Greek riot police and troops fired tear gas early on Wednesday at hundreds of migrants as they made another attempt to cross the border from Turkey into Greece. The air was thick with smoke on both the Greek and Turkish sides of the Kastanies border crossing, and fire engines were …
Read More »Johnson faces outrage over a plan to ditch BBC license fee model
Boris Johnson is facing harsh criticism from Tory MPs after plans to scrap the BBC’s license fee model were described as “cultural vandalism”. Conservative backbenchers, decrying the suggestion that No 10 Downing Street could ‘compel’ the BBC to downsize its operations and take on a Netflix-style subscription service, urged the …
Read More »Flights canceled as Britain braces for Storm Dennis
Flights have been canceled and the army drafted in as Britain prepares for Storm Dennis with the authorities warning of heavy rain and flooding in parts of England. EasyJet has warned of “significant disruption” to its operations whilst Luton Airport is advising passengers to check with their airlines before setting …
Read More »Germans march against neo-Nazis and far-right
Thousands of people were expected to take to the streets in Erfurt on Saturday to demonstrate against any future political coalitions with the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD). The protest is the latest in the fallout from a controversial vote that saw politician Thomas Kemmerich elected as state premier …
Read More »France reports first COVID-19 death in Europe
France’s health minister has announced the first coronavirus death in Europe. Minister Agnes Buzyn says Saturday that “I was informed last night of the death of an 80-year-old patient who had been hospitalized … since Jan. 25.” The patient, a Chinese tourist from the province of Hubei, had a lung …
Read More »Macron’s candidate for Paris mayor quits over sexting row
French President Emmanuel Macron suffered a setback on Friday when one of his closest lieutenants, Benjamin Griveaux, pulled out of the race to become mayor of Paris after it was alleged he sent sexual images to a woman who is not his wife. “I have decided to withdraw my candidacy …
Read More »Germany busts ‘terrorist organization’ that planned attacks on Muslims, refugees
German police detained 12 men on Friday suspected of setting up a far-right organization with the goal of carrying out attacks against politicians, asylum seekers, and Muslims, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office (GBA) said. Prosecutors said four of the suspects had set up a “terrorist organization” in September 2019 and regularly …
Read More »Syrian parliament recognizes the Armenian genocide
The Syrian parliament has overwhelmingly recognized the mass killings of more than 1 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire that took place a century ago, as tensions run high between Damascus and Ankara over the latter’s military campaign in Syria’s embattled northwestern province of Idlib. “The parliament… condemns and recognizes …
Read More »UK chancellor of the exchequer resigns amid Cabinet reshuffle
Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid resigned Thursday as Prime Minister Boris Johnson reshuffled his cabinet. Javid, scheduled to deliver his post-Brexit budget next month, had been expected to keep his job. But media reports claimed he quit after a row with Johnson during a meeting Thursday at 10 …
Read More »European country arrested More than half of its traffic police for fraud
More than half of Malta’s traffic police force was arrested on Tuesday for suspected overtime fraud, forcing officers to draw up emergency plans to ensure they have enough police to put on the streets, officials said. Police said some 30 members of the unit, which numbers about 50, were being …
Read More »Netherlands, two bomb letters explode in post offices in Amsterdam
Two-letter bombs have exploded in separate incidents in the Dutch capital, Amsterdam, with no injuries reported. “On Wednesday morning, an explosion took place in a mailroom of a business building just before 8 a.m., presumably caused by a bomb letter. No [one] injured,” Dutch police said on Wednesday. Bomb squads …
Read More »Britain, EU split over financial market access
Britain wants a stable relationship with the European Union for “decades to come” in financial services, Britain’s finance minister Sajid Javid said on Tuesday but received an instant rebuttal from Brussels. Britain left the EU last month and its large financial services sector will lose privileged access to EU customers …
Read More »Storm Sabine: Serious weather shuts down air traffic across Europe
Ciara or Sabine: Call it what you want, but countries across Europe are being hit by a powerful storm. Transport has been plunged into chaos and schools have been canceled. Northern Europe is currently being hit by a major storm, which is moving south. Known either as Ciara or Sabine …
Read More »Boeing plane makes hard landing in northwest Russia, no injuries
A Boeing 737 airliner with 96 people on board made a hard landing in northwestern Russia on Sunday due to a problem with the chassis, emergency officials and aviation authorities said. Nobody was injured when a UTair aircraft, en route from Moscow, landed at the airport of Usinsk, a town …
Read More »Italian Police Attacked with Bricks in Turin Migrant Centre
Eleven police and two army soldiers were attacked with bricks at a migrant repatriation centre in Turin over the weekend in just the latest case of violence at the centre. The migrants in the centre tore bricks off the walls of a structure and climbed onto the roof of a …
Read More »French police clear last refugee camp in Paris
Four women are among the group moved on from makeshift camp, which authorities describe as dirty and ‘overrun by rats’. French police have cleared the last refugee tent camp in northeastern Paris, moving 427 people to shelters as part of a plan to take migrants off the streets. The group, …
Read More »Greek police fire teargas at protesting migrants, refugees on Lesbos
Greek police fired teargas to disperse migrants and refugees protesting on Monday about conditions in migrant camps on the island of Lesbos and the slow pace of processing asylum requests. Violence broke out near the Kara Tepe camp, a police official said, after hundreds of people marched from the island’s …
Read More »Brexit trade deal clash: UK and EU spar over rules
The European Union and Britain clashed over a post-Brexit trade deal on Monday, with the two sides set out very different visions of a future relationship that could result in the most distant of ties. Almost three days since Britain officially left the EU, both sides presented their aims, with …
Read More »Austria: Sebastian Kurz threatens to veto EU post-Brexit budget
Austria’s conservative leader has said he will not accept the EU’s push for an increased budget of 1.11%. The departure of net contributor Britain from the EU diminishes the bloc’s shared budget, straining member states. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced Saturday that Austria and other countries will veto the European …
Read More »EU’s geographical center shifts in Germany after Brexit
The local mayor says he’s “proud and happy” at the honor, but it’s still a “sad occasion” Brexit is happening. A non-descript field in Germany has been named the EU’s new geographical center after Brexit happened last night. The point in a village of around 80 people in Gadheim, Bavaria, …
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