Category Archives: Europe

Global report: schools across Europe reopen as Covid cases grow

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Parents and teachers fear face masks and other measures not enough to prevent second wave

Tens of millions of pupils, most wearing face masks, have headed back to class in France, Belgium, Poland and Russia, as schools across Europe cautiously reopened amid spiralling numbers of new coronavirus cases in several countries.

Parents and teachers around the continent have expressed fears that strict physical distancing and hygiene measures such as hand cleansing stations will not be able to prevent a second Covid-19 wave, maybe coinciding with the autumn flu season.

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Migrant woman gives birth in a helicopter flying to Sicily

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The woman tested positive for Covid-19 and health officials decided to transfer her to Palermo

A migrant woman, who tested positive for coronavirus, has given birth to a baby on board a helicopter as she was flying to Sicily from the small southern Italian island of Lampedusa.

The woman was staying at a migrant centre designed to hold about 100 people, which in recent days has been home to nearly 10 times as many due to a pickup in arrivals.

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No 10 blames EU and plays down prospects of Brexit trade deal

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Spokesman for Boris Johnson says hopes of meeting deadline in December are dwindling

Downing Street has played down the prospect of reaching a trade deal with the EU in time for December, saying it will be “very difficult” – and blaming Brussels’ insistence on tackling tough issues upfront.

The UK’s chief negotiator, David Frost, is meeting his EU counterpart Michel Barnier in London, in advance of the next round of formal talks next week.

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Macron visits Lebanese singer in bid to change political soundtrack

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French leader meets Fairouz, 85, amid frustration with ruling class unwilling to change

The French president had tried it all before: rebuking his counterpart, cajoling ministers, withholding aid and imploring the Lebanese ruling class to change its ways in order to save the country.

This time Emmanuel Macron arrived in Beirut with a different approach – a visit to one of the country’s most unifying figures. His first port of call was to the home of the illustrious singer, Fairouz, whose songs of loss and lament have been a soundtrack to Lebanese life for more than 50 years.

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‘Hot, sweaty … just very unpleasant’: Parisians adjust to Covid mask law

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Face coverings now mandatory ‘in all shared and enclosed spaces’ as Covid-19 infections rise in France

It had not – really not – been a pleasant experience. Queuing for their banh mi and bibimbap, sushi or Thai salad outside the fast-food takeaways of the Rue Saint-Lazare, young office workers in central Paris spoke with one voice.

“I thought I wasn’t going to last an hour, it was so uncomfortable,” said Egé, gesturing at her blue surgical mask. “Hot, sweaty, the smell of your own breath … Just very unpleasant. But you get used to it. In any case, we have no choice.”

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German minister spat at and verbally abused at Covid protest

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Jens Spahn subjected to shouts of ‘shame’ and ‘gay pig’ as he confronts crowd

Germany’s health minister was jeered, spat at and targeted by homophobic abuse as the countrywide protests of a vocal minority of people against coronavirus restrictions has taken on an increasingly aggressive tone.

The Conservative politician Jens Spahn, a key figure in Germany’s handling of the pandemic, on Saturday tried to confront a crowd of protesters outside an event ahead of local elections in North-Rhine Westphalia.

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Charlie Hebdo reprints cartoons of prophet ahead of terror trial

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Images depicting Muhammad on cover as alleged accomplices in 2015 attack due in court

The French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo is to republish controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to mark the start of a trial of suspected accomplices of terrorist gunmen who attacked its offices in January 2015.

The attack on the publication’s offices by brothers Saïd and Chérif Kouachi left 12 people dead, including several of France’s most famous cartoonists.

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Coronavirus: ‘selfish covidiots’ on flight to UK from Greek island criticised

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Tui launches investigation after almost 200 passengers told to isolate after outbreak

A flight from the Greek island of Zante was “full of selfish ‘covidiots’ and an inept crew”, according to a passenger among the almost 200 onboard who have been told to self-isolate after a coronavirus outbreak.

Tui said it had launched an investigation after 16 people tested positive for Covid-19 linked to its flight to Cardiff on 25 August, including seven passengers who were infectious or potentially infectious on the plane.

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Maltese journalist was killed over reporting on power plant, say police

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Detective tells court Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder was motivated by desire to suppress information

Police believe that the anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed for what she was about to reveal about a government-sponsored power station deal, a court in Malta has heard.

At the start of 2017, Caruana Galizia received a cache of 600,000 emails leaked from an energy company partly owned by Yorgen Fenech, who is now the chief suspect in the murder. The company, Electrogas, holds a lucrative concession to supply Malta’s state-owned electricity provider.

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Racism investigation after French magazine shows black MP as slave

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Prosecutors’ inquiry follows outcry over images of Danièle Obono in Valeurs Actuelles

French prosecutors have opened an investigation into allegations of racism after a rightwing magazine published images depicting a black female MP as a slave, prompting a nationwide outcry.

The Valeurs Actuelles weekly triggered controversy after publishing images of the leftwing MP Danièle Obono with a chain fixed to an iron collar around her neck.

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Berlin minister ‘deeply regretful’ over far-right Reichstag standoff

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Andreas Geisel condemns ‘shameful’ scenes at rally against Covid restrictions

Berlin’s interior minister has expressed regret over a standoff outside the Reichstag building on Saturday during a rally against coronavirus restrictions.

Speaking to a committee of the city state’s interior ministry on Monday, Andreas Geisel said he was “deeply regretful” about the images from the protest, which were seen around the world.

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German coronavirus protesters attempt to storm Reichstag – video

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Demonstrators against Covid-19 restrictions in Germany have been denounced by politicians after an attempt to storm the country’s parliament building. Some of the protestors carried the former imperial flag, which was used up until the end of the first world war, during the rally on Saturday.

Police said about 38,000 people, double the number expected, had gathered in Berlin to protest against restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus, such as the wearing of masks and social distancing. About 300 were arrested after scuffles with police in front of the building.

‘Flags from the Reich and far-right profanity in front of the German parliament are an unacceptable attack on the heart of our democracy,’ the German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said. ‘We will never accept this’

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Ruth Mackenzie: the British change-maker sacked by Paris’s artistic elite

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Despite fulfilling her brief to bring diversity to the Châtelet Theatre, the veteran director was brusquely dismissed. So what went wrong?

When the British arts supremo Ruth Mackenzie was named artistic director of Paris’s Châtelet theatre she thought everyone knew what they were getting.

Her pitch for the job, approved by the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, after a gruelling four interview panels, was to reinvent the historic Paris venue – known as “Broadway sur Seine” after the previous director’s penchant for American musicals – as a more diverse and inclusive people’s theatre.

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Hundreds of people evacuated from Banksy-funded rescue ship after overcrowding – video

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German charity Sea-Watch and the Italian coastguard sent vessels to a rescue boat funded by the British street artist after it issued urgent calls for assistance, saying it was stranded in the Mediterranean and overloaded with people.

Hundreds of people on board the MV Louise Michel were transferred to safety on to the Sea-Watch 4, while an Italian coastguard patrol boat took 49 of those considered most vulnerable on board, transferring them to the southern Italian island of Lampedusa

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Wildfire breaks out near tomb of Agamemnon in Greece

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Fire department said 27 firefighters were being supported by nine fire engines, two planes and a helicopter

A wildfire has broken out near the ruins of the bronze age stronghold of Mycenae in Greece, prompting the evacuation of visitors to the archaeological site.

According to local media, the fire started on Sunday near the tomb of Agamemnon, the king of Mycenae who was killed during the Trojan war.

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Migrant boat bursts into flames off southern Italian coast

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Vessel suddenly caught fire as Italian naval ship was in the process of taking people onboard

A boat carrying dozens of refugees has burst into flames off the coast of southern Italy as its passengers were being transferred to Italian naval vessels to take them to port.

Between five and seven people are believed to be missing. Six people are in hospital with serious burns injuries, including two Italian officials who were taking the people off the boat.

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German leaders hit out at protesters’ attempt to storm Reichstag

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President condemns ‘attack on heart of our democracy’ during protest against Covid restrictions

German leaders have condemned the “unacceptable” attempt by protesters to storm the Reichstag building during a mass rally against coronavirus restrictions.

Some of the protesters on Saturday carried the former imperial flag, which was used up until the end of the first world war.

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Belarus protesters defy crackdown to march again through Minsk

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Calls grow for Lukashenko to step down as president promises tough response

Tens of thousands of protesters in Belarus have defied threats of a government crackdown to march through central Minsk, again voicing demands that the country’s authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, should step down.

After two Sundays in which the opposition had called huge rallies in Minsk and been left largely unmolested by riot police, this week the president had promised protests would be met with a tough response.

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France: senior military officer suspected of spying for Russia

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Defence minister confirms security breach that may have supplied sensitive documents to Kremlin

The French government is investigating a senior military officer over a “security breach”, the defence minister has said, following a report the person was suspected of spying for Russia.

“What I can confirm is that a senior officer is facing legal proceedings for a security breach,” Florence Parly said. She gave no further details.

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Marseille’s maverick Covid scientist: why the city took doctor to its heart

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Didier Raoult has touted many dubious treatments but is a hero in France’s second city, which has long railed against Paris

The people of Provence in the south of France have a word for a particularly comic or bizarrely dramatic situation: pagnolesque.

It is a tribute to one of the region’s most famous sons, the author Marcel Pagnol, who declared in his play Les Marchands de Gloire (The Glory Merchants): “In politics everything is a comedy.”

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