Category Archives: Europe
Violence over jailing of rapper rocks Spain for third night
Protesters burn barricades in centre of Barcelona as case of Pablo Hasél risks dividing ruling leftwing coalition
Spanish police and protesters have clashed for a third night as the backlash against the jailing of a rapper for controversial tweets continued.
Dozens of people have been arrested since Tuesday night when angry demonstrations erupted after police detained Pablo Hasél, 32, who had been holed up in a university in Catalonia to avoid going to jail in a highly contentious free speech case.
Continue reading...Northern Ireland firms optimistic Brexit barriers will be eased
Business leaders buoyed by meeting with Michael Gove and EU counterpart on protocol glitches
Business leaders in Northern Ireland are optimistic that Brexit barriers preventing parcels, pets, potatoes and plants getting to the region from Britain will be eased after a meeting between Michael Gove and his EU counterpart, Maroš Šefčovič, on Thursday.
They said the UK and the EU had a legitimate reason to remove or ease the barriers because they were having an impact on daily lives, in breach of a pledge in the Northern Ireland protocol that states the “application of this protocol should impact as little as possible on the everyday life of communities in both Ireland and Northern Ireland”.
Continue reading...Macron proposes vaccine sharing plan as UK prepares to host G7
French proposal comes after accusations wealthier nations have ordered more than they need
As Britain prepares to host the G7 club of wealthy nations on Friday under the chairmanship of Boris Johnson, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, has proposed that 5% of its vaccines are sent to poorer countries, especially in Africa.
Johnson is expected to advance a parallel plan to cut the amount of time it takes to create vaccines, and may be unimpressed it has been upstaged by Macron.
Continue reading...‘An eyesore’: thousands protest against Spanish cathedral’s new doors
Planned update to Burgos Cathedral prompts online petition signed by more than 31,000 people
Plans to mark the 800th anniversary of Burgos’s magnificent gothic cathedral with three enormous new bronze doors have ushered in an unholy row, with Unesco advising against the project and critics attacking the €1.2m portals as an “artistic outrage”.
Cathedral authorities in the northern Spanish city say the new doors, designed by the renowned, award-winning artist Antonio López, are a work of contemporary art that will complement “a monument already rendered in five artistic styles that are the fruit of each stage of its eight centuries”. They also point out that the current wooden doors are old and in a poor state of repair.
Continue reading...Iran nuclear deal hangs in balance as Tehran turns screw on US
Western foreign ministers to discuss response to Iranian plan to ban snap intrusive inspections
The future of the Iran nuclear deal is hanging in the balance as the west prepares its response to Iranian plans to increase pressure on Washington by banning snap intrusive inspections of its nuclear sites.
The German, French and British foreign ministers are to confer urgently with the US secretary of state, Tony Blinken, on how to respond to Iran’s plans, which it is expected to implement on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Mink farms a continuing Covid risk to humans and wildlife, warn EU experts
Health experts call for regular testing of staff and animals after coronavirus found at 400 breeding units across Europe
All mink farms are at risk of becoming infected with Covid-19 and spreading the virus, and staff and animals should be regularly tested, EU disease and food safety experts said on Thursday.
Mink are highly susceptible to coronavirus, which spreads rapidly in intensive farms that often breed thousands of animals in open housing caged systems (outdoor wire cages covered with a roof). Humans are the most likely initial source of infection.
Denmark, the world’s largest exporter of mink fur, announced that it would cull up to 15 million mink in November, after discovering a mutated variant of the virus that scientists feared might have jeopardised the effectiveness of future vaccines.
Continue reading...Spanish riot police clash with protesters after rapper arrested
Rubber bullets fired at crowds in Madrid day after Pablo Hasél was detained on charges of glorifying terrorism
Police fired teargas, rubber bullets, and sound bombs at thousands of protesters in Madrid, the day after a rapper was arrested on charges of glorifying terrorism and insulting royalty in his songs.
Protests in the capital’s central Plaza de Sol square were initially peaceful, with people clapping their hands in unison and chanting “No more police violence” and “Freedom for Pablo Hasél”, the rapper detained in the Catalan city of Lleida on Tuesday.
Continue reading...ECHR tells Russia to free Alexei Navalny on safety grounds
Russia says it will ignore ruling, which it calls a ‘blatant and gross interference’ in its affairs
The European court of human rights has told Russia to free Alexei Navalny, prompting a new standoff between Europe and Moscow over the fate of Vladimir Putin’s staunchest critic.
Russia has said it will ignore the ruling despite a requirement to comply as a member of the Council of Europe, calling the court’s decision “blatant and gross interference in the judicial affairs of a sovereign state”.
Continue reading...Mount Etna erupts in spectacular fashion – in pictures
Europe’s most active volcano has been on explosive form, with high lava fountains and several flows of incandescent magma, together with a copious shower of ash and lapilli that reached as far as Catania
Continue reading...New prime minister, Mario Draghi, vows to speed up Italy’s Covid vaccinations
Italy recorded 336 more coronavirus deaths – the second highest rate in Europe
Italy’s new prime minister, Mario Draghi, has pledged to speed up the country’s coronavirus vaccination programme as he presented his government’s priorities before a confidence vote in the upper house of parliament on Wednesday.
In his much-anticipated maiden speech, Draghi, who was sworn into office on Saturday, said the government’s first duty was to “fight the pandemic by all means and safeguard the lives of citizens”.
Continue reading...Free speech protests erupt in Spain after rapper’s arrest – video
Protesters clashed with police in several Spanish cities on Tuesday night after Pablo Rivadulla, known as Pablo Hasél, was arrested to serve a prison sentence for glorifying terrorism and insulting royalty and the police in his lyrics and on social media. Hasél had barricaded himself in Lleida University to highlight 'a hugely serious attack' on freedom, and his arrest has fuelled debate about freedom of speech in Spain and the country’s so-called 'gag law'
Continue reading...Athens accused of ‘downplaying’ risks of lead contamination at Lesbos camp
Campaign group calls for more testing at Mavrovouni, a temporary facility housing thousands of refugees on the Greek island
The Greek government is “downplaying” the risks of lead contamination in the refugee camp on Lesbos, according to Human Rights Watch.
The group is calling for further comprehensive testing at the Mavrovouni camp after results revealed that one area had particularly high levels of lead contamination.
Continue reading...Italians want Mario Draghi to deliver ‘normality’ – and therein lies the danger | Lorenzo Marsili
The problems Europe faces will not be solved by a return to the status quo – complete overhaul of a bankrupt system is needed
“Would it not be simpler for the government to dissolve the people and elect another?” Bertolt Brecht’s line is often quoted after dubious upsets in the democratic process – such as the imposition of Mario Monti’s austerity administration in Italy in 2011, or the crushing of Syriza’s aspirations in Greece in 2015. And yet, Mario Draghi’s top-down appointment as Italy’s new prime minister tells a different story, one that doubles as a cautionary tale for the rest of Europe.
A recent survey shows that 85% of Italians approve of the former European Central Bank chief and establishment prodigy running the government following the collapse of Giuseppe Conte’s administration. This is an astonishing result for a country where combined support for populist parties represented an absolute majority at the last elections. How can such a glaring contradiction be explained?
Continue reading...Europe launches recruitment drive for female and disabled astronauts
European Space Agency aims to take on 26 people for missions to the Moon and eventually to Mars
European space chiefs have launched their first recruitment drive for new astronauts in 11 years, with particular emphasis on encouraging women and people with disabilities to join missions to the Moon and, eventually, Mars.
The European Space Agency (ESA) said on Tuesday that it was looking to boost the diversity of its crews as it cavassed for up to 26 permanent and reserve astronauts.
Continue reading...Russian lab to research prehistoric viruses in animals dug from melted permafrost
Project aims to identify paleoviruses and study virus evolution using the remains, Siberian lab says
A Russian state laboratory has announced that it is launching research into prehistoric viruses by analysing the remains of animals recovered from melted permafrost.
The Siberia-based Vektor lab said in a statement on Tuesday that the aim of the project was to identify paleoviruses and conduct advanced research into virus evolution.
Continue reading...Dutch court reinstates Covid curfew minutes before its start time
Earlier ruling that emergency powers were wrongly used is overturned, with full hearing due on Friday
A Dutch appeals court has ruled that the government’s controversial coronavirus curfew must stay in place until a hearing later this week to decide whether the measure is legal.
The government had been stunned when a lower court judge ruled earlier that it must immediately lift the Netherlands’ first curfew since the second world war because it had wrongly used emergency powers to invoke it.
Continue reading...Unseen work by Proust announced as ‘thunderclap’ by French publisher
The Seventy-Five Pages, out next month, contains germinal versions of episodes developed in In Search of Lost Time and opens ‘the primitive Proustian crypt’
For everyone who decided to bite the madeleine and read all 3,000-odd pages of Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time during lockdown, what’s one more book? French publisher Gallimard has announced that it will be releasing a never-before-published work by the great French writer: Les Soixante-quinze feuillets, or The Seventy-Five Pages, on 18 March.
The texts in The Seventy-Five Pages were written in 1908, around the time Proust began working on In Search of Lost Time, which was published between 1913 and 1927. The papers were part of a collection of documents held by the late publisher Bernard de Fallois, who died in 2018. During his lifetime, De Fallois oversaw the posthumous publication of several Proust works including Jean Santeuil, Proust’s abandoned first novel from the 1890s.
Continue reading...Stars including Sir Ian McKellen urge changes to visa rules for artists
Julie Walters among signatories to letter saying post-Brexit changes a ‘towering hurdle’ to working in Europe
New visa rules for British artists, actors and theatre workers who want to work in Europe after Brexit are a “towering hurdle” that must be urgently addressed, according to an open letter signed by stars including Sir Ian McKellen, Julie Walters and Patrick Stewart.
In the letter from the performing arts union Equity, some of the biggest names in British theatre have implored the prime minister to go back to the negotiating table to ensure visa-free work in the EU.
Continue reading...Italian mayor warns public after black panther sightings
Residents urged to avoid local fields and countryside as authorities in Puglia search for animal
Italian authorities are scouting an area in Puglia where locals have reported seeing a black panther on the loose.
In the last two weeks, several witnesses have spotted and filmed a large, black feline prowling around the province of Bari, near the towns of Castellana Grotte and Acquaviva delle Fonti.
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