Category Archives: Europe

Six feared dead and 14 rescued after fishing boat sinks off Falkland Islands

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Seven still missing as emergency teams scour south Atlantic after vessel experienced ‘uncontrolled flooding’

Fourteen fishermen stranded in lifeboats off the coast of the Falkland Islands have been saved in a dramatic rescue operation, but seven people remain missing and six others are believed dead.

Late on Tuesday, emergency teams were still scouring the choppy waters of the south Atlantic for survivors after the Argos Georgia, a Saint Helena-flagged fishing vessel experienced “uncontrolled flooding” on Monday evening.

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Army chief says UK must double its lethality or be prepared for war in 2027

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Gen Sir Roly Walker says west faces ‘axis of upheaval’ with increasing threats from Russia, China and Iran

Britain must be prepared to fight a war in three years’ time and double the lethality of its army as the separate threats of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea come to a head, the new chief of the army has warned.

Gen Sir Roly Walker, the chief of the general staff, told reporters that the west faced “an axis of upheaval” with increasing military ambition and that a conflict involving one of the countries could lead to “a significant detonation” in another theatre.

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Island off northern French coast imposes quota to tackle overtourism

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The picturesque Ile-de-Bréhat follows major cities such as Amsterdam and Venice with measures to reduce visitors

A small, picturesque island off the north coast of Brittany has imposed a summer tourist quota in an effort to ensure visitors have a more enjoyable experience and its 400-odd permanent residents do not feel swamped.

From this week until 23 August, the number of people allowed on to Ile-de-Bréhat – excluding local people, second homeowners and workers – between 8.30am and 2.30pm must not exceed 4,700, said the island’s mayor, Olivier Carré.

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Spanish man sentenced to 18 years for letter bombs over Ukraine war

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Pompeyo González Pascual, 76, sent explosive packages to Spain’s prime minister and US and Ukrainian embassies

A Spanish court has sentenced a man to 18 years in prison over letter bombs sent to Spain’s prime minister and the US and Ukrainian embassies in 2022.

Pompeyo González Pascual, 76, who opposed western support for Ukraine after Russia’s invasion, was found guilty of terrorism and manufacturing explosives by Spain’s top criminal court, the audiencia nacional.

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Large-scale and intense wildfires carrying smoke across northern hemisphere

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Late spring and early summer blazes in Canada, Alaska and eastern Russia add to carbon emissions

The northern hemisphere has had a large number of intense wildfires in the first half of summer, carrying vast amounts of smoke across Eurasia and North America.

Research by the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (Cams) showed large-scale and intense wildfires had been developing throughout the late spring and summer, with numerous fires burning in Canada, Alaska and eastern Russia.

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Neil Kinnock tells Labour MPs ‘tide is shifting’ towards closer ties with Europe

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Former leader rallies pro-EU MPs who German ambassador says now vastly outnumber ERG group of Eurosceptic Tories

Neil Kinnock has delivered a rallying cry to pro-EU Labour MPs, telling them that “fortune favours the brave” when it comes to forging closer ties with Europe.

The “tide is shifting”, the former party leader told a reception of the Labour Movement for Europe (LME), where there was applause when Germany’s ambassador told of his delight that the grouping’s more than 100 MPs now vastly outnumbered the Conservatives’ European Research Group of Eurosceptic MPs.

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German punks launch ‘invasion’ of holiday island favoured by elite

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Leftwingers set up protest camp on Sylt to demonstrate against far right, economic exclusion and climate crisis

Punks from across Germany have set up a summer-long protest camp on the North Sea holiday island of Sylt to demonstrate against economic exclusion, environmental degradation and the presence of the far right in one of the country’s most exclusive areas.

For the third consecutive year, the young leftwingers with mohawks, torn T-shirts and facial piercings began descending on Sylt at the weekend, mainly by train, to disrupt the seasonal repose of the elites.

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Gunman arrested after killing at least six people in nursing home in Croatia

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Five residents, including gunman’s mother, and one employee killed in shooting in town of Daruvar, say police

A gunman has opened fire in a nursing home in Croatia, killing at least six people, including his mother, officials have said.

Five residents and one employee were fatally injured when the gunman entered the private nursing home in Daruvar in north-east Croatia on Monday and began shooting, according to police, in a rare instance of gun violence in the Balkan country.

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Ukraine targets bipartisan support to avoid being dragged into US election

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Kyiv indicates it will keep reaching out to Republicans and Democrats, as Zelenskiy pays tribute to Biden

Ukraine will continue to reach out to Republicans and Democrats and avoid being sucked into US internal politics, and a bruising probable contest between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, officials in Kyiv indicated on Monday.

Its president, Volodymyr Zelenksiy, paid a warm tribute to the departing Joe Biden on Sunday, thanking him for his “unwavering support”. He praised the US president’s “bold steps” taken in response to “challenging times” and Russia’s 2022 invasion.

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Czech Republic says shells for Ukraine plan will fall short without more money

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Prague’s foreign minister urges donor countries to pay extra to avoid 800k target being missed by over a third

A Czech initiative to supply Ukraine with 800,000 shells by the end of the year will fall short by more than a third unless donor countries come forward with more money, the Czech foreign minister has said.

“We have secured funding for half a million pieces of large-calibre ammunition, which we will deliver by the end of this year,” Jan Lipavský told reporters in Brussels on Monday.

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Officer from Italy forced to quit UK police due to post-Brexit barriers

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Dani says his £26,000 salary is not high enough to sponsor his wife so she can join him in Britain

A police officer working in Manchester says he has been forced to quit his job after Rishi Sunak raised the salary threshold to sponsor his Italian wife to live in the UK in the post-Brexit immigration scheme.

Campaigners have warned that his tale of Brexit anguish is being repeated up and down the country in low-paid public sectors where many EU citizens work.

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Weather tracker: Summer storms end hot spell in Slovenia

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Strong winds and heavy rain trigger 230 weather-related events across the country, while Tropical Storm Gaemi nears Taiwan

Slovenia was hit by heavy rain and strong winds on Friday as a series of storms brought an abrupt end to a prolonged hot and dry spell.

More than 230 weather-related events including flooding and landslides have been reported across the country. The worst-hit regions were in the Gorenjska municipality of Preddvor, and in Koroška in the north, which experienced similarly devastating floods last August.

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France Unbowed MP sparks outrage by saying Israeli Olympians not welcome

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Thomas Portes accused of ‘putting a target on the backs of Israeli athletes’ with remarks at protest against Gaza war

An MP for the radical-left France Unbowed party has sparked outrage after saying Israeli athletes are not welcome at the Paris Olympics and calling for protests against their presence.

Citing Israel’s war in Gaza, Thomas Portes told a pro-Palestinian gathering in Paris on Saturday: “We are just a few days away from an international event to be held in Paris, the Olympic Games. And I’m here to say that no, the Israeli delegation is not welcome in Paris. Israeli athletes are not welcome at the Olympic Games in Paris. We have to use this deadline and all the levers we have to mobilise.”

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Hong Kong is global trade hub for world’s most brutal regimes, report says

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Pro-democracy campaign group finds exports of goods to Russia, vital to its war efforts, roughly doubled in a year

Hong Kong has become a global trade hub for “the world’s most brutal regimes”, according to a report examining the city’s role in facilitating the flow of goods to countries under sanctions by the west, including Russia, Iran and North Korea.

A report published on Monday by the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, a campaign group, found that between 2021 and 2022, exports of semiconductors from Hong Kong to Russia roughly doubled to $400m (£310m), second only to shipments from mainland China. Semiconductors are vital to Russia’s war effort as they are a component in weaponry such as drones and cruise missiles.

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Barcelona plans to raise tourist tax for cruise passengers visiting for few hours

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Move targeting those in city for less than 12 hours is latest measure from mayor to tackle effects of mass tourism

Barcelona’s mayor plans to raise the tourist tax for cruise passengers who visit the city for less than 12 hours as part of his continuing efforts to “tackle the consequences of mass tourism” in the Catalan capital.

Jaume Collboni, a member of the Catalan Socialist party, has announced a series of measures designed to reduce overtourism and improve the city’s housing situation since taking office last year.

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‘It’s a very strange feeling’: can the man who won Olympic gold bring glory to the Paris Games?

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2024 Games organiser Tony Estanguet tells how chats with British sporting legend Sebastian Coe have kept him on an even keel

It has to feel pretty weird. You’re in charge of the biggest event your country’s ever organised. You have worked on it to the exclusion, basically, of everything else in your life, for very nearly a decade. And now – it’s a week away.

“It’s a very strange feeling,” confirms Tony Estanguet, head of the 2024 Olympic Games organising committee. “I come from this small town in south-west France. My sport is a very minor one. It’s been … quite a ride. But here I am. And now, well, here we all are.”

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South mourns and north rejoices as Cyprus marks 50 years of ethnic division

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Greek Cypriots in south wake to air raid sirens reminiscent of invasion while Turkish-occupied north celebrates

Cyprus has marked the landmark anniversary of 50 years of ethnic division amid markedly contrasting scenes: mourning in the south and celebration in the north.

At 5.20am Greek Cypriots in the internationally recognised south awoke to air raid sirens reminding them of the arrival of thousands of invading Turkish troops on the eastern Mediterranean island five decades ago. In the Turkish-occupied north, the milestone event was cause for joy, with Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, flying in to attend a military parade and fly-past commemorating the “peace operation”.

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Five protesters and one police officer hurt in French reservoir demonstration

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Violence erupts after about 4,000 gather in La Rochelle amid heightened tensions over water resources

A police officer and five protesters were injured when violence erupted after about 4,000 people turned out for a demonstration in La Rochelle over the use of reservoirs to supply large-scale agriculture, local officials said.

Police fired teargas and brought in water cannon trucks and reinforcements to disperse the demonstrators after the unrest broke out on Saturday afternoon, with several shop fronts smashed and at least seven people arrested.

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Life returns to Ukrainian reservoir drained by Russian strike on dam

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A year later, animals, birds and saplings are populating a new landscape of ponds and lagoons

Standing in a scene of shimmering green, Vadym Maniuk pointed to a young white willow tree. “What happened here is a miracle,” he said. “Some of the saplings are already 4 metres tall. There is nowhere else like this on the planet. Not even the Amazon comes close.”

Maniuk, an ecologist, picked his way through a jungle of new branches. The sky above was scarcely visible. In the mud – cracked after days of sweltering temperatures – were the remains of molluscs. The scientist showed off black poplars, also racing upwards, reeds and a small mulberry. Under the leaves it was pleasantly cool.

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Cop29 host Azerbaijan seeks $1bn from fossil fuel producers for climate fund

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Countries and companies involved in oil and gas extraction to be asked to join scheme aimed at tackling global heating

Fossil-fuel producing countries and companies are being asked to pay into a new international fund to help poor countries cope with the effects of the climate crisis.

The climate investment fund is being set up by the Azerbaijan government, host country of the Cop29 UN climate summit in November.

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