Category Archives: Europe

Russia designates popular writer a foreign agent over Ukraine stance

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Books by bestselling author Grigori Chkhartishvili, who writes under pen name Boris Akunin, removed from shelves

Russia’s justice ministry late on Friday designated one of the country’s most popular fiction writers a foreign agent because of his opposition to Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

The historical detective stories of Boris Akunin, the pen name of Georgian-born Grigori Chkhartishvili, used to be bestsellers in Russia before the authorities turned on him for what they said were his unacceptable anti-Russian views.

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Children living near green spaces ‘have stronger bones’

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Bone strength is set in childhood so better park access could prevent fractures in older people, study finds

Children with more green space near their homes have significantly stronger bones, a study has found, potentially leading to lifelong health benefits.

Scientists found that the children living in places with 20-25% more natural areas had increased bone strength that was equivalent to half a year’s natural growth.

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How Italy turned on influencers in the wake of a charity Christmas cake scandal

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With a fraud investigation into Chiara Ferragni under way, she and fellow social media stars are under sharp scrutiny

Chiara Ferragni amassed a fortune through incessant selfie-taking as part of a marketing strategy that included imparting pearls of wisdom to her millions of online followers on how to be “effortlessly cool”.

But now the influencer – one of Italy’s most powerful – is struggling to maintain her own prestige after a scandal over a Christmas cake triggered a fraud investigation, leaving her empire teetering on the edge in what has become a cautionary tale for other social media stars.

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Italy refuses to extradite priest accused of murder and torture to Argentina

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Rev Franco Reverberi is accused of crimes against humanity during country’s military dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s

Italy’s justice minister has refused Argentina’s request to extradite a priest accused of crimes against humanity during the country’s military dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Rev Franco Reverberi, 86, who served as military chaplain during Argentina’s 1976-1983 military regime, faces charges related to the alleged murder in 1976 of the 20-year-old political activist José Guillermo Berón, and his alleged participation in torture.

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‘Parthenon of Macedonia’: site where Alexander the Great was proclaimed king reopens

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Thousands flock to see the Palace of Aigai, the largest surviving classical Greek building, after 16-year reconstruction completed

For 2,170 years it had lain in ruins: a palace that symbolised the golden age of antiquity, three times bigger than the Parthenon, unprecedented in architectural ambition, unparalleled in beauty.

It was here in 336BC that the king of ancient Macedonia, Philip II, was murdered; and here in the great peristyle – or columned courtyard – around which its banqueting halls coalesced that his 20-year-old son, Alexander the Great, would be proclaimed king, a moment that would change the course of history.

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Macron looks to Sarkozy connection to head off far right in France

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Hiring of figures close to former rightwing leader Nicolas Sarkozy confirms president’s rightward shift

Emmanuel Macron has tilted the French government significantly to the right, bringing in key figures close to the former rightwing president Nicolas Sarkozy in an attempt to reinvigorate his second term and limit possible gains by the far right at the European elections.

“I don’t want managers, I want revolutionaries,” Macron told the first cabinet meeting of the new government led by Gabriel Attal, 34, France’s youngest ever prime minister. He called for “quick results”.

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Oil prices hit $80 a barrel as fears grow over Red Sea disruption to trade

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Experts warn of economic impact of sustained shipping attacks and Middle East tensions

Oil prices have hit $80 (£62.83) as fears grew about the economic impact of disruption to international trade through the Red Sea and escalating tensions in the Middle East.

Raising concerns about a possible inflation shock for the world economy, Brent crude prices jumped by about 4% to a high of $80.75 a barrel on Friday, while US West Texas Intermediate crude also increased after US and UK airstrikes against Houthi rebel sites in Yemen.

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Norway to allow mining waste to be dumped in fjords

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Environmental campaigners say move will threaten marine life and put biodiversity at risk

Norway is to allow mining waste to be dumped in its fjords after the government won a court case against environmental organisations trying to block the plan.

After a 15-year dispute, the private company Nordic Mining has been given the go-ahead to dispose of 170m tonnes of mining waste at the bottom of the Førde fjord, which critics say will threaten marine life and put biodiversity at risk.

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Weather tracker: Tornadoes and floods sweep parts of US

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Storm Finn tracks north-east from Texas towards the east coast, while EU report confirms 2023 was warmest year

Increasingly cold conditions have swept western parts of the US this week, while tornadoes and flooding have inundated eastern areas.

An area of low pressure named Storm Finn tracked north-east from Texas towards the east coast early this week. As a result, tornadoes hit south-eastern states, at least 12 of which were in Florida and caused significant damage to many homes.

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Tesla pauses German production after Red Sea shipping attacks

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Delays in delivery of parts result in suspension of manufacturing at factory near Berlin for two weeks

The electric car manufacturer Tesla is to halt most production at its factory near Berlin for two weeks because of delays in deliveries of parts because of attacks on ships in the Red Sea.

Shipping delays in the Red Sea, caused by attacks by Iranian-backed Houthi militants, has caused Tesla to suspend most production at its German factory from 29 January to 11 February.

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Rishi Sunak visits Kyiv after announcing rise in UK military aid to Ukraine to £2.5bn

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Friday’s trip comes as PM stresses Britain’s continued backing for Kyiv before meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskiy

The UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, is visiting Ukraine on Friday to meet his counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, as the UK announced it would provide further military aid to the country over the coming year.

The UK has been one of Kyiv’s staunchest supporters since Russia’s invasion and Sunak said Britain would boost its support in the next financial year to £2.5bn, an increase of £200m on the previous two years.

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Simone Young to be first Australian conductor to perform at Bayreuth festival in 147-year history

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The Australian conductor will also be the first woman to perform the Ring cycle at the annual celebration of Wagner since it began in 1876

Simone Young will become the first woman to conduct Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle in the Bayreuth opera festival’s 147-year history, and the first Australian conductor to perform at Germany’s annual celebration of the composer.

Young, 62, is one of three female conductors who will be taking part in this year’s festival, which has been held in Bavaria since 1876. The Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv became the first woman ever to open the festival in 2021, after 145 years. She will return this year, along with the French conductor Nathalie Stutzmann, who was the second female conductor in Bayreuth’s history in 2023.

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Jewish students condemn antisemitic tweets about French PM Gabriel Attal

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Students’ union calls for sanctions over posts on social network that have also contained homophobic abuse

The French Union of Jewish Students has called for sanctions against people who have written antisemitic and homophobic comments about France’s new prime minister, Gabriel Attal, on the social network X.

Attal, 34, who was appointed by the president, Emmanuel Macron, this week, is France’s youngest prime minister and also the first out gay politician in the job.

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‘The high life can be low carbon’: the European royals taking on the climate crisis

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Despite leading lavish lifestyles, some monarchs are influencing people to make greener choices

When Prince Frederik takes the throne on Sunday, the Danish crown will pass from his mother, Queen Margrethe II, a monarch who has cast doubt on the fact that human pollution is heating the planet, to one who feels bound by duty to call for stronger action on climate breakdown.

“I think it’s important for me to have a message for other people,” he told the Financial Times in 2010 after a trip to the melting Arctic with the heirs to the Norwegian and Swedish thrones, “to convince the broader population there are changes happening and that we are making the change.”

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Scholz urges unity against far right after mass deportation ‘masterplan’ revealed

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German chancellor condemns ‘fanatics with assimilation fantasies’ after reports about AfD meeting

Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has urged democrats to stand together against “fanatics with assimilation fantasies” after it emerged that politicians from the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party had discussed a “masterplan” for mass deportations in the event of the party coming to power.

The far-right meeting, involving members of the AfD, the head of the Identitarian Movement and neo-Nazi activists, took place last November at a countryside hotel on the outskirts of Potsdam.

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Human rights in decline globally as leaders fail to uphold laws, report warns

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Human Rights Watch’s annual report highlights politicians’ double standards and ‘transactional diplomacy’ amid escalating crises

Human rights across the world are in a parlous state as leaders shun their obligations to uphold international law, according to the annual report of Human Rights Watch (HRW).

In its 2024 world report, HRW warns grimly of escalating human rights crises around the globe, with wartime atrocities increasing, suppression of human rights defenders on the rise, and universal human rights principles and laws being attacked and undermined by governments.

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Greek PM faces fierce opposition over pledge to legalise gay marriage

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MPs in his own cabinet are against move, while powerful Orthodox church fears it could lead to dismantling society

The Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, appears to be facing one of his most daunting challenges yet after a pledge to legalise same-sex marriage ignited fierce debate in the Orthodox Christian country.

Throwing his weight behind an issue still prone to provoke extraordinary emotion, not least among his own MPs, Mitsotakis acknowledged he would have to use his skills of persuasion to push through the reform as opposition mounted within his centre-right New Democracy party.

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Neo-Nazis in the US no longer see backing Ukraine as a worthy cause

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Like mainstream Republicans blocking military aid, American rightwing extremists are disavowing a war they once admired

Two years into the war in Ukraine, once a destination for American extremists, many within the underground far-right movement in the US are avidly disavowing it and advising followers to stay away. Extremists now see the upcoming election year as tailor-made for activism on the home front.

At the outset of the war, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued an intelligence bulletin that far-right American extremists were heading to the conflict and could use it to hone terrorist skills to bring back stateside.

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Sven-Göran Eriksson reveals he has cancer and ‘at best’ about a year to live

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  • Former England manager will ‘fight it as long as possible’
  • He says he is determined to ‘see the positive sides of things’

The former England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson has revealed he has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and in a “best-case” scenario has about a year left to live.

Eriksson, who managed England for five years before leaving after the 2006 World Cup, stood down from his most recent role as the sporting director at the Swedish club Karlstad 11 months ago due to health issues.

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Serbian opposition leader left partly paralysed by attack, say family

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Secret service agents allegedly beat up Nikola Sandulović after he apologised for crimes against ethnic Albanians

The family of a Serbian opposition leader who was allegedly beaten up while in detention by the country’s secret service say he has been left partly paralysed by the attack.

In an assault that has fuelled fears about the future of democracy in the country, Nikola Sandulović’s family say he was taken from his home on 3 January after making an apology for crimes committed by Serbs against ethnic Albanians during the Kosovan war of independence in 1998 and 1999.

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