Category Archives: Europe

Coronavirus live news: Boris Johnson to hold crisis meeting as India joins countries banning flights from UK

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India joins France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland, Bulgaria in flight bans over new strain; US aid bill should have votes to pass

That’s all from me, Caroline Davies. Thank you for your time. Handing over now to my colleague Aamna Mohdin.

The chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, Ken Marsh, has said there is “no way” officers will be knocking on the doors of “normal” households in London to check coronavirus restrictions were being followed now the city is in Tier 4.

“We won’t be knocking on people’s doors at all, unless there is a large group and noise, ie a party or something like that.

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France travel ban will not have major impact food imports in short term, says Grant Shapps – video

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France’s 48-hour ban on freight hauliers from Britain came as a surprise, the UK transport secretary has admitted, amid expected chaos at British ports. But Grant Shapps said the disruption would not cause food and medicine shortages in the short term because other freight routes remain available

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France’s ban on UK transport came as surprise, says Grant Shapps

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Transport secretary says UK aims to resolve issue ‘as soon as possible’ amid fears over new Covid strain

France’s 48-hour ban on freight hauliers from Britain was “surprising”, the UK transport secretary has said, amid expected chaos at British ports.

Although Grant Shapps said the disruption was not a “specific problem” in regards to food and medicine shortages in the short term, the government’s aim was to “get this resolved as soon as possible”.

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Multiple European countries ban travel from UK over new Covid strain

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WHO tells members to redouble efforts to stop spread as Israel turns away UK passport holders

European countries have begun to close their doors to travellers from the UK after the discovery of a fast-spreading strain of Covid-19 in England.

As the World Health Organization called on its members in Europe to step up measures, countries including France, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands announced bans on travel from the UK.

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As Covid death toll soars ever higher, Sweden wonders who to blame

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Champions of herd immunity once lauded the Nordic refuseniks. All that has changed now

“Thanks for reminding me,” Sweden’s state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell replied deadpan when the Observer asked in late March how he handled the knowledge that he would be to blame if Sweden’s decision to forego a lockdown were to go badly wrong.

“But seriously,” he continued, “I might look like a figurehead but agencies in Sweden are very much working as a whole. This isn’t something I decide alone in my office every morning.”

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Early humans may have survived the harsh winters by hibernating

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Seasonal damage in bone fossils in Spain suggests Neanderthals and their predecessors followed the same strategy as cave bears

Bears do it. Bats do it. Even European hedgehogs do it. And now it turns out that early human beings may also have been at it. They hibernated, according to fossil experts.

Evidence from bones found at one of the world’s most important fossil sites suggests that our hominid predecessors may have dealt with extreme cold hundreds of thousands of years ago by sleeping through the winter.

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Bosnian city of Mostar goes to polls after 12 years of deadlock

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City has been divided on ethnic lines leading to vital services not functioning

Polls have opened in the city of Mostar in the first local elections in 12 years following a dispute between parties representing the city’s two main ethnic groups that paralysed municipal institutions for more than a decade.

The city of 100,000, known for its picturesque Ottoman architecture, became one of the symbols of the devastating conflict in Bosnia in the 1990s, when its famous stone bridge was destroyed. The bridge was reconstructed in the early 2000s, but the city remains divided along largely ethnic lines. Since the end of the conflict, the west side of the city is mostly populated by Croats, and the east side by Bosniaks.

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No clues, no leads … now winter snows could cover last trace of missing hiker

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As the police search for Esther Dingley winds down in the Pyrenees, the theories around her disappearance multiply

Police in Spain have begun scaling back the search for a British hiker missing in the Pyrenees, almost a month after she disappeared without a trace.

Sharing an update of their investigation into the puzzling disappearance of Esther Dingley, the Guardia Civil also said that they were no longer using helicopters to scan the vast mountain range for signs of the 37-year-old.

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Charlie Hebdo: four men charged over Paris knife attack

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Arrest of Pakistanis held on suspicion of inciting attacker comes after court convicts 14 people linked to 2015 terrorist massacre

French authorities have charged and detained four Pakistanis suspected of links to a meat cleaver attack by a compatriot outside the former offices of the Charlie Hebdo weekly that wounded two people, the national counter-terrorism prosecutor’s office has said.

The four male suspects, aged 17 to 21, were in contact with the attacker, a source familiar with the case said on Friday.

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Brexit trade talks may continue after MEPs’ deadline, says France

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European affairs minister, Clément Beaune, says Paris will not be rushed into deal over next 48 hours

The European parliament’s Sunday deadline may pass without agreement on a post-Brexit trade and security deal, France’s European affairs minister, Clément Beaune, has said, as British and EU negotiators continued to haggle over fishing rights.

MEPs have said they will stage a vote of consent on 28 December if terms are agreed by the two sides by midnight central European time on Sunday, raising the stakes for a weekend deal.

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Armenia begins period of mourning for victims of Azerbaijan clashes

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Three-day event comes as calls grow for PM to resign over handling of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

Armenia began three days of mourning on Saturday for the victims of clashes with Azerbaijan as the opposition kept up pressure on the country’s leader to resign over the handling of the conflict.

More than 5,000 people including civilians were killed in Armenia and Azerbaijan when clashes erupted between the ex-Soviet enemies in late September over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

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French modelling agent charged in Jeffrey Epstein inquiry

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Jean-Luc Brunel charged in France with sexual harassment and the rape of minors over 15 years old

A modelling agent associated with the disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein has been charged in France with sexual harassment and the rape of minors over 15 years old.

Jean-Luc Brunel was arrested on Wednesday at Charles de Gaulle airport as he was preparing to take a flight to Senegal.

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‘It can affect anyone’: Macron urges French to follow rules after contracting Covid – video

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Emmanuel Macron has blamed his coronavirus infection on a combination of negligence and bad luck and urged his compatriots to stay safe in a self-shot video. The French president was isolating with symptoms that included headaches, fatigue and a dry cough. 'Despite everything I caught this virus,' Macron said. 'Perhaps, doubtless, a moment of negligence, a moment of bad luck too.'

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Covid: Austrians who pass antigen test to be exempt from lockdown

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Italy prepares for national lockdown over Christmas; Spanish minister warns of third wave

Austria is to enter a third lockdown from Boxing Day but will stage mass coronavirus tests in mid-January to determine who will be exempt from certain restrictions, the government announced on Friday.

Italy is preparing to outline new measures that could lead to a complete lockdown over the Christmas and new year period, while the Spanish government has warned of a possible “third wave” of infections.

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Michel Barnier seeks to end Brexit deadlock with fresh fishing proposal

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EU chief responds in final hours to Boris Johnson’s request for Brussels to seal deal

Michel Barnier has sought to break the deadlock in what he described as the final “few hours” of the post-Brexit trade talks with a new proposal on EU fishing access in British waters, after Boris Johnson called on Brussels to move to seal a deal.

After meetings with aides to the EU’s heads of state and government and fisheries ministers, Barnier was locked in late-night discussions with the UK negotiators led by David Frost, at what Barnier described as a “moment of truth”.

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Belgian minister tweets EU’s Covid vaccine price list to anger of manufacturers

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Pharmaceutical companies complain of breach of confidentiality after amount EU has agreed to pay for leading vaccines goes public

A Belgian minister has blown the lid off a sensitive and commercial secret – the price that the EU has agreed to pay for the leading Covid vaccines.

Belgium’s budget state secretary, Eva De Bleeker, posted the price list on Twitter, with the amounts of each vaccine that her country intends to buy from the EU. The tweet was quickly deleted, but not soon enough to prevent interested parties taking screenshots, which have now made it public knowledge.

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Sweden looks to change law so 1994 ferry disaster can be re-examined

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New documentary questions findings of original investigation into cause of sinking in Baltic Sea that claimed 852 lives

Sweden will seek to lift a ban on inspections of the wreck of the Estonia ferry that sank in the Baltic Sea in 1994 with the loss of 852 lives in one of the worst maritime disasters of the 20th century.

The Swedish Accident Investigation Authority has made a request to amend a law banning dives in order to allow a re-examination of the wreck after a documentary presented evidence of a previously unknown hole in the hull.

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Cyber-attack is brutal reminder of the Russia problem facing Joe Biden

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Analysis: new president must find a way to contain such hyper-aggressive behaviour from Moscow

It is Joe Biden’s biggest foreign policy headache. As well as confronting the Covid pandemic, the president-elect has to deal with a more familiar problem: Russia. Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 US presidential election cast a shadow over US politics for four long years.

And now the Kremlin appears to have struck again. This week details emerged of an unprecedented cyber-attack against US government departments. Beginning in March, suspected Russian hackers penetrated Washington’s signature institutions.

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Fisheries still main obstacle in final hours of Brexit talks, says Barnier – video

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Michel Barnier has said the main obstacle to a deal in the final ‘few hours’ of the post-Brexit trade negotiation is whether Brussels will be able to hit British goods with tariffs if the government closes UK waters to EU fishing fleets.

The European parliament has requested a deal by midnight on Sunday. Barnier added that sooner or later the UK and EU would have to have a strong alliance even if an agreement is not reached by the deadline

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