Category Archives: Europe

Chechen blogger escapes apparent assassination bid in Poland

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Tumso Abdurakhmanov is the latest victim of a murder attempt after similar attacks on exiled dissidents

A well-known Chechen blogger has survived an apparent assassination attempt in Poland, in the latest of a series of attacks on dissidents exiled in Europe.

Tumso Abdurakhmanov posted a video showing him disheveled and breathing hard, standing over the bloodied body of another man. “Who sent you? Where have you come from?” Abdurakhmanov asks, before producing a hammer, which he says was used by the man in an attempted murder.

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Nexhmije Hoxha, widow of Albania’s dictator, dies aged 99

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Opponents of the communist regime under her husband’s rule say an ‘executioner has departed’

Nexhmije Hoxha, the widow of Albania’s Stalinist dictator Enver Hoxha, died on Tuesday aged 99, her son said, having fallen dramatically from grace following his death but remaining the staunchest defender of his isolationist regime.

Most Albanians view Hoxha’s 40-year rule, when the country was cut off from the world much as North Korea is now and a pervasive secret police clamped down violently on dissent, as a dark period in its history that caused widespread misery and triggered a massive exodus after communism collapsed.

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Coronavirus: Lufthansa imposes hiring freeze as Diageo profits suffer

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Airline offers unpaid leave, beverage firm fears £200m hit and Danone also voices concern

Lufthansa has announced a hiring freeze and is offering employees unpaid leave as part of a range of cost-saving measures to attempt to limit the financial impact of the spread of the coronavirus.

The German airline, which has already cancelled all flights to China until the end of March, also said it will expand part-time work options and cancel flight attendant and other personnel training courses from April onwards. Those that are already on courses will not be hired. The company said it aimed to offer affected trainees “employment contracts in the long term”.

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Coronavirus live updates: Trump puts Mike Pence in charge of US response, says risk to Americans ‘very low’

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Saudi Arabia bans religious tourists from entering country as WHO says virus now spreading faster outside China than in it. Follow latest news

Fiji has extended its travel ban due to coronavirus fears. Travellers who have been in Italy, Iran and the South Korean cities of Daegu and Cheongdo will not be permitted to enter Fiji. Visitors who had been in mainland China in the last 14 days have also been forbidden entry into the Pacific nation.

There are no suspected or confirmed cases of coronavirus in Fiji, but Pacific nations are fearful of how their health systems will cope were the virus to reach their shores.

Ian Thorpe, the Australian Olympic swimming legend, says athletes must consider their own health before attending the Tokyo Games this year.

Thorpe, whose five Olympic golds make him the most successful Australian Olympian all time, spoke out as concerns mounted about whether the Games in July and August will go ahead because of the coronavirus outbreak.

I think the decision should come down to each individual athlete. But whether or not they want to compete, that they should take their health into consideration first.

Related: Athletes must consider their own health before travelling to Olympics, says Ian Thorpe

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UK must act to stamp out ‘curse’ of plastic sachets, say campaigners

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Calls for sachets to be included in UK and European legislation banning other single-use items

The government must act urgently to stamp out the “curse” of single-use plastic sachets, billions of which are helping to fuel the global plastics crisis, campaigners are warning.

A coalition of more than 50 business leaders, politicians and campaigners is demanding that the plastic sachets – used for everything from ketchup to shampoo – be included in European and UK legislation outlawing other “throwaway” items such as plastic straws and cotton buds.

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Inside Italy’s coronavirus ‘red zone’ – video diary

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Schoolteacher Marzio Toniolo describes life under lockdown in San Fiorano, one of the northern Italian towns under quarantine as coronavirus cases rise. 

Around 50,000 residents of 11 towns across Lombardy, where the outbreak emerged suddenly on Friday, and Veneto have been quarantined for at least the next 15 days as Italian authorities scramble to contain the worst outbreak of the virus in Europe and the third worst in the world. 


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Coronavirus: fourth Diamond Princess passenger dies as Japan closes some schools – live news

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Concerns mount that the spread of Covid-19 cannot be stopped as stock markets fall amid investor fears. Follow latest news

Italy may need to call on the European Union to offer leeway on its budget targets as it struggles with the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, a senior official said.

Deputy economy minister, Laura Castelli, made the comments a day after prime minister Giuseppe Conte warned that the fallout from the outbreak, which has concentrated in the economic powerhouses of northern Italy, would be “very strong”.

If you want to share any thoughts or news tips with me about the coronavirus then please email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com or tweet me @sloumarsh. My direct messages are open. Thanks

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Police and protesters clash on Greek islands over new migrant camps

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Teargas used against demonstrators on Lesbos and Chios who want migrants moved to the mainland

Clashes have broken out on the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios, where residents tried to prevent the arrival of riot police and excavating machines to be used to build new migrant detention camps.

Police fired teargas to disperse the crowds that gathered early on Tuesday to try to prevent officers from disembarking from government-chartered ferries.

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Barnier pours scorn on Johnson’s spokesman ahead of trade talks

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EU negotiator signals future relationship negotiations are on course for acrimonious start

Negotiations over Britain’s future relationship with the EU appear on course for an acrimonious start after Michel Barnier poured scorn on Boris Johnson’s spokesman and suggested the new Northern Ireland secretary did not understand the withdrawal agreement.

Barnier said he expected the talks, starting on Monday, to be “very difficult” but pronounced Brussels as “ready” following the official sign-off by EU ministers of their instructions for their chief negotiator.

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EU to demand right to punish UK if it fails to shadow Brussels rules

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Member states agree EU should have right to apply sanctions if divergence causes ‘disruptions’

The EU will demand the right to punish Britain if the government fails to shadow the Brussels rulebook in the future, member states have agreed, as Boris Johnson was warned that the bloc would not be hurried into a deal on the future relationship.

A final draft of the EU’s negotiating position agreed by ambassadors on Monday, ready for ministerial sign off on Tuesday, establishes the bloc’s developing environmental, social and workers’ standards as the baseline for a trade deal.

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Children among the injured after car drives into German carnival

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Police refuse to rule out deliberate attack on parade in town of Volkmarsen

Dozens of people have been injured, some of them children, after a local man appeared to deliberately drive a car into a carnival parade procession in the central German town of Volkmarsen, police have said.

The driver was arrested but police could not immediately provide details about the man’s motives, although Bild newspaper cited a spokesman, Henning Hinn, as saying they were “working on the assumption that it was a deliberate act”.

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Canary Islands sandstorm leaves tourists stranded – in pictures

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A sandstorm forced the closure of airports on Spain’s Canary Islands at the weekend. Scores of flights were cancelled after strong winds carrying red sand from the Sahara shrouded the tourist hotspot and the regional government declared a state of alert. The national weather service warned that winds of up to 120km/h were set to buffet the Canaries until Monday

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Micheál Martin faces a battle of conscience to form Irish government

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Fianna Fáil leader is a key player in breaking parliamentary deadlock, but has ruled out working with Sinn Féin

Ireland’s political deadlock hinges on the cold, hard numbers of parliamentary arithmetic, but there is an additional, nebulous factor: the conscience of Micheál Martin.

The leader of Fianna Fáil is the party leader best positioned to wrangle a government and emerge as taoiseach. It would safeguard his job as party leader and crown his career, giving him a chance to shape history in the Brexit era.

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Italy imposes draconian rules to stop spread of coronavirus

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People caught entering or leaving outbreak areas to be fined, after country’s third death

Italian authorities have implemented draconian measures to try to halt the coronavirus outbreak in the north of the country, including imposing fines on anyone caught entering or leaving outbreak areas, as a third person was confirmed to have died on Sunday.

The number of cases of the virus in the country has risen to 152.

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Far-right AfD faces exit from Hamburg parliament after election flop

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Exit polls suggest AfD fell below 5% threshold as voters also gave Merkel’s CDU thumbs-down

Four days after a racist gun attack in the German town of Hanau killed 10 people, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) were set to be ejected from the Hamburg parliament in a state election on Sunday.

Exit polls indicated that AfD would fall just short of the 5% threshold. “Nazis out,” shouted supporters of the victorious Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens as they celebrated in the northern city.

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World is approaching coronavirus tipping point, experts say

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78,000 cases confirmed, as Italy and Iran scramble to contain major outbreaks

The world is fast approaching a tipping point in the spread of the coronavirus, according to experts, who warn that the disease is outpacing efforts to contain it, after major outbreaks forced Italy and Iran to introduce stringent internal travel restrictions and South Korea’s president placed the country on red alert.

Some of the countries most affected by the virus are scrambling to halt its progress two days after Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), said the international community needed to act quickly before the narrowing “window of opportunity” closed completely.

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François Fillon goes on trial for embezzlement of public funds

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Former French presidential candidate accused of misusing more than €1m to employ wife in allegedly non-existent role

The former French presidential hopeful François Fillon will stand trial for embezzlement in the aftermath of a “fake jobs” scandal that destroyed his political career.

Fillon, 65, who was on track to lead France in 2017, will appear in court with his Welsh-born wife, Penelope.

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Italy hit by largest coronavirus outbreak outside Asia – video

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Giuseppe Conte says cases of the the Covid-19 virus in Italy have risen dramatically in the past two days. The prime minister told a press conference Italy would not try to suspend the Schengen treaty as such a measure would be disproportionate.

Schools in Milan will be closed, however, and people will not be allowed in and out of affected areas. Social and sporting events in Lombardy and Veneto have also been cancelled. As of Sunday morning, there were 89 confirmed coronavirus cases in Lombardy – with two in its industrial centre, Milan – 16 in Veneto, three in Piedmont – including two in Turin – and two in Emilia-Romagna

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Brexit: UK reneging on Northern Ireland pledges risks trade deals with US and EU

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Concerns raised after reports negotiating team told to devise plans to ‘get around’ protocol in withdrawal agreement

Reneging on the special Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland will risk trade deals with both the EU and the US, experts have warned.

Concern has been raised after Boris Johnson’s Brexit negotiating team has reportedly been ordered to come up with plans to “get around” the Northern Ireland protocol in the withdrawal agreement, which includes checks on goods and food going from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

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Coronavirus outbreak: four cruise ship passengers test positive in UK – live news

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Turkey and Pakistan close borders with Iran after eight deaths, while in northern Italy towns are on lockdown after jump in cases

Here’s Angela Giuffrida, Patrick Wintour and Sam Jones’s roundup of today’s coronavirus developments across the globe.

Four of the 32 British and Irish Diamond Princess cruise ship passengers taken to Arrowe Park, Merseyside on Saturday have tested positive for coronavirus strain Covid-19, the chief medical officer for England has said.

Prof Chris Whitty said: “Four further patients in England have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of cases in the UK to 13.

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