Category Archives: Europe

Show shines light on overlooked artist who made UK’s first Holocaust memorial

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Work of German-Jewish sculptor Fred Kormis, who fled Nazis in 1930s, is subject of exhibition in London

The work of an overlooked German-Jewish artist who created the UK’s first memorial to victims of Nazi persecution is to be the focus of an exhibition that shines light on the unreported aspects of his life.

Fred Kormis, who fled Germany in the 1930s and later became a British citizen, was described by the Wiener Holocaust Library in London as a forgotten émigré artist who played a unique role in Weimar culture and 20th-century British art.

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Weather tracker: Extensive flooding in Japan after ‘unprecedented’ rainfall

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One dead and several missing as ‘life-threatening situation’ declared in earthquake-hit Ishikawa prefecture

Heavy rain caused extensive flooding in central Japan over the weekend, with at least one person reported dead and several more unaccounted for.

Officials said “unprecedented” rainfall generated floods and landslides in Ishikawa prefecture, where a powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake on New Year’s Day killed more than 200 people. The Japan meteorological agency issued its highest-level warning for Ishikawa, advising of a “life-threatening situation”.

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Social Democrats fend off AfD in crucial German state election, initial results show

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Olaf Scholz’s SPD made a late comeback after trailing far-right party throughout Brandenburg campaign

The far-right Alternative für Deutschland party has narrowly missed out on victory in an election in the German state of Brandenburg, according to initial results, three weeks after making historic gains in two other regions.

In what had been widely interpreted as a referendum on the federal government of Olaf Scholz ahead of next autumn’s general election, his Social Democratic party (SPD) appeared at the 11th hour to have clawed back its lead over the anti-immigrant populists who had been on course for months to seize victory in the state for the first time.

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Swiss voters reject biodiversity proposal in blow to conservation campaigners

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Plan aimed to expand protection of endangered ecosystems, but opponents said it posed risk to business development

Voters in Switzerland have rejected a proposal to make authorities do more to protect natural habitats from pollution and development, preliminary results of a referendum have showed.

The biodiversity initiative, which the Swiss government and parliament had already rebuffed, envisaged changing the law to set aside more land for conservation beyond areas that were already protected.

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Fake UK news sites ‘spreading false stories’ about western firms in Ukraine

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Suspected Russian propaganda operation prompts calls to force UK-registered news sites to reveal ownership

Fake news websites registered in the UK and made to resemble trusted British outlets are allegedly spreading disinformation about western companies operating in Ukraine.

The suspected Russian propaganda operation has prompted calls by parliamentarians for a change in the law to force UK-registered news websites to reveal their ownership, as happens in the EU.

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France’s new government under pressure as opponents threaten no-confidence vote

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Critics of new cabinet, finalised by Michel Barnier on Saturday night, said it was ‘same-old, same-old’

Mounting threats of a parliamentary motion of no-confidence have put Michel Barnier’s new government under considerable duress before it has even had a chance to start work, as street protesters continued to voice their anger over the French prime minister’s new administration.

Eleven weeks after Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, called a snap general election, the new government was finally appointed on Saturday night. But there was little sense that the new cabinet, which signals a clear shift to the right, would bring calm into the political realm.

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Health and productivity losses from obesity ‘far outstrip weight-loss jab costs’

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Exclusive: £100bn-a-year cost of obesity to UK makes clear economic case for use of drugs such as Ozempic, says report

Spiralling healthcare costs and productivity losses from the global obesity crisis far outstrip the cost of new weight-loss drugs, according to a report, which also calls on governments to prioritise prevention by promoting a healthy diet and exercise.

In the UK, Germany and the Netherlands, there is a clear economic case for these medications, the report says, as the annual cost of the diabetes drug Ozempic is lower than the cost of additional healthcare needed by people with obesity. The cost of the weight-loss injection Wegovy is higher, but still dwarfed by the overall economic cost to society of obesity, according to the research by ING Bank, shared with the Guardian.

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Von der Leyen tightens grip on EU but trouble looms | Jennifer Rankin

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Despite cementing control, the EU commission’s president faces a daunting second term amid the rise of the far right

Ursula von der Leyen was leaving nothing to chance. At a private meeting with members of the European parliament in Strasbourg last Tuesday, she chose not to reveal who would get what job in her incoming European Commission, due to take office at the end of the year.

Then immediately afterwards, during a brisk 21-minute press conference, she announced every single name, leaving MEPs fuming. “That’s not how it should be done,” said one.

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Putin regime will collapse without warning, says freed gulag dissident

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Vladimir Kara-Murza and his wife, Evgenia, speak of his time in a Siberian jail and why the truth about Russia will come out

The last time I met Evgenia Kara-Murza, it was a grim day in early March. The timing couldn’t have been worse. As we spoke, Alexei Navalny’s coffin was being lowered into the frozen ground in a Moscow cemetery. Meanwhile Evgenia’s husband, Vladimir Kara-Murza, was still incarcerated in a Siberian prison cell almost identical to the one in the Arctic Circle in which Navalny had been found dead, presumed murdered.

The parallels were eerie. Because Vladimir, a journalist turned political activist, was not just also loathed and feared by the Kremlin and imprisoned on spurious charges, he’d also been poisoned – twice – targeted by the same FSB (Federal Security Service) unit that had poisoned Navalny.

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Macron names right-leaning French government under Michel Barnier

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New cabinet likely to face immediate no-confidence motion from leftwing bloc sidelined by president

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has named a new government led by the prime minister, Michel Barnier, marked by a shift to the right 11 weeks after an inconclusive parliamentary election.

The first major task for Barnier, appointed just more than two weeks ago, will be to submit a 2025 budget plan addressing France’s financial situation, which the prime minister this week called “very serious”.

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Sicily: fear of foreign actors prompts security request for wreck of luxury yacht

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Officials concerned about sensitive hard drives of tech mogul Mike Lynch, who died in sinking of Bayesian

Italian authorities have confirmed a request for additional security around the wreck of the luxury yacht Bayesian, which sank in August killing seven, including British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, after fears were raised that material in watertight safes onboard could be of interest to foreign governments.

Italian prosecutors fear that would-be thieves might try to reach the wreckage in order to loot expensive jewelry and other valuable objects onboard, including intelligence data, CNN reported, citing unnamed sources.

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Ukraine strikes two Russian munition depots, says military

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Overnight attacks apparently show growing capability to strike targets deep inside Russia

Ukraine said it hit two Russian munition depots overnight, in attacks that illustrated its growing capability to strike targets deep inside Russia.

A statement by Ukraine’s military general staff said the munitions depots were at Tikhoretsk in southern Russia and Oktyabrsky in the western region of Tver.

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‘Everything is left behind’: as Russians close in on Ukrainian city, families agonise whether to flee

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In Pokrovsk, eastern Ukraine, residents have clung on to hope until the bitter end. Now many are saying goodbye to their homes

Valeria Tanashchuk packed up a few last belongings from her home. Going in the evacuation van waiting outside: her daughter Nicole’s favourite bear, clothes, items of furniture and a microwave oven. Staying behind: her mother Marina’s collection of detective novels, a wall poster with the Ukrainian alphabet written on it, and a pair of furry slippers.

“We don’t want to leave. But would choice do we have?” Tanashchuk asked, as a thunderous boom echoed nearby. “The explosions get worse every day. They are louder and more frequent.” What would she do next? “I don’t have a concrete plan,” she said. “I will try and find work somewhere. We had hoped until the end that everything would be OK.”

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‘Not all men, but a lot of them’: will Gisele Pelicot rape trial finally change France’s attitude to sexual abuse?

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The horrifying details of the case that shook the country, and the local mayor’s reaction, show a refusal to confront abuse

As the horror of how Dominique Pelicot drugged his wife, Gisèle, and allowed at least 83 men to rape her continued to unfold in a French courtroom last week, it was hard to see how the case “could have been worse” as one local official suggested.

Louis Bonnet, mayor of Mazan, the southern French town of 6,000 ­people where the Pelicots and a ­number of the alleged rapists lived, who added that “no one was killed”, later apologised and admitted his words were not “entirely appropriate”.

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Dutch row over which victims of Nazis get ‘stumbling stone’ plaques

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Commemorations of 45 people ‘experimentally’ gassed reveal dark moments in the Netherlands’ history

They call them stumbling stones – little brass plaques in the pavement marking addresses where Holocaust victims once lived.

As the Netherlands marks 80 years of liberation, a row has sprung up about placing Stolpersteine for 45 Dutch political prisoners – Jewish activists, communists, critical Christians – who were “experimentally” gassed by the Nazis at the Bernburg psychiatric clinic in Germany in 1942.

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Rare polar bear shot dead by police in Iceland after being thought a threat

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Environment agency advised that the animal posed a danger to elderly woman in remote summer house in Westfjords

A rare polar bear that was spotted in a remote village in Iceland was shot by police after being considered a threat, authorities have said.

The bear was killed in the north-west tip of the country after police consulted the national environment agency, which declined to have the animal relocated, according to the Westfjords police chief, Helgi Jensson.

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How a digital detox day could help people take control of downtime

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Offline Club’s first global event on Sunday will begin with tips on how to be phone-free for 24 hours every week

Haunted by a pile of unread books? Or taunted by climbing equipment lurking in the cupboard? If you are one of the UK adults who spends on average five hours a day looking at screens rather than participating in pastimes, perhaps it’s time to join the offline revolution.

Instead of spending those five hours staring at a screen, you could read about 300 pages of a book, climb Mount Snowdon, or – depending on your pace – run a marathon. Some are even choosing to turn off their devices for the day.

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EU to offer new youth mobility scheme in test of Labour ‘reset’ with Brussels

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Officials warn repeat of Tory rejection could dent new government’s hopes of pacts on defence and agriculture

Fresh proposals to allow young people to move between the UK and the EU will be presented to the British government within weeks, in what is seen as a key early test of Labour’s “reset” in relations with Brussels.

Informed sources say the first draft of a new version of Ursula von der Leyen’s April proposal has already been discussed by member states and will be put to a working group in Brussels next week.

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Mouse crawling out of meal forces plane to make early landing

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Rodent posed risk to electrical wiring on Scandinavian Airlines flight from Oslo to Málaga

Airline meals hardly carry high expectations but this week a passenger faced more than just a disappointing supper after a mouse crawled out of their meal, forcing their flight to make an unscheduled landing.

The incident occurred during a Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) flight from Oslo to Málaga on Wednesday, forcing the plane to land in Copenhagen, the company said on Friday.

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