Category Archives: Europe

Human error caused crash that killed record-breaking skydiver Felix Baumgartner

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  • Austrian was killed in paragliding accident in July

  • 56-year-old broke sound barrier during 2012 jump

The paragliding crash that killed extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner in July was caused by human error, an investigating prosecutor said on Tuesday.

Baumgartner, the first skydiver to fall faster than the speed of sound, died in July along Italy’s Adriatic coast. He was 56. Witnesses said the flight appeared normal until Baumgartner’s paraglider started spinning to the ground, crashing near a hotel swimming pool.

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George Clooney says his children have a ‘much better life’ being raised in France than LA

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The actor said that their French farm will be free of paparazzi, teach them self-sufficiency and let them see his handyman skills, such as fixing the coffee machine

George Clooney has said that his decision to base himself in France was informed by the desire to give his children a better start in life than if they had remained in the US.

The actor, 64, who has eight-year-old twins, Ella and Alexander, with his wife, the human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, gave a lengthy interview to US Esquire magazine while staying at his Italian villa on Lake Como.

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Judge killed in courtroom shooting in Albania

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Man opens fire in Tirana court, killing judge and injuring two other people, and is arrested after fleeing scene

A man on trial opened fire in a courtroom in the Albanian capital, Tirana, killing the judge and injuring two other people, police have said.

The judge, Astrit Kalaja, was presiding during a hearing at the court of appeal on Monday when the man opened fire, police said, adding that the shooter was promptly arrested. “The judge was rushed to the hospital, but succumbed to his injuries on the way,” a police statement said.

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France is in crisis but bond markets leave other governments at risk of meltdown too

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Investors rattled by resignation of French PM but country is not alone in trying to grapple with political maths

Sébastien Lecornu’s abrupt resignation as the French prime minister on Monday after less than a month in the role marked the latest clash between France’s stretched public finances and its polarised politics.

Lecornu was the latest prime minister to try and fail to cobble together a package of spending cuts and tax rises that would pass muster in a parliament without a clear majority, and contain mounting bond market pressures.

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Lecornu bemoans lack of compromise across political spectrum as he resigns as French PM – Europe live

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Departure after less than a month follows fierce criticism of Macron’s new cabinet

Lecornu’s resignation means that Macron has three possible courses of action and all of them are hazardous, notes Mujtaba Rahman, the managing director for Europe at the Eurasia Group.

In an analyst note, Rahman writes:

He can appoint a new prime minister, possibly a senior non-political figure or technocrat, to try to push through a budget for next year to cut France’s ballooning budget deficit.

He can call a new parliamentary election.

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Fianna Fáil’s Jim Gavin withdraws from Irish presidential race

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Election becomes unpredictable two-horse contest after political novice quits over debt revelations

One of the three main candidates in Ireland’s presidential election has quit the race in a bombshell announcement that has upended the contest.

Fianna Fáil’s Jim Gavin withdrew on Sunday night after revelations about an unpaid debt to a former tenant, turning the election into an unpredictable two-horse race between a centre-right former government minister and an independent leftwing member of parliament.

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Nobel prize in medicine awarded to scientists for immune system research

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Mary E Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi worked on how the immune system can be prevented from harming the body

The Nobel prize in physiology or medicine 2025 has been awarded to three scientists for their work on how the immune system is kept in check and prevented from attacking our own body.

Mary E Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi have been awarded the prize “for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance”.

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Nearly a third of bosses report increase in cyber-attacks on their supply chains

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CIPS survey shows cyber threats have risen up the list of concerns for procurement managers

Almost a third of bosses have reported an increase in cyber-attacks on their supply chains over the past six months, as the fallout from devastating hacks on corporate stalwarts including Jaguar Land Rover highlighted a growing threat to businesses.

Cyber threats have risen up the list of concerns for procurement managers at hundreds of companies worldwide across industries including manufacturing, energy and technology, according to a survey conducted in September by industry body the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (Cips).

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Andrej Babiš to hold talks with other Czech parties on forming government

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Billionaire faces tricky task trying to secure enough support to become PM after ANO wins elections without majority

Andrej Babiš has met the Czech president, Petr Pavel, and is to hold talks with other party leaders as the billionaire populist begins the tricky job of trying to form a stable government after his ANO (Yes) party won parliamentary elections, but failed to secure a majority.

Final results showed ANO won 34.5% of the vote, held on Friday and Saturday, translating to a provisional 80 seats in the 200-member parliament. The centre-right Spolu coalition of the outgoing prime minister, Petr Fiala, came second on 23.4%.

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Georgia’s prime minister announces crackdown on dissent after Tbilisi protests

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Irakli Kobakhidze accused EU ambassador of supporting ‘attempt to overthrow constitutional order’

Georgia’s prime minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, has announced a sweeping crackdown on dissent, accusing demonstrators who tried to storm the presidential palace of aiming to topple his government and blaming the European Union for interference in his country.

Kobakhidze levelled his allegations a day after protesters attempted to breach the presidential palace as local elections were being held. They were stopped by riot police using pepper spray and water cannon.

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René Magritte’s ‘superstar of surrealism’ to go on sale in Paris

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La Magie Noire, bought by family of wartime resistance heroine 90 years ago, expected to fetch more than €7m

A painting by the surrealist artist René Magritte that has been held in a private collection for more than 90 years will go on sale later this month.

La Magie Noire was bought by the family of the second world war resistance heroine Suzanne Spaak, who were Magritte’s benefactors at a time when he was struggling financially and had failed to sell a single work for two years.

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Populist billionaire Andrej Babiš wins Czech parliamentary election

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With Babiš’s victory the Czech Republic looks set to join Hungary and Slovakia in refusing support for Ukraine

Populist billionaire Andrej Babiš has won the Czech parliamentary election in a political comeback that puts the country on a course away from supporting Ukraine and towards Hungary and Slovakia, which have taken a pro-Russian path.

With the votes from almost 98% of polling stations counted by the statistics office, Babiš’s ANO (YES) movement captured 35% of the vote followed by the pro-western coalition of the prime minister, Petr Fiala, with 23.0%. The coalition defeated Babiš in the 2021 election.

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Person killed in drone attack as Ukraine accuses Russia of targeting passenger trains

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Two trains were hit in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region, killing one and injuring about 30 others, officials say

Two Russian drones struck trains at a station in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region, killing one person and injuring about 30 others, officials said on Saturday, with Ukraine’s foreign minister accusing Moscow of deliberately hitting passenger trains.

“A brutal Russian drone strike on the railway station in Shostka, Sumy region,” wrote the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Telegram, posting a video of a wrecked, burning passenger carriage and others with their windows blown out.

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London’s royal parks closed due to strong winds; Scotland hit by power cuts and travel disruption – Storm Amy as it happened

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The Environment Agency has issued two flood alerts where “flooding is expected” for Keswick Campsite in the Lake District and locations near the River Ure, particularly around Boroughbridge Camping and Caravanning Site in North Yorkshire.

“Avoid using low-lying footpaths and any bridges near local watercourses. Take care and avoid walking, cycling or driving through flood water,” it advises.

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Europe needs to ‘get serious’ about threat posed to it by Russia, Ukraine minister says

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Sergiy Kyslytsya says Kremlin already at war with Europe and predicts that Vladimir Putin will ‘escalate escalating’

Europe needs to “get serious” about the existential threat posed to it by Russia, Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister has said, warning that Vladimir Putin will “escalate escalating”.

In an interview with the Guardian, Sergiy Kyslytsya – Kyiv’s former ambassador to the UN – said the Kremlin was already at war with Europe. He said Russia’s recent drone incursions against several EU countries were well-calculated and an attempt to “move the red lines”.

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Sarah Burton turns up the glamour volume at Givenchy in Paris

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Spiritual home of Audrey Hepburn re-establishes itself as serious player in red carpet dressing

On the very same day as Taylor Swift, Sarah Burton entered her Showgirl era. For her second outing as Givenchy designer, Burton turned up the volume with collars dripping rhinestones over collarbones, luscious peach maribou feathers, a pocket-rocket cocktail dress in lipstick red leather, and Naomi Campbell in a tuxedo jacket worn open over a barely-there lace trim bra.

Burton has been at Givenchy less than a year, but Alexander McQueen’s long-term right-hand woman has already established a new identity for the house and for herself. Givenchy, the spiritual home of Audrey Hepburn and the little black dress, has an immaculate bloodline of glamour that runs from Paris to Hollywood, but it is a relative minnow as a business. Her recent predecessors had mostly leaned into streetwear and utility-coded metallic accents, but Burton is bringing back the glamour.

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Czechs begin voting in election that could return populist to power

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Billionaire Andrej Babiš hands out doughnuts on first day of voting as polls predict his ANO party will win

Czechs have begun voting in an election likely to oust their centre-right government, with polls favouring the populist billionaire Andrej Babiš to return to power on pledges to raise wages and improve growth while reducing aid for Ukraine.

The change would boost Europe’s populist anti-immigration camp and could complicate consensus on climate policies in a country where no sitting government has won a second term since 1996.

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Final boat of 42-strong pro-Palestinian flotilla intercepted by Israel

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Protest vessel intercepted in the early hours of Friday morning 42.5 nautical miles from the coast of Gaza

The last boat of the 42 vessels in the Gaza humanitarian flotillathat sought to breach Israel’s 16-year maritime blockade has been intercepted by Israeli forces.

A live stream from the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) had late on Thursday evening shown the Polish-flagged sailing boat Marinette still “sailing strong towards Gaza” after the Israeli government claimed to have halted the flotilla carrying about 500 parliamentarians, lawyers and activists including Greta Thunberg.

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Munich airport reopens after halting flights because of drone sightings

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Travel was disrupted for thousands on eve of national holiday in latest drone incident to hit European aviation

Munich airport has reopened after drone sightings over the facility on Thursday evening forced air traffic control to suspend operations, leading to the cancellation of 17 flights and disrupting travel for nearly 3,000 passengers in the German city on the eve of a national holiday.

Another 15 arriving flights were diverted to Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Vienna and Frankfurt, the airport said in a statement, marking the latest drone disruption to European aviation after sightings temporarily shut airports in Denmark and Norway last week.

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Russia persistently targeting British satellites, UK Space Command chief says

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Maj Gen Paul Tedman says Moscow trying to disrupt UK’s military activities on ‘weekly’ basis and closely monitoring space assets

Russia is attempting to jam UK military satellites on a regular basis, according to the head of the UK Space Command.

Speaking to the BBC, Maj Gen Paul Tedman said Russian forces were actively trying to disrupt UK-based military activities “weekly” and were closely monitoring the country’s space assets.

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