Germany will impose an emergency month-long lockdown that includes the closure of restaurants, gyms and theatres to reverse a spike in coronavirus cases that risks overwhelming hospitals, the chancellor said on Wednesday
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Two British teenagers killed parasailing in Greece, say authorities
Another teenager was seriously injured in the incident in Rhodes, says coastguard
Two British teenagers have been killed and a third seriously injured in a parasailing incident on the Greek island of Rhodes, authorities have said.
“A 13-year-old girl and a young man of 15 were found dead on the rocks near the city of Lindos in Rhodes,” the Greek coastguard’s press office said.
Continue reading...Turkey threatens legal action over Charlie Hebdo’s caricature of president
French satirical newspaper depicted Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in his underwear
Turkey has threatened “legal and diplomatic” action against the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo after it published a caricature of president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on its latest front page.
The drawing described as “disgusting” by the Turkish leader and Ankara’s announcement that prosecutors have launched an official investigation into the publication have worsened already heightened tensions between the two countries.
Continue reading...Four Iranians who died crossing Channel were part of same family
Rasul Iran Nezhad and Shiva Mohammad Panahi drowned along with their children Anita and Armin
Four Iranian Kurds who died trying to cross the Channel in high winds were members of one family who paid smugglers thousands of euros after two failed attempts to reach Britain, the Guardian has been told.
Rasul Iran Nezhad and his wife, Shiva Mohammad Panahi, both 35, and two of their children, Anita, nine, and Armin, six, drowned as they tried to reach Britain by boat, according to a relative of the family and the Iranian-Kurdish human rights organisation Hengaw.
Continue reading...EU leaders urged to aid transfer of Covid patients between member states
Ursula von der Leyen asks leaders to map ICU capacity as Belgium gets close to running out of beds
The European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has asked EU leaders to help Brussels map intensive care bed capacity to allow the transfer of coronavirus patients from overrun hospitals across Europe amid a rise in infection in every member state.
Belgium is expected to run out of intensive care beds within two weeks given the spiralling rate of infection, while the Netherlands has already started airlifting patients from pandemic hotspots to Germany. Almost half of France’s intensive care unit capacity has been taken up by new coronavirus cases.
Continue reading...EU accused of abandoning migrants to the sea with shift to drone surveillance
Border agency Frontex accused by campaigners and MEPs of evading its responsibilities towards people in distress
The EU has been accused of condemning migrants to death by critics of its recent €100m (£90m) deals for drone surveillance over the Mediterranean Sea.
Campaigners and MEPs have accused the EU’s border agency Frontex of investing in technology to monitor migrants from afar and skirt its responsibilities towards people in distress.
Continue reading...Historic Book of Lismore returning to Ireland after centuries in British hands
Manuscript including lives of the Irish saints and a translation of Marco Polo was captured during a siege of Kilbrittain Castle in the 1640s
A 15th-century medieval manuscript, one of the “great books of Ireland”, is returning home almost 400 years after it was captured in a siege.
The Book of Lismore, which has been donated to University College Cork by the trustees of the Chatsworth Settlement, was compiled for Fínghin Mac Carthaigh, the Lord of Carbery from 1478 to 1505. It consists of 198 large vellum folios containing some of medieval Irish literature’s greatest masterpieces, including the lives of Irish saints, the only surviving Irish translation of the travels of Marco Polo, and the adventures of the hero Fionn mac Cumhaill, or Finn MacCool.
Continue reading...Italy: people protesting against Covid restrictions clash with riot police in Rome – video
Demonstrations have continued across Italy as hundreds of people gathered to protest against measures imposed by the government to contain the spread of coronavirus. After four days of protests, supporters of the rightwing group Forza Nuova gathered in Piazza del Popolo where they clashed with riot police. The government has introduced a relief package for businesses affected by the restrictions, which include a 6pm curfew for bars and restaurants and the closure of gyms, swimming pools, cinemas and theatres
Continue reading...France expected to impose four-week national lockdown
Emmanuel Macron reportedly planning move after record number of new Covid cases
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, is expected to impose a new four-week national lockdown to halt the spread of Covid-19, according to French media.
The announcement would follow record numbers of new cases in France that have put pressure on hospitals, and a startling rise in coronavirus deaths.
Continue reading...Anger towards Emmanuel Macron grows in Muslim world
Protests take place in several countries against French president in aftermath of crackdown
On the front page of a hardline Iranian newspaper, he was the “Demon of Paris”. In the streets of Dhaka he was decried as a leader who “worships Satan”. Outside Baghdad’s French embassy, a likeness of Emmanuel Macron was burned along with France’s flag.
Rage is growing across the Muslim world at the French president and his perceived attacks on Islam and the prophet Muhammad, leading to calls for boycotts of the French products and security warnings for France’s citizens in majority-Muslim states.
Continue reading...‘This is war’: opposition politicians in Poland take abortion protests to parliament – video
Opposition politicians brought protests over a near-total ban on abortion in Poland to the floor of parliament.
Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus, from the opposition Lewica (Left) party, led a protest of other opposition members wearing masks and T-shirts bearing the lightning bolt symbol of the 'Women's Strike' movement, which has been leading nationwide protests on the abortion ban.
They held up placards with slogans such as 'this is war' and 'legalise abortion', before walking to the benches where lawmakers from the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party were sitting.
There have been protests across Poland after a court ruling said abortion due to foetal abnormalities, for which the majority of legal abortions are performed in Poland, was unconstitutional.
Continue reading...Muslim backlash against Macron gathers pace after police raids
Iran calls Paris’s response to teacher’s killing ‘unwise’ amid protests across Muslim world
The backlash against Emmanuel Macron following his insistence that publication of caricatures of the prophet Muhammad is fundamental to freedom of speech has spread, with angry international protests, cyber-attacks against French websites and warnings that the president’s response is “unwise”.
Muslims in France – and elsewhere – are also furious at what they claim is a heavy-handed government clampdown on their communities in the wake of the killing 11 days ago of the high school teacher Samuel Paty.
Continue reading...Belarus riot police burst into apartment looking for protesters – video
Video shows riot police in Minsk bursting into an apartment in the city searching for protesters who had been seeking refuge after officers used stun grenades at a rally against the regime of Alexander Lukashenko, who continues to hold on to power despite two months of mass protests since he declared victory in the presidential election in August.
The footage, filmed on Sunday and later posted to social media, shows a policeman using a baton to beat a man who was draped with the pre-Soviet red-and-white flag, the symbol adopted by the opposition. Police detained at least three other men, while several others were sheltering on the upper floors of the building, a witness said.
Officials in Belarus detained more than 500 people at nationwide anti-government protests on Sunday, including 160 in Minsk, the interior ministry said on Monday
Continue reading...Dutch war museums tighten security after raids on Nazi items
SS uniforms, firearms, parachutes among Nazi memorabilia targeted in apparent thefts to order
War museums across the Netherlands are scrambling to tighten their security after raids by highly organised thieves targeting memorabilia linked to Adolf Hitler’s Waffen-SS and other parts of the Nazi regime.
Amid huge global demand for second world war memorabilia, museums in Ossendrecht, in north Brabant, and in Beek, Limburg, have been ransacked in recent days and months.
Continue reading...Global coronavirus report: Italian police use tear gas to disperse lockdown protests
WHO tells countries ‘not to give up’ as virus fatigue sets in; street clashes in Barcelona; US daily deaths rise 10% in two weeks
Police in Italy have fired tear gas to disperse angry crowds in the northern cities of Turin and Milan after protests against the latest round of anti-coronavirus restrictions flared into violence.
As the head of the World Health Organization urged countries “not to give up” in their fight to contain the virus, luxury goods shops, including a Gucci fashion shop, were ransacked in the centre of Turin as crowds of youths took to the streets after nightfall, letting off firecrackers and lighting coloured flares.
Continue reading...US and European markets dip as Covid containment efforts founder
Investors’ summer optimism gives way to insecurity as curfews and lockdowns return
Stock markets in the US and Europe fell sharply oas investors focused on signs that rich countries’ efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic were foundering.
In Europe, the Stoxx 600 index lost 1.8% after heavy falls in German blue-chip stocks. In the US the Dow Jones industrial average closed 2.3% down at 27685.38, while the benchmark S&P 500 fell 1.9% to 3400.97.
Continue reading...Polish pro-choice protests continue with blockades and red paint
Thousands march in opposition to ruling that could lead to near total ban on abortions
Thousands of protesters turned out in towns and cities across Poland on Monday as a political crisis sparked by an impending near total ban on abortion showed no sign of abating.
Drivers created a series of blockades in city centres and thousands of people marched to express their anger at a ruling by Poland’s constitutional tribunal that, if implemented, would ban terminations even in instances where a foetus is diagnosed with a serious and irreversible birth defect.
Continue reading...Mayor of Rome says she was targeted by mafia
Virginia Raggi says she was told organised crime groups planned to kill her and her family
The mayor of Rome has said organised crime groups planned to kill her and her family because she was taking them on in parts of the Italian capital where they hold sway.
Virginia Raggi became the Eternal City’s first female mayor when she was elected in 2016 in a breakthrough for her party, the Five Star Movement, which now governs nationally. She is running for re-election next year.
Continue reading...Global report: Merkel says Germany faces ‘difficult months ahead’ in Covid fight
Chancellor says country is on verge of losing control as Europe death toll passes 250k
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has said her country is on the verge of losing control of its fight against the coronavirus pandemic, telling colleagues from her Christian Democratic Union party “the situation is threatening” and “every day counts”.
In leaked comments to an internal party meeting, she told those attending of “very, very difficult months ahead” and added that “every day [would] count” in tackling the virus’s spread.
Continue reading...Workers and students in Belarus launch anti-Lukashenko strike
Strike was called after ultimatum to president to step down by Sunday was ignored
Workers and students across Belarus have launched strikes in a further show of defiance at the regime of Alexander Lukashenko, who continues to hold on to power despite two months of mass protests since he declared victory in the presidential election in August.
The strike was called by Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the united opposition candidate who took on Lukashenko in August after her husband and other would-be candidates were either jailed or forced to flee. She left for Lithuania the night after the vote after receiving threats and called the strike after an ultimatum for Lukashenko to step down by Sunday night unsurprisingly fell on deaf ears.
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