The 25% levies also include British knitwear and EU cheese and aircraft as White House retaliates for subsidies given to Airbus
The US is set to impose $7.5bn (£6.1bn) of tariffs on exports from the EU including scotch whisky, French wine and cheese and aircraft in retaliation for subsidies given to the aerospace group Airbus after a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling..
Related: Airbus on course to overtake Boeing as biggest planemaker
Continue reading...US scientists say it may be possible to decipher words using new x-ray technique
When Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD79 it destroyed the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum, their inhabitants and their prized possessions – among them a fine library of scrolls that were carbonised by the searing heat of ash and gas.
But scientists say there may still be hope that the fragile documents can once more be read thanks to an innovative approach involving high-energy x-rays and artificial intelligence.
Continue reading...Michel Barnier scathing in his reaction, describing PM’s Irish border proposals as a trap
Boris Johnson appears to be fighting a losing battle to avoid Britain staying in the European Union beyond 31 October after Michel Barnier privately gave a scathing analysis of the prime minister’s new plan for the Irish border, describing it as a trap.
The European commission also refused to go into the secretive and intensive “tunnel” talks with the UK’s negotiators before a crunch summit on 17 October from which the UK had hoped to deliver a breakthrough deal.
Continue reading...All the day’s political news, including Johnson’s speech to Tory party conference in Manchester and UK offer to EU for alternative to backstop
The government has just published its plan.
Here it is... UK proposal pic.twitter.com/IBD247Fyht
The absence of a “take it or leave it” demand in Boris Johnson’s conference speech has offered some hope in Brussels of a prime ministerial U-turn on what EU officials have described as unworkable proposals for the Irish border, my colleague Daniel Boffey reports.
Related: Boris Johnson speech gives EU hope he will rethink Irish plan
Continue reading...Damage expected from the largest recorded storm to make it so far east in north Atlantic
Ireland is bracing for strong winds, downed power lines and coastal flooding when Storm Lorenzo barrels in from the Atlantic before hitting Britain.
Met Éireann, the national meteorological service, issued a status orange wind warning on Wednesday for six counties on the west coast and a yellow warning nationwide for Thursday night and Friday morning.
Continue reading...Jan Böhmermann says he will be ready by next contest to lead Social Democratic party – which he predicts will soon
Germany’s leading television satirist has joined the Social Democratic party, weeks after announcing his ambitions to become its leader.
Jan Böhmermann, who has a weekly programme on state television and is notorious for sparking diplomatic scandals, has missed the deadline for the current leadership contest, expected to conclude on 8 December.
Continue reading...Cities on Instagram: Andrea Gandini is breathing new life into the ancient city’s many decapitated tree trunks
You may not know his face or name, but if you’ve visited Rome recently, chances are you may have seen his work.
Sculptor Andrea Gandini, 22, is transforming tree stumps around the city by carving faces into them. In the last four years he has made 65 such sculptures in the capital as part of his Troncomorto (“dead trunk”) project, documenting his creations on his Instagram account.
Continue reading...Judges ‘vilified’ as release of Australian found guilty of murder divides legal system
Jock Palfreeman is likely to learn on Monday whether he will be free to leave Bulgaria after serving almost 11 years in prison for murder, a crime the Australian says was committed in self-defence.
Bulgaria’s highest court was scheduled to hear an appeal against his parole – granted last month – on 23 October but, amid a rising tide of populist protest over the decision to release him, it has brought forward the hearing to 7 October.
Continue reading...Secretary of state signals he will not comply with demands to hear depositions but witness are still set to give evidence, House says
Donald Trump’s administration has sought to defy congressional demands to hear depositions from senior officials, in the first major battle of a rapidly growing impeachment inquiry.
On Tuesday, the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, dismissed summonses from Democratic committee chairmen in the House of Representatives for five current and former state department officials to testify on the president’s attempts to push Ukraine to dig up dirt on his leading political rival.
Continue reading...Windfarm entrepreneur given nine years for funding mafioso Matteo Messina Denaro
A Sicilian windfarm businessman, known as the “king of wind”, has been sentenced to nine years in prison for bankrolling the No 1 mafia fugitive, Matteo Messina Denaro.
Vito Nicastri, a former electrician from Alcamo in the province of Trapani, was one of the key funders of Denaro’s long spell on the run, a judge in Palermo ruled on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Downing Street banks on secretive ‘tunnel’ negotiations to hammer out agreement
Boris Johnson’s hopes of entering into intensive negotiations next week over his Irish backstop plans are likely to be dashed if he continues to back the return of a customs border with checks and controls on the island of Ireland.
With just over two weeks to go before a crunch EU leaders’ summit at which Johnson hopes to sign off on a deal, Downing Street is banking on entering secretive “tunnel” negotiations to hammer out the details of an agreement.
Continue reading...Bank rules surveillance of outgoing head of wealth management Iqbal Khan was ‘wrong and disproportionate’
Credit Suisse has sacked its chief operating officer over an “extraordinary” James Bond-style corporate espionage scandal in which the bank hired private detectives to tail a senior executive and his wife through the streets of Zurich following a row with his boss at a cocktail party.
Switzerland’s second-biggest bank said on Tuesday that Pierre-Olivier Bouée had left with immediate effect after the board of directors ruled that the seven-day spying operation was “wrong and disproportionate and has resulted in severe reputational damage to the bank”.
Continue reading...Reputation for heavy drinking on the slide since Putin measures including curbs on alcohol sales
Russia may still have a reputation as a nation of heavy drinkers, but a report by the World Health Organization shows alcohol consumption has dropped by 43% since 2003.
The WHO put the decrease down to a series of measures brought in under the sport-loving president, Vladimir Putin, including restrictions on alcohol sales and the promotion of healthy lifestyles.
Continue reading...Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments, including Brexit and the Conservative party conference
The Guardian’s just published a leader on Labour’s universal credit policy, concluding that the “plan makes sense”.
The shocking failings of universal credit are justly blamed on the government having listened to the wrong people when setting it up. The sensible reforms set out by Labour show that the opposition has been listening to the right ones. Never mind that the package of changes announced by Jeremy Corbyn on Saturday was misleadingly described as a plan to “scrap” universal credit. His party’s proposals to end the five-week wait for initial payments, scrap the benefit cap and two-child limit (and heinous “rape clause”) are sound. So are promises to review the sanctions system, ditch the “digital only” approach and hire 5,000 new advisers to help those who struggle with online applications.
Related: The Guardian view on universal credit: Labour’s plan makes sense | Editorial
The army’s zero-tolerance drugs policy has been scrapped less than a year after it was introduced, the defence secretary has confirmed.
Speaking at a ConservativeHome fringe event at the Conservative party conference in Manchester, Ben Wallace told Tory members he had changed the policy because it should be for commanding officers, and not the government, to decide to strip an individual of their job.
I changed it. I took the view that some people are young and irresponsible and it should be up to their commanding officers to decide, whether it’s a young lad or girl who’s made a mistake, whether they should be allowed to remain in the armed forces or not.
And people who have left and want to rejoin, the same should apply to them as well. I think, you know, that doesn’t mean to say you should be able to do drugs in the armed forces.
It should be up to commanding officers to understand their workforce, to understand whether that individual is the problem, or if there’s a medical problem and they think they need help, or whether indeed it was a mistake.
Continue reading...Democratic 2020 contender Julián Castro says ‘this is obstruction of justice’ after Trump suggested Adam Schiff should be arrested – follow live
In non-impeachment news, representative Chris Collins, a Republican of New York, has reportedly sent a letter of resignation to Nancy Pelosi a day before he was expected to plead guilty to insider trading charges.
The Washington Post reports:
Collins, 69, allegedly tipped off his son to confidential information about an Australian biotechnology company, Innate Immunotherapeutics, that he learned as a member of its board. Collins and several others used the information to avoid more than $700,000 in losses, according to prosecutors.
He is scheduled to change his plea Tuesday afternoon in a Manhattan federal court. ...
In addition to calling Trump a “corrupt human tornado,” Hillary Clinton also reacted to reports that the State Department is still investigating the email practices of her employees while she was secretary of state.
The Washington Post reported Saturday:
As many as 130 officials have been contacted in recent weeks by State Department investigators — a list that includes senior officials who reported directly to Clinton as well as others in lower-level jobs whose emails were at some point relayed to her inbox, said current and former State Department officials. Those targeted were notified that emails they sent years ago have been retroactively classified and now constitute potential security violations, according to letters reviewed by The Washington Post.
In virtually all of the cases, potentially sensitive information, now recategorized as ‘classified,’ was sent to Clinton’s unsecure inbox.
But my emails. (Thank you.)
Continue reading...Cavernous docks can shelter warships, with miles of tunnels, offices, and a hospital
Sweden’s navy HQ is returning to a vast underground cold war fortress designed to withstand a nuclear attack, in what has been seen as a defensive move against a resurgent Russia.
After a 25-year absence, the navy will once again be commanded from beneath billions of tonnes of granite as the country strives to build up its defences in response to the perceived threat from Moscow.
Continue reading...Residents say they will not be ousted by energy firm seeking to expand the Garzweiler mine
A group of villagers living on the edge of one of Germany’s biggest surface coalmines have vowed not sell their properties to the energy company RWE, and to mount a legal challenge against any attempt to oust them from their homes.
The protest alliance is the first coordinated effort in more than 10 years against the expansion of the Garzweiler mine in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which threatens the existence of 12 villages that are home to 7,600 residents. Demolition of the first four villages is scheduled to begin in 2023.
Continue reading...Italian capital’s waste management problems compounded by inefficiency and corruption
Demand for pest control services in apartment buildings in Rome has boomed in recent months as authorities in the Italian capital struggle to overcome its rubbish crisis.
Rats, cockroaches and other insects have been infiltrating apartment buildings in areas, mostly beyond the centre, where rubbish had piled up on the streets for days before collection.
Continue reading...Refugees clashed with police on the Greek island of Lesbos after a deadly fire at a crowded migrant camp prompted riots and led to authorities using teargas to restore order. The blaze, which erupted at a container inside the Moria camp on Sunday, is thought to have killed at least two people, though the death toll remains unclear. The camp hosts about 13,000 people but has facilities for just 3,000
Continue reading...Freedom party’s vote collapses to 16%, as others stall in Italy, Spain, France and elsewhere
The slump in support for the nationalist Freedom party (FPÖ) in Austria’s elections on Sunday is the latest indication that if the tide has not turned against Europe’s far-right populists, it does seem – for the time being, at least – to have stopped rising.
Sebastian Kurz’s conservative People’s party (ÖVP) won 37.1% of the vote, its best score since 2002, while the share held by FPÖ, until May his junior coalition partner in government, collapsed to 16.1%, down a full 10 percentage points.
Continue reading...