyes back with chopsticks while in China for a series of tournaments.

Following her defeat on Saturday in the semi-finals of the China Open, Badosa’s coach, Pol Toledo, posted the photo on his Instagram, tagging the official China Open account. Comments soon began pouring in, accusing Badosa of racism.

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Viktor Orbán would celebrate Trump victory with ‘bottles of champagne’

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Hungarian prime minister voiced support for former US president ahead of hosting EU leaders in Budapest

Hungary’s nationalist leader Viktor Orbán has said he will open “several bottles of champagne” if Donald Trump returns to the White House next month, underscoring his differences with mainstream European leaders.

The Hungarian prime minister is due to host fellow EU leaders for a summit in Budapest a few days after the US presidential election on 5 November.

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Prosecutors to appeal after Madeleine McCann suspect acquitted in separate rape trial

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Christian Brückner found not guilty in Germany of three charges of aggravated rape and two of sexual abuse

The main suspect in the disappearance of the British toddler Madeleine McCann is likely to be released from prison next year after he was found not guilty of all charges in a separate rape and sexual abuse trial.

Christian Brückner, who is serving a seven-year sentence for rape, was acquitted by the district court in Braunschweig, northern Germany, of three separate charges of aggravated rape and two of sexual abuse of children in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.

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Interpol campaign to identify remains of women in Europe expands to 46 cases

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Police forces in France, Italy and Spain join cold-case initiative after launch last year of Operation Identify Me

Police have expanded a cold-case campaign aimed at identifying dozens of women who were murdered or who died in suspicious circumstances across Europe, taking in three new countries and more than doubling the number of cases.

The international policing organisation Interpol said on Tuesday that forces from France, Italy and Spain had joined those in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, which last year launched Operation Identify Me to help name 22 female victims.

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Tesla Cybertruck ‘too big and sharp’ for European roads, say campaigners

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Questions raised about registration in Czech Republic of one of first models to reach continent

Tesla’s Cybertruck is too big and sharp for European roads, transport campaigners have warned, as questions are raised about the registration of one of the first of the electric pickup trucks to hit the continent.

There had been confusion about whether the Cybertruck could be driven in Europe, owing to strict road safety rules that ban sharp edges and require speed limiters on vehicles that weigh more than 3.5 tonnes when full. Tesla’s manual lists the angular steel vehicle as having a gross vehicle weight of 4 tonnes. (The equivalent of a standard family car, such as a Ford Focus, is 1.9 tonnes.)

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Beer can artwork accidentally thrown in bin by staff member at Dutch museum

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A mechanic working at the LAM museum in Lisse assumed the artwork, entitled All The Good Times We Spent Together, was rubbish

A Dutch museum has recovered an artwork that looks like two empty beer cans after a staff member accidentally threw it in the rubbish bin thinking it was trash.

The work, entitled All The Good Times We Spent Together by French artist Alexandre Lavet, appears on first glance to be two discarded and dented beer tins.

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Germans decry influence of English as ‘idiot’s apostrophe’ gets official approval

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Linguistic body has relaxed rules on use of apostrophe to show possession, not traditionally correct in German

A relaxation of official rules around the correct use of apostrophes in German has not only irritated grammar sticklers but triggered existential fears around the pervasive influence of English.

Establishments that feature their owners’ names, with signs like “Rosi’s Bar” or “Kati’s Kiosk” are a common sight around German towns and cities, but strictly speaking they are wrong: unlike English, German does not traditionally use apostrophes to indicate the genitive case or possession. The correct spelling, therefore, would be “Rosis Bar”, “Katis Kiosk”, or, as in the title of a recent viral hit, Barbaras Rhabarberbar.

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Large French Alpine ski resort to close in face of shrinking snow season

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Local people and businesses left ‘in lurch’ after council says it cannot afford to support or develop Alpe du Grand Serre

A large French Alpine ski resort has announced it is to close, citing a lack of funds to become a year-round destination, as low- and medium-altitude mountain areas around Europe struggle with a truncated season due to global heating and declining snowfalls.

Local councillors voted not to reopen Alpe du Grand Serre in the Isère this winter, saying they could no longer pay for the mountain lifts or pay to complete a programme to diversify as an all-year tourist destination.

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Ireland is a ‘playground’ for Russian intelligence, says former army chief

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Comment follows claim Kremlin recruited member of parliament to damage UK-Irish relations during Brexit talks

Ireland is a “playground” for Russian intelligence, a former deputy chief of an Irish army unit has said following claims that a member of parliament was recruited by the Kremlin to undermine Anglo-Irish relations during Brexit talks.

Cathal Berry, now a Teachta Dála (TD, member of the Irish parliament), said he had not been surprised by a report at the weekend that the unnamed politician had been recruited “as an agent of influence” in a honeytrap operation.

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