Category Archives: Europe

Photographic discovery is a window into Soviet-era Ukraine photo essay

Posted on by

In the remains of a bombed-out Soviet darkroom, hundreds of rolls of film were discovered rotting among the rubble by the photojournalist Samuel Eder earlier this year. He shares his experience in recovering these fragments of history and of reuniting them with their subjects

When war broke out in eastern Ukraine in 2014, thousands of people were forced to flee their homes, transforming thriving communities into ghost towns overnight. As classrooms became sniper nests, family homes became barracks and community centres turned into ammunition caches, precious remnants of peacetime life were consumed by the war. Among these lost relics are the remains of a bombed-out Soviet photographic lab – with hundreds of rolls of film left rotting among the rubble.

Continue reading...

Danish artist seeks to stop his work being cut up to make watches

Posted on by

Faroese art provocateurs want to use canvas of Tal R’s Paris Chic as raw material

A court in Denmark will rule on Monday on whether to prohibit a pair of Faroese art provocateurs from destroying a painting by the Danish artist Tal R and using pieces of the canvas as decorative faces for a line of luxury wristwatches.

Dann Thorleifsson and Arne Leivsgard, who five years ago founded the Kanske watch brand, bought Paris Chic, one of Tal R’s brightly coloured Sexshops series, for £70,000 at the Victoria Miro gallery in London in August.

Continue reading...

French floods: five dead after three rescue workers killed in helicopter crash

Posted on by

Three emergency workers killed in Marseille while two men died in the French Riviera

Three emergency workers were killed in a helicopter crash near Marseille while on a rescue mission in southern France where floods have left two dead, officials have said.

Their EC145 helicopter lost radio and radar contact while on a rescue and reconnaissance flight in the Var region on Sunday night.

Continue reading...

Amazon pulls ‘disturbing’ Christmas ornaments bearing images of Auschwitz

Posted on by

Move came after Auschwitz Memorial in Poland called on the e-commerce company to remove the ‘disrespectful’ products

A Polish museum has criticised US e-commerce giant Amazon for selling Christmas ornaments decorated with images of the Nazi German death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The museum at the site of the former camp in southern Poland tweeted screenshots of the items showing train tracks and barracks and requested that Amazon remove them from their site.

Continue reading...

COP25: Island states want ‘decisive’ climate action to prevent inundation

Posted on by

The impact of rising seas prompts plea ahead of the UN climate change conference that begins on Monday in Madrid

The countries most at risk of deluge from climate chaos have issued an impassioned plea to the industrialised world ahead of crucial negotiations on the Paris agreement that start on Monday in Madrid.

“We see [these talks] as the last opportunity to take decisive action,” Janine Felson, deputy chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) told the Guardian.

Continue reading...

Malta’s PM quits in crisis over Daphne Caruana Galizia murder

Posted on by

Joseph Muscat says he will stay on until January but journalist’s family calls for his immediate departure

Malta’s embattled prime minister Joseph Muscat has resigned, driven from office by the constitutional and political crisis triggered by the murder of the investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

In a televised address broadcast on Sunday evening, Muscat announced that he would stay on until a new leader of his ruling Labour party was elected in January. The prime minister expressed “deep regret” for Caruana Galizia’s murder and spoke of the need for a “fresh page”.

Continue reading...

Merkel government in peril as leftwing duo take charge of SPD

Posted on by

New co-leaders of junior coalition partner want major concessions from Merkel’s CDU

The future of Angela Merkel’s government is in doubt after the election by her junior coalition partners, the Social Democrats (SPD), of a new leftwing leadership duo who have pledged to renegotiate the terms of the alliance.

Norbert Walter-Borjans and Saskia Esken, from the left of the SPD, have called for major policy concessions from Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU), and say they are prepared to pull the plug on the partnership.

Continue reading...

Spanish police arrest suspected pilot of ‘narco-submarine’

Posted on by

Fifth person detained after vessel carrying cocaine was intercepted off Galicia coast

Spanish police have arrested a man alleged to be the pilot of the “narco-submarine” that was intercepted off the coast of Galicia last weekend carrying three tonnes of cocaine.

Two other men were arrested at the scene after allegedly trying to scuttle the semi-submersible vessel and swim to shore on 24 November.

Continue reading...

Venice goes to the polls in referendum on autonomy

Posted on by
Split from the mainland borough of Mestre is the answer to crisis of mass tourism, say campaigners

Giorgio Suppiej was badly beaten up when he campaigned for Venice to break away from its mainland borough, Mestre, in 1979. He was 18 at the time and was set upon as he attended a demonstration in support of autonomy by a gang deliberately dispatched by opponents to sabotage the vote.

“They were people sent by the most violent parties of the period,” said Suppiej, a lawyer and president of Venezia Serenissima, a cultural association. “It took me two months to recover.”

Continue reading...

To drive out the tax avoiders, the EU must reimburse states that depend on them

Posted on by

An initiative against tax havens has been voted down by states who cannot afford to lose the revenue such status brings

For the time being, the European commission has lost its battle with the EU’s tax havens for greater visibility on how much tax multinational companies pay and where they pay it.

A proposed rule would have forced multinationals to reveal the revenues and profits they make, and how little corporate tax they pay, in each of the 28 member states.

Continue reading...

Maltese businessman charged over murder of investigative journalist

Posted on by

Yorgen Fenech entered not guilty plea to charges relating to killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia

A businessman has been charged with the murder of Malta’s best known investigative journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Local tycoon Yorgen Fenech, the 38-year-old head of a gambling and property empire, was arraigned on Saturday evening, and charged with participating in a criminal organisation, complicity in causing an explosion, and complicity in the murder of Caruana Galizia.

Continue reading...

Italian MP proposes during earthquake aid debate in parliament – video

Posted on by

Italian MP Flavio Di Muro was greeted with applause when he asked his girlfriend to marry him during a parliamentary debate on post-earthquake reconstruction.

Flavio Di Muro, 33, a member of the far-right League party, made the proposal as MPs prepared to vote on measures to assist central Italian regions struck by earthquakes in 2016.

The Speaker of the chamber was less enthusiastic and reprimanded Di Muro for the interruption 

Continue reading...

‘Mystery solved’: owner of boat washed up in Ireland found in Canada

Posted on by

Environmentalist Rick Small says he gave away boat now on display in community garden in Ireland

The wooden houseboat washed ashore on Ireland’s Atlantic coast three years ago, prompting two questions: how did it get there? And where was Rick Small?

The 20ft (6-metre) craft, made with driftwood and polystyrene and fitted with solar panels, had no one at the helm when it turned up at Drum beach, near Belmullet in County Mayo, in November 2016.

Continue reading...

Daimler to axe at least 10,000 jobs worldwide

Posted on by

Mercedes-Benz owner bids to slash €1bn from wage bill as industry switches towards electric vehicles

Mercedes-Benz owner Daimler has announced plans to cut at least 10,000 jobs worldwide in the latest sign of stress in the German automotive industry as it invests billions in electric cars.

Daimler, which also makes lorries, vans and buses, said in a statement on Friday it planned to cut “thousands of jobs” by the end of 2022, but later made it clear the toll would be higher.

Continue reading...

Malta’s PM expected to quit in crisis over journalist’s murder

Posted on by

Joseph Muscat faced increasing pressure over handling of Daphne Caruana Galizia case

Malta’s prime minister, Joseph Muscat, has told associates he plans to resign imminently after the political and legal crisis stemming from the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia engulfed his government this week.

His decision follows the arrest and questioning of one of Muscat’s key allies by police investigating the 2017 murder of the prominent investigative journalist, who had exposed corruption at the highest levels of government and business circles in Malta.

Continue reading...

Proposed EU-wide ‘climate law’ would set net-zero carbon target by 2050

Posted on by

Plan is part of ‘green new deal’ but campaigners say it is not enough to tackle climate crisis

The first EU-wide “climate law” would enshrine a legally binding target of reaching net-zero carbon by 2050, and Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions would be halved by 2030, under a set of proposals being discussed by the incoming European commission.

Cars would be subject to new air pollution standards, following the disastrous cheating that allowed diesel pollutants to be masked, and all vehicles may be brought within the EU’s carbon emissions trading scheme, which would affect drivers across the bloc. Three quarters of road transport would have to be moved to rail and inland waterways, and pricing would have to be adjusted to reflect the carbon output of different modes of transport, which is likely to prove controversial.

Continue reading...

EU risks splits over Brexit trade talks, says new council chief

Posted on by

Charles Michel, who replaces Donald Tusk, says bloc has to work hard to keep unity

The EU is ready for the next phase of Brexit but risks greater internal divisions over trade talks with the UK, one of its incoming leaders has said.

In one of his first interviews since being nominated president of the European council, Charles Michel said Brexit may have played an important role in bringing the EU together.

Continue reading...

12 EU states reject move to expose companies’ tax avoidance

Posted on by

Proposal would have forced firms to reveal profits made and taxes paid in each EU country

Twelve EU countries, including Ireland, have blocked a proposed new rule that would have forced multinational companies to reveal how much profit they make and how little tax they pay in each of the 28 member states.

The proposed directive was designed to shine a light on how some of the world’s biggest companies – such as Apple, Facebook and Google – avoid paying an estimated $500bn a year in taxes by shifting their profits from higher-tax countries such as the UK, France and Germany to zero-tax or low-tax jurisdictions including Ireland, Luxembourg and Malta.

Continue reading...

Italian police uncover Nazi plot as 19 arrested and weapons seized

Posted on by

Suspects allegedly wanted to create ‘openly pro-Nazi, xenophobic, antisemitic group’

Police in Italy say they have arrested 19 far-right extremists who wanted to form a new Nazi party.

In raids across the country, police discovered weapons, explosives, Nazi plaques featuring swastikas, Nazi flags and books on Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

Continue reading...