Category Archives: Europe

Azerbaijan and Armenia accuse each other of shelling cities

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Fear of mass civilian casualties as Nagorno-Karabakh conflict escalates

Armenian and Azerbaijani forces have accused each other of shelling cities in a dangerous escalation of the eight-day war in the south Caucasus that it is feared could lead to mass civilian casualties.

Separatist forces in Nagorno-Karabakh – an ethnic Armenian enclave that broke away from Azerbaijan in the 1990s – have reported continuous heavy artillery fire on their capital, Stepanakert, since Friday. It reported an unspecified number of civilian casualties and said eight soldiers had been injured.

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Coronavirus: Europe struggles to contain surge of cases

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Rise in infection rate in Paris as Spanish authorities clash over Madrid lockdown

Bars in Paris have been ordered to close for two weeks, Madrid residents may no longer leave their city and Ireland is set to introduce tighter national restrictions as governments struggle to contain a Europe-wide surge in Covid-19 cases.

As infections in the Paris area rose to 270 for every 100,000 people – and as high as 500 for every 100,000 among 20- to 30-year-olds – with 36% of intensive care beds occupied by Covid-19 patients, the city’s police chief said bars must close from Tuesday.

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Turkey and Russia’s deepening roles in Libya complicate peace efforts

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Ankara’s assertive foreign policy is an increasing factor in broad geopolitical dispute

Plans for a durable Libyan ceasefire are to be endorsed by diplomats from 15 countries on Monday, but the value of the commitments made in the virtual meeting are belied by signs that deepening involvement in the country by rival external powers including Russia and Turkey could complicate efforts to form an interim government of national unity.

The Libya conflict has to be seen as not only a long-running power struggle in the country itself but also part of a wider geopolitical dispute in which Turkey’s assertive foreign policy – ranging from the eastern Mediterranean to Azerbaijan – is an increasing factor.

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Belarus: personal stories from a country in turmoil – documentary

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Mass protests erupted across Belarus following the widely disputed election that put President Alexander Lukashenko in office for a sixth term. Three Belarusian filmmakers have documented personal stories of those caught up in the political turmoil. 

Maksim Shved was arrested, imprisoned and then released as the protests around him swelled. Ekaterina Markavets observes the psychological burden of her fellow citizens – she worked with professional psychologists who set up a volunteer support service for people affected by current events. Andrei Kutsila follows a celebrated Belarusian broadcast journalist who worked for state TV for nearly 40 years and who is now in hospital recovering from injuries sustained at a protest. All three filmmakers wonder what the future holds for their country and fellow citizens

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Belarus opposition leader to ask Merkel about upping pressure on Lukashenko

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Svetlana Tikhanovskaya says in interview that people can no longer live under dictatorship, as more 100,000 protest on Sunday

The Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya will meet Angela Merkel in Berlin on Tuesday, as the standoff in Belarus increasingly takes on a geopolitical dimension, becoming one more bone of contention between Russia and the west.

Tikhanovskaya said she will ask the German chancellor about “her potential participation as a mediator” in talks between protest leaders and the government of the embattled autocrat Alexander Lukashenko, who has been backed by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and has flatly refused to participate in negotiations.

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Aerial footage shows flash flood damage in French Alps – video

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French and Italian rescue services have stepped up search efforts after floods cut off several villages near the two countries’ border, causing widespread damage. Eight people were unaccounted for on the French side of the border after storms, torrential rain and flash floods washed away homes and roads 

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French worker fired after going to the office before Covid test result

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Sébastien Klem takes employer to tribunal, but ex-colleagues dispute version of events

A French housing association employee has been fired for serious misconduct after returning to his office before receiving the result of a coronavirus test that came back positive.

Sébastien Klem, 41, insisted he had no idea he had the virus and only took a test because he was driving past a diagnostic centre and saw there was no queue. “Apart from a light cough, I didn’t have any other symptom,” he told France3 television.

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Memo to the Home Office: a little humanity goes a long way | Kenan Malik

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Delivering migrants to an offshore location is more about spectacle than solution

Dump them on Ascension Island. Or in Moldova. Imprison them in disused ferries. Build “marine fences” across the Channel. Deploy water cannons to make huge waves to swamp their boats.

And so it goes on. All apparently ideas from Home Office “brainstorming” sessions on how to deal with asylum seekers and cross-Channel undocumented migrants.

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Johnson and Von der Leyen extend Brexit talks by a month

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UK and EU leaders instruct chief negotiators to work harder to close gaps on deal

Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen have approved a further month of Brexit negotiations after agreeing that enough progress has been made to justify a last push to reach a deal on trade and security.

The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, will travel to London this week for talks with his British counterpart, David Frost, and the two sides will then hold follow-up talks in Brussels the week after.

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Syrian recruit describes role of foreign fighters in Nagorno-Karabakh

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Deployment of 1,000 Syrians to Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict shows Ankara’s rise in region

A Syrian fighter sent into combat with Azerbaijani forces in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh has detailed the extent of foreign involvement in the new conflict with Armenia that, after six days of clashes, is taking on a regional dimension.

The deployment of 1,000 Syrian fighters working for a private Turkish security firm, as well as Ankara’s outspoken support for Azerbaijan in the worst fighting between the two neighbours since 1994, confirms Turkey’s rise as a regional power – and threatens to upset the fragile status quo in the Caucasus, long seen as Russia’s domain.

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Boris Johnson to set fishing ultimatum in crunch EU summit

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Buoyed by support for idea from Angela Merkel, PM hopes to overcome French opposition

Boris Johnson will demand that the increasingly isolated French president, Emmanuel Macron, caves in to UK demands on fishing as the price for a trade and security deal at a key meeting with the European commission president on Saturday.

The prime minister will speak to Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday afternoon in a video-conference call to “take stock of negotiations and discuss next steps”.

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Russian journalist sets herself on fire after police search property

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Irina Slavina dies following self-immolation she blamed on Russian Federation

A Russian journalist has died after setting herself on fire in front of the local branch of the interior ministry in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, a day after her apartment was searched by police.

Prior to her self-immolation, Irina Slavina wrote on her Facebook page: “I ask you to blame the Russian Federation for my death.”

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EU imposes sanctions on Belarus officials but not on Lukashenko

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Late-night talks end standoff with Cyprus, which had wanted bloc to get tough with Turkey

European Union sanctions against 40 Belarusian officials accused of vote rigging and political repression have come into force, after the bloc’s leaders resolved a dispute with Cyprus that caused an embarrassing delay to action.

In a standoff that tarnished the EU’s credibility, Cyprus had insisted that its EU partners take a tough stance against Turkey for its energy exploration in disputed eastern Mediterranean waters off its coast, before it would agree to the Belarus sanctions.

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Matteo Salvini goes on trial over migrant kidnapping charges

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Former Italian interior minister accused of abusing power in incident involving 116 people

Italy’s far-right former interior minister Matteo Salvini goes on trial on Saturday on kidnapping charges over an incident in 2019 when 116 migrants were prevented from disembarking a coastguard ship in the Mediterranean.

Prosecutors in the Sicilian city of Catania accuse the League party leader of abusing his powers to block people from disembarking from the Gregoretti coastguard boat under his “closed ports” policy.

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Macron outlines new law to prevent Islamic ‘separatism’ in France

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Local officials will get extra powers to fight radicalism and social problems will be tackled

Emmanuel Macron has announced a law against religious “separatism” aimed at freeing Islam in France from “foreign influences”.

In a long-awaited declaration, the French president outlined new measures to “defend the republic and its values and ensure it respects its promises of equality and emancipation”.

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Delphine Boël: Belgian king’s daughter wins right to call herself princess

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Artist whose mother had affair with former king Albert II wins the right to use royal title and father’s surname

An artist who successfully fought a seven-year legal battle to prove she was the daughter of the former king of Belgium, Albert II, has won the right to be recognised as a princess.

The Brussels Court of Appeal has ruled that Delphine Boël, 52, had the right to her Royal father’s surname after a bitter battle for acknowledgement.

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Nazi shipwreck found off Poland may solve Amber Room mystery

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Polish divers locate Karlsruhe, which they hope holds treasure Nazis looted from Russia

Polish divers say they have found the wreck of a German second world war ship that may help solve a decades-old mystery about the whereabouts of the Amber Room, an ornate chamber that the Nazis looted from a tsarist palace in Russia.

Decorated with amber and gold, the room was part of the Catherine Palace near St Petersburg. It was last seen in Königsberg, then a Baltic port city in Germany but now the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.

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UK coronavirus live: indoor mixing ban extended to Merseyside, Warrington, Hartlepool and Middlesbrough

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Government recommends no social mixing between people from different households in these areas; NHS Test and Trace going backwards

Council leaders and MPs from Merseyside have issued a joint statement describing today’s new restrictions as “a step in the right direction”.

But they are also saying the government should publish the scientific evidence showing why the government thinks these measures will be enough.

The measures announced today are a step toward restricting the spread but we need to understand if they are enough to arrest the rise cases across our region.

We're asking for Government to share their scientific evidence and provide us with more substantial financial support. pic.twitter.com/8gV1uJs87n

Graham Morgan, the leader of Knowsley council, says the new restrictions announced for Merseyside this morning may not be enough.

I'm still concerned that these new COVID-19 restrictions won't be enough to stop the spread of the virus here. We're at a critical point & need swift, effective solutions to protect our residents. Our conversations with Government will continue. https://t.co/Z5DZ8azYDl

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Angela Merkel to meet Svetlana Tikhanovskaya in Berlin

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Announcement comes as EU leaders try to resolve dispute over Belarus sanctions

Angela Merkel has announced plans to meet the Belarusian opposition leader, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, as EU leaders gathering at a Brussels summit seek to untangle a dispute that has delayed sanctions against Belarus’s authoritarian government.

In a speech in the Bundestag on Wednesday, the German chancellor expressed her admiration for the women protesting against the Belarusian regime “If you see the courage of the women on display in the streets there, for a life of freedom and free of corruption, then I can only say: I admire that,” she said.

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Russia says it and Turkey urge end to hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh

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Russia says two countries’ foreign ministers have found common ground after French journalists injured during shelling

Russia and Turkey’s foreign ministers have agreed to the need for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, according to a Russian statement, opening the door to a possible end to fighting in the breakaway region.

The potential breakthrough was at odds with an earlier statement by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who hours earlier had called for a full Armenian withdrawal from the area – which is legally Azerbaijani territory but administered by ethnic Armenians – and condemned international efforts to resolve the conflict.

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