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...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...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...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...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...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...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 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
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...Police hunt man in grey tracksuit and shawl after incident in Grote Marktstraat shopping area
Three youths were injured in a stabbing incident in The Hague’s main shopping street on Friday night, Dutch police said.
A manhunt was under way.
Continue reading...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...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...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...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...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...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...Federal system by which regions have school vacations at different times is under strain
Germany’s education authorities are locked in a fierce battle over whether the country’s 16 states should be able to determine when they go on holiday.
Currently the states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg are permanently hogging what most believe to be the best school holiday summer slots – between the end of July and the start of September. The other states are locked into a strict rotation system running from June to September.
Continue reading...The European parliament has declared a 'climate and environmental emergency' in a symbolic moment when it promised to urge member states to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and push the climate crisis to the top of the EU’s agenda.
The parliament voted 429-225 with 19 abstentions to use the term 'emergency'. Ursula von der Leyen, the incoming president of the European commission, declared this week that the EU would lead the fight against 'the existential threat' of the climate crisis
Continue reading...French president says comments ‘a necessary wake-up call’ and criticises Turkey
Emmanuel Macron has said his claim this month that Nato was “brain-dead” was a necessary wake-up call before a summit in London next week at which he will urge members of the alliance to take a greater interest in its southern flank, including the fight against terrorism in the Sahel.
The French president defended his comments in Paris alongside the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, who had previously warned Macron not to expect that a European defence formation could replace the Nato transatlantic structure.
Continue reading...Businessman Yorgen Fenech is telling police Keith Schembri was behind murder, sources say
Police investigating the murder of the journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia have questioned the prime minister’s closest aide over claims he was the mastermind behind the killing, according to sources close to the inquiry.
The allegations against Keith Schembri were made by a prominent businessman, Yorgen Fenech, who was arrested last week and is understood to be seeking legal immunity in return for his testimony.
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