Category Archives: Europe

Brexit: full controls on goods entering UK will not apply until July 2021

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Three-phased plan for Brexit border checks welcomed as UK formally rejects extension to transition period

Full border controls on goods entering the UK will not apply until July next year the government has announced, as it formally notified the EU it does not want an extension to the transition period.

The announcement of a three-phased plan for Brexit border checks was welcomed by industry leaders but represents the most dramatic change to international trading since 1993 when the single market was introduced.

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Militant crackdown in Sahel leads to hundreds of civilian deaths – report

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Amnesty records 200 state killings and forced disappearances in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, state members of internationally-backed G5 group

Hundreds of civilians have been killed by their own governments in Africa’s Sahel region since countries pledged a surge against militant groups at a regional meeting held by France in January.

Amnesty International said on Wednesday that it had documented 200 cases of unlawful state killings and forced disappearances in February and March in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, which are members of the internationally backed G5 force set up to fight militants in the Sahel.

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Pope in open challenge to Poland’s martial law – archive, 12 June 1987

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12 June 1987: The meeting of John Paul II and the leader of Solidarity, Lech Walesa, is a turning point for the post-communist future of the country

The Pope came to Poland’s Baltic coast last night, and confirmed what he called “the important reality of the term ‘solidarity’ and its eternal significance.”

Speaking once again to a rapt audience of a million or more, each one hanging on his every word, he declared: “The word ‘solidarity’ was uttered right here, in a new way and in a new context. And the world cannot forget it.”

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Global report: India reports surge in Covid-19 cases as lockdown eased

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Almost 10,000 new cases in India on Thursday as WHO warns situation outside Europe deteriorating

India reported almost 10,000 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, with hospitals swamped in the worst-hit cities of Mumbai, New Delhi and Chennai, and predictions that the infection rate will not peak before the end of next month.

The country of 1.3bn people now has the fifth highest number of confirmed cases in the world, at 286,579. Over the last 24 hours 357 people have died from the virus, bringing the official toll to 8,102.

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Spanish archaeologist sentenced for faking Basque finds

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‘Third-century’ artefacts with hieroglyphics and Basque words referred to non-existent gods and to René Descartes

A Spanish archaeologist whose staggering discoveries included one of the earliest representations of the crucifixion and proof that the written Basque language was centuries older than previously thought has been found guilty of faking the finds.

The saga began in June 2006 when Eliseo Gil presented artefacts excavated from the Roman town of Veleia, near the Basque city of Vitoria.

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Unilever picks London as its home over Rotterdam

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Anglo-Dutch conglomerate denies U-turn after finally choosing the UK capital over Dutch city as its HQ

Unilever has picked London as its home in an about-face on the company’s 2018 decision to “go Dutch” which was abandoned after a revolt by British shareholders.

Despite a fresh internal review that this time selected London rather than Rotterdam as the location of its headquarters, the Unilever chairman, Nils Andersen, insisted it was not a flip-flop but a pragmatic way to complete an overdue overhaul of its unwieldy corporate structure.

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‘I raised hell’: how people worldwide answered the call of World Oceans Day

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From protecting fishing communities to regrowing coral reefs, Guardian readers and environmentalists share how they’re working to defend the ocean

World Oceans Day, which took place on Monday, is marked by hundreds of beach cleans and events globally. Despite Covid-19 restrictions, environmentalists and readers from around the world shared how they are continuing to work to protect the ocean, and told us about the local marine issues that matter to them.

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Which European countries are easing travel restrictions?

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As some countries in Europe restart tourism, we round up lockdown-easing measures and restrictions country-by-country. Information will be updated as the situation changes

The UK Foreign Office (FCO) is currently advising against all but essential international travel for an indefinite period. However, countries across Europe have begun to ease lockdown measures and border restrictions, and to prepare for the return of domestic and international tourists.

At the UK border, all arrivals must self-isolate for 14 days from 8 June, or face a £1,000 fine. Arrivals must also provide contact and accommodation information, and the authorities have said they will carry out spot checks. Failure to supply an address may result in a £100 fine. They will also be strongly advised to download and use the NHS contact tracing app.

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Brexit: EU may veto UK trade deal lacking safeguards, leaked report reveals

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Draft resolution urges British government to ‘revise its negotiating position’

The European parliament could veto any trade deal between the UK and the European Union that lacks “robust” safeguards to ensure fair competition and strong standards on the environment and workers’ rights, according to a leaked document.

A draft resolution, seen by the Guardian, which will be put to a vote on Friday, underlines the implicit threat to block the EU-UK trade deal. Urging the British government to “revise its negotiation position”, the text states that a level playing field is the “necessary condition for the European parliament to give its consent to a trade agreement with the UK”. 

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EU says China behind ‘huge wave’ of Covid-19 disinformation

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Brussels shifts position by accusing Beijing for first time of running false campaigns

China has been accused by Brussels of running disinformation campaigns inside the European Union, as the bloc set out a plan to tackle a “huge wave” of false facts about the coronavirus pandemic. 

The European commission said Russia and China were running “targeted influence operations and disinformation campaigns in the EU, its neighbourhood, and globally”. While the charge against Russia has been levelled on many occasions, this is the first time the EU executive has publicly named China as a source of disinformation. 

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‘The older I get, the less I fear’: meet the Italian Larry David

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A decade after his two much-loved comedies about the vicissitudes of ageing, director Gianni Di Gregorio explains why, against his own expectations, he had to make another

In 2000, after a decade of caring for his ailing mother in her large flat in Rome, Gianni Di Gregorio wrote a comedy about a bloke called Gianni who looks after his 93-year-old mother in a large flat in Rome. No one was interested in the story, in which the unemployed bachelor ends up running around after a cohort of old ladies whose spirit and vigour remain undimmed despite various ailments. Everyone thought he was crazy: who would be interested in a funny film about four old women and a middle-aged bloke?

Related: Gianni Di Gregorio: The incidental director

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Russia will open nuclear disarmament talks with US

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But Moscow warns against insisting on including China in New Start negotiations

Russia has confirmed that it will open talks with the US this month on extending a major nuclear disarmament treaty but warned that Washington’s insistence on including China could scuttle efforts.

The deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov will meet the US envoy Marshall Billingslea in Vienna on 22 June to begin negotiations on New Start, which expires in February.

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Global report: Moscow relaxes lockdown despite high caseload; Nigerian deaths rise

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South Africa warns pandemic could last up to two years; Indonesia reports largest daily rise in infections

Moscow has partially lifted its lockdown despite Russia reporting thousands of new daily cases and Spain’s government said face masks would remain mandatory in public as Europe continued to emerge from the first phase of its struggle against Covid-19.

Concern mounted, however, over the spread of coronavirus in Africa and elsewhere, with Nigeria confirming 600 deaths from a previously undetected outbreak and South Africa warning its pandemic could last up to two years.

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Catherine Deneuve was Johnny Hallyday’s secret love, book claims

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Revelation that celebrated actor was late rocker’s ‘Lady L’ takes France by surprise

More than two years after his death, the French rocker Johnny Hallyday is still causing sparks between the women in his life.

The late star, a notorious womaniser, is at the centre of a love-triangle spat over claims the actor Catherine Deneuve was his lifelong soulmate and a factor in his split with his first wife, the singer Sylvie Vartan.

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Britain will not seek to extend Brexit transition period, says minister

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Penny Mordaunt tells MPs she hopes to have post-Brexit deal agreed by autumn

The UK government will tell the EU on Friday it is not going to seek an extension to the Brexit transition period, the paymaster general, Penny Mordaunt, has said. 

She told the House of Commons in an update on Brexit talks that she and Michael Gove would “emphasise that we will not be extending the transition period” when they meet EU counterparts at a Brexit joint committee meeting on Friday. 

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Rape victim asks Madeleine McCann detectives to review her case

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Exclusive: Irish woman says an earlier assault by new McCann suspect is similar to that on her

An Irish rape victim has asked detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann to review her case, after learning that a new suspect in the British girl’s abduction was convicted of a sexual assault bearing a similarity to her own experience.

Hazel Behan was working in Praia da Rocha, Portugal, 30 minutes’ drive from where Madeleine was abducted, when she was viciously assaulted by a stranger in her apartment in 2004. The assailant was never caught.

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Coronavirus live news: claim that asymptomatic transmission ‘very rare’ was ‘misleading’, says WHO official

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WHO expert backtracks after saying asymptomatic transmission ‘very rare’

Here are the latest developments in the world coronavirus outbreak so far on Tuesday:

Germany plans to extend its travel warnings for non-European countries until 31 August, government sources have told the Reuters news agency, adding that Berlin was also strongly advising against any cruises due to the special risks related to the pandemic.

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France bans chokehold arrest as anger mounts over police brutality

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Interior minister says method will no longer be taught after outcry over George Floyd’s death in US puts focus back on police racism

France will ban the controversial chokehold used to detain suspects after the death in custody of George Floyd in the US intensified anger at the conduct of French police.

Floyd’s fatal arrest magnified attention on the 2016 death in French police custody of Adama Traoré, a 24-year-old black man, and renewed controversy over claims of racism and brutality within the force.

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Trump move to take US troops out of Germany ‘a dangerous game’

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UK politicians and military experts warn decision could hand advantage to Russia

British politicians and European military experts have warned that Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw 9,500 troops from Germany risks handing a strategic advantage to the Kremlin and undermining the postwar western military alliance.

It would also affect the United States’s ability to operate in the Middle East and Africa – although there is scepticism as to whether the notoriously fickle president will be able to carry out the threat before November’s election.

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‘We feel like prisoners’: the Moroccans stuck in Spanish enclaves during lockdown

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More than 500 Moroccans remain in limbo, far from home and with few resources to support themselves

On 14 March, Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, ordered the country into Covid-19 lockdown, saying “extraordinary decisions” needed to be taken as the country struggled with a “health, social and economic crisis”.

The Moroccan authorities had taken their own extraordinary decision the day before, when they ordered the shutdown of the border crossings that connect the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla with the rest of the country. With the only land borders between Africa and Europe closed, many citizens from both continents found themselves trapped.

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