Category Archives: Europe

‘Great expectations’: how world leaders reacted to Biden and Harris’s election win – video

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Most world leaders rushed to congratulate Joe Biden on his election on Twitter, and spoke of 'hope' and 'expectation' in later statements.

Biden’s key foreign policy priorities are cooperation in the fight against coronavirus, a commitment to rejoin the UN Paris climate agreement and, more broadly, to promise a change in tone toward traditional US allies. 

Russia and China are yet to congratulate the president-elect, as the outgoing president, Donald Trump, is yet to concede defeat

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Hungarian government mounts new assault on LGBT rights

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Constitutional amendment proposed to enshrine defence of so-called ‘Christian values’

Moments before Hungary entered a second coronavirus lockdown on Wednesday, the far-right government signalled its intention to pass a range of new legislation, including to make it harder for opposition political parties to join forces and to change the constitution to enshrine the defence of so-called “Christian values”.

Opposition politicians criticised both the substance and timing of the moves.

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Wild Mountain Thyme trailer blamed for Irish accent emergency

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Storm of paddywhackery cliches in promo for Hollywood film stuns critics – and even the leprechaun museum

A trailer is all that Ireland has seen of Hollywood’s latest romantic comedy, but that has been enough to declare an Irish accent emergency.

Wild Mountain Thyme stars Emily Blunt and Jamie Dornan as star-crossed lovers – and farmers – on an emerald isle posing as Ireland.

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Several injured in explosion at Saudi Armistice Day event

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France condemns ‘cowardly attack’ at Jeddah ceremony for foreign diplomatic staff

Several people have been wounded in an explosion in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah during a ceremony to commemorate the end of the first world war attended by staff from foreign diplomatic missions, officials have said.

“The embassies involved condemn this cowardly attack, which is wholly unjustified,” the French foreign ministry said. “They call on the Saudi authorities to shed as much light as they can on this attack, and to identify and hunt down the perpetrators.”

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End of Trump era deals heavy blow to rightwing populist leaders worldwide

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As Biden’s victory sinks in across Brazil, Hungary and elsewhere, dreams of a rightwing global crusade appear to be fading

As the Donald Trump era draws to a close, many world leaders are breathing a sigh of relief. But Trump’s ideological kindred spirits – rightwing populists in office in Brazil, Hungary, Slovenia and elsewhere – are instead taking a sharp breath.

The end of the Trump presidency may not mean the beginning of their demise, but it certainly strips them of a powerful motivational factor, and also alters the global political atmosphere, which in recent years had seemed to be slowly tilting in their favour, at least until the onset of coronavirus. The momentous US election result is further evidence that the much-talked-about “populist wave” of recent years may be subsiding.

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Europe can’t afford to lose another generation to youth unemployment

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Covid-19 has already put 3 million young Europeans out of work. The scars for these under-25s could take a decade to heal

A decade ago, the global financial crisis left deep scars in terms of destroyed opportunities and unemployment for young people. In Europe in particular, youth unemployment persisted. Now the Covid-19 crisis threatens to do the same thing to the under-25s. Yet, none of the leaders of France, Italy or Spain, nor the president of the European commission, prioritised youth unemployment in their latest policy speeches. At the highest political level, the focus must be on averting the risk of a lost generation. Bold policies will be needed.

During the financial crisis, the US youth unemployment rate increased from about 10% to 19%, while in the European Union it increased from 16% to 26%. The rate in the EU only returned to its 2008 level in 2018, while the spike in US youth unemployment was overcome more rapidly. Even in the recovery, some EU countries fared much worse than the EU average. In Greece, Spain and Italy, youth unemployment in 2019 was still higher than it was before the 2008 crash.

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Coronavirus live news: countries scramble to secure vaccine doses as US sees record hospitalisations

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Iran and Lebanon impose lockdowns; Hong Kong, Singapore plan quarantine-free travel bubble; US sees record hospitalisations

Mongolia has reported its first domestic transmissions of the coronavirus, from a truck driver who infected his wife and two other relatives after three weeks of quarantine, according to the AfP news agency.

The landlocked country bordering Russia and China has so far reported just 376 virus cases - all imported - and enforced strict arrival controls that have prompted protests by Mongolians stranded abroad.

Dr David Nabarro, one of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) special envoys on Covid-19, urged people to be “careful” when students in the UK return to university after Christmas to prevent a spike in Covid-19 cases.

Asked about students returning to UK universities in January, and if there was an argument for keeping students at home for longer, Dr Nabarro told Sky News:

We did see that there was quite a big increase in cases in Europe in October and November. We think that was to do with movements that took place in September, including students coming to university.

So if there’s going to be a big return in January, all I’m going to say is, everybody be careful. Because that’s when the virus can really move around quickly.

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Coronavirus live news: Italy exceeds 1m cases; Greece tightens lockdown

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Italy passes mark after 32,961 new infections in 24 hours; Greece extends curfew after record surge in cases; US has 1m new cases in 10 days

Texas on Wednesday became the first US state with more than 1 million confirmed Covid-19 cases, and California closed in on that mark as a surge of coronavirus infections engulfs the country from coast to coast, AP reports.

The country’s second-most populous state, Teas has recorded 1.01 million coronavirus cases and over 19,000 deaths since the outbreak began in early March, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. California, the most populous state, has logged more than 991,000 cases.

The Swedish prime minister has said his government will present a law proposal that would ban nationwide the sale of alcohol after 10pm in bars, restaurants and night clubs from 20 November in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Stefan Lofven said that “we are facing a situation that risks becoming pitch-black” and added that Sweden “currently is risking a situation like the one we had last spring”.

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Spanish statue bodge-up is a new rival to Borja’s Monkey Christ

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Trump-like visage grafted on to a carving in Palencia recalls earlier inept restoration

In the footsteps of the unintentionally iconic Monkey Christ, the Tintin St George, the near-fluorescent Virgin and Child– not to mention the less than sinlessly executed Immaculate Conception – comes … well, it’s hard to say.

The latest Spanish restoration effort to provoke anguished headlines and much social media snarking is, or rather, was, a carved figure adorning an ornate, early 20th-century building in the north-western city of Palencia.

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Coronavirus live news: Italy tightens rules in five regions as Europe death toll set to pass 300,000

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Italy imposes tougher restrictions as cases continue to rise; authorities across Europe fear infections and deaths will continue to rise

Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen unit has received the green light to carry out late stage trials for its vaccine in Mexico, the country’s foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard has said.

He said the US vaccine developer Novavax Inc earlier this month also presented health authorities with a request to conduct phase 3 testing in Mexico.

Four judicial investigations have been opened in France into the authorities’ response to the Covid epidemic, the Paris prosecutor’s department has said. The prosecutor opened a preliminary inquiry in June to determine whether any criminal offences might have been committed.

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Amazon charged with abusing EU competition rules

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US tech firm accused by Brussels of using data it collects on retailers

Amazon has been charged by the European commission with using the sales data of independent retailers selling through its site to illegally gain an advantage in the European market place.

The US tech firm and online retailer was accused by Brussels of using the information it collects on retailers to focus its own efforts on the bestselling products with the biggest profit margins.

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UK trade department faces race to get £80bn of trade agreements ratified

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Deals to ensure UK can go on trading with non-EU countries after Brexit transition must be laid before MPs by Wednesday

Liz Truss’s Department for International Trade (DIT) is scrambling to meet a Wednesday deadline for tabling £80bn of trade agreements before parliament, in time for them to come into force in January under standard procedures.

Truss’s department has signed a string of “continuity agreements” to ensure the UK can go on trading with non-EU countries on similar terms, when the Brexit transition period comes to an end on 31 December.

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Rare stolen books, including works by Newton and Galileo, returned to owners

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Books worth more than £2.5m found in Romania after Mission Impossible-style theft

Hundreds of internationally important and irreplaceable books worth more than £2.5m that were stolen in a daring heist by abseiling burglars have been returned to their rightful owners.

Metropolitan police announced the successful conclusion on Tuesday of a near four-year police operation investigating the Mission Impossible-style theft of books that included rare works by Sir Isaac Newton, Galileo and the 18th-century Spanish painter Francisco de Goya.

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Canary Islands appeal for help as 2,200 migrants arrive over weekend

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People housed in makeshift dock-side camps after braving dangerous Atlantic route from Africa

The president of the Canary Islands has appealed for urgent help from the Spanish government and the EU after around 2,200 migrants arrived on the archipelago over the weekend, putting further strain on its already massively overstretched reception resources.

Ángel Víctor Torres said the Canaries’ existing infrastructure simply could not cope with the number of people arriving as the dangerous Atlantic route from Africa to Europe attracts more refugees and migrants.

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Inquiry launched into EU commission’s protection of migrants at Croatia border

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Investigation follows allegations of brutal pushbacks of refugees into Bosnia and lack of monitoring of border police

An official inquiry has been launched into the European commission’s alleged failure to protect the rights of migrants and refugees said to have been robbed and abused by police at Croatia’s borders.

The EU ombudsman is investigating the potential complicity of the EU’s executive branch in the maladministration of funds that should have been spent on supervising the behaviour of border officers working at the scene of some of the violence.

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Barcelona terror attack: three in court in Madrid

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Trio accused of links to deadly van attack on La Rambla in 2017 and subsequent assault in nearby coastal town

Three men have appeared in court in Madrid to face trial over their alleged roles in the 2017 terror attacks in Catalonia that left 16 people dead and 140 wounded.

The perpetrators of the atrocities – Spain’s worst terror attack since the Madrid train bombings in March 2004 – used a van to knock down pedestrians on Barcelona’s La Rambla boulevard on 17 August 2017 and then staged another assault the following day in the Catalan coastal town of Cambrils.

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Nagorno-Karabakh peace deal brokered by Moscow prompts anger in Armenia

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Crowds claim agreement with Azerbaijan to withdraw is a betrayal after fierce fighting over disputed enclave

Russian peacekeepers have deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh after Moscow brokered a peace deal that sparked celebrations in Azerbaijan and protests in Armenia, where demonstrators briefly occupied government buildings.

The truce, announced late on Monday night, calls for the deployment of nearly 2,000 Russian peacekeepers to the disputed enclave, where Azerbaijan will receive significant territorial concessions from an Armenian-backed local government.

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The Guardian view on Johnson’s Biden problem: not going away | Editorial

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Britain risks isolation as the president-elect prioritises relations with the EU. The government must understand the signs of the new times

The Irish question has played havoc with the best-laid plans of hardline Brexiters. Since 2016, successive Conservative governments have struggled to square the circle of keeping the United Kingdom intact, while avoiding the reimposition of a hard border on the island of Ireland. The border issue has been the achilles heel of Brexit, the thorn in the side of true believers in a “clean break” with the EU. So the prospect of an Irish-American politician on his way to the White House, just as Boris Johnson attempts to finagle his way round the problem, is an 11th-hour plot twist to savour.

Joe Biden’s views on Brexit are well known. The president-elect judges it to be a damaging act of self-isolation; strategically unwise for Britain and unhelpful to American interests in Europe. But it is the impact of the UK’s departure from the EU on Ireland that concerns Mr Biden most. This autumn, he was forthright on the subject of the government’s controversial internal market bill, which was again debated on Monday in the House of Lords. The proposed legislation effectively reneges on a legally binding protocol signed with the EU, which would impose customs checks on goods travelling between Britain and Northern Ireland. In doing so, it summons up the spectre of a hard border on the island of Ireland, undermining the Good Friday agreement. Mr Biden is adamant that the GFA must not “become a casualty of Brexit”. He is expected to convey that message, in forceful terms, when his first telephone conversation with Mr Johnson eventually takes place.

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Two dead as Russian military helicopter shot down in Armenia

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Incident threatens to draw Moscow further into conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh

A Russian military helicopter has been shot down over Armenia, threatening to draw Moscow further into an escalating conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan that has left thousands dead.

The Russian Mi-24 military helicopter was shot down on Monday by a surface-to-air missile while escorting a convoy from a Russian military base in the country. Two Russian servicemen were killed in the attack, Moscow said, and another was injured. The Russian defence ministry said it was investigating who was behind the attack.

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Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine announcement is cause for cautious celebration

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Interim trial results are encouraging as scientists welcome news

It is not yet the end of the pandemic, but the announcement by Pfizer/BioNTech that their vaccine has been 90% successful in the vital large-scale trials has got even the soberest of scientists excited.

These are interim results and the trial will continue into December to collect more data. The two companies – a tiny German biotech with the big idea and the giant pharma company Pfizer with the means to develop it – have not yet published their detailed data, so it is all on trust. And yet, nobody is suggesting the results have been over-egged. It looks as though the vaccine not only works, but works better than anyone hoped.

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