Category Archives: Europe

Rescuers recover migrants’ wedding rings lost at sea

Posted on by

Algerian couple were survivors of a shipwreck in October off the coast of Lampedusa, Italy

On 9 November, a migrant rescue boat came across a red backpack floating in the Mediterranean alongside other remains from a shipwreck that took place weeks before. The rucksack, covered with sea snails and reeking of petrol, contained two wedding rings, inscribed with the names Ahmed and Doudou.

“We thought it was proof of yet another love story that ended up at the bottom of the sea,” said Riccardo Gatti, the president of the NGO Open Arms in Italy, who recovered the personal items. “Unfortunately we find many of these. Most of the time suitcases and bags, floating in the sea, are nothing more than symbols of yet another journey that began in Libya and ended in tragedy.”

Continue reading...

Clashes erupt as police break up makeshift refugee camp in Paris – video report

Posted on by

French police and gendarmes removed tents set up at Place de la République in Paris by refugees in a charity-organised protest on Monday against mass evacuations of homeless camps. Footage posted online showed police and demonstrators pushing against each other as officers moved in to clear the square of tents, which the police said had been set up without official permission. The interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, said on Tuesday that images of the scuffles were 'shocking' and he was launching an investigation into the clashes

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live news: Macron says worst of French second wave over; death tolls in Italy and Spain surge

Posted on by

French president says lockdown to ease; Italy reports most daily deaths since late March; Spain’s daily deaths highest of second wave

Scientists have warned the UK’s Christmas coronavirus plans, which will allow up to three households form a “bubble” to meet over the festive period, will cause the virus to spread and lead to further deaths.

Martin McKee, the professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: “We know that the virus spreads easiest where people mix together, close to each other, for long periods of time indoors. These are exactly the conditions the government seems to be encouraging.”

Brazil registered a further 31,100 confirmed Covid-19 cases over the last 24 hours and 630 deaths, the health ministry said.

The South American nation has now registered 6,118,708 cases since the pandemic began and the official death toll has risen to 170,115, according to ministry data.

Continue reading...

UK, France and Germany discuss working with Joe Biden on Iran nuclear deal

Posted on by

Foreign ministers hope US will lift sanctions in effort to revive 2015 agreement with Tehran

European foreign ministers from Germany, France and the UK have met to discuss a joint approach with the incoming Joe Biden administration on reviving the Iranian nuclear deal.

The three nations, whose ministers met in Berlin, are hoping Tehran can reach an agreement under which the US would lift its crippling sanctions in return for Iran ending its non-compliance with the 2015 agreement constraining its nuclear activities.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live news: Oxford vaccine has up to 90% efficacy; global cases near 60m

Posted on by

Vaccine from Oxford University and AstraZeneca; US suffers one Covid death every minute

AstraZeneca will have 200m doses of its candidate vaccine developed by the University of Oxford by the end of 2020, with 700m ready globally by the end of the first quarter of 2021, operations executive Pam Cheng has said.

Cheng told a briefing that there would be 20m doses in the UK by the end of the year, with 70m more for the UK by the end of March that year.

Pope Francis can relate to people in intensive care units who fear dying from coronavirus because of his own experience when part of his lung was removed 63 years ago, he has been quoted as saying.

The comments are included in excerpts of a new book “Let Us Dream: The Path to A Better Future”, which are carried in Italian newspapers on Monday ahead of publication of the full work next month.

I know from experience the feeling of those who are sick with coronavirus, struggling to breathe as they are attached to a ventilator.

They took about a litre and a half of water out of one lung and I was hanging between life and death.

[The experience] changed my bearings. For months, I didn’t know who I was, if I would live or die, even the doctors didn’t know. I remember hugging my mother one day and asking her if I was about to die.

Thanks to her regular contact with sick people, she knew what patients needed better than the doctor and had the courage to put that experience to work.

Continue reading...

Kremlin critic says UK bank account shut because of Russian ‘black PR’

Posted on by

NatWest denies accusation made by Bill Browder in thinktank report into practice of ruining reputations

A longstanding critic of Kremlin corruption has accused NatWest of closing his bank account in the UK because it had been influenced by an intense and pervasive “black PR” campaign mounted against him by Russian actors in their home country.

“Black PR” is a term referring to a series of connected practices used by Russian state and non-state actors seeking to discredit individuals as part of political or business disputes, and can involve trying to create or obtain kompromat (compromising material) or generating fake media reports.

Continue reading...

German minister condemns lockdown protesters’ Nazi victim comparisons

Posted on by

Heiko Maas criticises young protester who compared herself to Sophie Scholl, a German student executed by the Nazis

German foreign minister, Heiko Maas, on Sunday lashed out at anti-mask protesters comparing themselves to Nazi victims, accusing them of trivialising the Holocaust and “making a mockery” of the courage shown by resistance fighters.

The harsh words came after a young woman took to the stage at a protest against coronavirus restrictions in Hanover on Saturday saying she felt “just like Sophie Scholl”, the German student executed by the Nazis in 1943 for her role in the resistance.

Continue reading...

France to ease Covid rules as Asian countries consider stricter action

Posted on by

WHO says Europe faces third wave early in 2021 if nations repeat their failures to prepare

France is preparing to ease its Covid-19 lockdown rules in the weeks leading up to Christmas with new daily caseloads falling and pressure building from retailers to allow the annual shopping season to go ahead.

But parts of east Asia that were thought to be controlling the disease have raised the possibility of new restrictions.

Continue reading...

Hackers ‘try to steal Covid vaccine secrets in intellectual property war’

Posted on by

Agencies point finger at state-sponsored hackers from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea

State-sponsored hackers from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are engaged in concerted attempts to steal coronavirus vaccine secrets in what security experts describe as “an intellectual property war”.

They accuse hostile-state hackers of trying to obtain trial results early and seize sensitive information about mass production of drugs, at a time when a range of vaccines are close to being approved for the public.

Continue reading...

Hold the 18-course dinners: Noma’s chef opens up a burger joint

Posted on by

The team behind the feted restaurant found Danes queued around the block for their pandemic pop-up

It is one of the best restaurants in the world, known for its 18-course tasting menus costing north of £300 per person and for spawning a culinary movement based on foraging for ingredients.

Now the two Michelin-starred Copenhagen restaurant Noma, run by feted chef René Redzepi, is preparing to open the doors of a new venture: a burger-and-chips joint.

Continue reading...

Italian children take lessons outside school in protest at Covid closures

Posted on by

Movement began with 12-year-old Anita Iacovelli in Turin, who says her message is schools are safe

Temperatures have dropped in recent days in the northern Italian city of Turin, but that hasn’t prevented Anita Iacovelli from persevering in her protest against the closure of her school.

Every day since 6 November, when schools across the city and the wider Piedmont region were closed due to escalating coronavirus infections, the 12-year-old, wearing a hat, gloves and face mask, has sat outside Italo Calvino school and continued with her lessons remotely on a tablet computer. Behind her is a handwritten poster that reads “Learning at school is our right”.

Continue reading...

Libya interior minister campaigns to lead country as fragile peace holds

Posted on by

Fathi Bashagha looks to France for support ahead of elections

Libya’s interior minister has completed a three-day charm offensive in France, as a tentative ceasefire in the war-torn country holds and diplomatic jostling for its leadership roles intensifies.

Fathi Bashagha, who hopes to become Libya’s interim prime minister, is regarded by the United Arab Emirates and forces in the east of Libya as under the influence of both the Muslim Brotherhood and Turkey, a country with which France is increasingly in conflict, not only in Libya but across the Middle East.

Continue reading...

Daniel Cordier, one of last heroes of French resistance, dies aged 100

Posted on by

As secretary to the great resistance leader, Jean Moulin, he helped organise fight against Nazi occupation

One of France’s last remaining French resistance heroes Daniel Cordier, has died aged 100.

One of only two remaining Compagnons de la Libération, an honour awarded by France’s exiled wartime leader, Charles de Gaulle, to those who risked their lives to liberate France from Nazi occupation, Emmanuel Macron said there would be a national ceremony to honour his memory.

Continue reading...

Brexit deal close to being finalised, EU ambassadors told

Posted on by

Most key issues largely agreed, but there is still a danger of no deal by accident, envoys hear

A trade and security agreement with Britain is close to being finalised but the risk remains of an accidental no-deal Brexit in six weeks, with gaps on the contentious issues “slowly shrinking”, EU ambassadors have been told.

With Michel Barnier in self-isolation after an EU negotiator tested positive for coronavirus, the talks will be conducted almost entirely online over the next few days.

Continue reading...

‘What he was doing was in plain sight’: more ex-models accuse Gérald Marie of sexual assault

Posted on by

Exclusive: Another seven women come forward with allegations about the former Elite boss

Seven more women have come forward to accuse the former model agency boss Gérald Marie of sexual misconduct, adding to mounting allegations that have drawn parallels with the disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.

Last month a Guardian investigation revealed that nine women had made sexual misconduct allegations against Marie, who for three decades was one of the most powerful men in the fashion industry.

Continue reading...

Wealthy nations urged to give portion of Covid vaccine as ‘humanitarian buffer’

Posted on by

Stockpile sought for use in rebel-held territories, asylum camps and for others unlikely to receive vaccinations

Public health groups are lobbying countries to commit a portion of their Covid-19 vaccine supplies to a “humanitarian buffer” that would be used to inoculate people living in rebel-held territories, those in asylum-seeker camps and others unlikely to receive vaccinations from their governments.

The emergency stockpile is intended to act as a safety net to ensure the global effort to end the Covid-19 pandemic is not sabotaged by governments using vaccines as bargaining chip with restive populations, or simply denying it to some marginalised groups.

Continue reading...

Mexico deaths pass 100,000 as fragments found in Victorian sewage

Posted on by

Obrador rejects criticism as political attacks; Canada fears big rise in cases could overwhelm hospitals; Italy records 37,242 new cases

This blog is now closed. Follow our continuing coronavirus coverage here

Marshall is asked if he admits there have been shortcomings in South Australia’s hotel quarantine system.

“Not at all. There will be a thorough investigation but what we have said since day one is this is a highly contagious disease ... we know that, very highly trained nurses and with all of their PPE, they have been able to contract the disease, so we know there is a risk associated with every time we bring somebody into this country,” he says.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live news: Russia exceeds 2m cases; Danish mink Covid mutation ‘most likely extinct’

Posted on by

Russia passes landmark number as 23,610 new cases reported; Denmark says no further cases of mutation since mid-September

The UK will be urged to reconsider its opposition to waiving intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines and treatments at a World Trade Organization meeting on Friday, a move that would allow mass production of treatments and inoculations against the disease and could significantly shorten the length of the pandemic, campaigners say.

India and South Africa have proposed that WTO member states be allowed to waive patents and other intellectual property (IP) rights on any treatments and tools related to Covid-19 until the end of the pandemic, including for the Moderna and Pfizer/BionNTech vaccines that are set to be approved for use in the coming weeks.

Related: UK faces calls to drop opposition to patent-free Covid vaccines

More mink mutation news: a number of cases of Covid-19 have been found in people who work in the mink industry in Sweden.

In a statement the Swedish Public Health Agency said it and “the Swedish Veterinary Institute, the Swedish Board of Agriculture and local infection control units are jointly investigating whether there is any connection between the cases and their contact with minks.”

Flera myndigheter utreder fall av covid-19 inom minknäringen. https://t.co/TRDin3ZZHG

Continue reading...

Banking and slavery: Switzerland examines its colonial conscience

Posted on by

BLM protests and fresh historical evidence are raising questions over the legacy of the founder of modern Switzerland, Alfred Escher

Alfred Escher wielded so much power and influence during his lifetime that he was nicknamed King Alfred I. An immense bronze statue of modern Switzerland’s founding father stands, fittingly, in front of Zurich’s main train station. Escher was a politician, but he was also an entrepreneur who founded the country’s railway network along with its leading university and the banking giant Credit Suisse.

The statue in Zurich has memorialised Escher for more than 100 years, but it may not be there much longer. A recently published study on Zurich’s involvement in slavery details problematic connections to Escher. The Escher dynasty owned a coffee plantation in Cuba with more than 80 slaves and Escher himself was involved in its sale.

Continue reading...

Norwegian Air files for bankruptcy protection in Ireland

Posted on by

Low-cost airline to continue reduced flight schedule and shares will still be traded in Oslo

Low-cost airline Norwegian Air has filed for bankruptcy protection in Ireland, becoming the biggest casualty of the coronavirus pandemic in the aviation sector to date.

The troubled carrier has asked an Irish court to carry out a process of examinership. This should protect the group’s assets while it tries to slash debt levels and find new funding as part of a restructuring. It is expected to take as long as five months.

Continue reading...