Category: Europe

Tensions flare as Serb nationalist train halts at border

A railroad worker stands by the first train decorated with letters that read “Kosovo is Serbian” written in twenty languages departing from the Belgrade to Mitrovica, Kosovo at Belgrade’s railway station, Serbia, Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017. Serbia has launched a railway link to Serb-dominated northern Kosovo despite protests from authorities in Pristina who described the move as a provocation and an aggressive violation of Kosovo’s sovereignty.

Tensions flare as Serb nationalist train halts at border

A man dressed in Serbian national costume passes by a train decorated with “Kosovo is Serbian” inscribed in twenty world languages before it departs from Belgrade to Mitrovica, Kosovo at Belgrade’s railway station, Serbia, S… . A railroad worker walks by the first train decorated with letters that read “Kosovo is Serbian” written in twenty languages departing from the Belgrade to Mitrovica, Kosovo at Belgrade’s railway station, Serbia, Saturday, Ja… .

Today in History

On Jan. 13, 1967, the Rolling Stones’ double-A sided single “Let’s Spend the Night Together” and “Ruby Tuesday” was released in the United Kingdom by Decca Records.

Deals of the day-Mergers and acquisitions

** Britain’s Centrica has completed its withdrawal from wind power generation with the sale of a 50 percent stake in the Lincs offshore wind farm to the Green Investment Bank and its offshore wind fund, the companies said. ** Private equity firms Advent and Bain Capital agreed to buy German payment group Concardis from a group of private, savings and cooperative banks, the parties said in a joint statement, not disclosing a purchase price.

Czech president invites pope to mark 75th anniversary of Lidice

President MiloA Zeman has invited Pope Francis to visit the Czech Republic in June this year to mark the 75th anniversary of the LidA ce massacres. Around 20 Czechs from the village north of Prague were executed in a reprisal for the assassination of the Nazi acting governor of Bohemia and Moravia, Reinhard Heydrich, in 1942 by Czechoslovak parachutists from Britain.

The Angle: Presidential Profits Edition

Get that cash: Economist Ray Fisman looks at the example of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to explore how Donald Trump could profit from the presidency. The methods, Fisman finds, will most likely be indirect, and quite difficult to nail down .

FMQs: Sturgeon accused of ‘celebrating’ English NHS crisis

The First Minister clashed with opposition leaders over the performance of the health service at Holyrood today after it emerged that the creation of major trauma centres have been delayed in Scotland, along with concerns over care standards at the flagship Queen Elizabeth hospital in Glasgow. Tory leader Ruth Davidson demanded answers about the extent of help from outside the country which had been sought to deal with problems in Scotland’s NHS.

Zeman: Man with suspected links to terrorists stays in CR

A man coming from North Africa and suspected of cooperation with terrorist Islam organisations is staying in Czech Republic, President Milos Zeman said on Czech Radio on Wednesday. He made the statement during a discussion about the new Centre against terrorism and hybrid threats, whose establishment by the Interior Ministry he criticises.

Prague university creates emergency e-mail for students abroad

Prague’s Charles University has created an emergency e-mail for students at exchange stays abroad and its foreign students and it demands that students register in the DROZD database, UK spokesman Vaclav Hajek told CTK on Wednesday. This was one of the reasons why UK, the oldest university in Central and North Europe founded in 1348, has prepared a plan of emergency communication in extreme situations.

Only 4% of Czech attempts to give up smoking succeed

The number of Czechs trying to give up smoking is one million a year but only 4 percent of them succeed, Eva Kralikova, from the Centre for tobacco addicts at the 1st Medical Faculty in Prague, has told Wednesday’s issue of daily Pravo. Most of those who try to quit smoking do so without consulting experts.

Polluted air causes early death of up to 8,000 Czechs a year

Polluted air in the Czech Republic cuts short the lives of 6,000 to 8,000 people a year, the Environment Ministry has written in its annual report based on the State Health Institute’s data, daily Pravo reported on Wednesday. True, air pollution does not burden the whole country evenly and the extent and frequency mainly of dust particles differ at various places.

Sienna Miller says Live By Night role fulfilled a childhood dream

Sienna Miller has said she realised a childhood dream by appearing as a gangster’s moll in latest film Live By Night. Set in the prohibition era in Boston, the movie sees Sienna, the mistress of an Irish mob boss, engage in a passionate affair with Joe, played by Ben Affleck, who has just returned from combat in the First World War.

Germany: 280,000 new migrants last year, far lower than 2015

Germany saw about 280,000 new asylum-seekers arrive last year, less than a third of the previous year’s huge influx of 890,000, the interior minister said Wednesday. While new arrivals declined, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said that the number of rejected asylum-seekers who left Germany was up – though still not to authorities’ satisfaction.

Polish lawmakers return to work as blockade continues

Polish lawmakers are returning to parliament after a holiday recess marked by an unprecedented political crisis – weeks of occupation of the parliament’s plenary hall by opposition lawmakers angry over moves by the conservative ruling Law and Justice party. Parliament was to open its session in the afternoon Wednesday with no compromise yet reached between the government and opposition.

Euro could be dead in 10 years, says France’s Macron

The euro may not exist in 10 years’ time if Paris and Berlin fail to bolster the single currency union, French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday, adding the current system benefited Germany at the expense of weaker member states. Macron was economy minister under Socialist President Francois Hollande until he resigned last year to create his own political movement and stand as an independent candidate in this year’s presidential election.

Uncertainty over Brexit deal could cost finance industry hundreds of thousands of jobs, MPs warned

BRITAIN’S powerhouse financial sector would face heightened risk and an exodus of 232,000 jobs without certainty over the country’s Brexit deal, MPs have been told. Xavier Rolet, Chief Executive of the London Stock Exchange[LSE] Group, said two thirds of the job losses would be felt outside Greater London with the blow coming as soon as the euro clearing operation left the UK’s shores.

airberlin Offers Special Deals to Europe From the U.S.

Destinations offered include cities throughout Austria, France, Germany, Italy, the Nordics, Switzerland and Eastern Europe. Fares are available from $499 including taxes and most fees based on roundtrip travel to European routes for travel periods from February 1st through June 15, 2017 in economy class and from $2499 from April 1st through June 30th in business class.

French presidential candidate Fillon to propose immigration quotas

French conservative presidential candidate Francois Fillon, who is favourite to win this year’s election, will lay out on Wednesday his proposals to cut immigration to a “strict minimum” through the use of quotas, an aide said on Tuesday. Fillon, who is seen beating far-right leader Marine Le Pen if they meet in a runoff in May in the presidential election, will also urge the European Union to tighten its asylum and immigration policy to counter threats from Islamist militants.

Obama says goodbye

NOVEMBER 16: U.S. President Barack Obama waves before descending from Air Force One upon his arrival on November 16, 2016 in Berlin, Germany. President Obama is scheduled to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel tomorrow and hold talks with other European leaders on Friday as part of his last trip to Europe as President before continuing to Peru.

Brexit Bulletin: Orderly or Disorderly?

Investors may need to move beyond them too, after spending much of 2016 trying to guess if the prime minister would go hard or soft . British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks to members of the Charity Commision for England and Wales at The Royal Society on January 09, 2017 in London.

Naomie Harris is widely tipped to get a Bafta best supporting actress nod

The EE British Academy Film Awards, the biggest awards show outside the US, attracts Hollywood A-listers as well as home-grown talent. Skyfall star Naomie Harris is considered a favourite for a best supporting actress nod for her role as a crack addict in coming-of-age drama Moonlight, while Andrew Garfield will be hoping for a best actor nomination for his performance as a combat medic in Mel Gibson’s Second World War film Hacksaw Ridge.

Merkel pledges quick security action after Berlin attack

Chancellor Angela Merkel promised Monday that Germany’s government would tackle security issues raised by the Christmas market truck attack and renewed a pledge to make a “national effort” to ensure that failed asylum seekers return home. The Dec. 19 truck attack in Berlin demanded a swift response that guarantees both security and civil liberties, Merkel said at a conference of civil servants in Cologne.

a Snow in Bristol? Don’t get your hopes up, but temperatures will drop say Met Office

There are unlikely to be scenes like this in Bristol, despite snow warnings across other parts of the country this week There are unlikely to be scenes like this in Bristol, despite snow warnings across other parts of the country this week Snow is unlikely to fall in Bristol this week despite warnings of an ‘Arctic blast’ sweeping much of the country. Warnings of snowfall have been issued across parts of the United Kingdom but a Met Office meteorologist told the Bristol Post it’s unlikely to fall here.

Queen Elizabeth II attends church after missing 2 weeks

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II in a car with Prince Philip, arrives to attend the morning church service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, England, Sunday Jan. 8, 2017. The 90-year-old British monarch was applauded by well-wishers as she arrived by car at St. Mary Magdalene Church in eastern England.