Category Archives: Europe

New British mayor of Mallorcan town to start work with nice cup of tea

Posted on by

Teacher from west Sussex says victory was down to strong manifesto and knowing everyone in Sant Joan

The new mayor of Sant Joan, a small town of 2,000 people that sits in the centre of Mallorca, likes to joke that his main priority when he begins work on Monday will be ensuring a kettle is installed in his office.

Last month’s regional and local elections – which left the ruling Socialists with a bloody nose, triggered a snap general election and caused the conservative People’s party (PP) to forge a coalition with the far-right Vox party to rule the Valencia region – have also had unexpected consequences in Sant Joan.

Continue reading...

Lack of consensus on next Nato chief could lead to Stoltenberg staying on

Posted on by

Disagreement over possible successors may mean secretary general is asked to remain in role at next month’s summit in Lithuania

Political disagreements, vetoes and personal reluctance make it increasingly likely that the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, will be asked to remain in post for another year at the Nato summit in Lithuania next month.

It would be the third time the former Norwegian prime minister has been asked to extend his almost 10-year term.

Continue reading...

Spain’s PM warns of far-right danger after PP strikes coalition deals

Posted on by

Pedro Sánchez’s comments follow last month’s elections in which PP and Vox made huge gains

Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has warned of the dangers of allowing far-right ideology to seep into the political mainstream after the conservative People’s party (PP) struck a series of coalition deals with the radical right Vox party ahead of next month’s general election.

Sánchez’s Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE), which has governed Spain alongside the far-left Unidas Podemos alliance for the past four years, suffered a drubbing in last month’s regional and municipal elections, while the PP made huge gains and Vox doubled its share of the vote.

Continue reading...

Ukraine takes village on Zaporizhzhia front, Russia-appointed official says

Posted on by

War blogger also reports recapture of Piatykhatky, which if confirmed would be first village taken in nearly a week

• Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updates

Ukraine has captured the village of Piatykhatky on the western edge of the Zaporizhzhia front, according to a Russia-appointed official and sources, the first village recaptured by Kyiv’s forces in nearly a week.

In a posting on Telegram on Sunday morning, Vladimir Rogov, a Russia-installed official for the region, said Ukrainian forces had taken the village under their “operational control” after what he described as fierce fighting.

Continue reading...

EU countries accuse TfL debt collectors of breaching data protection laws over London penalty fines

Posted on by

Belgium and Dutch vehicle licensing agency say citizens’ details obtained unlawfully to issue driving fines

Two EU countries have accused Transport for London’s debt collection agency of breaching data protection laws to obtain the names and addresses of citizens in order to issue fines for driving in the capital.

Motorists from across Europe have been hit with penalties, some totalling thousands of pounds, for driving in London’s Ultra Low Emissions Zone (Ulez). Penalty notices are being sent to foreign motorists who enter the capital without pre-registering their vehicle, and the Guardian has revealed hundreds of drivers have been fined despite driving emissions-compliant cars.

Continue reading...

UK delis could be forced to put up prices after new Brexit tax

Posted on by

Plan to charge £43 per consignment could see some small businesses struggle to stay open

Many UK businesses which import food products from the European Union will have to pay a special “Brexit tax” that will further drive up prices, particularly in smaller shops such as delicatessens, under proposals set out by the government last week.

The planned charge of £43 per consignment, outlined in a consultation document issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), was described on Saturday by a leading industry figure as “the sting in the tail of a post-Brexit food inspection regime” that was already fuelling inflation.

Continue reading...

UK ‘should seize oligarchs’ assets to pay for reconstruction of Ukraine’

Posted on by

Government adviser says Britain should confiscate mansions to fund postwar rebuilding

Ministers should confiscate the mansions, country estates and UK assets of Russian oligarchs to help pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine, a senior adviser in President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office said this weekend.

Vladyslav Vlasiuk, a sanctions expert working in the presidential office, said Ukraine’s government would like the UK to follow Canada in implementing new regulations that allow authorities to seize and redistribute assets belonging to sanctioned individuals and entities.

Continue reading...

Norwegian Roxy Music model Kari-Ann Moller fights to stay in UK after Brexit

Posted on by

Husband, Chris Jagger, uses 1972 album cover to support settlement application for Moller, who has lived in UK for 74 years

As a result of Brexit, Norwegians living in the UK were required to apply to the EU settlement scheme – despite Norway not being a member state – to remain living in Britain.

But after former model turned yoga teacher Kari-Ann Moller was stopped by British immigration officials earlier this year and told she was not allowed to remain because of her Norwegian passport, her husband, Chris Jagger – brother of Rolling Stone Sir Mick – got involved.

Continue reading...

UK is among countries with the most positive attitude towards refugees, poll finds

Posted on by

Survey comes as government rhetoric on immigrants gets increasingly toxic, adopting far-right slogans

Britons have among the most positive attitudes towards refugees in the world, a new global poll has found, despite increased hostility from the UK government to asylum seekers.

An international survey of almost 22,000 adults across 29 countries found British people had the third-most enthusiastic outlook towards refugees, just behind Spain and New Zealand.

Continue reading...

Russian forces face shortage of tanks as counteroffensive creeps forward

Posted on by

Ukraine forces slowly pushing back Putin’s troops, claims Kyiv, aided by western hardware

Russia’s forces are suffering a shortage of tanks, the country’s defence minister has admitted, as Ukraine’s offensive in the south and east continued to push back the frontline with the help of western hardware.

Sergei Shoigu, on a visit to a military factory in western Siberia, said that production of armoured vehicles needed to be increased as Kyiv talked up the heavy losses being inflicted on the occupying enemy.

Continue reading...

Russia-Ukraine war live: counteroffensive records ‘tactical successes’ as troops advance south – as it happened

Posted on by

Ukrainian military officials say they are making gradual progress to push Russian forces out of southern sectors of the country

Russia’s defence minister has called for more tanks to be manufactured “to meet the needs of Russian forces” in Ukraine after Kyiv launched a counteroffensive with western arms.

Sergei Shoigu visited a military factory in western Siberia and stressed the need “to maintain the increased production of tanks”, the defence ministry said.

Continue reading...

Germany’s return of sacred Kogi masks to Colombia may have health risks

Posted on by

Wooden artefacts dating from 15th century and bought from indigenous people were treated with pesticides while in museum

Germany has returned two wooden masks of the indigenous Kogi community to Colombia but conceded that wearing the sacred artefacts in ceremonies may come with a health risk because they were treated with toxic pesticides during their time in German museums.

The masks, which date back to the mid-15th century and have been held in ethnological collections in Berlin for over a century, were handed over to Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, by his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier at a ceremony in Berlin on Friday.

Continue reading...

‘Almost still shines’: 3,000-year-old sword unearthed in Germany

Posted on by

Object from mid-bronze age, in ‘extraordinary’ state of preservation, was found in grave in Bavaria

A bronze sword more than 3,000 years old , which is so well-preserved that it “almost still shines”, has been unearthed in southern Germany, officials say.

The Bavarian state office for the preservation of historical monuments (BLfD) said the sword, which is believed to date back to the end of the 14th century BC — the middle of the bronze age — was found during excavations last week in Nördlingen, between Nuremberg and Stuttgart.

Continue reading...

French officials fight for possession of French Revolution-era letter

Posted on by

Government blocks sale of Charlotte Corday’s 1793 manifesto justifying murder of Jean-Paul Marat

French officials are fighting for possession of a 1793 manifesto by a woman justifying her decision to stab a revolutionary leader to death, with local authorities saying they will take the case to court.

Charlotte Corday was a 24-year-old member of a moderate faction during the French Revolution, who became alarmed at the way it was being taken over by violent extremists.

Continue reading...

Greek coastguard denies claims refugee boat capsized after tow rope attached

Posted on by

UN calls for urgent action to prevent further tragedies as police believe up to 500 people remain missing

Greek authorities have rejected claims that a fishing boat that sank in the Mediterranean this week with the loss of potentially hundreds of lives capsized after the coastguard attempted to tow it, as the UN called for urgent action to prevent further tragedies.

Authorities have confirmed 78 deaths and said 104 survivors – mostly from Syria, Egypt and Pakistan – had been brought ashore, but police believe as many as 500 are missing. Witnesses have reported that up to 100 children were in the ship’s hold.

Continue reading...

Russia-Ukraine war: Ukraine offensive moving towards Mariupol, minister says – as it happened

Posted on by

Centre of fighting has moved as Ukrainian forces slowly push back Russians, says Hanna Maliar, a deputy defence minister

Kherson’s regional authority has said that 1,649 houses in 17 settlements on the right bank of the Dnipro remain flooded after the collapse of the Kakhovka dam. They also claim that 17 settlements remain flooded on the opposite bank, which is occupied by Russian forces.

Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, offers this news update on Telegram of events overnight. It reports:

At night, air defence forces destroyed two “Shahed” drones over the Mykolaiv region, the air force reported.

Also at night, the Russian army fired artillery at residential buildings in Novoberyslav in the Kherson region: a couple died, reported the regional .

Continue reading...

German police appeal for witnesses to attack on American tourists

Posted on by

Investigators seek photos and videos of incident in which US man allegedly pushed two women down slope, killing one

Police in southern Germany are appealing for photos and videos taken by witnesses of an attack near Neuschwanstein Castle after an American man allegedly pushed two American women down a steep slope, killing one of them. A suspect was arrested following the attack.

The German news agency dpa quoted police on Friday as saying they had so far received about a dozen submissions on a specially created website, but assume many more images were taken by tourists present at the site.

Continue reading...

Huge landslide misses Swiss mountain village of Brienz ‘by a hair’

Posted on by

Rockfall buries access road but stops just in front of hamlet, which had been evacuated in anticipation

A large rockfall has narrowly missed a Swiss mountain village whose inhabitants were evacuated last month over fears of a landslide.

The bulk of the rock, which geologists had warned was in danger of falling directly onto the village of Brienz, crashed to the ground on Thursday night, authorities in the Albula community in the canton of Graubünden said on Twitter.

Continue reading...

Greece shipwreck: hopes of finding survivors fade on final day of search

Posted on by

Nine suspects expected to face court as search enters third day and initial response to disaster is criticised

Rescuers have launched the third and final day of their search for survivors of one of the Mediterranean’s worst boat disasters, as authorities detained nine suspected people-smugglers and criticism of Greece’s initial response mounted.

The Greek coastguard said on Friday a helicopter, a frigate and three smaller vessels were searching waters 50 miles (80 km) from the southern town of Pylos where the fishing boat, reportedly carrying between 400 and 750 people, sank on Wednesday.

Continue reading...