Category Archives: Europe

Venice police fine parents of children who played football in public square

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Murano resident reported children, aged between 12 and 13, to the police

Italy might be a football-loving country but that did not stop police in Venice from pursuing a group of unlikely targets: 14 children who fell foul for playing the game in a public square, leading to fines presented to their parents, in a move that has sparked a debate about the rights of young people to play outdoors.

The children, aged between 12 and 13, were playing football earlier this month in Pino Signoretto square in Murano, an island of about 4,500 inhabitants in the Venetian lagoon, when a resident, annoyed by the noise they were making, reported them to the police.

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Wealth tax would be deadly for French economy, says Europe’s richest man

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LVMH owner Bernard Arnault, who could take €1bn hit, says proposed 2% levy ‘aims to destroy liberal economy’

Europe’s richest man, the luxury goods magnate Bernard Arnault, has said that a wealth tax that could cost him more than €1bn (£817m) would be deadly for France’s economy.

The French founder of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton said in a statement to the Sunday Times that calls for a 2% wealth tax on all assets “aims to destroy the liberal economy, the only one that works for the good of all”.

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Owner of Georgian broadcaster called country’s ‘propaganda megaphone’ is based in London

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Exclusive: Imedi TV owner denies criticism by EU disinformation monitor and says it is editorially independent

On Pont Street in Belgravia in central London, on the first floor of a handsome Edwardian townhouse, sitting above the royal green awning of the Jeroboams wine shop, is an office. There are no obvious signs for it beyond a little note next to the intercom. When buzzed this week, no one appeared at the door.

This is the registered office of Hunnewell Partners, which describes itself as an “entrepreneurial private equity and litigation funding practice”.

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Dutch police clash with anti-immigration protesters in The Hague

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Thirty arrests made and two officers injured as teargas and water cannon deployed against violent protesters

Dutch police have used teargas and a water cannon to disperse violent anti-immigration protesters in The Hague on Saturday, a local government spokesperson has said.

Thirty people have been arrested and two police officers were injured. Authorities did not rule out additional arrests in the coming days as they review camera footage.

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Heathrow flights delayed and cancelled as cyber-attack hits European airports

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Attack raises questions over security as Brussels and Berlin airports’ check-in and boarding systems also affected

Flights have been delayed and cancelled at three leading European airports – including London’s largest, Heathrow – after the company behind the software used for check-in and boarding said it was hit by a cyber-attack.

Airports in Brussels and Berlin are also experiencing delays and disruption as a result of the problem affecting Collins Aerospace, which works for several airlines at airports across the world.

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Norway finds place in spotlight during ‘golden age’ of film-making

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Distinctive and critically acclaimed films and drama series from ‘a big hub of talent’ are appealing to audiences around the world

When it comes to film-making, Norway has long been left watching on while its Nordic neighbours Sweden and Denmark put out hit after hit by luminaries such as Lars von Trier, Thomas Vinterberg and Ruben Östlund.

But after years in the shadows, the country has finally found its place in the international spotlight with a number of distinctive, relationship-centred and critically acclaimed films and television shows in what many are describing as a Norwegian “golden age”.

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UN votes to allow Palestinian president to address annual gathering via video link

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Trump had refused to grant visas for Palestinian delegation due to attend conference and UN general assembly

The United Nations general assembly has voted to allow the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, to address next week’s annual gathering of world leaders next week in New York via video link after Donald Trump said he would not give him a US visa.

The resolution received 145 votes in favour and five votes against, while six countries abstained.

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Swiss theatre director told to withdraw book alleging Austrian politician mocked Holocaust victims

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Court fines publisher after Milo Rau falsely claimed that far-right former chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache sang a song ridiculing the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis

A Swiss theatre director known for re-enacting landmark trials has been told by a judge in Vienna that his publisher must withdraw a book in which he alleged that a far-right Austrian politician sang a song mocking the victims of the Holocaust.

On Thursday, Vienna’s regional court fined independent German publishing house Verbrecher Verlag €1,500 (£1,300) for publishing a book in which Milo Rau alleged that Heinz-Christian Strache, the former leader of the Freedom party (FPÖ), once sang a song with the line: “We’ll manage the seventh million”, a reference to the approximately 6 million European Jews murdered at the hands of the Nazi regime.

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Judge quashes Home Office’s decision on US extradition of vulnerable man

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Portugal has also made extradition request for Diogo Santos Coelho, who is facing cybercrime charges

A high court judge has quashed a Home Office decision that paved the way for a vulnerable autistic man to be extradited to the US on cybercrime charges carrying a possible 52-year sentence.

The UK government has accepted that Diogo Santos Coelho, 25, a Portuguese national, was groomed and exploited online by adults from the age of 14, leading to him setting up the website RaidForums, to which the alleged crimes relate.

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Amsterdam’s answer to its rubbish crisis? Remove some of the litter bins

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Problems have arisen in Dutch capital since introduction of a deposit scheme for small bottles and cans

City leaders in Amsterdam are taking a novel approach to keeping its streets clean – by taking away litter bins to combat rubbish in part blamed on people rifling through them to obtain refund deposits on some discarded items.

There has been a surge in complaints about litter in the Dutch capital since the introduction of a deposit scheme for small bottles and cans. Last year, a quarter of residents described their neighbourhood as dirty or very dirty, rising to two in five in the city centre.

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China, India and Belarus line up for Russia’s rival version of Eurovision

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Intervision promises to be lighter on sequins and heavier on patriotic ballads than its European counterpart

Russia is gearing up to revive its Soviet-era alternative to Eurovision – the Intervision song contest – which kicks off in Moscow on Saturday, with performers from 23, mostly allied, countries set to take the stage.

But sequinned bodysuits, camp theatrics and Europop bangers will be in short supply. Instead, the Kremlin’s version of the spectacle promises “traditional values”, patriotic ballads and a Russian entry led by a fiercely pro-war singer, as Moscow attempts to refashion Europe’s glitter-soaked pageant in its own image.

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Eritrean man is second to be deported to France under UK’s ‘one in, one out’ deal

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Home Office says man left Heathrow for Paris early on Friday after losing high court attempt to block move

An Eritrean man has been deported to France under the UK government’s “one in, one out” deal with the neighbouring country.

The man – the second to be deported under the agreement – was on a flight that left Heathrow for Paris at 6.15am on Friday, the Home Office confirmed after he lost a high court attempt to block the move.

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Macrons to submit scientific evidence to US court to prove Brigitte was not born a man

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French president and wife allege rightwing influencer Candace Owens is using defamatory attacks against them to boost media profile

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his wife plan to present scientific evidence to a US court to prove that Brigitte Macron was not born a man, the lawyer representing them in a defamation suit has said.

The couple filed the suit in July against Candace Owens, a rightwing influencer, and her business, alleging continuing defamatory attacks against them in order to boost the profile of her media platform, gain more audience and make money.

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First person removed to France under ‘one in, one out’ asylum deal, says UK

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Agreement reached with France allows for removal of asylum seekers who arrive on small boats

The first Channel migrant has been deported to France under the controversial one in, one out deal, the Home Office has confirmed.

It follows three days of cancellations of tickets of asylum seekers due to fly and a high court challenge that halted the imminent removal of a 25-year-old Eritrean man to France on Tuesday evening. He was granted more time to gather evidence relating to his claim that he is a victim of trafficking.

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Italy first in EU to pass comprehensive law regulating use of AI

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Legislation limits child access and imposes prison terms for damaging use of artificial intelligence

Italy has become the first country in the EU to approve a comprehensive law regulating the use of artificial intelligence, including imposing prison terms on those who use the technology to cause harm, such as generating deepfakes, and limiting child access.

Giorgia Meloni’s rightwing government said the legislation, which aligns with the EU’s landmark AI Act, is a decisive move in influencing how AI is used across Italy.

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Picasso painting not seen for 80 years unveiled by Paris auction house

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Portrait of Dora Maar completed in Paris during war had been in private collection since being bought in 1944

A newly discovered painting by Pablo Picasso of the French photographer and painter Dora Maar completed during the German occupation of Paris that has not been seen for 80 years, has been unveiled.

The work, Bust of a Woman in a Flowery Hat (Dora Maar), was finished towards the end of the couple’s turbulent nine-year relationship and shows Maar in a softer, more colourful light than Picasso’s previous portraits of his then lover.

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UK to explore extraditing Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brückner

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Met chief Mark Rowley says many questions remain and detectives are liaising with German and Portuguese police

Mark Rowley has said the British police investigation into Madeleine McCann will explore extraditing the German national Christian Brückner to the UK to stand trial over the three-year-old’s disappearance.

Brückner was released from a German prison on Wednesday after serving a seven-year jail term for the rape of an elderly woman in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2005, two years before Madeleine disappeared while on holiday with her family in the same town.

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Irish police find child remains in hunt for boy not marked as missing for four years

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Gardaí believe body is that of Daniel Aruebose, whose 2022 disappearance was not noticed by authorities until last month

Irish police investigating the fate of a boy who disappeared four years ago but was only registered by authorities as missing last month have found the remains of a child on Dublin wasteland.

Gardaí named the missing boy as Daniel Aruebose, who is thought to have vanished in 2022 aged three, after they discovered the remains on Wednesday in the Donabate area of north Dublin.

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Precious gold samples stolen in raid on French natural history museum

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Museum says specimens taken are worth €600,000 based on price of gold but have ‘immeasurable heritage value’

Historic gold samples with a street value of €600,000 but priceless to scientists and researchers have been stolen from the French national natural history museum in the latest of a series of museum robberies in France.

“This has happened in a critical context for cultural establishments in France, particularly museums,” the Paris museum said. “Several public collections have been the victims of robberies in the past months.”

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How the EU’s far right has seized on Charlie Kirk’s killing

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Leaders from Orbán to Le Pen have framed the shooting as evidence of persecution – a strategy that experts say could further normalise extremism across the continent

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Before his fatal shooting, few if any of the leaders of Europe’s resurgent far right had so much as mentioned the name of Charlie Kirk. Since last week, the propaganda potential of the conservative US activist’s killing has escaped none of them.

Kirk, a rising star of Donald Trump’s Maga movement, was hit in the neck by a single bullet as he addressed students in Utah on 10 September. A 22-year-old suspect, Tyler Robinson, has been charged, but his alleged motives remain unclear.

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