Category Archives: Europe

Finland election: voters may pick first leftist prime minister in two decades

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Antti Rinne’s Social Democrats are leading the opinion polls but nationalist Finns party are not far behind

Finland may usher in its first leftist prime minister in two decades in parliamentary elections on Sunday, as voters worry over the future of their welfare system amid the rising costs of caring for a rapidly ageing population.

But if opinions polls are correct, the left-leaning Social Democrats’ ability to govern may be hampered by a surge in support for the Finns party, a nationalist group riding a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment sweeping the Nordic countries.

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Woman stands in German council election aged 100

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Lisel Heise runs for local grassroots group after realising her age ‘gives me the chance to say something’

For most people, reaching 100 would be reason enough to put one’s feet up and take things easy, but Lisel Heise has other ideas.

The German centenarian, a former sports teacher, has started a new chapter in her life by standing for election to the council in her home town of Kirchheimbolanden.

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Brexit: pro-EU parties to use European elections as ‘soft referendum’

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Lib Dems, Greens and TIG will not form pacts as they look for surge in support for remain

Pro-EU parties, including the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and the Independent Group, will not form pacts or alliances at the forthcoming EU elections, hoping to use the poll as a “soft referendum” to show a surge in support for remain.

If no Brexit deal is passed by parliament, the UK will be required to hold the poll on 23 May. The Lib Dems, the mainstream party hoping to capitalise most on anti-Brexit discontent, has almost finalised its manifesto and plans a huge operation of ground campaigning targeting remain voters.

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Hammond plays down Brexit delay increasing chance of second vote

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Time likely to be too tight for referendum before end of October, says chancellor

Philip Hammond has played down the possibility that the UK could use the delay to Brexit to hold a second referendum and stressed that he still expects Britain to leave the European Union.

Speaking in Washington, the chancellor said time would be too tight to hold a confirmatory vote before the new deadline of the end of October unless it was triggered over the coming weeks.

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Academics launch petition against ‘racist’ mural in French parliament

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Mural was created in 1991 to commemorate France’s abolition of slavery in 1794

Two French academics have launched a petition to remove a parliament mural commemorating the abolition of slavery, which they said was a racist, humiliating and dehumanising depiction of black people.

Mame-Fatou Niang, associate professor of French at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, and Julien Suaudeau, who lectures in Pennsylvania, said the vast mural which has hung in a corridor of a building at France’s National Assembly for 28 years should be taken down. It was created in 1991 by French artist Hervé di Rosa to commemorate France’s first abolition of slavery in 1794.

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Lawyers doubt Julian Assange will ever stand trial in Sweden

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Former prosecutor says it would be ‘uphill task’ even if rape inquiry is reopened

Swedish lawyers have said they doubt Julian Assange will ever stand trial in Sweden even if prosecutors decide to reopen an investigation into a rape accusation.

The WikiLeaks founder was arrested in London on Thursday after being dragged from the Ecuadorian embassy, where he had stayed since 2012 in order to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations, which he has always denied.

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Man arrested over death of British woman in Swiss hotel

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Anna Florence Reed was found dead after reports of noisy disturbance in middle of night

Police in Switzerland are investigating how a 22-year-old British woman died in a hotel room she was allegedly sharing with her boyfriend.

Anna Florence Reed was found dead on Tuesday at the four-star La Palma au Lac hotel near Locarno, on the banks of Lake Maggiore, after reports of a noisy disturbance in the room during the middle of the night.

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‘Shameful’: Italian town bans asylum centres near schools

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Mayor for Calolziocorte claims welcome centres can be havens for drug dealing

An Italian town has been called “shameful” and “unconstitutional” after banning reception centres for asylum seekers from being placed near schools.

The urban plan approved by the council of Calolziocorte, Lombardy, this week asserts that “welcome centres for migrants must not be located within 150 metres of schools”. The small town of 15,000 is currently home to about 20 asylum seekers.

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Julian Assange faces US extradition after arrest at Ecuadorian embassy

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WikiLeaks founder’s removal from London embassy brings seven-year diplomatic stalemate to an end

Julian Assange is facing extradition to the United States and up to five years in prison after he was forcibly dragged from the Ecuadorian embassy in London on Thursday, bringing an extraordinary seven-year diplomatic stalemate to an end.

After 2,487 days in the embassy, the 47-year-old was arrested after Ecuador revoked his political asylum and invited Metropolitan police officers inside their Knightsbridge premises, where he has stayed since 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations which Assange has always denied.

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Stormzy pulls out of Austrian festival citing ‘racial profiling’

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Rapper cancels headline slot at Snowbombing hours before he was due to go on stage

Stormzy has pulled out of his headline slot at Snowbombing festival just hours before he was due to perform, after accusing its staff of racially profiling his manager.

The Brit award-winning rapper, 25, said his friends had been targeted by security at the event in Mayrhofen, Austria, on Thursday looking for someone carrying a weapon, “despite no one [in their party] fitting the description”.

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Court overturns referendum as voters were poorly informed … in Switzerland

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Incomplete detail and lack of transparency invalidated vote on tax laws, says supreme court

Switzerland’s supreme court has overturned a nationwide referendum for the first time in the country’s modern history, on the grounds that the information given to voters was insufficient.

In a ruling that may resonate in Britain, where remain campaigners have long argued that voters in the 2016 Brexit referendum were not adequately informed, the court said incomplete detail and a lack of transparency had violated the freedom of the vote, which could now be re-run.

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Lithuanian workers win exploitation case against Kent gangmasters

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Firm that supplied major UK supermarkets ordered to compensate trafficking victims forced to live and work in inhumane conditions

Eleven Lithuanian trafficking victims who suffered severe exploitation while working as chicken catchers on British farms have won a high court case against “the worst gangmaster ever”.

Three of the Lithuanian workers told the court about the brutal conditions experienced by workers between 2009 and 2012 while under the control of DJ Houghton Chicken Catching Services, a Kent-based gangmaster firm.

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What were Merkel and May laughing about at the EU summit? – video

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The summit on Wednesday was off to promising start as Angela Merkel approached Theresa May to share something on her iPad. May burst out laughing with Merkel when she saw what was on the device: a photo montage of the two leaders speaking in their respective parliaments earlier that day. Both were wearing a jacket in the same vivid shade of blue – which could be described as EU flag blue. The European council president, Donald Tusk, and Luxembourg's prime minister, Xavier Bettel, were also amused. One of the council’s most senior officials smiled politely.

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Macron’s tough-guy stance on Brexit is part of his political project

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French president compared to De Gaulle as he seeks to get on with mission to change EU

Emmanuel Macron’s tough-guy stance at the EU summit – refusing the UK a much longer Brexit extension – was partly down to the French president’s personality, but his reasoning was political.

The 41-year-old, who stood for president without ever having run an election campaign then promised a grand plan to reform the European Union, is known for his impatience. He wants action. He likes to be centre stage.

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Brexit: May addresses Commons after EU sets October deadline – live news

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After marathon Brexit talks, EU leaders have offered delay, with Donald Tusk warning Britain: ‘Please do not waste this time’

Theresa May is now making a statement about last night’s EU summit.

She says she asked for an extension until 30 June. But she says she also asked for an assurance that, if the UK passed the deal before then, it could leave immediately.

Here’s a question from BTL.

Does the Yvette Cooper bill rule out a no-deal Brexit for good?

Andrew - factual question. Does the Yvette Cooper Bill protect us indefinitely from a No Deal Brexit? (In October, if we're still in an impasse, would May or any PM have to come back to Parliament and be forced to request another extension? If the answer is that we're not protected indefinitely, presumably Cooper and co could re-run this week's exercise. I.e. The fact that there's a majority against No Deal, in both the Commons and the Lords, does give us lasting protection - unless the EU itself eventually chucks us out?).

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Russia passes bill to allow internet to be cut off from foreign servers

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Critics say measures would be expensive and give vast censorship powers to the government

Russian politicians have approved a controversial bill that would allow Moscow to cut off the country’s internet traffic from foreign servers, in a key second reading that paves the way for the bill to become law on 1 November.

Lawmakers in the State Duma, parliament’s lower house, voted 320 to 15 to pass the proposed bill.

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Europe split over how to respond to Haftar assault on Tripoli

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France blocked draft EU resolution condemning warlord and calling for his retreat from Libyan capital

European divisions over how to respond to General Khalifa Haftar’s violent assault on the Libyan capital, Tripoli, have been exposed after France blocked a draft EU resolution that would have condemned him and called for him to retreat.

France, a supporter of the warlord over the past two years, blocked the draft despite new UN figures showing 56 reported dead, hundreds injured and more than 6,000 displaced by the fighting.

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Brexit: France and Germany split as EU leaders debate length of further article 50 extension – live news

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Follow all the latest as the prime minister awaits the EU’s decision on a delay to Brexit

This is from the Telegraph’s James Crisp.

Theresa May has left the summit building for dinner. She is expected to return later.

France and Germany are understood to be at loggerheads over both the length of the extension and the conditions that the EU should put on a delay to Brexit.

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, is arguing that a short extension to 30 June is unlikely to provide enough time for the impasse in Westminster to be broken, and Berlin is seeking an extension until 31 December.

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Vatican to investigate 1983 disappearance of teenage girl

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Family has asked for tomb in grounds to be opened in search for Emanuela Orlandi

The Vatican has launched an internal investigation into the disappearance of a teenage girl in 1983, in what could be a breakthrough for police investigating one of the country’s darkest mysteries.

Emanuela Orlandi, the daughter of a Vatican police officer, was 15 when she was last seen leaving a music class on 22 June 1983.

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