Cylinder left in ice by 50 Years of Victory ship travelled 2,300 miles to county Donegal
When the crew and passengers of the nuclear-powered icebreaker ship 50 Years of Victory reached the north pole in 2018, they placed a time capsule in the ice floe.
The metal cylinder contained letters, poems, photographs, badges, beer mats, a menu, wine corks – ephemera from the early 21st century for whomever might discover it in the future.
Continue reading...First air taxis to fly in Catalan capital and Santiago de Compostela in 2022, says Enaire
When Spain’s much-missed tourists and pilgrims finally return, they may be offered a novel way to rise above the crowds and appreciate some of the country’s most dramatic urban architecture.
Enaire, Spain’s air navigation authority, has announced plans to begin demonstrating flying taxis in Barcelona and Santiago de Compostela in 2022.
Continue reading...Bill now needs approval from upper house before becoming law
Activists in Italy have hailed a vote in the lower house of parliament to pass a bill that would make violence against LGBT people and disabled people, as well as misogyny, a hate crime.
The bill, which passed successfully despite months of protests from far-right and Catholic groups, now needs approval from the upper house, where it is backed by the ruling coalition parties, before becoming law.
Continue reading...Hashim Thaçi was guerrilla leader during 1990s war for independence from Serbia
Kosovo’s president, Hashim Thaçi, a guerrilla leader during the country’s war for independence from Serbia in the 1990s, has resigned to face charges for war crimes and crimes against humanity at a special court based in The Hague.
Thaçi announced his resignation at a news conference in Pristina, Kosovo’s capital. He said he was taking the step “to protect the integrity of the presidency of Kosovo”.
Continue reading...Daily Italian total comes as Piedmont, Calabria, Lombardy and Aosta Valley face new restrictions from Friday; three-week restrictions in Greece
The head of France’s public health service has said the coronavirus crisis in the country is getting worse and every day in the fight to slow the spread of infections counts.
“We’re facing a very high wave (of infections),” Jérôme Salomon told a news conference. “The epidemic is progressing. We must all slow the spread together.”
Salomon: "The situation is deteriorating. Every day counts. We have to break the chain of this epidemic. Each of us must act to put a brake on the virus." He is outlining the health safety measures. "The slightest doubt, take a test."
Greece has reported 2,917 new coronavirus cases, hitting a new daily peak hours after authorities announced a second nationwide lockdown is going into effect this Saturday, 7 November.
Thursday’s cases follow on the 2,646 cases reported on Wednesday, which was a new record. Authorities said infections have risen 20% in recent days.
Continue reading...Mutated virus infects 12 humans, sparking concerns that effectiveness of future vaccine could be affected
The world’s largest mink producer, Denmark, says it plans to cull more than 15 million of the animals, due to fears that a Covid-19 mutation moving from mink to humans could jeopardise future vaccines.
At a press conference on Wednesday, the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said 12 people are already infected with the mutated virus and that the mink are now considered a public health risk.
Continue reading...Kujtim Fejzulai believed to have acted alone but known to have been an Isis sympathiser
Austrian police are investigating whether an Islamist terrorist who killed four people in Vienna on Monday night was part of a wider network and if the attack could have been prevented.
Kujtim Fejzulai, known to authorities as a sympathiser of the Islamic State group, which claimed credit for the murders, is believed to have been the lone gunman in the attack despite hours of uncertainty over whether accomplices remained at large.
Continue reading...Move comes amid backlash over president’s views on secularism and freedom of expression
France is looking at appointing a special envoy to explain Emmanuel Macron’s thinking on secularism and freedom of expression in a bid to quell the anti-French backlash growing in some Muslim countries, officials have said.
The growth in anti-French sentiment also has the potential to deepen the already entrenched conflict between Macron and Turkey over Libya and oil exploration in the eastern Mediterranean.
Continue reading...France sees 854 new deaths and 36,330 new cases; UK sees highest deaths since May; Italy fears ‘tsunami’ of hospitalisations.
Twitter has permanently suspended the account of the conspiracy theorist David Icke. A spokesman for the social media platform said Icke had violated its rules regarding coronavirus misinformation, PA Media reports.
The move follows the decision by YouTube and Facebook to terminate Icke’s accounts in early May for the same reason.
Related: Twitter permanently suspends conspiracy theorist David Icke’s account
Here is what we know so far about the US election. Among other things:
According to a CNN nationwide exit poll, about a third of voters said the economy was most important to them, around one in five said racial inequality and about one in six said the coronavirus pandemic.
We'll be updating this summary of what we know – and don't know – throughout the night:https://t.co/LZqwjQNhbl
Continue reading...Kujtim Fejzulai deceived mentors in deradicalisation programme, minister says
An Islamic State-supporting gunman who killed four people and injured 23 others in an attack in central Vienna on Monday night deliberately “deceived” his mentors in a deradicalisation programme to feign a renunciation of jihadism, Austria’s interior minister has said.
The 20-year-old dual Austrian and North Macedonian citizen, named as Kujtim Fejzulai, was shot dead by police nine minutes after opening fire in the Austrian capital’s first district at 8pm.
Continue reading...Fact that Isis attacks have declined in EU does not mean threat has disappeared, says expert
Does the attack in Vienna on Monday night presage a return to the darkest days of the wave of terrorist violence that shook Europe between 2012 and 2017?
Over that five-year period, hundreds died in lethal stabbings, attacks with cleavers, bombings of stadiums and airports, as well as assaults by multiple gunmen in city centres with AK-47s that bear horrible resemblance both to that still being investigated in the Austrian capital and the spate of attacks in France in recent weeks.
Continue reading...Anti-government rallies continue over court’s ruling to restrict access to terminations
Poland’s rightwing government has delayed implementation of a controversial court ruling that would outlaw almost all abortion after it prompted the largest protests since the fall of communism.
“There is a discussion going on, and it would be good to take some time for dialogue and for finding a new position in this situation, which is difficult and stirs high emotions,” Michał Dworczyk, the head of the prime minister’s office, told Polish media on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Disgraced ex-monarch already under investigation over role in €6.7bn Saudi Arabia deal
Spain’s attorney general has instructed supreme court prosecutors to investigate new corruption allegations against the country’s disgraced former king.
Juan Carlos, who abdicated in 2014, is already under investigation over his alleged role in a deal under which a Spanish consortium won a €6.7bn (£5.9bn) contract to build a high-speed rail line in Saudi Arabia.
Continue reading...Government confirms five people including suspected attacker have died
Here is more on the chancellor’s speech, from my colleague, Kate Connolly:
He said that the “Republic of Austria and its people have been the target of a brutal terror attack” in which “four citizens have been cold-bloodedly murdered.”
The Israelitische Kultusgemeinde (IKG) in Austria, the organisation representing the Jewish community, has said it has closed all its synagogues and related institutes across the country, following Monday night’s attacks in Vienna.
The decision affects synagogues, as well as kosher restaurants, Jewish supermarkets, schools and cultural centres, said Erich Nuler, spokesman for the IKG’s crisis committee, according to the Austrian daily Der Standard.
Continue reading...Portugal considering state of emergency; Italy’s coronavirus strategy is ‘wasting time’, says scientific advisor; Germany begins ‘light lockdown’. Follow the latest updates.
In the UK Liverpool (otherwise known as the World’s Best City) is set to become the first to have mass test-and-trace operation. My colleagues Sarah Boseley and Jess Elgot write:
Up to half a million people in Liverpool will be tested for Covid-19 under the UK government’s first attempt to embark on city-wide mass testing.
Related: Liverpool to pioneer UK's first attempt at mass Covid testing
Indonesia has reported 2,973 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of infections to 418,375, according to data from the country’s health ministry.
The country has also reported an additional 102 deaths, taking the total number of fatalities to 14,146.
Continue reading...Attack in busy restaurant district of Austrian capital on eve of new Covid lockdown
Austrian police have made several arrests at addresses linked to a suspected Islamic State sympathiser who killed at least four people in a terrorist shooting attack in Vienna on Monday night.
Two men and two women died from their injuries after the attack in the centre of the Austrian capital, which took place hours before a coronavirus lockdown started.
Continue reading...Arrest of Félicien Kabuga in Paris has energised search for others accused of playing role in 1994 genocide
No one paid much attention to the stooped old man who lived in the third-floor apartment of the comfortable but unexceptional block in Asnières-sur-Seine, a suburb on the outskirts of Paris. He shuffled off for his daily walks, and muttered inaudibly to those who greeted him.
Then one morning in late May, 84-year-old Félicien Kabuga’s neighbours woke up to the startling news that they had been living next to an alleged mass killer.
Continue reading...Country aims to be one of first to test entire population of 5.4 million people for virus
Two-thirds of Slovakia’s population of 5.4 million people were tested for coronavirus over the weekend as part of a programme aimed at making it one of the first countries to test its entire population.
Antigen tests were carried out on 3.625 million people – of whom 38,359, or 1.06%, were found to be positive.
Continue reading...A metro train that overran the stop blocks at a station outside Rotterdam has been left balancing 10 metres above ground on the plastic tail of a whale sculpture. The metro driver was reportedly able to free himself from the train without injury after the incident shortly after midnight on Monday morning. There were no passengers onboard
Continue reading...Businessman Vladimir Marugov found dead after intruders broke into his home
Several intruders broke into a sauna at the home of a Russian meat tycoon known as the “Sausage King” outside Moscow early on Monday, tied him and a woman up and demanded money before killing him with a crossbow.
The woman managed to escape the attack in the Moscow region and alert the police but the businessman was dead when officers arrived at the scene, said the Investigative Committee, which positions itself as a Russian version of the FBI.
Continue reading...