Europe
France, Germany, Spain - coronavirus second wave
President Emmanuel Macron has announced a night-time curfew in Paris and eight other cities to try to curb the rapid spread of coronavirus. It affects 22 million people and will be applied for…
Belgium: Brexit fish fight fallout
Fish are one of the main issues at the centre of Brexit negotiations. Three times a week, at 6 am, vessels return to Ostend loaded with fish for the auction. Three-quarters of the…
Europe experiencing 'pandemic fatigue'
Covid is taking an emotional toll across Europe with rising levels of apathy among some populations, the World Health Organisation is warning. Survey data reveals the scale of this ‘pandemic fatigue’ has reached…
Brexit bill puts UK on ‘very slippery slope’
The ex-supreme court president, Lord Neuberger, has warned that Boris Johnson’s law-breaking Internal Market Bill is taking the UK down a ‘very slippery slope’ towards dictatorship. In a virtual meeting with Britain’s top…
Brexit negotiations
Commenting on the latest week of negotiations, one UK source said, ‘Obviously we are ready to up the pace but people are getting over-excited - there still is a long way to go…
Spain: Madrid’s sharp virus spread leads to new anti-outbreak plan
A second coronavirus wave is expanding fast, and Madrid is the worst-affected place in Spain and indeed in Europe. A row has erupted over a lockdown there. The regional government did not vote…
Europe: coronavirus second wave
Countries across Europe are seeing a resurgence in Covid-19 cases after successfully slowing outbreaks early in the year. Albania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Montenegro, and North Macedonia saw higher case numbers in August than…
Belarus: protests and sanctions update
Opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya urged the EU to approve sanctions on officials accused of rigging the recent presidential election. Despite six weekends of mass protests against President Lukashenko over the disputed vote on…
Belarus: growing tensions at Ukraine border over Jewish pilgrims
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, runs from 18 to 20 September. Hasidic Jews travel to Ukraine every Jewish New Year in their tens of thousands to worship at Rabbi Nahman's tomb. But…
France: return of Yellow Vests
After pausing for the coronavirus lockdown and summer holidays, the Yellow Vests brought their anger back to the streets for a series of protests in Paris and a number of other French cities.…