Category Archives: Europe

Science institute that advised EU and UN ‘actually industry lobby group’

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International Life Sciences Institute used by corporate backers to counter public health policies, says study

An institute whose experts have occupied key positions on EU and UN regulatory panels is, in reality, an industry lobby group that masquerades as a scientific health charity, according to a peer-reviewed study.

The Washington-based International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) describes its mission as “pursuing objectivity, clarity and reproducibility” to “benefit the public good”.

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ICC submission calls for prosecution of EU over migrant deaths

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Member states should face punitive action over deaths in Mediterranean, say lawyers

The EU and member states should be prosecuted for the deaths of thousands of migrants who drowned in the Mediterranean fleeing Libya, according to a detailed legal submission to the international criminal court (ICC).

The 245-page document calls for punitive action over the EU’s deterrence-based migration policy after 2014, which allegedly “intended to sacrifice the lives of migrants in distress at sea, with the sole objective of dissuading others in similar situation from seeking safe haven in Europe”.

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Injured gilets jaunes protest in Paris against police violence

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‘March of the mutilated’ calls for ban on use of explosive grenades and rubber bullets

About 200 gilets jaunes have staged a “march of the mutilated” through central Paris. Among them were people seriously injured in demonstrations since the movement started last November.

Several had lost an eye or limb in clashes with riot police. The marchers called for an end to “repressive ultra-violence” and a ban on police use of explosive grenades and rubber bullets.

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Cruise ship crashes into tourist boat in Venice, injuring five people

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Ship strikes dock and tourist river boat on busy canal in Italian city

The mayor of Venice has said cruise ships must change their routes after a huge holiday vessel crashed into a wharf and tourist boat, injuring five people.

Luigi Brugnaro said it was no longer conceivable that cruise ships could pass through the busy Giudecca canal and called for a new route to open immediately.

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Chief of Merkel’s junior coalition partner resigns

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Andrea Nahles’s resignation fuels fears Germany’s embattled government may fall

Andrea Nahles, the leader of Germany’s junior coalition partner, the Social Democrats (SPD), has announced her resignation, raising concerns that Angela Merkel’s government might collapse.

Nahles, who will step down from all her political roles including that as leader of the SPD parliamentary group, said her resignation was a consequence of the poorest ever performance from the SPD in its 156-year history last weekend, when it received just 15.8% of the vote at the European parliamentary elections, 11 points down on 2014.

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Royals to serve as extras in Donald Trump’s victory lap of UK

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US president to use state visit to promote House of Trump as he doubles down on Brexit bet

Donald Trump’s state visit this week to the UK is being promoted as a celebration of a close alliance tempered through war.

It could be more accurately described as a personal lap of victory for the US president, performed largely at the expense of his hosts.

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Donald Trump: send in Nigel Farage to negotiate with the EU

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US president makes second intervention in British politics, saying UK should ‘walk away’

Donald Trump has called on Britain to leave the European Union without a deal if Brussels refuses to meet its demands, as he urged the government to send Nigel Farage into the negotiations.

In his second extraordinary intervention into British politics ahead of this week’s state visit, the US president suggested the UK should “walk away” from talks and refuse to pay the £39bn divorce bill if its requests were not met.

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Mount Etna lights up Sicily’s night sky with eruption – video

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Mount Etna, Europe’s tallest and most active volcano, erupted on Friday, spewing lava and volcanic ash into the sky above Catania. The overnight eruptions led to rivers of lava streaming down the south-eastern slope of the Sicilian volcano. Mount Etna has seen an increase in seismic activity in recent days

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The Guardian Opinion desk: ‘Disturbingly, Brexit is the gift that keeps on giving’

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The comment team reflects on three extraordinary years of helping readers navigate the biggest political crisis for a generation

Seven million people turned to the wisdom of the Guardian’s comment writers in the 24 hours after the EU referendum result in June 2016. Three years on, it feels disturbing to admit that Brexit, for our small team of opinion editors, is the gift that keeps on giving.

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Record number of women become MEPs – but men still dominate

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Ratio of females in European parliament up to 39% from 36%, analysis of results shows

More women have been elected to the European parliament than ever before but men still account for 60% of MEPs, according to an early analysis of the European election results.

The proportion of female MEPs has increased slightly from 36% five years ago to about 39%, or 286 out of 751 seats, with nearly all of the official results confirmed.

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Russia cuts Rocketman scenes citing ‘homosexual propaganda’ law

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Elton John biopic’s gay sex and kissing footage edited out in effort to play down singer’s sexuality

A Russian media company has reportedly cut all scenes featuring gay sex and men kissing from the Elton John biopic Rocketman because of laws banning “homosexual propaganda”.

An estimated five minutes of footage have been cut from the film in an attempt to play down the sexuality of one of the world’s most famous gay celebrities for a conservative Russian audience.

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Briton convicted of 1996 murder of French film-maker in Ireland

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Ian Bailey, who lives in Ireland, convicted in his absence of killing Sophie Toscan du Plantier

A court in France has found Ian Bailey, a British former journalist, guilty of murdering Sophie Toscan du Plantier, a French film-maker who was battered to death in Ireland.

The cour d’assises in Paris on Friday sentenced Bailey to 25 years for the brutal murder in west Cork in 1996, an infamous cold case that has confounded Irish authorities and divided public opinion over Bailey’s guilt or innocence.

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Belgium investigates right-to-die group offering ‘suicide powder’

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Last Will provides advice to members on how to obtain lethal drug to end their lives

Belgian prosecutors are to investigate a right-to-die group that has been offering advice on the use of a “suicide powder”.

The Last Will group, which has about 23,000 paying members with an average age of 69, was blocked by the Dutch authorities last year from helping approximately 1,000 people purchase the lethal drug but continues to offer advice on legal ways to obtain it.

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All Germans urged to wear kippah in protest against antisemitism

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Call for solidarity follows warning that Jews wearing cap face abuse and attacks

Germans of all faiths and none are being urged to wear kippah skullcaps on Saturday as a symbol of solidarity with the Jewish community, after a steep rise in antisemitic attacks.

Protests across the country have been called by the government’s antisemitism ombudsman after he triggered a heated debate when he warned Jews last week not to wear the kippah because of the increasing likelihood of being attacked.

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Madrid could become first European city to scrap low-emissions zone

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Region’s likely new president Isabel Díaz Ayuso believes congestion is part of city’s cultural identity

Madrid may be about to become the first European city to scrap a major urban low-emissions zone after regional polls left a rightwing politician who views 3am traffic jams as part of the city’s cultural identity on the cusp of power.

Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who is expected to become the new Popular party (PP) president of the Madrid region, believes night-time congestion makes the city special and has pledged to reverse a project known as Madrid Central, which has dramatically cut urban pollution.

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‘I had pain all over my body’: Italy’s tainted tobacco industry

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Migrants working in areas supplying Philip Morris, British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands allege abuses including low pay and illegal contracts

Three of the world’s largest tobacco manufacturers, Philip Morris, British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands, are buying leaves that could have been picked by exploited African migrants working in Italy’s multi-million euro industry.

Workers including children, said they were forced to work up to 12 hours a day without contracts or sufficient health and safety equipment in Campania, a region that produces more than a third of Italy’s tobacco. Some workers said they were paid about three euros an hour.

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Vienna’s changing LGBT spaces – a cartoon

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As the city prepares to host EuroPride, Lars van Roosendaal paints the places at the heart of its storied queer scene

Gay pick-up behaviour has changed a lot in recent decades. The increasing social recognition of LGBT people and the arrival of new internet dating platforms mean you do not have to go to hidden places, often known only to initiates, to find a potential partner. This has led to changes in how queer spaces manifest themselves, and nowhere more so than in Vienna, with its rich LGBT history.

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Twenty-one people still missing after boat capsized in Budapest

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Captain of larger vessel that collided with tourist boat is detained after sinking in which seven have been confirmed dead

The captain of a vessel that collided with a tourist boat on which seven people died has been arrested by police as the search continued for 21 people still unaccounted for after the disaster on the Danube in Budapest.

The 64-year-old captain of the larger ship, the 135-metre four-storey Viking Sigyn, is suspected of endangering water transport leading to a deadly mass accident. In line with Hungarian laws, the suspect, a resident of Odessa, was identified only as Yuriy C.

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Eiffel Tower zipline offers a birds-eye view of Paris – video

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A zipline ride from the Paris landmark is providing an opportunity to speed across the Paris skyline at 90km (56 miles) per hour. The temporary zipline is an initiative by French mineral water brand Perrier to celebrate the French Open. It also coincides with the 130th anniversary of the Eiffel Tower. From 29 May to 2 June, members of the public will be selected through an online draw on social media for a chance to take the 800-metre journey, which ends at the École Militaire

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