Category Archives: Europe

Protests rage around the world – but what comes next?

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Unrest is seemingly everywhere. We look at the some of the reasons for and responses to it in Hong Kong, Lebanon, Chile, Catalonia and Iraq

In Lebanon they are against a tax on WhatsApp and endemic corruption. In Chile, a hike in the metro fare and rampant inequality. In Hong Kong, an extradition bill and creeping authoritarianism. In Algeria, a fifth term for an ageing president and decades of military rule.

The protests raging today and in the past months on the streets of cities around the world have varying triggers. But the fuel is familiar: stagnating middle classes, stifled democracy and the bone-deep conviction that things can be different – even if the alternative is not always clear.

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Brussels allows UK to subsidise fossil fuel generators

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Controversial energy scheme had been halted by European court

The UK’s largest fossil fuel generators may be back in line for almost £1bn in backup power subsidies this winter after the European commission approved the UK’s flagship energy scheme, which was ruled illegal last year.

A shock European court ruling brought the government’s “capacity market” to a standstill last November, triggering an in-depth investigation into whether the UK’s plan to pay power plants to stay open was compatible with EU state aid law.

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Rome’s mayor under pressure to resign as general strike looms

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Many blame M5S’s Virginia Raggi for a drastic decline in the city’s services

The mayor of Rome is under pressure to resign as trade unions join forces for the Italian capital’s first major general strike on Friday over the dire state of services in the city.

Virginia Raggi, a politician with the Five Star Movement (M5S), the party ruling nationally alongside the centre-left Democratic party, won mayoral elections in June 2016 on a promise to make the city “liveable again”.

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‘Spain is fulfilling its duty to itself’: Franco’s remains exhumed

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Spanish dictator’s body moved from tomb in the Valley of the Fallen to lie alongside his wife

A little before lunchtime on Thursday, a helicopter carrying a single body freshly plucked from Spain’s largest mass grave took off from the Valley of the Fallen outside Madrid, climbed above the mountains and disappeared into the bright October sky.

Unlike many of the other 33,832 people buried in the valley’s concrete and granite chambers, this individual did not meet his fate on a battlefield or in an air raid. Nor was he put up against a wall and shot, as so many were during the Spanish civil war.

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Lord Dubs: Britain’s ‘hardening’ stance on asylum means children will suffer

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Labour peer heads push to ‘save family reunion’ amid fears Brexit will stop young refugees from joining relatives in UK

Britain’s “hardening” attitude to asylum seekers threatens to end one of the last safe routes for children to reach the UK, Alf Dubs has said.

Lord Dubs believes the Home Office is targeting a permanent reduction in childrens’ rights, under an EU law known as the Dublin regulation, to join family in the UK after Brexit.

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Spain exhumes Franco’s remains – in pictures

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The remains of the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco are being moved from a grandiose mausoleum outside Madrid to be reburied in a family crypt. The closed-door operation will fulfil the wishes of those who considered the mausoleum an affront to the tens of thousands who died in the country’s civil war

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European leaders expected to grant Brexit delay

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Donald Tusk tells Boris Johnson he has recommended that the EU27 accept request for extension

Boris Johnson will be left waiting for the EU’s terms for a further Brexit extension until Friday, with signs of momentum building behind Donald Tusk’s plan for a delay up to 31 January.

The French government has privately voiced its concerns about taking the pressure off MPs to vote for the deal, which they believe could be ratified in 15 days, but EU sources said the bloc was seeking a “solution that works for all” and avoids a no deal exit.

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Will loyalists turn against Trump after Bill Taylor’s game-changing testimony?

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Diplomat added significant ballast to the allegation Trump was trying to extort Ukraine into ginning up bad news about Biden

The impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump has heard some extraordinary testimony over the last month. From the first mention of Trump’s desired “deliverable” from Ukraine, successive layers of witnesses and documents have added to an indictment of the president’s conduct that only gets heavier, as Trump howls his defenses to the wind.

Related: Trump impeachment catch-up: where we are right now

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Brexit: Johnson and Corbyn meet but can’t agree timetable for bill – live news

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Prime minister will have to decide whether to carry through with call for election if EU offers lengthy extension

The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has criticised the abuse directed at the 19 Labour MPs who voted to support the WAB’s second reading on Tuesday.

As reported earlier, Lisa Nandy MP tweeted emails sent to her labelling her “scum”.

Morning! pic.twitter.com/MJOtjDY2u9

Adam Bienkov, UK Political Editor of Business Insider, tweets an exchange he had with the prime minister’s spokesman when attempting to ask why Boris Johnson has insisted that there won’t be checks between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, even though his own impact assessment states that there will.

. https://t.co/NKeFRum2Dn

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Two-thirds of British people see overseas aid as ‘a major priority’

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Survey of EU citizens reveals overwhelming belief in importance of helping people in poorer countries

The British public remains firmly behind efforts to support people in poorer countries, with almost two-thirds of people canvassed in a survey of EU citizens believing that maintaining overseas aid at its current level should be “a major priority”.

The results from Eurobarometer, the EU’s polling organisation, also found that almost 90% of people thought helping people in developing countries should be a priority of the EU and national governments.

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Franco’s remains to finally leave Spain’s Valley of the Fallen

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Dictator’s tomb to be opened and coffin taken to cemetery near Madrid on Thursday

Spain’s socialist government is finally to fulfil one of its key promises when the remains of General Franco are exhumed from the austere splendour of the Valley of the Fallen and transferred to his family mausoleum outside Madrid.

If all goes to plan, the 1.5-tonne slab that has covered the dictator’s tomb will be lifted at 10.30am on Thursday and the coffin removed and flown by helicopter or taken by road to Mingorrubio-El Pardo municipal cemetery.

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Turkey and Russia agree deal over buffer zone in northern Syria

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Erdoğan hails agreement with Putin in which Kurdish fighters will be moved from border area

The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, have agreed on the parameters of a proposed Turkish “safe zone” in Syria, a development that could bring an end to Ankara’s offensive against Kurdish forces over the border by severely curtailing their control of the area.

The two leaders were locked in marathon talks for more than six hours in the Russian Black Sea city of Sochi, emerging just two hours before a five-day ceasefire brokered by the US expired at 10pm local time.

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Truth behind German businessman’s ‘anti-Nazi’ father revealed

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Roland Berger held up his father, Georg, as a role model – but the real story is darker

It was an inspirational tale: after watching the horror of the Kristallnacht pogrom in 1938, a German man tore up his Nazi party membership card in protest and turned against the regime.

His Christian-based principles led to him being hounded by the Gestapo, sent off briefly to Dachau concentration camp and eventually dispatched to the eastern front.

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Melting glaciers reveal five new islands in the Arctic

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Russian navy discovers yet-to-be-named islands previously hidden under glaciers

The Russian navy says it has discovered five new islands revealed by melting glaciers in the remote Arctic.

An expedition in August and September charted the islands, which have yet to be named and were previously hidden under glaciers, said the head of the northern fleet, Vice-Admiral Alexander Moiseyev.

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Brexit legislation ‘paused’ after MPs reject Boris Johnson’s timetable – as it happened

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Parliament votes to reject government’s timetable for passage of bill that would implement Brexit deal

That’s all from us this evening. Here’s a summary of the day’s events:

Related: MPs reject Boris Johnson's attempt to fast-track Brexit deal

If, as expected, Brexit is delayed until the end of January, a general election would have to follow, the Press Association reports, citing an unnamed No 10 source.

Parliament and Corbyn have repeatedly voted for delay. On Saturday, parliament asked for a delay until January and, today, parliament blew its last chance. If parliament’s delay is agreed by Brussels, then the only way the country can move on is with an election. This parliament is broken.

The public will have to choose whether they want to get Brexit done with Boris or whether they want to spend 2020 having two referendums on Brexit and Scotland with Corbyn.

No10 source tonight.

Three points.

1). Parliament hasn’t blown its last chance. The 31st deadline was set by Brussels. The PM has said it’s his final deadline but Brussels is open to an extension.

2). Benn Act was passed by MPs but PM sent the letter.

1/ pic.twitter.com/FywKxdufYM

Johnson is the author of his own misfortune. He only tried to bounce his deal through parliament because he knows it will not withstand scrutiny. A Brexit deal driven by the ideology of deregulation must be stopped.

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‘First London, then Brussels and Strasbourg’: Juncker on Brexit vote – video

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Jean Claude-Juncker has spoken in the European parliament as his five-year term as president of the European commission comes to an end. He said Brexit had been 'a waste of time and a waste of energy' and that Brussels would be watching Westminster closely as it votes on a withdrawal agreement. Boris Johnson will make a final bid on Tuesday to force Brexit through by 31 October

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EU would agree to Brexit delay, says German minister

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Merkel ally Peter Altmaier says ‘it goes without saying’ Brexit extension would be granted

Germany’s economic affairs minister has wholeheartedly backed the option of a Brexit extension beyond 31 October, as the European parliament pulled plans to hold a vote on Boris Johnson’s deal this week.

Peter Altmaier, a key ally of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said he believed a technical extension would be offered to allow extra time for legislation to pass or a longer period to accommodate a general election or second referendum.

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John Bercow denies Boris Johnson second vote on Brexit deal

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Speaker rules it would be ‘repetitive and disorderly’ for MPs to vote again on deal

Boris Johnson has been denied the opportunity to hold a second vote on his Brexit deal in the House of Commons after the Speaker, John Bercow, ruled that it would be “repetitive and disorderly”.

Bercow said it would break longstanding conventions for MPs to debate and vote on the agreement struck in Brussels last week, little more than two days after Saturday’s historic sitting.

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‘The EU is running scared from fascism’ – Kosovo’s likely new PM

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In exclusive interview, leftwinger Albin Kurti condemns the bloc’s refusal to halt Balkan enlargement

The leftwinger set to become Kosovo’s surprise new prime minister has condemned the EU’s decision to halt further Balkans enlargement, saying it showed western leaders had forgotten the lessons of two world wars and instead were in retreat in the face of fascism and populism.

Albin Kurti said the stance could damage the chances of Kovoso reaching a deal with Serbia, which has refused to recognise it as independent since the end of the 1998-99 war, as Belgrade has less incentive to act without the prospect of EU membership.

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‘A tectonic shift’: Green Party makes historic gains in Swiss vote

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‘Tidal wave’ of support for environmentalist party but anti-immigrant Swiss People’s Party remains the largest

Switzerland’s Green Party have made historic gains in national elections, while the anti-immigrant rightwing remained the largest party in parliament despite a slip in its support.

Definitive results confirmed a pre-vote forecast that rising concerns about climate change would trigger an electoral “green wave”.

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