Analysis: technical problem at Belgium plant failed to produce enough vaccine but EU demanding fulfilment of contract
AstraZeneca warned the European commission on Friday that there would be a significant shortfall in the promised 100m vaccine doses this quarter, of up to 60%. It says this is due to a technical issue: not enough vaccine is being produced by the main plant making the supplies destined for Europe, which is in Belgium.
Continue reading...Artwork celebrating pioneering women saved after city councillors step in to stop Vox party motion
A Madrid mural honouring the lives and achievements of 15 pioneering women, including Nina Simone, Rosa Parks and Frida Kahlo, has been saved from destruction after city councillors stepped in to thwart far-right attempts to have it removed.
The 60-metre (197ft) mural, emblazoned with the slogan: “Your ability doesn’t depend on your gender”, was commissioned by the local council in the Ciudad Lineal neighbourhood and painted on a sports centre wall in 2018.
Continue reading...Italians struggle to fathom Giuseppe Conte’s resignation as prime minister and resulting political limbo
Italy’s political crisis has left the country in limbo in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, raising fears that a power struggle in the heart of government will hamper its economic recovery plan.
The prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, resigned on Tuesday after weeks of feuding with former prime minister Matteo Renzi, who withdrew his small Italia Viva party from the ruling coalition following clashes over the handling of the pandemic and a spending plan for the €209bn (£185bn) Italy is due to receive from the EU’s economic recovery plan.
Continue reading...Fine from by the Norwegian Data Protection Authority is 10% of Grindr’s global annual revenue
Grindr has been fined 100m krone (£8.6m) by the Norwegian Data Protection Authority after an investigation revealed the dating app was sharing deeply personal information with advertisers, including location, sexual orientation and mental health details.
The fine is 10% of Grindr’s global annual revenue and is particularly high because of the personal nature of the information shared.
Continue reading... Red Cross returns nearly 160,000 records, many of which belonged to Dutch Jews sent to Nazi death camps
Nearly 160,000 registration cards belonging to Dutch Jews and people from other persecuted minorities, many of whom were destined for Nazi death camps, will be put on display for the first time in the National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam after being handed over by the Red Cross.
The cards include name, address, date of birth, profession, marital status, family composition and, in three out of four cases, the date of their transport to a concentration camp written in red pencil. They ended up with the Red Cross after the war and were used to locate missing persons.
Continue reading...Commission president says firms must deliver on orders after AstraZeneca warns of shortfall
The EU “means business”, Ursula von der Leyen has said, as the bloc doubled down on plans for tighter monitoring of vaccine exports to countries outside of the union, such as the UK.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum, the president of the European commission said the EU had invested billions and “companies must now deliver” to the 27 member states.
Continue reading...European nationals added to voluntary returns scheme, which can include flights and up to £2,000 for resettlement
EU citizens are being offered financial incentives to leave the UK, the Guardian has learned, months before the deadline to apply for settled status.
From 1 January EU citizens have quietly been added to the government’s voluntary returns scheme where financial support is offered as an encouragement to return to their country of origin.
Continue reading...Canines in Hungarian study appear to pick up unfamiliar terms through play
Whether you can teach an old dog new tricks might be a moot point, but it seems some canines can rapidly learn new words, and do so through play.
While young children are known to quickly pick up the names of new objects, the skill appears to be rare in animals.
Continue reading...French culture minister says it will be quicker and cheaper to close the cultural landmark entirely
The Pompidou Centre, one of Paris’s top cultural attractions and home to Europe’s biggest modern art collection, is to close from 2023 for four years of renovations, France’s culture minister has said.
Designed by architects Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, the Pompidou Centre opened in 1977 and is showing visible signs of ageing.
Continue reading...Resignation expected to be handed in to president Sergio Mattarella on Tuesday morning
Italy’s prime minister Giuseppe Conte will resign on Tuesday in a tactical move aimed at maximising his chances of leading a new government.
Conte will hold a cabinet meeting at 9am CET before officially handing in his resignation to president Sergio Mattarella, his office announced in a statement.
Continue reading...Bloc may receive only half of purchased 100m doses in first quarter of the year
The EU has threatened to block exports of coronavirus vaccines to countries outside the bloc, after AstraZeneca was accused of failing to give a satisfactory explanation for a huge shortfall of promised doses to member states.
The pharmaceutical company’s new distribution plans were said to be “unacceptable” after it “surprisingly” informed the European commission on Friday that there would be significant shortfalls on the original schedule.
Continue reading...Denying mission full privileges under the Vienna convention risks poisoning diplomatic ties, No 10 told
Downing Street has been warned by Brussels that downgrading the status of the EU’s ambassador to the UK will poison diplomatic relations for years to come.
The UK has so far declined to grant the bloc’s representative, João Vale de Almeida, and his 25-strong mission the privileges and immunities afforded to diplomats under the Vienna convention.
Continue reading...Josep Borrell says that while there are no concrete proposals as yet, bloc is ‘ready to react’
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, will fly to Moscow to personally deliver the bloc’s condemnation of the “completely unacceptable” arrest of the opposition leader, Alexei Navalny.
The heads of state and government of the 27 member states will then reassess the EU’s relationship with Russia at a summit in March.
Continue reading...Far-right Vox party leads efforts to erase 60-metre artwork it claims contains ‘political message’
A mural in Madrid celebrating a diverse array of women from Nina Simone and Rosa Parks to Frida Kahlo and the Red Army sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko has become the latest front in Spain’s culture war after the far-right Vox party led efforts to have it removed because of its “political message”.
The 60-metre (197ft) mural, which bears the slogan “Your ability doesn’t depend on your gender”, was commissioned by the local council in the Ciudad Lineal neighbourhood and painted on the wall outside a sports centre in 2018.
Continue reading...Brexit rule changes that make it tricky to tour the EU will hold back UK artists from a fast-growing market
Limiting UK artists from working and touring in the EU post-Brexit will destroy the development of British music, say European industry experts, amid thriving competition from German rap, Spanish pop and more.
British artists now face the need for visas, work permits and equipment carnets when working in the EU, with emerging acts most likely to feel the impact of this costly and time-consuming admin. Over the last month, the UK and the EU have blamed each other for the inability to strike a deal to help the creative industries.
Continue reading...Despite 3,500 arrests and reports of violence, Moscow insists few people turned out
The Kremlin has broken its silence on Russia’s biggest opposition protest in years, claiming the size of the demonstrations against Vladimir Putin were overstated and accusing the US of meddling in Russia’s internal affairs.
A record 3,500 people were arrested as police tried to shut down unsanctioned rallies in 10 time zones across the country in support of Alexei Navalny, the opposition leader who was jailed upon returning to Russia after being treated for a suspected federal security service poisoning.
Continue reading...Human populations are set to decline in countries from Asia to Europe – and an unusual form of rewilding is taking place
For many years it seemed that overpopulation was the looming crisis of our age. Back in 1968, the Stanford biologists Paul and Anne Ehrlich infamously predicted that millions would soon starve to death in their bestselling, doom-saying book The Population Bomb; since then, neo-Malthusian rumblings of imminent disaster have been a continual refrain in certain sections of the environmental movement – fears that were recently given voice on David Attenborough’s documentary Life on our Planet.
At the time the Ehrlichs were publishing their dark prophecies, the world was at its peak of population growth, which at that point was increasing at a rate of 2.1% a year. Since then, the global population has ballooned from 3.5 billion to 7.67 billion.
Continue reading...Russian police arrested more than 3,400 people on Saturday during nationwide protests demanding the release of opposition leader
Continue reading...Exporters advised by Department for International Trade officials to form EU-based companies to circumvent border issues
British businesses that export to the continent are being encouraged by government trade advisers to set up separate companies inside the EU in order to get around extra charges, paperwork and taxes resulting from Brexit, the Observer can reveal.
In an extraordinary twist to the Brexit saga, UK small businesses are being told by advisers working for the Department for International Trade (DIT) that the best way to circumvent border issues and VAT problems that have been piling up since 1 January is to register new firms within the EU single market, from where they can distribute their goods far more freely.
Continue reading...Less than a month after leaving the EU, trade is flowing so badly that small firms are moving operations abroad to survive
Christophe Fricke lectures in German at the University of Bristol and adores living in England. He was born in Germany but his anglophilia became so strong after moving here that he wrote a book called 111 Gründe, England zu lieben (“111 Reasons to Love England”) in 2018. He selected the gardens of Cornwall, the National Portrait Gallery, the way the English use collective nouns for groups of animals (herds, packs, and so on) and their fascination with murder cases in his varied list of reasons for loving this country.
But since 1 January, Fricke has been reminded that there are also worrying things about life in England – and being outside the EU is now chief among them.
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