Greek neo-Nazi ideologue Christos Pappas will not turn himself in, says lawyer
Greek authorities have been forced to acknowledge that the neo-Nazi ideologue behind Golden Dawn’s unhindered embrace of national socialism has evaded arrest as other members of the extremist group headed to prison.
In an admission that is likely to raise embarrassing questions, police said on Friday they had been unable to find Christos Pappas, the party’s de-facto number two.
Continue reading...Exclusive: European commission insists letting UK nationals use e-gates would breach EU law
Boris Johnson has clashed with Brussels over an 11th-hour attempt to save British passport holders from hours of delays at European airports from the end of the year.
The government is seeking continued use by UK nationals of the automatic e-gates used by EU nationals at airports and Eurostar terminals. The move is seen by the European commission as an attempt to keep Britons in faster lanes rather than having to queue up with the rest of the world after the end of the transition period.
Continue reading...Roman Prymula photographed leaving Prague restaurant that appeared to be illicitly open
The Czech Republic’s health minister is set to lose his job after visiting a Prague restaurant in what appeared to be a breach of emergency coronavirus regulations he had put forward in an effort to win the country’s increasingly desperate battle against coronavirus.
Roman Prymula, an epidemiologist and the main architect of the Czech regulations, was photographed on Wednesday night by the tabloid Blesk leaving the establishment, which appeared to be illicitly open to high-profile guests, hours after a fresh lockdown was imposed to combat the country’s soaring caseload.
Continue reading...Instances of alleged beatings and sexual assaults against asylum seekers continue to blight special units
Croatia has dismissed allegations of violence by its border patrol after new reports emerged this week of border police allegedly beating, robbing and sexually abusing migrants.
On Wednesday the head of home affairs for the European Commission, Ylva Johansson, said that she was taking the allegations “very seriously”.
Continue reading...Former national security contractor fled US in 2013 after leaking documents on American government surveillance operations
The former US security contractor Edward Snowden has been granted permanent residency in Russia, his lawyer said on Thursday.
Snowden, a former contractor with the National Security Agency, has been living in Russia since 2013 to escape prosecution in the US after leaking classified documents detailing government surveillance programs.
Continue reading...Holidays to the Spanish islands will be on sale in time for half-term. The Maldives, Mykonos and Denmark also added to list
Last-minute holidays to the Canaries will be back on sale in time for a half-term getaway after the islands were added to the UK travel corridor list.
Holidaymakers will be able to visit any of the eight main islands in the archipelago without the need to quarantine for 14 days on their return. The move comes into effect from 4am on Sunday (25 October), the transport Grant Shapps confirmed on Twitter on Thursday.
Continue reading...Foreign minister makes formal complaint about ‘interference’ on the highest Alpine peak
Italy has reignited a dispute with France over Mont Blanc border rights after French authorities imposed measures that encroached on Italian territory.
Luigi Di Maio, the Italian foreign minister, who in the past has stoked tensions with France over other issues, said he had written a formal letter of complaint to the French government via the Italian embassy in Paris expressing his “strong disappointment” over the “interference” on the highest Alpine peak.
Continue reading...Meeting called with Germany’s consul general to lodge objections in what Hong Kong regards as ‘internal matters’ to China
Hong Kong has accused Germany of “harbouring criminals” after it granted asylum to a student who fled charges over last year’s pro-democracy protest.
Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, Hong Kong’s chief secretary for administration, warned against foreign interference in affairs that were “internal matters of the People’s Republic of China”.
Continue reading...Two pupils among seven people facing terror charges over teacher’s killing
The French teacher decapitated while returning home last week has been posthumously awarded the Légion d’honneur, hours after France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor said the killer had paid two pupils from the school to identify his victim.
At a private ceremony in the main amphitheatre of the Sorbonne university on Wednesday, President Emmanuel Macron bestowed the country’s highest honour on the family of Samuel Paty, 47, who was killed on Friday after showing his class two cartoons of the prophet Muhammad as part of a discussion on free speech.
Continue reading...EU’s chief negotiator meets Downing Street’s threshold for resumption of troubled talks
The Brexit talks will resume on Thursday, with negotiators tasked with working through weekends in pursuit of a deal in the remaining few weeks, after Michel Barnier met the prime minister’s demands for re-engagement.
The impasse was broken after the EU’s chief negotiator made public his intention to “seek the necessary compromises on both sides”, telling the European parliament that he believed an agreement was “within reach” and that he was willing to work “day and night”.
Continue reading...Police fail to identify culprit via video footage and say motive for attack remains unclear
Police in Berlin have appealed for witnesses to help identify a mystery attacker who vandalised dozens of ancient artefacts and artworks at four galleries in the German capital.
Details of extensive damage to 63 objects emerged only this week, after police failed to identify a culprit via surveillance camera footage and started to contact visitors who had booked tickets to the Pergamon Museum, the Museum for Islamic Art, the Neues Museum and the Alte Nationalgalerie on 3 October.
Continue reading...European parliament votes to continue payments to farmers with no green conditions attached
Greta Thunberg, the Swedish school strike pioneer and environmental activist, has accused MEPs of surrendering on the climate and environment by voting in favour of a watered-down reform of the EU’s common agricultural policy.
The European parliament voted late on Wednesday in favour of proposals put forward by the main political groups that will continue 60% of the current direct payments to farmers with weak or non-existent green conditions attached.
Continue reading...Study measured financial impact of car emissions on deaths, health and lost working days in 432 urban areas
The health costs of air pollution from roads are higher in London than any other city in Europe, a study has found.
Two other urban areas in the UK, Manchester and the West Midlands, have the 15th and 19th highest costs respectively among the 432 European cities analysed.
Continue reading...Testimony from asylum seekers alleging brutal border pushbacks, including sexual abuse, adds to calls for EU to investigate
People on the Balkans migrant trail have allegedly been whipped, robbed and, in one case, sexually abused by members of the Croatian police.
The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) has documented a series of brutal pushbacks on the Bosnia-Croatian border involving dozens of asylum seekers between 12 and 16 October.
Continue reading...Use of oily substance across three galleries reportedly related to claims they are centre of ‘global satanism’
At least 70 artworks and ancient artefacts across three galleries on Berlin’s museum island were vandalised with an oily substance earlier this month, German media has reported.
Objects including Egyptian sarcophagi, stone sculptures and 19th-century paintings held at the Pergamon Museum, the Alte Nationalgalerie and the Neues Museum sustained visible damage during the attack on 3 October, according to reports in the weekly Die Zeit and broadcaster Deutschlandfunk on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Parent had campaigned against teacher’s use of Muhammad cartoons before beheading
A parent accused of organising a campaign against the history teacher decapitated outside his school near Paris last week exchanged text messages and phone calls with the killer, French media have reported.
Citing police sources, Europe 1 radio said investigators had uncovered traces of several text messages between the father of a pupil at the school and the 18-year-old killer in the days leading up to Samuel Paty’s death last Friday, along with phone conversations.
Continue reading...European aerospace giant and two Israeli arms firms win EU contracts totalling €100m
Airbus and two Israeli arms companies will be paid €100m (£91m) to operate unmanned drones to spot refugees and migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean sea to Europe, according to EU contracts.
Drone operations over the Mediterranean will start next year, after testing carried out on the Greek island of Crete.
Continue reading...Brazilian president’s stance on deforestation remains stumbling block for South America agreement
Brussels is in talks with Brazil’s far-right nationalist president, Jair Bolsonaro, over commitments on the future of the Amazon as it seeks to persuade Emmanuel Macron and other EU leaders and parliaments to ratify the trade deal the bloc has negotiated with South America.
The ratification of the draft trade agreement between the EU and the “Mercosur” or Southern Common Market free-trade zone – which spans Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina – has been in doubt almost since it was announced last June.
Continue reading...Brussels says schemes selling citizenship to wealthy investors are illegal
Brussels has launched legal action against Cyprus and Malta over their “golden passport” schemes for wealthy investors, saying they were illegal and undermined EU citizenship.
The European commission has written to the two countries, which both joined the EU in 2004, to demand explanations, warning that the schemes increased the risks of money laundering, tax evasion and corruption.
Continue reading...Parts of Spain and Italy facing restrictions as Ireland set to become first EU country to reimpose national lockdown
Regions in Spain and Italy have returned to lockdown and Ireland will do so from Wednesday as countries across Europe continue to report new Covid infection highs and governments struggle to contain the second wave of the pandemic.
The northern Spanish Navarre region, where the number of cases per 100,000 people is 945 against 312 nationally, announced a two-week lockdown from Thursday that will be stricter than measures imposed on Madrid by central government.
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