The murder of the Maltese anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017 plunged the country into turmoil. Guardian journalist Juliette Garside, who has been investigating Caruana Galizia's death, speaks with Matthew Caruana Galizia about his mother, his family's quest for justice, and how tragedy may be uniting the country over political divides
Continue reading...Category Archives: Europe
Sweden to increase military spending by 40% as tension with Russia grows
Military run down after cold war but Russian activity in Baltic Sea forces hasty rearmament
Sweden will increase military spending by about 40% in the next five years and double the number of people conscripted into its armed forces as it aims to strengthen its defence amid growing tensions with Russia, the government has said.
The country, which is not a member of Nato but enjoys close ties with the alliance, ran down its military forces after the cold war to save money.
Continue reading...French police search politicians’ homes in coronavirus inquiry
Health minister and former PM among those targeted after complaints over virus response
French police have searched the homes and offices of French officials including the former prime minister as part of an investigation into the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis.
Current and former ministers have been targeted by at least 90 formal legal complaints from civic groups and members of the public over their response to the health emergency.
Continue reading...13,300 new infections in Spain – as it happened
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Third of newborns with Covid infected before or during birth – study
Review of reported neonatal cases finds most babies with virus contract it in hospital
Nearly a third of coronavirus infections in newborn babies are picked up in the womb or from the mother during labour, a review of reported cases has found.
While Covid-19 is rare in newborns, doctors have been keen to understand the potential risks that babies face should tests reveal they have the infection soon after birth.
Continue reading...Neo-Nazi leaders of Greece’s Golden Dawn sentenced to 13 years
Leaders of violent far-right group, including former MPs, shown little leniency by judges
The neo-Nazi leaders of Golden Dawn have each been sentenced to 13 years in prison by a court in Athens, at the end of a historic hearing.
The neo-fascist group was officially laid to rest as its disgraced former MPs were shown little mercy by a three-member panel of judges. Last week the court ruled that Golden Dawn lawmakers had operated a criminal organisation under the guise of being a democratically elected party.
Continue reading...Dutch government backs euthanasia for under-12s
Dutch heath minister says change is needed to help terminally ill children
The Dutch government will permit doctors to euthanise terminally ill children aged between one and 12 after months of debate within the ruling coalition.
The country’s health minister, Hugo de Jonge, said a change in regulations was necessary to help “a small group of terminally ill children who agonise with no hope, and unbearable suffering”.
Continue reading...Berlin gives middle finger to anti-maskers in tourism agency ad
Agency says it chose message that suits city’s outlier character but some politicians are critical
Berlin has eschewed polite public messaging on the coronavirus in favour of a more direct reminder of the rules by flipping the bird to people who won’t wear a mask.
An ad placed in local papers by the German capital’s senate as part of a public information campaign shows an elderly woman presenting her outstretched middle finger to the camera, next to the words: “A finger-wag for all those without a mask: we stick to corona rules.”
Continue reading...Coronavirus: students to replace older teachers in Moscow
Trainees and graduates will teach in primary schools amid record infections in Russia
Moscow is to draft university students into primary schools to replace older and vulnerable teachers, as Russia reports record numbers of coronavirus infections but resists a fresh lockdown.
Sergei Sobyanin, the mayor of the Russian capital, announced on Wednesday that high schools would remain closed next week after an extended autumn holiday, with about half a million students moved to distance learning.
Continue reading...WW2 bomb explodes underwater in Poland during attempt to defuse it – video
A British bomb left over from the second world war has been detonated in Poland. The 5,400kg Tallboy bomb was dropped by the RAF in 1945 during an attack on a German cruiser. It was rediscovered in September 2019 during works to deepen a waterway near the port of Szczecin. Navy divers from Poland had rigged a small explosion to disarm the bomb but instead it went off. There were no injuries.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: France brings in 9pm curfew for Paris region and eight other cities
Public heath emergency declared in France; Italy sees 7,332 new cases; record new daily infections in Portugal, Switzerland, Iran and Russia
- French cities given curfew; Italy breaks March record
- Iran at breaking point as it fights third wave
- Students to replace older teachers in Moscow amid record infections
- Berlin gives middle finger to anti-maskers in tourism agency ad
- UK coronavirus – live updates
The German chancellor Angela Merkel urged young people to do their part to halt the spread of the coronavirus after private parties were repeatedly blamed for localised outbreaks in German cities.
“We must call especially on young people to do without a few parties now in order to have a good life tomorrow or the day after,” Merkel said at a news conference after agreeing additional measures against coronavirus with the heads of Germany’s 16 states.
Ireland’s government moved three counties on its open border with Northern Ireland - Donegal, Monaghan and Cavan - to Level 4 of its five-step framework of Covid-19 constraints and banned almost all visits to homes across the country.
Northern Ireland announced the strictest curbs seen in the UK since early summer on Wednesday in response to a rapid rise in cases that the Irish prime minister Micheal Martin described as “hugely worrying.”
Continue reading...Nuclear arms talks spiral into confusion as Russia rejects US ‘delusion’
Top US negotiator claimed there was ‘an agreement in principle’ between Trump and Putin
US-Russian arms control talks have sunk into confusion after the top American negotiator claimed there was “an agreement in principle” between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, a claim Moscow quickly rejected as a “delusion”.
Marshall Billingslea, the US special envoy for arms control, said he had flown to Helsinki on Monday to meet the Russian deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, on the understanding that there could be an imminent breakthrough in discussions on whether to extend the 2010 New Start treaty, which limits the number of deployed strategic warheads on either side, and which expires in February.
Continue reading...Brexit: Barnier mocks Johnson’s ‘third deadline’ on talks
Chief negotiator says little prospect yet of EU and UK entering ‘tunnel’ negotiations
Michel Barnier has mocked Boris Johnson for issuing a “third unilateral deadline” during a meeting with EU ministers, warning that the Brexit talks remain difficult with little prospect yet of the two sides entering a decisive “tunnel” negotiation.
With 48 hours remaining before an EU leaders’ summit in Brussels, by which time the British prime minister has demanded a breakthrough moment, the bloc’s chief negotiator suggested a deal was “very difficult but still possible”, according to diplomatic sources.
Continue reading...UK’s test and trace ‘having marginal impact’: which countries got it right?
Scientists’ verdict on £12bn system has refocused attention on what is working elsewhere in cutting Covid-19 transmission rates
The newly released assessment by the UK government’s scientific advisers that the £12bn test and trace programme “is having a marginal impact” in reducing Covid-19 transmission has refocused attention on how other countries are faring with their regimes.
Since test-and-trace programmes were first mooted around the world at the outset of the pandemic – including monitoring via apps or hardware – they have been beset by issues of privacy and public support over both downloading and using apps and also with a wider willingness to abide by isolation measures.
Continue reading...IMF estimates global Covid cost at $28tn in lost output
World economic outlook says 2020 impact is less than thought but there will be deep scars
The International Monetary Fund has scaled back its estimate of the hit to the global economy from Covid-19 this year but warned that the final bill for the pandemic would total $28tn (£21.5tn) in lost output.
Gita Gopinath, the IMF’s economic counsellor, described coronavirus as the worst crisis since the Great Depression, and said the pandemic would leave deep and enduring scars caused by job losses, weaker investment and children being deprived of education.
Continue reading...Cyprus scraps ‘golden passport’ scheme after politicians caught in undercover sting
Official and lawmaker filmed pledging to support application from fictitious investor with criminal record
Cyprus has scrapped a lucrative programme granting citizenship to wealthy investors after a top state official and a veteran lawmaker were filmed in an undercover documentary pledging to support a passport application from a fictitious investor with a supposed criminal record.
Government spokesman Kyriakos Koushos said on Tuesday the Cabinet had accepted a recommendation by the minsters of the interior and finance to cancel altogether the “golden passport” scheme that has netted billions of euros over several years.
Continue reading...Oslo police seize tuned electric scooter with top speed of 36mph
Owner of scooter that can go almost three times the speed limit faces prosecution
Police in Oslo have seized a tuned electric scooter with a top speed of 36mph (58kph), nearly three times the legal limit.
The scooter was seized during a control programme in Oslo in a joint operation with the Norwegian Public Roads Administration during which two electric scooters were stopped on suspicion of illegal speeding.
Continue reading...Norway grants asylum to man claiming persecution by Polish government
Rafał Gaweł’s prison sentence for fraud was retaliation by rightwing regime, Norway says
Norway has granted asylum to a Polish man who was facing prison for fraud and forging of documents, saying the sentence was a form of political persecution under Poland’s rightwing government.
Observers say that Rafał Gaweł’s case is the first time political asylum has been granted to a Pole in more than 30 years since the fall of communism in Poland. They see it as another sign that international trust in Poland’s justice system has been undermined by the government, which is putting it under political control.
Continue reading...Covid in Europe: second wave gathers pace across continent
France may impose new lockdowns as Italy plans ban on private parties
France has said it may be forced to impose new lockdowns, Italy is expected to ban private parties and the Czech Republic announced that it would close bars and shift most schools to distance learningas Europe’s Covid-19 second wave continues to gather pace.
The moves came as the World Health Organization director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned that allowing coronavirus to spread in the hope of achieving so-called herd immunity would be “scientifically and ethically problematic”.
Continue reading...Beatified millennial: Pope sets late tech whiz on path to sainthood
Carlo Acutis helped spread Catholic teaching online before his death aged 15 in 2006
Pope Francis said the beatification of an Italian computer whiz-kid was a sign to young people that “true happiness comes from putting God first”.
Carlo Acutis, who is on a path to sainthood after being beatified in the Umbrian town of Assisi, helped spread Roman Catholic teaching online before his death from leukaemia aged 15 in 2006. He is the youngest contemporary person to be beatified.
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