Hong Kong-based carrier says it will honour tickets after second error in a fortnight
Cathay Pacific has accidentally given passengers first-class airline tickets at economy prices – for the second time in a fortnight.
The Hong Kong-based carrier sold first-class tickets from Portugal to Hong Kong, which normally cost about £12,500, for only £1,175 because of an error on its website.
Continue reading...Police called after 16th-century painting disappears days before expert due to visit
It is a storyline worthy of a Hercule Poirot whodunnit. After confiding in just 20 trusted people of his suspicion that a painting in his church was a lost masterpiece, a priest in the small Flemish town of Zele, 45 miles north of Brussels, has had to call in the local police over its sudden disappearance.
Pastor Jan Van Raemdonck, 61, turned to the detectives after two women laying flowers in the nave of the Sint-Ludgerus church last Friday morning discovered that the 16th-century painting, known as the Holy Family, had gone missing from its usual position by the altar.
Continue reading...Donald Tusk remembers friend Paweł Adamowicz as debate turns to rise of hate speech
Thousands of people have gathered in cities across Poland after the fatal stabbing of Gdańsk mayor PawełAdamowicz in protest at what some say is a creeping pervasiveness of hate speech in Poland’s national discourse.
In Gdańsk, thousands gathered for a minute’s silence at the statue of Neptune in the city’s Long Market, which also hosts the city hall, where Adamowicz served as mayor for more than 20 years. Adamowicz died after he was stabbed in the chest on stage at a charity concert on Sunday evening.
Continue reading...Some people are stockpiling food, medicine and even pet treats in anticipation of mass shortages after a no-deal Brexit. Are they overreacting, or should we be following their example?
Jo Elgarf doesn’t look like you would imagine a prepper to look. She’s not a swivel-eyed libertarian, camouflaged and armed to the eyeballs, crawling around the woods in Montana, skinning a squirrel for breakfast and fuelling up for the apocalypse. She lives with her husband and three young children in a sleepy suburb of south-west London.
Elgarf is happy to call herself a prepper, though; she is a member – and a moderator – of one of a growing number of prepper groups on social media. Hers – an anti-Brexit Facebook group called 48% Preppers – gets between 100 and 200 requests a day to join. Everyone wants to be ready for a no-deal Brexit.
Continue reading...Accounts echo those from 2017, when hundreds of men were rounded up and beaten
Two people have been killed and nearly 40 detained in a new crackdown on LGBT people in Russia’s Chechnya region, activists have said. The deaths were reportedly caused by the use of torture by police.
The reports on Monday echo those from 2017, when hundreds of gay men were rounded up by police in Chechnya and subjected to beatings and electric shocks in secret prisons, provoking international condemnation and sanctions.
Continue reading...Firefighters, police officers and rescuers search for boy who fell down borehole on Sunday
More than 100 Spanish firefighters, police officers and rescuers are searching for a two-year-old boy who fell down a deep borehole in Málaga province on Sunday afternoon.
The boy, named Yulen, was out walking with his family when he fell down the hole, which is 110 metres deep and 25cm wide.
Continue reading...Archbishop of Canterbury says he prays every day for Theresa May and other politicians
The archbishop of Canterbury has said a no-deal Brexit would hit the poorest and most vulnerable people in the UK.
Justin Welby also said he was praying for Theresa May and other politicians at the start of what is expected to be one of the most tumultuous weeks in recent parliamentary history.
Continue reading...Matteo Salvini celebrates likely extradition of leftwing militant by Jair Bolsonaro
Cesare Battisti, a former leftwing guerrilla fighter wanted by the Italian authorities over four murders in the late 1970s, has been arrested in Bolivia and has been extradited to Italy.
The prime minister of Italy, Giuseppe Conte, said a government aircraft was on its way to bring Battisti, 63, back to Rome and Brazilian officials later confirmed his extradition. Conte praised the Bolivian and Brazilian authorities for the overnight capture of Battisti, who has been on the run for almost four decades, in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, and said he would begin his life sentences as soon as he lands on Italian soil.
Continue reading...Paweł Adamowicz in serious condition after thousands of people witness apparent assassination attempt
The mayor of the northern Polish city of Gdańsk, Paweł Adamowicz, was stabbed on Sunday evening in an apparent assassination attempt in front of thousands of people during a charity concert.
Continue reading...French president wants 2,300-word missive to spark national debate about policy reform
Emmanuel Macron has launched a two-month “great national debate” in France with a 2,330-word open letter to the country.
The French president hopes the nationwide public consultation will take the sting out of the widespread public anger behind the rise of the gilets jaunes (yellow vests) movement and the civil unrest across France.
Continue reading...In France and Britain, gilets jaunes have mutated into symbols of anger against anything from austerity to Islam
What is not in dispute is who came first. On the French side of the channel lie the original gilets jaunes (yellow vests), a grassroots, social media-based citizens’ movement with no formal structure, recognised leader or party or union backing, named after the hi-visibility jackets that French drivers are required by law to carry in their vehicles.
As French yellow vests kicked off their ninth straight weekend of protests against President Emmanuel Macron’s economic policies, a battle for ownership of what has become an symbol of anti-government agitation across Europe has broken out in Britain as leftwing anti-austerity activists donned yellow in a bid to wrestle it from the far-right.
Continue reading...Far-right nationalists decide for first time to seek ‘Dexit’ if bloc does not meet demands
The German far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has voted to campaign for the country’s exit from the European Union if its demand for reforms within the bloc are not met.
The decision on Sunday marks the first time any party has called for “Dexit” – a German departure from the EU in the mould of Brexit.
Continue reading...Marches across France take place on the ninth weekend of gilets jaunes demonstrations
Gilets jaunes protesters engaged in a ninth weekend of protests all over France on Saturday as the president, Emmanuel Macron, prepared to stake his political future on an open letter to the French people and a national debate.
Officials said that at least 84,000 demonstrators turned out across France, thousands more than last weekend, with about 8,000 of those in Paris where protests passed “without serious incident”. Gilets jaunes – named after the hi-vis yellow vests French motorists must carry in their vehicles – said the number was higher but did not give a figure.
Continue reading...Wang Weijing was arrested on allegations of espionage by Polish authorities
The Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei said it had terminated the employment of a Chinese worker arrested on spying allegations in Poland.
Polish authorities arrested Wang Weijing and a former Polish security official on Friday , a move that could fuel western security concerns about the telecoms equipment maker.
Continue reading...Two firefighters have died and 47 people have been injured after an explosion at a bakery in Paris. Ten of them are in a critical condition. A gas leak is believed to be the cause of the blast and fire in the 9th arrondissement on Saturday morning
Continue reading...Gas leak believed to be cause of blast and fire in capital on morning of gilets jaunes rally
Two firefighters have died in a massive explosion caused by a “pocket of gas” in a six-storey building in Paris.
Another 47 people were injured, 10 of them critically, including a third fire officer, in the blast in the 9th arrondissement of the capital on Saturday morning.
Continue reading...Country will become Republic of North Macedonia when Greece ratifies agreement
Macedonia’s parliament passed an amendment to the constitution on Friday to rename the country Republic of North Macedonia in line with an agreement with Greece to put an end to a 27-year-old dispute.
The two countries struck the deal on the new name in June, but Macedonia will start using it only after the parliament in Athens also ratifies the agreement.
Continue reading...Heavy snowfall has caused chaos in Germany and Austria, as both countries remain on high alert. Several people have died in weather-related incidents. Troops have been deployed to help residents and helicopters are clearing snow from trees to stop it from falling on cars.
Continue reading...May’s European elections offer a chance for the resurgent far right to collaborate, consolidate – and bend the EU to its will
Every five years, millions of Europeans across the continent go to the polls to elect their national members of the European parliament. This May we’ll be doing so again, in what could be a watershed election for rightwing populists.
Although radical right parties won pretty big in the past two European elections, their influence within the various umbrella groups that make up the European parliament’s power blocs remained limited. This year, most rightwing populist parties may make only modest seat gains. But they also have the opportunity to create, for the first time, a serious rival to the centrist political groups that until now have dominated the EU’s governing body.
Continue reading...Alpine regions remain on high alert after 12 people are killed in weather-related incidents
Parts of Germany and Austria remain on high alert after extreme snow in Alpine regions, where 12 people have died in weather-related incidents.
A nine-year-old German boy was the latest victim of the extreme weather, which has resulted in residents becoming snowed-in and motorists trapped for hours in freezing temperatures.
Continue reading...