Category Archives: Europe

Global stock markets post best year since financial crisis

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FTSE 100 records best performance since the referendum year, jumping 12%

Global stock markets have posted their best year since the aftermath of the financial crisis a decade ago, as investors shrugged off trade tensions and warnings of slowing growth in major economies.

The MSCI World Index, which tracks stocks across the developed world, jumped by almost 24% during 2019 – the strongest performance since 2009. A surge in US technology giants and a strong recovery in eurozone and Asian stocks drove the rally.

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Cheddargate chef loses court battle over Michelin downgrade

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Business still booming at Marc Veyrat’s restaurant despite it losing one of its three stars

One of France’s leading chefs has lost his court case against the Michelin Guide after it downgraded his restaurant from three to two stars.

In a case that became known as Cheddargate, Marc Veyrat sued the respected guide claiming it had made a “profoundly offensive” suggestion that he had used the English cheese in one of his signature soufflé dishes.

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Barcelona to open southern Europe’s biggest low-emissions zone

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City bans most polluting vehicles from area 20 times the size of Madrid’s zone

The largest low-emissions zone in southern Europe opens in Barcelona on New Year’s Day, banning the most polluting vehicles from entering an urban area including the city and some satellite towns.

Petrol-driven cars bought before 2000 and diesels older than 2006 will be banned and face a fine of €100-€500 (£85-£425) each time they enter the zone. A moratorium will be in place for the first three months, during which time offenders will receive notification of the infraction but will not be fined.

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Greek activists warn of surge in police brutality and rights violations

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Human rights groups deplore excessive use of force that includes beatings with batons

Greece has seen an alarming rise in police violence, amid reports of unprovoked attacks by officers that have seen protesters beaten with batons and people strip-searched in broad daylight.

Human rights groups, commentators and the country’s leftist opposition have deplored what is increasingly being viewed as the deployment of excessive force by the authorities. Despite a widespread ban in Europe, the use of plastic bullets has also raised alarm.

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Papers reveal Anglo-French distrust before Srebrenica massacre

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Archives show British PM was warned France may have made secret deal with Bosnian Serbs

Days before the Srebrenica massacre in July 1995, John Major was warned France had possibly brokered a secret deal with the Bosnian Serbs to halt airstrikes in return for the release of western military hostages.

This claim, detailed in a secret Foreign Office note to the prime minister, is among documents available to read at the National Archives in Kew fromTuesday that expose the depth of Anglo-French distrust during the Balkans conflict.

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MoD proposed Russian membership of Nato in 1995, files reveal

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Released papers expose ‘associate membership’ plan and Yeltsin’s drinking habits

Russia could have become an “associate member” of Nato 25 years ago if a Ministry of Defence proposal had gained support, according to confidential Downing Street files which also expose Boris Yeltsin’s drinking habits.

The suggestion, aimed at reversing a century of east-west antagonism, is revealed in documents released on Tuesday by the National Archives at Kew.

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Polish PM furious at Putin rewriting history of second world war

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Mateusz Morawiecki attacks Russian president’s ‘lies’ blaming Poland for start of war

Poland’s prime minister has launched a furious response to claims by Vladimir Putin that Poland was partially responsible for the outbreak of the second world war.

It is the latest episode in a bitter conflict over historical memory that is likely to intensify as the 75th anniversary of the victory over Nazism approaches next May.

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The child refugees risking the Channel by boat – one year on

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Kent youth asylum seeker charity has seen a 50% rise in demand for its services since December 2018

Bridget Chapman, who swims regularly in the Channel, wasn’t surprised when desperate asylum seekers began travelling to the UK on small dinghy boats last year. On a clear day she can see France’s coastline from where she lives in Folkestone, Kent. “If you’re stuck in Calais and you can see the British coast quite clearly, it must be really tempting to think: I’ll just get a boat,” she said.

It has been a year since the then home secretary, Sajid Javid, declared the increasing number of migrants attempting to cross the Channel a “major incident”, but boat arrivals are still a regular occurrence. On Boxing Day this year, more than 60 migrants were picked up while attempting to cross in small boats.

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Romanian man jailed in Italy over human trafficking ring

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Guardian investigation in 2017 revealed Romanian women were being exploited on farms

An Italian court has sentenced a Romanian man to 20 years in prison for human trafficking after a Guardian investigation revealed that thousands of women from Romania were being raped and used as forced labour on farms in Sicily.

In what investigators claim is Italy’s first conviction for labour trafficking of European citizens, Lucian Milea, 41, was convicted last week of running a trafficking ring that recruited dozens of women in Romania who were then forced into exploitation and prostitution on farms in Ragusa, Sicily.

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Tonnes of fake snow brought to Moscow after warmest December in 140 years – video

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Tonnes of snow have been brought by truck to the centre of Moscow in an attempt to boost holiday spirit in what has so far been an almost snow-free December. The snow started appearing at the capital's Zaryadye Park and central Tverskaya Street on Friday. Alexei Nemeryuk, the head of Moscow’s trade and services department, told the Govorit Moskva radio station that the snow had been brought in from the city's ice rinks and will be used to create snowboarding slopes as part of the Journey to Christmas festival. According to meteorologists, the unseasonable warmth has been brought by an atmospheric front from the Atlantic Ocean. Rain – not snow – is forecast for the New Year holiday, Russia's main festive celebration.

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Spanish pool deaths: mother may seek more investigations – lawyer

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Olubunmi Diya not satisfied deaths of husband and two children were simple accident

A woman whose husband and two children drowned in a pool while on holiday in the Costa del Sol is not satisfied their deaths were a simple accident and could seek further investigations, her lawyer has said.

Olubunmi Diya lost her daughter Comfort Diya, nine, her son Praise-Emmanuel Diya, 16, and her husband, Gabriel Diya, 52, in the incident on Christmas Eve at the Club La Costa World in Fuengirola.

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Macron forced to step in to defuse crisis over pension changes

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French president to address 25-day strike and widespread protests in new year speech

Emmanuel Macron will be forced to speak out on France’s ongoing pensions strike in his televised new year address on Tuesday as transport stoppages look likely to continue into a fifth week, causing major disruption over the holiday period and into January.

The centrist French president, who made overhauling the country’s pensions system a key election pledge, has until now refrained from intervening personally, leaving his prime minister, Edouard Philippe, to deal with the day-to-day response to the crisis.

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EU accused of seeking to cut funds for poor in post-Brexit cost savings

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Plan to drop dedicated fund while defence spending rises dismissed as false economy

The European commission has been accused of seeking to cut EU funding for the continent’s poorest people by 50% to secure post-Brexit cost savings and extra funds for defence projects.

Jacques Vandenschrik, the president of the European Food Banks Federation, said the EU executive’s proposed spending plans for the next seven years posed a risk not only to the most vulnerable but to the stability of wider society.

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Ukraine and Russia-backed separatists exchange 200 prisoners

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Five riot police suspected of killings among those handed to separatists, provoking outrage

Ukrainian authorities and Russia-backed separatists in the war-torn east of Ukraine have exchanged 200 prisoners, swapping detained fighters for civilians and service personnel held captive in some cases for years.

The exchange provoked outrage in government-held Ukraine after Kyiv handed over to separatists five riot police suspected of killing protesters during a pro-western uprising in 2014 as part of the swap.

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Moscow resorts to fake snow in warmest December since 1886

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Hibernation disrupted at city’s zoo and gardens bloom early as temperatures hit record high

Moscow has been so warm this December that the government has resorted to sending trucks filled with artificial snow to decorate a new year display in the city centre.

Videos of the delivery for a snowboarding hill went viral as observers noted the irony of bringing snow to a city that spends millions each year on its removal.

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Geert Wilders revives contest for cartoons that mock Muhammad

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Dutch anti-Islam lawmaker reveals his plans despite fears the move could spark attacks

Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders has revived his plan to hold a contest for cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad, more than a year after cancelling such an event out of fear for attacks in the Netherlands.

In a tweet late on Saturday, Wilders called on people to send in their Muhammad cartoons.

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Costa del Sol: hotel insists pool not to blame for deaths

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Resort owner says Olubunmi Diya’s claims ‘at odds’ with the police report into drownings

The operator of the Costa del Sol hotel where a British pastor and two of his children drowned has dismissed suggestions that there may have been a problem with the swimming pool in which they died.

Gabriel Diya, 52, Comfort Diya, nine, and Praise-Emmanuel Diya, 16, died on Christmas Eve at the Club La Costa World holiday resort in Fuengirola, Spain.

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Mother of British children who drowned in Spain blames pool

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Olubunmi Diya insists the two children and her husband, who died with them, could swim

The mother of two British children who drowned alongside their father while holidaying in Spain has dismissed claims they could not swim and suggested there may have been a problem with the swimming pool in which they died.

Gabriel Diya, a 52-year-old Christian pastor, his nine-year-old daughter, Comfort and his 16-year-old son, Praise-Emmanuel, died on Christmas Eve at the Club La Costa World holiday resort in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol.

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Trump condemned for tweets pointing to name of Ukraine whistleblower

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President posted link to article that identifies official – then sent a further tweet containing the name

Donald Trump has retweeted material that publicly names the purported whistleblower whose complaint about the US president’s dealings with Ukraine led to his impeachment.

The president on Friday night sent a retweet from one of his supporters containing the alleged name of the individual. Trump drew the attention of his 68 million Twitter followers to the post which, along with publicising the name, inaccurately claimed that the whistleblower “committed perjury by making false statements” and is being protected by Adam Schiff, chairman of the House intelligence committee. There is no evidence to support these assertions.

Earlier, on Thursday, Trump had also retweeted a post by his re-election campaign’s “war room” that linked to an article by the conservative Washington Examiner news website. The article, published on 3 December, has the name of the alleged whistleblower in its headline.

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Russia deploys first hypersonic missiles

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Avangard capable of carrying 2-megaton nuclear weapon at 27 times the speed of sound

Russia has deployed its first hypersonic nuclear-capable missiles, with Vladimir Putin boasting that it puts his country in a class of its own.

The president described the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle, which can fly at 27 times the speed of sound, as a technological breakthrough comparable to the 1957 Soviet launch of the first satellite.

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