Category Archives: Europe

Amal Clooney quits UK envoy role over ‘lamentable’ Brexit bill

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Exclusive: prominent human rights lawyer writes to foreign secretary with stinging denunciation

Amal Clooney, the high-profile human rights lawyer, has resigned from her position as the UK’s special envoy on media freedom in protest at the government’s intention to breach international law through the internal market bill.

In a stinging denunciation of Boris Johnson’s threat to override Britain’s international treaty obligations in the EU withdrawal agreement, the barrister described the government’s actions as “lamentable”.

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Brexit: consortium of companies led by Fujitsu wins £200m Irish Sea contract

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Deal is the first concrete implementation of the special arrangements for Northern Ireland

A £200m contract to implement Brexit checks on goods in the Irish Sea has been won by a consortium of companies led by Japanese company Fujistu.

HMRC announced on Friday that a two-year contract for the new trader support service (TSS) had been awarded to a consortium led by the tech company and its partners, the Customs Clearance Consortium, an organisation run by customs expert Robert Hardy and the Institute of Export and International Trade.

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Lockdown measures and rising anger in Madrid as Covid takes hold again

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As cases rise sharply, the regional government has floundered. From Monday, the worst-affected areas face new restrictions

People in the queue to be tested for Covid-19 at the Buenos Aires health centre in south Madrid on Friday morning were met with a bleak but polite homemade sign.

It still bore the previous day’s information, spelled out in marker pen: consultations – by phone and in person – 483; Covid consultations, 19; PCR tests, 78; and number of staff absent, 13.

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Belarus could bring down ‘another iron curtain’ across Europe

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UN investigator warns of ‘catastrophic’ stiuation with more than 10,000 protesters ‘abusively arrested’

A United Nations investigator has warned of the danger of “another iron curtain” falling across Europe during an ill-tempered debate in Geneva on alleged human rights violations in Belarus.

“Let’s not allow another iron curtain to descend on the European continent,” Anaïs Marin, the UN’s special rapporteur on Belarus, said, in an urgent session of the body’s 47-member human rights council that also heard from the Belarus opposition leader, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.

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Coronavirus: ‘alarming rates of transmission’ in Europe, says WHO – video

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The World Health Organization has warned of ‘alarming’ transmission rates of Covid-19 in Europe, an increase on June, when the curve had been flattened.

More than half of European countries reported increases of 10% or more during the past two weeks, while infections more than doubled over the same 14-day period in seven countries

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Syrian teenage refugee homeless on Lesbos – despite having right to live in UK

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Labour urges Home Office to ‘right this wrong’ as Syrian teenager remains stranded in Greece despite legal right to join family

“When I saw the smoke coming I didn’t have the chance to get my backpack, I just ran. The fire was very close, I couldn’t save anything, I lost all my documents. I just escaped through the forest.”

Ahmed looks nervously around as he talks about the catastrophe he has just lived through: the fire that destroyed the Moria refugee camp in Lesbos. Around him people are going about their daily lives in the island capital Mytilene, drinking coffee and chatting in the sunshine. But today the Syrian teenager is focused on the basics of survival. “Do you know where I can buy clothes?” he asks. It has been a week since the fire and he only has what he is wearing.

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Novichok ‘found on water bottle in Alexei Navalny’s hotel room’

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Development suggests Russian opposition leader poisoned in Tomsk, not at airport

Associates of Alexei Navalny have said traces of novichok were found on a bottle of water in his hotel room in Tomsk, suggesting he was poisoned while in the Siberian city, and not, as previously suspected, from a cup of tea he drank at the airport.

The Russian opposition leader fell ill on a flight from Tomsk to Moscow on 20 August. The plane made an emergency landing in Omsk, where he spent two days in a coma before being flown by a medical jet to Berlin. He remains in the Charité hospital in the German capital.

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‘Off the charts’: Ireland’s contact tracers face return of sleepless nights

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Tracers express their fears as infected people reveal multiple close contacts in multiple locations

In the first months of the coronavirus pandemic, Ireland’s contact tracers often made calls to people who were very sick, with some struggling to breathe.

“In a lot of cases people were suffering extreme physical distress,” said Eamonn Gormley, a tracer at University College Dublin. “One person collapsed on the floor and we could hear them gasping for air. You got questions like: ‘Am I going to die?’ Some nights I had trouble sleeping.”

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Women tear balaclavas off security officers amid mass arrests in Belarus – video

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Protesters, mainly women, tore balaclavas off police and security officers during demonstrations in Belarus in which dozens of people were arrested.

With riot police given carte blanche by president Alexander Lukashenko to harass and assault peaceful protesters, in recent days demonstrators have responded by grabbing their masks and balaclavas, forcing officers to hide their faces and retreat for fear of being identified.

Thousands gathered in the capital, Minsk, on Saturday 12 September as waves of protests continued following Alexander Lukashenko's claim of victory in an election on 9 August people say was rigged

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‘The only way to stop violence’: why protesters are unmasking Belarus police

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Pulling off balaclavas and publishing names is new tactic to stem harassment and assaults

During the past month’s uprising against Alexander Lukashenko, riot police and assorted thugs loyal to his regime have been given carte blanche by the Belarusian president to harass, assault and arrest peaceful protesters.

In recent days, however, protesters have found out that for all Lukashenko’s men’s ruthlessness and impunity, they have a vulnerable point: their faces. Grab at the mask of a policeman and he will run for cover.

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Belarus charges opposition leader with ‘undermining national security’

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Maria Kolesnikova could face up to five years in prison as president cracks down on opposition

Belarusian authorities have charged the opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova with “actions aimed at undermining national security”, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

The charge, announced by the country’s investigative committee, is the latest move in a crackdown on opposition leaders by the embattled president, Alexander Lukashenko, who has lost legitimacy among much of the population but retains the support of law enforcement agencies.

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US student accused of killing Italian policeman apologises in court

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Finnegan Lee Elder, 20, says fatal stabbing of Mario Cerciello Rega in Rome was ‘worst night of my life’

An American student accused of killing an Italian police officer has apologised in a Rome court.

Finnegan Lee Elder, 20, is on trial with his friend, Gabriel Christian Natale-Hjorth, 19, for the fatal stabbing of Mario Cerciello Rega on a street in central Rome in July last year. Elder referred to the night of the murder as “the worst of my life”.

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‘No place in EU’: Ursula von der Leyen speaks out against Poland’s LGBT-free zones – video

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In her first ‘state of union’ speech, the European commission president said Poland’s LGBT-free zones were ‘humanity-free zones’ that had no place in the EU in her strongest criticism yet of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party.

It comes amid a dispute between the EU and Poland over the rule of law, since the country embarked on policies that weaken independent courts.

Von der Leyen said the EU was ‘a union where you can be who you are and love who you want to without fear and recrimination’.

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‘Germany looks like it’s still divided’: stark gaps persist 30 years after reunification

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Sobering studies for October anniversary show many in east feel like second-class citizens

Major differences between the lives and attitudes of Germans in the west and east of the country persist 30 years after reunification, a range of studies released for the October anniversary show.

From wages to childcare, trust in political leaders and state institutions, to the importance of an east or west identity, the gaps are stark, the government ombudsman for the former communist East Germany (GDR), and author of the main report, said. “I had hoped that in this, the 30th year after German reunification, we would be further along than we are,” Marco Wanderwitz admitted.

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Ursula von der Leyen says Poland’s ‘LGBT-free zones’ have no place in EU

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In her first ‘state of union’ speech, European commission president delivers criticism of Polish ruling party

The head of the European commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has said Poland’s “LGBT free zones” are “humanity-free zones” that have no place in the European Union in her strongest criticism yet of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party.

In a wide-ranging 77-minute speech spanning from coronavirus to the climate emergency, Von der Leyen pledged to build “a union of equality” and criticised European member states that watered down EU foreign policy messages on human rights.

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Biden and Pelosi warn UK over risking Good Friday agreement

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Leading Democrats tell UK foreign secretary that Northern Ireland peace deal cannot be casualty of Brexit

Joe Biden on Wednesday joined the clamour of Democrats warning Boris Johnson not to let the Northern Ireland Good Friday agreement become a casualty of his Brexit talks.

The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, is in Washington trying to repair relations with pro-Irish Democrats amid concerns that the UK’s attempt to leave the EU on its own terms will undermine the Good Friday peace agreement.

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Irish health minister tests negative after Covid-19 scare

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Stephen Donnelly was taken ill after unveiling country’s pandemic plan

Ireland’s government suffered a Covid-19 scare on Tuesday after the health minister reported feeling unwell after a cabinet meeting.

Cabinet ministers were told to restrict their movements and parliament was suspended pending a coronavirus test for Stephen Donnelly. Hours later it came back negative, averting the spectre of an outbreak at the heart of government.

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Wooden Melania Trump statue replaced with bronze after arson attack

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Original carving near US first lady’s hometown in Slovenia was badly damaged in fire

A bronze statue of the US first lady, Melania Trump, has been unveiled near her hometown in Slovenia, to replace a wooden carving of her that was burnt in an arson attack two months ago.

The new work – like the original – is a collaboration between Brad Downey, a Berlin-based artist from Louisville, Kentucky, and a local craftsman, Ales “Maxi” Zupevc, who have invited residents of Melania’s hometown of Sevnica to see the work in nearby Rozno, south-eastern Slovenia.

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Sweden records its fewest daily Covid-19 cases since March

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Chief epidemiologist puts low number of cases down to light-touch ‘sustainable’ approach

While many European countries are seeing their infection rates surge to levels not seen since the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Sweden – whose light-touch approach has made it an international outlier – has recorded the fewest daily cases since the virus emerged.

The Scandinavian country’s rolling seven-day average of new cases stood at 108 on Tuesday, its lowest level since 13 March. Data from the Swedish national health agency showed only 1.2% of its 120,000 tests last week came back positive.

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