Category Archives: Europe

UK government threatens to suspend Northern Ireland protocol

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Brexit minister Lord Frost tells House of Lords that the European Commission must take renegotiation proposals seriously

The row over Brexit and Northern Ireland has escalated after the UK government issued a new warning to the EU that it will not shy away from unilaterally suspending the Northern Ireland protocol agreed by Boris Johnson last year.

Lord Frost, the Brexit minister, told the House of Lords on Monday night that the EU should take the UK’s proposals to renegotiate part of the protocol “seriously” if it wanted to avoid the protocol collapsing.

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Fisherman in Greece accused of throwing dead body back into sea

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Man allegedly caught 74-year-old who had died while spearfishing in his net but failed to report it

A fisherman in Greece has been arrested after allegedly catching a dead spearfisherman in his net and throwing the body back into the sea.

The alleged incident happened on Sunday, the same day that a 74-year-old man who had been out spearfishing in shallow waters was reported missing near the coast of Pelion.

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Far-right journalist quits French TV show amid election rumours

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Éric Zemmour is about to begin a book tour, but has not yet announced his candidacy for president

The French far-right journalist and commentator Éric Zemmour has stepped down from his nightly TV show, heightening speculation that he could make an outsider bid to run in next year’s French presidential election.

The 63-year-old, who was a political journalist for Le Figaro, holds convictions for inciting hatred and is best known for his TV diatribes against immigration and Islam.

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Spain wildfire: almost 1,000 emergency workers fighting blaze

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Fire in Andalucía region rages for sixth day having already forced evacuation of thousands of people

Almost 1,000 firefighters and emergency workers are battling one of the most intractable Spanish wildfires in recent years as the blaze rages for a sixth day, after devouring at least 7,400 hectares (18,285 acres) of land in the southern region of Andalucía and forcing the evacuation of more than 2,600 people.

On Sunday, 260 members of Spain’s military emergencies unit were deployed to help tackle the fire, which began last Wednesday in the mountainous Sierra Bermeja above the resort town of Estepona, and which now has a perimeter of 53 miles (85km). Experts hope the rain forecast across much of the country on Monday will help extinguish the blaze.

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Wildfire in south of Spain forces thousands to flee their homes – video

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People have been forced to flee their homes across many Andalucían towns and villages as fire crews in Spain worked to contain wildfire blazes. A military unit has been sent in to help tackle the fires raging close to a Costa del Sol resort. Evacuees, some elderly, took shelter in a sports centre in the nearby town of Ronda, as volunteers brought in bottled water and supplies. Regional environment chief Carmen Crespo said the blaze appeared to have been started deliberately and investigators were working to uncover more details.

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Maria Mendiola, half of Spanish vocal duo Baccara, dies aged 69

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Group’s 1977 disco hit Yes Sir, I Can Boogie has become the unofficial anthem of Scotland football fans

Maria Mendiola, one of the members of Baccara, whose 1977 disco hit Yes Sir, I Can Boogie is the unofficial anthem of Scotland football fans, has died.

Mendiola, who was one half of the Spanish duo, was best known for her rendition of the hit song. She died in Madrid surrounded by her family on Saturday morning at the age of 69. Cristina Sevilla, her partner in a later iteration of the group, expressed her gratitude on social media in a message written in Spanish.

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Pope urges Hungary to ‘extend its arms to everyone’ in veiled Orbán critique

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Pontiff’s statement at start of four-day central Europe tour at odds with far-right PM’s anti-migrant stance

Pope Francis has urged Hungary to “extend its arms towards everyone” in an apparent veiled critique of Viktor Orbán’s anti-migrant policies, as the pontiff began a four-day visit to central Europe in his first big international outing since undergoing intestinal surgery in July.

Francis, 84, appeared in good form during his visit to Budapest, presiding over a lengthy mass and standing as he waved to crowds from his open-sided popemobile. He used a golf cart to avoid walking long distances indoors and confessed at one point that he had to sit because “I’m not 15 any more”. But otherwise he kept up the typical gruelling pace of a papal trip.

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Work begins on wrapping Arc de Triomphe for Christo artwork

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Operation combining art and engineering on a massive scale fulfils dream of late artist couple

Shortly after the sun rose over central Paris, the first of the orange-clad rope technicians hopped over the top of the Arc de Triomphe and began to abseil down the landmark unrolling a swathe of silvery blue fabric that shimmered in the early light.

Someone clapped as the first abseiler went over the top – 50 metres from the ground – but most in the crowd of onlookers just held their breath. It was a slow and meticulous operation, requiring them to stop make adjustments to the folds in the material every few metres while avoiding touching the arch itself.

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Spanish wildfires drive thousands from homes close to Costa del Sol

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Firefighters battle to contain blazes in Andalucía as Spain drafts in military to help

People have fled their homes in six more Andalucían towns and villages as Spain sent in a military unit to help tackle wildfires raging close to a Costa del Sol resort.

A blaze fanned by strong winds has driven out almost 2,000 people and killed one emergency worker since it began on Wednesday in the mountainous Sierra Bermeja above Estepona, a popular spot with British tourists and retirees.

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Italy investigates alleged abduction of boy who survived cable car crash

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Six year-old Eitan Biran, who is at centre of custody battle, reportedly taken to Israel by grandfather

Italian prosecutors have launched an investigation after a six-year-old boy who was the only person to survive a cable car crash in Italy in May was taken by his grandfather to Israel, against the wishes of other members of his family amid a bitter custody battle.

Eitan Biran, whose parents and two-year-old brother died in the Stresa-Mottarone aerial tramway crash on 23 May, has been at the centre of a custody battle between relatives in Italy and Israel.

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Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo to run for French presidency

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Socialist to campaign on her story of ‘overcoming class prejudice’ in bid to win back voters for the left in 2022

The Socialist mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, has announced a bid for the French presidency, saying that as a woman with working-class, immigrant roots she will try to repair the anger and divisions in French society and win back low-income workers disillusioned with the left.

“The Republican model is disintegrating before our eyes,” Hidalgo told supporters gathered on the docks in Rouen, Normandy. She warned of growing inequalities, saying: “I want all children in France to have the same opportunities I had.”

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Norway votes – but is Europe’s biggest oil giant ready to go green?

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The Scandinavian country faces a crisis of conscience on the eve of elections

Norway goes to the polls on Monday in parliamentary elections that are forcing western Europe’s largest oil and gas producer to confront its environmental contradictions.

Climate issues have dominated the campaigning since August, when the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published its starkest warning yet that global heating is dangerously close to spiralling out of control.

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Putin’s crackdown: how Russia’s journalists became ‘foreign agents’

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Will an oppressive new law stifle independent media outlets – or lead to a weakening of the president’s authoritarian regime?

Usually the bad news is dumped late on Friday when most Muscovites are heading out for the evening: a new list of names of journalists and outlets declared “foreign agents”, a label that for some Russians evokes such Soviet-era terms as “enemy of the people” and has sent a chill through newsrooms under threat.

“We are being told that we are the enemy,” said Tikhon Dzyadko, the editor of Dozhd, Russia’s main independent television station and a recent addition to the list. “And I am not an enemy and I am not an agent. It’s a spit in the face.”

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‘My son misses his Papa’: Brexit rules force families to split

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Partners and spouses are being kept apart by Home Office delays in processing revised versions of entry permits to Britain

A British woman has told how she had to separate her six-year-old son from his French father because post-Brexit rules prohibited her spouse from returning with her to the UK for a new job without prior Home Office approval.

After 11 years in France, the couple, who work in highly skilled jobs in the defence industry, decided to move back to the UK and thought it would be as simple as getting on a Eurostar train.

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Crisis-hit Bulgaria to hold new snap election on 14 November

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President Rumen Radev announces new vote, after polls in April and July produced fragmented legislatures

Bulgaria will hold snap general elections on 14 November to try to resolve a political crisis that has left it without a regular government for months, the country’s president, Rumen Radev, said on Saturday.

Bulgarians voted in April and July but both polls resulted in fragmented legislatures. No party has been able to form a government to succeed the almost 10-year tenure of former conservative prime minister Boyko Borisov.

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The disappeared in Mexico, Afghan female footballers and a giant puppet: human rights this fortnight in pictures

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A roundup of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms from Thailand to Texas

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Two killed as tornado rips through Italian island of Pantelleria

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Nine more people injured, four seriously, after whirlwind rips off roofs and leaves cars upturned

Two people have been killed and nine injured after a tornado tore through the Italian island of Pantelleria in the Mediterranean, leaving a path of destruction. The whirlwind ripped off roofs and flipped over at least six cars, with residents describing the scene as “apocalyptic”.

Four of the nine injured are in serious condition, according to the authorities. A hospital helicopter from nearby Lampedusa island was initially unable to reach the island to provide assistance because of the bad weather.

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France’s former health minister charged over handling of Covid crisis

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Agnès Buzyn accused of ‘endangering the lives of others’ after early statements minimised risk of pandemic

France’s former health minister Agnès Buzyn has been charged over her handling of the Covid-19 pandemic after investigators at a special court in Paris concluded there were grounds to prosecute her.

Buzyn has been charged with “endangering the lives of others”, according to the prosecutor in a special court that deals with ministerial accountability. A second possible offence of “failure to stop a disaster” was not brought.

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Who will take on Macron in France’s 2022 presidential race?

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A #MeToo figurehead, a mayor and a hate-speech ideologue among those tipped to put their hats in the ring

At rush hour at Paris’s Saint-Lazare station, activists, including a civil servant in a government ministry and a former climate-change protester, were out canvassing for an unusual would-be candidate for French president.

Their choice, Sandrine Rousseau, is a figurehead of the French #MeToo movement against sexual violence, an economist and university vice-chancellor and promises a new form of “punk ecology”.

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Denmark lifts all Covid restrictions as vaccinations top 80%

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Scandinavian country declares it no longer considers coronavirus a ‘socially critical’ disease

Denmark’s high vaccination rate has enabled it to become one of the first EU countries to lift all domestic restrictions, after 548 days with curbs in place to limit the spread of Covid-19,

The return to normality has been gradual, but as of Friday, the digital pass – a proof of having been vaccinated – is no longer required when entering nightclubs, making it the last virus safeguard to fall.

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