Category Archives: Europe

Coronavirus live news: Paris prepares for new lockdown at midnight; German hospitals ‘could be overwhelmed’

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French PM announces limited lockdown for Paris and other regions; German health authorities warn of ‘exponential’ rise in cases

Vaccinations with the AstraZeneca jab in France can resume with immediate effect, the national authority for health announced on Friday.

However, the agency recommended the jab be only given to people aged 55 and older for the time being.

The new coronavirus variant first discovered in the UK, known to be highly contagious, makes up more than 60% of cases in Poland and will soon reach 80%, a Polish health ministry spokesman said on Friday.

Poland is grappling with the third wave of the pandemic and has seen a sharp recent spike in cases driven by the variant originating in the UK, Reuters reports.

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Clot theory curdles into junkets for migrants on Isle of Man

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PM welcomes vaccine safety vow, then spots new offshore home for folk trafficked here under false pretence – of getting a welcome

After a morning spent painting flowers at a primary school in his Uxbridge constituency, Britain’s prize clot returned to Downing Street to lead a press conference on clots. Blood clots to be precise.

Following the decision of some countries to suspend their Oxford AstraZeneca vaccination programmes over concerns of blood clot side-effects, Boris Johnson was happy to report that the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency had declared the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to be absolutely safe.

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European countries to resume AstraZeneca jabs after safety backing

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EMA says benefits outweigh risks but it is continuing to study possible link with very rare blood clotting disorder

Italy, France and several other countries will resume administering AstraZeneca jabs from Friday after Europe’s medicines regulator said the vaccine was “safe and effective” and its benefits outweighed its risks.

Germany and Portugal will resume on Monday, Spain and the Netherlands next week, while Sweden’s public health agency said it would take “a few days” to decide.

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AstraZeneca vaccine ‘safe and effective’, says European Medicines Agency – video

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The Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine is 'safe and effective' and its benefits outweigh the risks, Europe’s medicines regulator has said. The director of the European Medicines Agency, Emer Cooke, said the agency’s safety committee had reached 'a clear scientific conclusion' and had not found that the vaccine was associated with an increase in the overall risk of blood clots

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Dominic Raab ‘totally misunderstands’ Northern Ireland Brexit terms, warns EU

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European vice-president Maroš Šefčovič says claim about Brussels trying to erect barrier down Irish Sea undermines UK’s reputation

Britain’s foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has been accused by Brussels of displaying a “total misunderstanding” of the Brexit deal after claiming the EU was trying to erect a barrier between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

Maroš Šefčovič, the European commission’s vice-president, said Raab’s comments raised major questions, and warned that Britain was tarnishing its global reputation by ignoring the terms of its agreements with Brussels.

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Russia’s Eurovision entry to be investigated for ‘illegal’ lyrics

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Manizha’s song Russian Woman incites hatred towards men and should be banned from the contest, say critics

Russian investigators said they will examine the lyrics of the country’s entry to this year’s Eurovision song contest after it angered conservative groups who accused its Tajikistan-born singer of inciting hatred towards men.

Manizha Sangin, known as Manizha, is set to perform the song Russian Woman at Eurovision in the Netherlands in May. The song praises the strength of Russian women, urging them to be more independent and to resist sexist views on beauty, age and bearing children.

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‘Women-only’ housework questions on Italian Covid form spark ridicule

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Health authority in Lombardy withdraws questionnaire for patients after sexism complaints

A health authority in Italy’s Lombardy region has come under fire after distributing a questionnaire to recovering Covid-19 patients that included questions about cooking and housekeeping aimed solely at women.

The questionnaire, issued by the ASST Rhodense health authority in Milan and intended to capture the lingering symptoms of coronavirus, was being given to patients invited back to hospitals for check-ups.

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Firefighters should not face charge of raping girl, French court rules

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Accused will face lesser offence of sexual assault in ‘Julie’ case that has sparked protests across France

France’s highest court has ruled that firefighters accused of raping a girl when she was aged between 13 and 15 should be charged with the lesser offence of sexual assault.

A woman known as Julie claims she was raped over a period of two years after being groomed by a firefighter in 2008, when she was a girl aged 13, and that he later introduced her to his colleagues. Three accused men have admitted having sex with her but say it was consensual. Seventeen others have not been charged.

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‘It is humbling’: Mark Rutte claims fourth term in Netherlands election – video

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Mark Rutte has claimed an 'overwhelming' victory in national elections in the Netherlands, vowing to use a fourth term in office to rebuild the country after the coronavirus pandemic.

Exit polls on Wednesday night suggested the VVD party had won 35 of the Dutch parliament's 150 seats, two more than in the previous election, while the pro-European D66 party finished second with 27 seats, up eight and the party’s best ever result.

The far-right, anti-Islam Freedom party (PVV) of Geert Wilders, meanwhile, lost three seats compared with the 2017 election, finishing third, equal with the Christian Democrats (CDA)

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Netherlands election: Mark Rutte claims fourth term with ‘overwhelming’ victory

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Exit polls suggest the prime minister’s VVD party increased its share of seats as it won a national ballot seen as referendum on handling of Covid crisis

Mark Rutte has claimed an “overwhelming” victory in national elections in the Netherlands, vowing to use a fourth term in office to rebuild the country after the coronavirus pandemic.

Following a dull campaign fought during the pandemic and seen as a referendum on the government’s performance during the crisis, exit polls suggested the VVD had won 35 of the Dutch parliaments 150 seats, two more than in the previous election.

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Twitter told to delete Russian opposition’s online news content

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Ban on Khodorkovsky-founded outlet follows Kremlin threat to block entire social network

Russia’s media watchdog has told Twitter to delete the account of an opposition news outlet following threats from Moscow to block the social network entirely if it did not remove “banned content” within a month.

The moves are part of a wider crackdown on social media and the opposition after protests supporting the jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, which were organised via online platforms.

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Denmark plans to limit ‘non-western’ residents in disadvantaged areas

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Interior ministry’s proposed limit of 30% part of bill to crack down further on poor neighbourhoods

Denmark has announced plans to crack down further on disadvantaged neighbourhoods by reducing the number of “non-western” residents, scrapping the controversial term “ghetto” in its proposed legislation.

In the bill – a review of existing legislation on combatting “parallel societies” – the interior ministry proposed that the share of residents of “non-western” origin in each neighbourhood be limited to a maximum of 30% within 10 years.

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Ursula von der Leyen says EU could halt vaccine exports to UK – video

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The EU commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has hinted that the bloc could withhold vaccine exports to the UK, reopening a dispute with the British government over supply delays affecting the European inoculation campaign. 'We want reciprocity,' she said. 'This is an invitation to show us that there are also doses coming to us from the UK'

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Covid: EU unveils ‘digital green certificate’ to allow citizens to travel

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Plan will also allow states most reliant on tourism to make bilateral arrangements with non-EU members – including UK

The European commission has unveiled a “digital green certificate” that could allow EU citizens who have been vaccinated, tested negative or recovered from Covid-19 to travel more freely within the bloc this summer.

The plan would also allow southern states such as Spain, Greece and Portugal, whose economies are most reliant on tourism, to make bilateral arrangements with non-EU members – including Britain – providing the deals are approved by the commission.

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From Tipperary to Silicon Valley: how Stripe became vital cog in digital economy

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Brothers Patrick and John Collison’s online payments empire is now valued at $95bn

The latest fundraising round by the digital payments firm Stripe has boosted the net worth of its co-founders, Patrick and John Collison, to about $11.5bn (£8.3bn) each, catapulting them into the top bracket of the world’s millennial billionaires. Not bad for two brothers from the tiny Tipperary village of Dromineer, population: barely 100.

Related: Silicon Valley's Stripe valued at $95bn after fundraising

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ChimpanZoom? Primates at Czech zoo go wild for video calls

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To make up for lack of interaction under Covid-19 restrictions, apes at zoos 150km apart can now watch each others’ daily lives on big screens

Humans might be tiring of video calls, Zoom birthdays and streamed performances, but the chimps at two Czech zoos are just starting to enjoy their new live online link-up.

To make up for the lack of interaction with visitors since the attractions closed in December under Covid-19 restrictions, the chimpanzees at Safari Park Dvur Kralove and the troop at a zoo 150km away in in Brno, can now watch one another’s daily lives on giant screens.

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Benefits of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine ‘firmly outweigh any risk’, says EMA director – video

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The EMA is conducting an investigation into the safety of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine after Germany, France, Italy and other EU countries suspended its use over isolated cases of bleeding, blood clots and low platelet counts. 

Director Emer Cooke stated the EMA is "still firmly convinced the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine … outweigh the risk of these side effects." The investigative panel will meet again on Thursday when they will publish their findings to the public.

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AstraZeneca jab: EU regulator ‘firmly convinced’ benefits outweigh risks

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Agency says there are ‘no indications’ the vaccine causes blood clots, but the risk may be higher for some groups

The EU’s medicines regulator has said it remains “firmly convinced” the benefits of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine outweigh the risks, but isolated cases of blood clots “are a serious concern and need serious and detailed scientific evaluation”.

Emer Cooke, the head of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), said there was no indication that the shot had caused any of the incidents, but the agency was investigating them thoroughly and would report it conclusions on Thursday.

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French MPs approve ‘non-consent’ law to protect children from sexual abuse

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Draft legislation says a child under 15 cannot be considered to have willingly engaged in a sexual act

French MPs have unanimously approved a long-awaited draft law to protect children from rape and sexual abuse.

The legislation, drawn up after a series of scandals involving high-profile figures, establishes an age of “non-consent” at 15 under which a child cannot be considered to have willingly engaged in a sexual act. In cases of incest, the age has been set at 18.

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‘I’m not scared, just tired’: Icelanders lose sleep over earthquake tremors

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Scientists call it an unprecedented seismic event – but residents dread an imminent volcanic eruption

Icelanders are yearning for some undisturbed shut-eye after tremors from tens of thousands of earthquakes have rattled their sleep for weeks in what scientists call an unprecedented seismic event, which might well end in a spectacular volcanic eruption.

“At the moment we’re feeling it constantly. It’s like you’re walking over a fragile suspension bridge,” said Rannveig Gudmundsdottir, a lifelong resident in the town of Grindavik.

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