Category Archives: Europe

‘Germany was 10 years behind’: how Brexit helped Europe’s galleries

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Curators who left the UK after the referendum took with them experience that is reshaping their cities’ art scenes

One of the things Stephanie Rosenthal acquired during her 10-year stint in London’s gallery world is an appreciation of the British art of queueing with a smile on your face.

After the German art historian quit her job as chief curator at the Hayward Gallery in the wake of Britain’s referendum on leaving the European Union, she exported her specialist skills back to her country of birth.

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Global nuclear arsenal set to grow for first time in decades

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Thinktank also says nuclear powers must take immediate action to prevent rise amid heightened risk of weapons’ use

The global nuclear arsenal is expected to grow in the coming years for the first time since the cold war, and the risk of such weapons being used is the greatest in decades, a leading conflict and armaments thinktank says.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and western support for Kyiv has heightened tensions among the world’s nine nuclear-armed states, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) thinktank said on Monday in a new set of research.

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Will a kiss on the head bring victory for Emmanuel Macron?

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France’s president will be hoping his habit of planting a peck on a pate on polling days will bring him luck in parliamentary elections

Emmanuel Macron’s apparent habit of kissing a bald supporter on the head on election day has sparked French media speculation over whether it was a superstitious gesture as his centrists face a tough challenge from the left.

As the French president went to vote in the first round of the parliamentary elections in the northern seaside resort of Le Touquet, where he has a house, he approached waiting supporters before grabbing party activist Grégoire Campion and kissing him on his bald head.

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Former British soldier killed fighting Russian forces in Ukraine

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Jordan Gatley’s family say he died in the battle for the strategic eastern city of Sievierodonetsk

A former British soldier has died fighting Russian forces in the Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk, his family have said.

Jordan Gatley left the British army in March “to continue his career as a soldier in other areas” and had been helping Ukrainian troops defend their country against Russia, his father Dean wrote in a statement posted on Facebook on Saturday.

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Fighting in eastern Ukraine rages as Sievierodonetsk chemical plant hit

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Regional governor says Azot plant, where hundreds of civilians are taking shelter, remains under Ukrainian control

Fierce fighting has continued in the strategic city of Sievierodonetsk in eastern Ukraine, where Russian shelling caused a fire at a chemical plant in which hundreds of civilians are believed to have taken shelter during some of the most intense bombardment of the war.

The governor of Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, said in an interview with local television that the Azot chemical plant remained under Ukrainian control, adding that fighting was under way on Sunday on the “outskirts of the city, in the streets directly near the plant”.

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‘I am amazed’: 101-year-old Dutch woman reunited with painting looted by Nazis

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Exclusive: she will sell the 1683 portrait of Steven Wolters by Caspar Netscher through Sotheby’s so her family can benefit from the proceeds

At the age of 101, a Dutch woman has been reunited with a painting that had been looted from her father by the Nazis during the second world war, but she has decided to sell it through Sotheby’s in London so that her family can benefit from the proceeds.

Charlotte Bischoff van Heemskerck, a non-practising Baptist who joined the Dutch Resistance, had never given up hope of finding the 1683 portrait of Steven Wolters by Caspar Netscher, a Dutch master whose paintings are in the National Gallery, London.

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The Quiet Girl: Irish-language film breaks box office records in Ireland and UK

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An Cailín Ciúin, as it is known in Irish, has earned more than €600,000 since its release last month

An Irish-language film has shattered box office records in Ireland and the UK and become a standard-bearer for a language seldom seen on the big screen.

The Quiet Girl has astonished the industry by quadrupling the previous record for an Irish language film, and by last week earning more than €610,000 (£518,000) since its release in mid-May.

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Moroccan sentenced to death is a victim of Russian ‘games’, friends say

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Brahim Saadoun is a much-loved marine on active duty, they insist, and not a mercenary, as court in Donetsk claims

While Russia claims that Brahim Saadoun was a foreign fighter in Ukraine, the 21-year-old Moroccan sentenced to death alongside two Britons last week had spent years making the country his home.

Friends and family of Saadoun have called for his freedom, telling the Guardian he was an active-duty marine and not a mercenary as claimed by Russian media and pro-Russia officials in eastern Ukraine who announced the sentence.

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Boris Johnson warned NI protocol ‘rule-breaking’ will repeat mistakes of Partygate

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Tory tensions high over risk of illegality in imminent bill to improve trade between Northern Ireland and rest of UK

Boris Johnson is being warned that he will repeat the mistakes of Partygate by backing “rule-breaking over the rule of law”, when he publishes plans on Monday that are expected to prompt a new Tory rebellion over Brexit.

Frantic legal and political negotiations have been taking place this week among Johnson, his cabinet and MPs in advance of the government’s bill designed to improve trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. The legislation will be published on Monday.

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Greek pilot jailed for murdering British wife ‘fears contract killing’

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Babis Anagnostopoulos claims he is living in fear from those he initially blamed for Caroline Crouch’s death

The Greek helicopter pilot given a life sentence for the brutal murder of his British wife in Athens last year claims to be living in fear of those he initially blamed for the crime.

Weeks after being found guilty of suffocating Caroline Crouch, Babis Anagnostopoulos has said his own life is in danger because he has become the target of a “contract killing”.

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EU will likely grant Ukraine candidate status to join bloc, says Ursula von der Leyen

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Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been pushing for rapid admission, and says the decision will determine the future of Europe

The EU executive will next week make a recommendation on whether Ukraine should be given candidate status to join the bloc, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has said.

Such a recommendation would be a preliminary step on a long road to full membership, and Ukraine would need the backing of all 27 EU governments before candidate status was given. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has been pushing for rapid admission into the EU to provide the country with more security since the Russian invasion.

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Sanctions are hitting hard enough to hurt Russia, if not stop it

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Analysis: the assault in Ukraine continues, but it seems clear that real damage is being done to Putin’s economy

• Russia-Ukraine war: latest updates

Sanctions have affected many aspects of life in Russia, but one particular shortage has sent the wealthy elite into a spin: beauty clinics are running out of Botox.

The business daily newspaper Kommersant reported this month that Botox imports saw a threefold drop to 74,500 units in the period between January and March compared with the same time last year, after one western manufacturer stopped exporting to Russia.

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Family of UK man sentenced to death by Russia call for cooperation

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Shaun Pinner’s loved ones ‘devastated’ after he received verdict alongside Aiden Aslin in what UK calls a ‘sham’ sentence

The family of a British man sentenced to death for fighting Russian forces have said they are “devastated” and called for “urgent cooperation” to secure his release.

Shaun Pinner, 48, received the death penalty, along with fellow Briton Aiden Aslin, this week in what the UK government has branded a “sham” sentencing.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Scholz, Macron and Draghi to visit Kyiv; fierce fighting continues in Sievierodonetsk – live

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German, French and Italian leaders to meet with Zelenskiy ahead of G7 summit in June; Ursula von der Leyen says EU decision to come within days

Returning to Kyiv on Saturday for a meeting with Ukrainian president Zelenskiy, she said they will discuss Ukraine’s reconstruction and progress towards European Union membership.

Russian air defence forces have shot down three Ukrainian war planes, according to the country’s defence ministry.

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‘The return of banditry’: Russian car industry buckles under sanctions

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Prices have spiralled out control since invasion of Ukraine as market struggles to adapt

Eldar Gadzhiev’s heart sank when he heard the sputtering from the engine of his Skoda one day in April. Gadzhiev, who owns a fleet of four cars that he leases as taxicabs in Moscow, knew it was a terrible and expensive time for a breakdown.

Prices for spare parts, if you even could find them, had spiralled out of control since Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine two months earlier. “I understood that I was in a bad situation,” he said. “I thought: the repairs are going to cost as much as the car.”

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Report highlights ‘multiple failures’ in handling of Champions League final

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  • French government release 30-page report on systemic failures
  • Liverpool fans were attacked outside Stade de France in May

A French government report into the problems at the Champions League final has highlighted “multiple failures” in the management of the crowd in Paris.

The 30-page report, handed to the prime minister’s office on Friday, focused on systemic failures and “the presence of malevolent individuals” in the vicinity of the stadium. Large numbers of Liverpool fans have reported being attacked and having possessions stolen outside the Stade de France.

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National Museum of Slovenia cancels art exhibition over alleged fakes

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Show claiming to feature works by Van Gogh, Matisse and Picasso abruptly cancelled as police launch investigation

An exhibition in Slovenia claiming to feature works by Picasso, Van Gogh and Matisse was abruptly cancelled this week over fears some works were forged, prompting a police probe on Friday.

The National Museum of Slovenia planned to officially open the show on Wednesday this week, entitled “Travels” and featuring 160 paintings owned by the little-known Boljkovac family.

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Prosecutors ask for life sentences for 12 men at Paris attacks trial

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France’s biggest ever criminal trial enters final weeks, with prosecutors expressing regret about unanswered questions

French prosecutors have called for life sentences for 12 of the 20 men suspected of key roles in the November 2015 Paris terrorist attacks on a stadium, bars and restaurants and a rock gig at the Bataclan concert hall.

As the biggest criminal trial ever held in France entered its final weeks, prosecutors summed up the evidence and regretted that there were still key, unanswered questions about the coordinated attacks that killed 130 people and injured more than 490.

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