Category Archives: Europe

Chariots of steel: Barcelona’s hidden army of scrap recyclers

Posted on by

Thousands of migrants play a key role in collecting Catalonia’s waste but must live on the margins

They are everywhere and yet they are almost invisible, living below the social radar as they crisscross the city pushing supermarket trolleys piled with metal tubing, old microwaves and empty beer cans.

The chatarreros are Barcelona’s itinerant scrap-metal collectors, and there are thousands of them. Most are undocumented migrants and so there is no official census, but Federico Demaria, a social scientist at the University of Barcelona who is conducting a study of the informal recyclers in Catalonia, believes there are between 50,000 and 100,000 in the region. About half are from sub-Saharan Africa; the rest are from eastern Europe, elsewhere in Africa and Spain.

Continue reading...

Sturgeon welcomes ‘official, definitive, independent’ ruling she did not breach ministerial code – as it happened

Posted on by

This live blog is now closed. For more on this story, you read the news report here

The army’s increased deployability and technological advantage will mean that greater effect can be delivered by fewer people. I’ve therefore taken the decision to reduce the size of the army from today’s current strength of 76,500 trade trained personnel to 72,500 by 2025.

The army has not been at its established strength of 82,000 since the middle of last decade.

Related: Coronavirus live news: Germany extends partial lockdown; Irish PM speaks out against vaccine export ban

Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, has said that Nicola Sturgeon is not “free and clear”, despite being exonerated by the independent adviser on the ministerial code, because the Scottish parliament’s committee has not yet published its report on her. In a statement he said:

The first minister has been given a pass because it has been judged her ‘failure of recollection’ was ‘not deliberate’.

I respect Mr Hamilton and his judgment but we cannot agree with that assessment. Nicola Sturgeon did not suddenly turn forgetful.

Continue reading...

Italians urged to boycott Amazon to support day of strikes

Posted on by

About 40,000 logistical workers hold national walkout over working conditions

Italian consumers were urged by unions to refrain from buying from Amazon for the day on Monday as about 40,000 of the online shopping giant’s logistical workers held a national strike over working conditions.

It is the first walkout in Italy to affect Amazon’s entire supply chain and involves warehouse and logistical hub workers as well as drivers provided by third-party services.

Continue reading...

Girl, two, dies after being rescued from migrant boat in Canaries

Posted on by

Toddler from Mali has died in hospital after being resuscitated on a dock last week

A two-year-old girl from Mali who was rescued from a migrant boat and resuscitated on a dock in the Canary Islands last week has died in hospital, becoming the latest victim of the perilous Atlantic route from Africa to Europe.

The girl was one of 52 people travelling on a boat that had left the city of Dakhla in Western Sahara bound for the Spanish archipelago.

Continue reading...

‘We monitor its every breath’: inside Mount Etna’s war room

Posted on by

In the city of Catania, at the foot of the volcano, scientists are trying to explain its recent unusual behaviour

When his phone rang at 3.22am last Wednesday, 50-year-old Giuseppe Salerno, the head of volcanologists at Catania’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), was already up after a thundering rumble had awoken many of the city’s inhabitants. The call came from the headquarters of the INGV where, a few seconds before that disturbance, seismic waves on one of the 40 monitors in the operations room seemed to jump off the screen. For the 14th time in less than a month, Mount Etna had sent another reminder that it is one of the world’s most active volcanoes.

Etna, 3,300 (10,800ft) metres above sea level, has been in explosive form in recent weeks, spewing incandescent magma and a copious shower of ash that has reached as far as Catania. Since 16 February, with fastidious precision, every 48 hours the volcano has put on a firework display with lava fountains reaching as high as 2,000 metres.

Continue reading...

‘Cooperative and rather active’: joy as pandas mate in French zoo

Posted on by

Huan Huan, a female on loan from China at the Beauval zoo in France, was ‘put in contact’ eight times on Saturday with partner Yuan Zi

A couple of giant pandas in captivity engaged in a rare weekend of mating, although the hoped-for result, an even rarer panda offspring, is still too early to call, a French zoo has said.

Huan Huan, a female panda on loan from China at the Beauval zoo in central France, was “put in contact” eight times on Saturday with partner Yuan Zi, the zoo said on Sunday.

Continue reading...

Allowing summer holidays abroad risks another lockdown, Johnson is warned

Posted on by

Sage experts are worried about overseas breaks leading to rise in vaccine-resistant variants in UK

Lifting the ban on foreign holidays in the coming months could risk another lockdown next winter, Boris Johnson is being warned, amid mounting alarm about a third wave of infections sweeping continental Europe.

Scientific experts and opposition politicians are urging the government to be extremely cautious before loosening travel restrictions, with their concerns about the prevalence of new variants of the virus overseas increasingly shared by Whitehall.

Continue reading...

EU’s southern states step up calls for ‘solidarity’ in managing mass migration

Posted on by

Greece, Italy, Spain, Cyprus and Malta say burden has to be shared more justly with other EU partners

Europe’s southern states have stepped up calls for solidarity in managing mass migration to the bloc saying the burden has to be shared more justly with other EU partners.

Highlighting the deep divisions over the issue, politicians from countries along Europe’s Mediterranean rim said a proposed migration pact fell far short of resolving the crisis equitably.

Continue reading...

EU export ban would delay UK Covid vaccine drive by two months

Posted on by

Exclusive: Halting distribution would hit Britain badly but not significantly help EU, analysis finds

Britain’s Covid vaccine programme faces a two-month delay in the event of an EU export ban, derailing the government’s plans to reopen the economy this summer, an analysis for the Guardian reveals.

A ban, due to be debated by leaders of the 27 EU member states on Thursday, would badly stall the UK vaccination effort, and would be likely to force the government to extend restrictions on people’s lives.

Continue reading...

Gerhard Richter gives Holocaust art to Berlin

Posted on by

Germany’s greatest living painter donates 100 works, including his Birkenau series, to capital’s new museum

Fans of the German painter Gerhard Richter are expected to flock to Berlin to view 100 works that he has in effect donated in a long-term loan to a new museum of modern art. The works include a series of paintings addressing the Holocaust that he has vowed never to sell.

The donation by the 89-year-old, who is one of the world’s highest-priced living artists, is destined for the Museum der Moderne, which is under construction in the German capital.

Continue reading...

‘People are exhausted’: Germans grow weary of endless lockdown

Posted on by

Berliners are impatient for vaccines and the country is poised to tighten restrictions as the third wave hits

Winters in Berlin are notoriously tough but this year has been like no other. “I’m really tired of it,” Ina Eggers, a teacher in the city, says. “Winter is always hard but now [with lockdown] we don’t have anything to do, so it’s been awful. ”

Germany is in the midst of a third wave of the pandemic, with case numbers increasing rapidly. On Saturday, the Robert Koch Institute reported 16,033 new Covid-19 infections within one day – 3,359 more than a week ago. In light of this, doctors are calling for an urgent tightening of lockdown rules to prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed for the third time.

Continue reading...

Iceland volcano: eruption under way on mountain near Reykjavik – video report

Posted on by

A volcanic eruption began in south-west Iceland near the capital, Reykjavik, on Friday. More than 40,000 earthquakes have occurred on the peninsula in the past four weeks, a huge jump from the 1,000-3,000 registered each year since 2014. Unlike the eruption in 2010 of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano, which halted approximately 900,000 flights and forced hundreds of Icelanders from their homes, this eruption is not expected to spew much ash or smoke into the atmosphere

Continue reading...

Gerry Adams unveils Irish unity-themed Easter egg

Posted on by

Limited supply of chocolate eggs launched by former Sinn Féin president only available in Belfast

Gerry Adams has launched his latest bid for Irish unity, this time in the form of a chocolate egg.

In a video shared on Twitter, the former Sinn Féin president unveiled a “very, very, very special package that we have put together at considerable expense” – a chocolate egg wrapped in a sheet of paper that says #Time4Unity.

Continue reading...

Iceland: aerial footage shows volcanic eruption near Reykjavik – video

Posted on by

A long-dormant volcano in Fagradalsfjall, near Reykjavik in south-west Iceland, flared to life on Friday night, spilling lava down two sides in the area's first volcanic eruption in nearly 800 years. Initial aerial footage posted on social media by the Icelandic Meteorological Office showed a relatively small eruption so far, with two streams of lava running in opposite directions

Continue reading...

China’s first local Covid case since February had been vaccinated – state media

Posted on by

The hospital worker had received two doses of an unspecified vaccine, report says, as much of France re-enters lockdown

China’s first local coronavirus case since February was a staff worker at a hospital who had received two shots of a vaccine between end-January and early February, state media has reported.

The patient, identified by her surname Liu, had been working in the quarantine area of a hospital in Xian city since 4 March, and was mainly responsible for collecting samples from quarantined people for coronavirus testing, the Health Times reported on Saturday.

Continue reading...

Iceland volcano: eruption under way in Fagradalsfjall near Reykjavik

Posted on by

No-fly zone established and public advised to stay away from area as red cloud lights up night sky

A volcano has erupted in Iceland near the capital Reykjavik after thousands of small earthquakes in the area in recent weeks, the Icelandic meteorological office has said.

A red cloud lit up the night sky after the eruption began in Fagradalsfjall on Friday about 40km (25 miles) from the capital Reykjavik. A no-fly zone has been established in the area.

Continue reading...

‘It’s a good day’: enthusiasm in Berlin as AstraZeneca Covid jabs resume

Posted on by

Germans pleased at lifting of suspension, as rise in infections threatens to overwhelm hospitals

Susanne Klaehr, a nursery worker in Berlin, arrived more than two hours early to receive an AstraZeneca jab at Tempelhofer Feld, on Friday as she didn’t want to miss her chance. “It’s a good day for me,” the 53-year-old said. “I even played loud music on the way here.”

Germany has resumed using the AstraZeneca vaccine after pausing its deployment along with many European countries on Monday over fears of a possible link to blood clots.

Continue reading...

‘We were left in the sea’: asylum seekers forced off Lesbos

Posted on by

One refugee’s terrifying story illustrates how ‘pushbacks’ are creating a crisis for the right to asylum at Europe’s borders

“We were all forced on to the boat. If we looked up they shouted at us and hit us in the head. Then they stopped at a place in the sea where there were no other boats, they left us.”

Mustafa, his wife and two young children had only been on the Greek island of Lesbos a few hours when, they say, they were driven in a van to the coast, beaten by masked men and then taken out to sea on a raft and abandoned there.

Continue reading...

Threat of no-deal Brexit remains, peers say, as EU relations sour

Posted on by

Exclusive: Lords committee chair highlights concern EU parliament may delay trade deal ratification

The Brexit deal signed in December has been thrown into jeopardy because of the recent breakdown of relations with the EU, an influential House of Lords committee is warning.

The European Union committee says “the threat of no deal remains”, with the European parliament now declining to set a date for its vote on the trade agreement sealed on Christmas Eve.

Continue reading...