Category Archives: Europe

Tour groups and airlines shed more than £2bn after Portugal downgrade

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EasyJet boss Johan Lundgren accuses government of tearing up ‘its own rulebook’ as tourism industry feels pain

Tour operators and airlines lost more than £2bn in value after the government removed Portugal from the “green list” of countries exempt from significant travel restrictions, prompting dismay and anger within the hard-hit tourism industry.

Less than a month after Portugal became the first big destination to be granted green list status, prompting a much-needed boom in holiday sales, the government reversed the decision.

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Portugal removed from ‘green list’ of Covid travel destinations

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No countries added to England’s quarantine-free holiday register as seven moved from amber to red

Portugal has been taken off the UK’s “green list” of destinations from which people can return to England without having to quarantine. The government has said the threat of new Covid-19 variants means that less restricted travel could jeopardise domestic unlocking.

No countries were added to the green list, but seven more – Afghanistan, Bahrain, Costa Rica, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Sudan, and Trinidad and Tobago – were moved from the amber list to the red list of nations to which almost all travel is barred, the Department for Transport said.

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Thirteen on trial over online threats to French teen who insulted Islam

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Social media rants by 16-year-old named Mila fuelled debate about right to offend people’s religious beliefs

Thirteen people have gone on trial in France charged with online harassment, including death threats, against a teenage girl who was placed under police protection after posting anti-Islam rants on social media.

The girl, named only as Mila, was forced to change schools over her expletive-laden videos, and the episode fuelled a debate about the right to offend people’s religious beliefs.

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Cyprus could block EU adoption of minimum corporate tax plan

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EU directive on Joe Biden’s proposal for 15% tax rate on multinationals would require unanimous support

Cyprus could veto the EU’s adoption of Joe Biden’s proposal of a global minimum corporate tax rate, the country’s finance minister has suggested.

A White House proposal of a 15% tax rate for multinationals applied to profits in all jurisdictions is expected to be endorsed in principle by finance ministers of the world’s seven largest economies, the G7, at an upcoming meeting in Cornwall.

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‘None of the evidence was enough’: Czech women fight to criminalise all non-consensual sex

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In the Czech Republic, the legal definition of rape requires the threat of violence. Campaigners say it is failing victims

“I felt so lost when I heard the court verdict; as if the fact that he raped me was somehow not enough,” said Jana Novak.

Novak, from Prague, pressed charges against her attacker in 2019 and endured an 18-month-long court case. “I had all the evidence, the creepy messages, the medical notes,” said Novak, whose name has been changed to protect her identity. “But none of it was enough.” While the court found that there had been non-consensual sex, the defendant was acquitted on the basis that there was insufficient evidence it constituted rape.

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Denmark passes law to relocate asylum seekers outside Europe

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UN opposed bill for fear it would erode refugees’ rights and encourage other EU states to follow suit

Denmark has passed a law enabling it to process asylum seekers outside Europe, drawing anger from human rights advocates, the UN and European Commission.

Politicians in the wealthy Scandinavian nation, which has gained notoriety for its hardline immigration policies over the last decade, passed the law with 70 votes in favour and 24 against.

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Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

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Microsoft Round Island One is ‘tax resident’ in Bermuda, with no employees except directors

An Irish subsidiary of Microsoft made a profit of $315bn (£222bn) last year but paid no corporation tax, as it is “resident” for tax purposes in Bermuda.

The profit generated by the company, Microsoft Round Island One, is equal to nearly three-quarters of Ireland’s entire gross domestic product (GDP) – even though it has zero employees.

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ECJ rejects Hungarian case against MEPs’ vote to pursue sanctions

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Hungary fails in attempt to argue abstentions should have been taken into account in 2018 vote

The European court of justice has dismissed an attempt by Hungary to reverse the outcome of a vote by MEPs that for the first time in the EU’s history triggered a process that could lead to a country being stripped of voting rights in Brussels.

A resolution in 2018 raising concerns over the independence of Hungary’s judiciary, the functioning of its constitution and attacks on freedoms of association, religion and expression passed by a majority of votes cast.

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‘A question of dignity’: the pathologist identifying migrants drowned in the Med

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Dr Cristina Catteneo made it her mission to put a name to each man, woman and child found in the overcrowded hulls of sunken boats bound for Europe

At a glance, Dr Cristina Cattaneo assessed the lifeless body on the floor of an abandoned Sicilian hospital – a thin, young Eritrean refugee about 180cm tall. While most of the corpse was intact, his face and hands were skeletonised, probably the work of sea animals.

It was the morning of 3 July 2015, and this was the first body to be recovered by a navy robot after a shipwreck on 18 April that year, which left more than 1,000 people dead.

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US sets – and quickly suspends – tariffs on UK and others over digital taxes

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Biden administration suspended duties to allow time for negotiations over digital-services taxes on US tech companies

The Biden administration announced 25% tariffs on over $2bn worth of imports from the UK and five other countries on Wednesday over their taxes on US technology companies, but immediately suspended the duties to allow time for negotiations to continue.

The US trade representative, Katherine Tai, said the threatened tariffs on goods from Britain, Italy, Spain, Turkey, India and Austria had been agreed after an investigation concluded that their digital taxes discriminated against US companies.

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Ex-Austrian minister who danced with Putin at wedding lands Russian oil job

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Karin Kneissl has been given seat on board of directors at Rosneft, which is controlled by the Russian state

A former Austrian foreign minister who danced with Vladimir Putin at her wedding has been given a seat on the board of directors of the Russian state-controlled oil industry giant Rosneft, the company has annnounced.

Karin Kneissl shot to infamy after she invited Putin to her wedding. Images of her dancing with the Russian leader in Gamlitz in the south-eastern state of Styria near the Slovenian border, went around the world in August 2018.

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EU delays adding UK to Covid ‘white list’ over fears of Delta variant

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Decision not to lift travel restrictions follows rise in cases linked to variant first identified in India

The EU has delayed putting the UK on a “white list” of countries from where non-essential travel into the bloc is approved because of concerns about the rise in cases linked to the Delta variant first identified in India.

Japan, which is in an extended state of emergency during which there has been a sustained reduction in the number of new infections, has been added to the list, diplomatic sources said. The country is due to host the Olympic Games on 23 July.

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‘So many revolutions to lead’: Europe’s Gen Z on their post-Covid future

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As part of the Guardian’s 200th anniversary, we asked young people how the worst global pandemic in a century has affected their lives, hopes and dreams. Fifty from Europe’s Generation Z tell us how they see their future

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Macron aims to take pulse of nation on political tour de France

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President begins pre-election meet-the-people exercise with visit to Lot department in south-west

Emmanuel Macron has set off on his six-week political tour de France aimed at “taking the pulse” of the country as it emerges from the coronavirus crisis.

In the run-up to regional elections this month and, more importantly, the presidential battle next year, the French leader will make two regional visits a week until mid-July.

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Coronavirus live news: India aims for 10m Covid jabs a day by July; WHO approves Chinese Sinovac jab

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So far nearly 45 million people fully vaccinated, 4.7% of India’s adult population; Sinovac is second Chinese vaccine approved as safe by WHO

The Coachella music festival will return to the US in April 2022, organisers have announced.

The 2020 event was scheduled for April of that year before being pushed to October.

New infection control guidance to help keep NHS workers safe from Covid-19 “falls short”, leading nurses in the UK said.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said that the updated official Covid-19 infection prevention and control guidance “focuses too much on aerosol generating procedures as the main risk”. But doctors have welcomed the new guidance as a “step in the right direction”, PA reports. Concerns were raised early on in the pandemic that medics were not able to get access to appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) amid a worldwide shortage.

The guidance, issued jointly by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) as well as public health agencies across the UK’s four nations and NHS England, has been updated to “strengthen existing messaging”, it states.

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UK and France to blame for chaos in Libya, says presidential hopeful

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Former interior minister Fathi Bashagha claims ‘lazy’ UK failing in moral responsibility after 2011 Europe-led regime change

The UK has been distracted by Brexit and “lazy” in fulfilling its moral responsibility to pull Libya out of the chaos that enveloped it after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, a leading presidential candidate claimed.

The candidate, Fathi Bashagha, a former interior minister, who narrowly failed to become prime minister of an interim Libyan government in a UN process in February, said the UK had a special duty to come to Libya’s aid given David Cameron’s role in the country’s 2011 regime change.

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Red faces in Rome as street plaque misspells ex-president’s name

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President Sergio Mattarella forced to abandon dedication after officials noticed mistake on stone plaque

The Italian president, Sergio Mattarella, was forced to abandon a ceremony dedicating a road in Rome to one of his predecessors, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, after officials noticed the name on the stone plaque was misspelled.

Instead of “Azeglio”, the street marker said “Azelio”. Mattarella had already turned up to the event on Tuesday, alongside members of Ciampi’s family and the mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi, before the embarrassing mistake was noticed, with the lettering showing up clearly through the translucent cloth covering the plaque.

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Belarusian activist stabs himself in court

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Stsiapan Latypau carried out unconscious after claiming he was pressured to plead guilty

A Belarusian opposition activist stabbed himself in the throat with a pen during a court hearing after claiming investigators had pressured him to plead guilty or face his family and friends being arrested.

Footage from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty showed Stsiapan Latypau, who has organised protests against the country’s authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, lying inside a defendant’s cage as witnesses screamed in a courtroom in Minsk.

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UK ranked last in Europe for bathing water quality in 2020

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European Environment Agency judges only 110 British coastal and inland sites to be excellent

Swimmers in the UK hoping to enjoy waters certified clean and healthy this summer have been let down again. Only 110 coastal and inland sites were judged excellent in the latest bathing water quality data from Europe’s environmental watchdog.

Most of the UK’s bathing sites were not classified in 2020, however, because Covid-19 restrictions prevented sampling. This meant that out of 640 sites, 457 received no verdict in the rankings, compiled annually by the European Environment Agency and published on Tuesday.

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Biden corporate tax plan could earn EU and UK billions, study shows

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EU forecast to reap extra €50bn per year with UK expected to gain €200m from BP alone

A proposal to be tabled by the US president, Joe Biden, at the upcoming G7 meeting for a 15% global corporate tax rate could reap the EU €50bn (£43bn) a year, and earn the UK nearly €200m extra alone from the British multinational BP, according to research.

Should the tax rate be set higher at 25%, the lowest current rate within the seven largest world economies, the EU would earn nearly €170bn extra a year – more than 50% of current corporate tax revenue and 12% of total health spending in the bloc.

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