Browsing: International – UK/Europe
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni Wednesday delivered her strongest criticism yet of the US-Israeli war on Iran, describing it as part of a growing and dangerous trend of interventions ‘outside the scope of international law’.Her remarks to parliament came after repeated accusations from the opposition that her right-wing government had been too soft toward its allies. Most other European nations, with the notable exception of Spain, have withheld direct critique of the US and Israeli attacks, largely calling for restraint.Meloni – who has close ties with US President Donald Trump – also said Iran must not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons, as that would end the international non-proliferation framework with ‘dramatic repercussions for global security’, leaving Italy and Europe exposed to a potential nuclear threat from Tehran.The US and Israel traded air strikes with Iran across the Middle East as the war stretched into its 12th day, a conflict that has halted the flow of one-fifth of the world's oil and gas supplies.Addressing parliament on the crisis, Meloni drew parallels between the Middle East conflict and Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which she said triggered a broader global destabilisation.’It is in this context of structural crisis in the international system, in which threats are becoming increasingly frightening and unilateral interventions outside the scope of international law are multiplying, that we must also place the American and Israeli intervention against the Iranian regime,’ she told the Senate.Meloni said Rome was providing air-defence assets to Gulf countries hit by strikes from Tehran.’This is not only because these are friendly nations and strategic partners of Italy, but also because there are tens of thousands of Italian citizens in that area whom we must protect, not to mention the fact that there are about 2,000 Italian soldiers stationed in the Gulf.’ Source link
Swiss President Guy Parmelin lies flowers in tribute at the site of a deadly bus fire in Kerzers, Switzerland, Wednesday. (Reuters) Six people died and three were injured in a bus fire in a small Swiss town believed to have been caused by a man on board who set fire to himself, authorities said Wednesday.Swiss investigators said they saw no evidence that the man, who one official described as “disturbed” and was likely among the dead, had intended to commit any kind of terrorist attack.The bus was engulfed in flames on Tuesday evening on a road near the centre of Kerzers, a town of about 5,000 inhabitants in the western canton of Fribourg, about 20km (12 miles) from the Swiss capital Bern, police said.”As for the motive, there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that this could be a terrorist act,” said Raphael Bourquin, attorney general of the canton of Fribourg.A criminal investigation has been opened into homicide, arson, and endangering the lives of others, Bourquin said.The victims were aged between 17 and 65, the authorities said, without giving details on nationalities.The suspect, a man of Swiss origin who has not been identified, is believed to have boarded the bus with bags before dousing himself in flammable material and starting the blaze, officials said. He was understood to be in his 60s and had been reported missing by his family, they added.Investigators were going through CCTV footage as well as social media posts to understand the man’s motives, and further searches and interviews would take place, officials said.Three injured people were taken to hospital.Passengers were seen escaping from the burning bus, panicked and injured. Video after the flames were extinguished showed the charred remains of the yellow vehicle.Zeynel Teke, 61, was working at his food stall opposite when flames erupted from the bus and it stopped in front of him.Two or three people came out of the vehicle, and Teke ran to help, using his hand to put out flames on one woman. He went to get his fire extinguisher but the flames were too hot to get close enough to douse them.”It’s so sad to see people burning in front of your eyes. It could be my child, it could be yours,” he said.Mina Gendre was about to close up the shop she works in when she saw the bus was ablaze inside. “It was so shocking,” said Gendre. “I saw someone come running out of the bus on fire.”Gendre shut the door of the shop to protect it as bystanders helped put out the fire on the person with a jacket, she said.One video of the fire circulating among Kerzers’ residents showed what appeared to be a body in flames moving on the ground next to the burning bus.Nirosan Vickneswaran, 37, was waiting anxiously for news of his cousin who was on the bus.”We don’t know if he’s injured or worse,” he said. “All we know is that somebody set fire to themself.”A memorial was quickly erected next to the site of the blaze.The head of the bus company Postauto, Stefan Regli, said it was a terrible tragedy and extended his condolences.Swiss President Guy Parmelin offered condolences and said the incident was being investigated.”It shocks and saddens me that once again people have lost their lives in a serious fire in Switzerland,” he said on X. Related Story Source link
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks to people during a visit to a community centre, about how the government is handling the impacts of the conflict…
Former Irish republican leader Gerry Adams arrives at the High Court in central London Monday, ahead of a civil claims trial. (AFP) Former Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams appeared at London’s High Court Monday for a civil lawsuit which aims to hold him liable for Irish Republican Army bombings in Britain, a case which could affect the prominent republican leader’s legacy.Adams became Sinn Fein leader in 1983 when it was the IRA’s political wing, establishing himself as the best-known face of the movement seeking to end British rule in Northern Ireland.He later reinvented himself as a peacemaker after helping secure the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which largely ended three decades of sectarian conflict, known as the Troubles, in which some 3,600 people were killed.Adams has always denied being a member of the Provisional IRA (PIRA), though he has long faced accusations — including from members of the paramilitary group — that he was involved in its campaign of killings.The 77-year-old is now being sued by some of those injured in three bombings: one at London’s Old Bailey court in 1973, the PIRA’s first on the British mainland, and two 1996 blasts, targeting London’s Docklands and Manchester.The three claimants are seeking a nominal 1 pound ($1.33) in damages and a finding that, on the balance of probabilities, Adams was a senior member of the IRA.Adams’ lawyers argued in court documents that there was “no credible evidence to support the claimants’ allegation that (Adams) was a senior member of the PIRA”.ADAMS SAYS PIRA SUPPORT IS NOT MEMBERSHIPThe claimants’ lawyer Anne Studd said Monday that Adams was “so intrinsically involved in the PIRA organisation that he is as culpable for the assaults… as the individuals who planted and detonated the bombs”.She cited Adams’ attendance at high-level meetings with the British government in the early 1970s as supporting evidence, though Adams says he was there as a Sinn Fein representative.Studd also said Dolours Price, one of nine people convicted over the Old Bailey bombing, previously accused Adams of involvement in the bombing campaign in Britain.But Adams’ lawyers said Price, who died in 2013, was motivated by a desire for revenge against Adams, whom she believed had betrayed the republican cause through his involvement in the peace process.They added that Adams had expressed support for supporters or members of the PIRA and its campaign, but that did not mean he was a member or “come close to constituting evidence that (Adams) was responsible for the three bombings”.Adams, who sat in court wearing a Palestinian flag pin, is expected to give evidence later this week.After helping to swing the IRA and the province’s Roman Catholic minority behind the Good Friday Agreement, Adams became a member of the Northern Irish Assembly and then the Irish parliament, standing down as head of Sinn Fein in 2018.The case could prove an unwelcome distraction for Sinn Fein, currently the largest party in the Northern Irish Assembly and the main opposition south of the border as it pursues its goal of a united Ireland. Source link
Swedish Air Force JAS 39 Gripen aircraft are parked in a hangar at the air base in Keflavik, Iceland. Swedish fighter jets are patrolling the skies around Iceland for the first time, as Nato allies try to show both US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that they are serious about protecting the Arctic. Sweden has sent six of its Saab Gripen fighter jets, the crown jewel of its defence industry, as part of Nato mission Arctic Sentry.The mission is seeking to strengthen Nato’s presence in the strategically important Arctic region as part of an effort to defuse severe tensions within the alliance prompted by Trump’s push for the US to acquire Greenland.Trump has forced Nato allies to sharply increase military spending, including in the Arctic. He has been particularly unimpressed by Denmark’s military presence on Greenland, which he mockingly described as “two dog sleds”.The Swedish fighters are mainly on the lookout for Russian long-range bombers that can take off from air bases on the Kola Peninsula, which is home to Russia’s Northern Fleet and also has nuclear missile silos. “Iceland as well as all of the Arctic would be important (in case of a conflict) because that’s the warning chain for attacks against the US or Canada across the Arctic,” said Major General Frode Arnfinn Kristoffersen, deputy chief of staff, operations, at Nato Joint Force Command Norfolk.”Russia sees the Arctic as vital to becoming a great power and has also built up new Arctic bases and opened up former Soviet military sites, including deep-water ports and airfields,” he said. Russia has repeatedly dismissed claims it is seeking to take over Greenland, or is a threat in the Arctic, saying they are false “horror stories” made up by Western leaders to justify their own behaviour.HARSH ARCTIC CONDITIONSKeflavik Air Base, built during World War Two and up until 2006 an American base, is home to the Nato air policing missions that have been done periodically since 2008.The cold and windy conditions are the same as those on Greenland and the rest of the Arctic.”We have experiences from operating in this kind of harsh environment…so for us, it’s quite natural to also be able to operate here in Iceland,” said Major General Jonas Wikman, Sweden’s Air Force chief.The JAS 39 Gripen is a fourth-generation light single-engine supersonic multi-role aircraft, meaning it can do air-to-ground, air-to-surface, and air-to-air operations.”It’s perfectly suitable for this weather. It’s built in Sweden for the Swedish climate, and this is basically what we have back in Sweden,” said Lieutenant Colonel Robin Arvidsson, fighter pilot and squadron commander in the Swedish Air Force.It has a low logistical footprint and can be refuelled and rearmed by one officer and four conscripts in as little as 10 minutes.DANGEROUS BUILD-UPWhile Nato allies have rushed to increase the alliance’s presence in the Arctic, some analysts and politicians have questioned the rationale behind the build-up, saying Russia does not currently pose a threat to Greenland.”This is very dangerous because it leads to an action-reaction cycle,” said Pavel Devyatkin, senior associate at Washington-based think tank, The Arctic Institute.”There’s a very high chance of an accidental incident, of an escalation,” he said. “These moves from Sweden and from Nato are basically appeasing President Trump,” he said. Related Story Source link
Demonstrators hold a banner that reads “The rich want war, the youth wants a future” during a protest against the potential return of military conscription in…
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer walks outside 10 Downing Street in London, Wednesday. Keir Starmer said Britain would respond to the escalating conflict in the Middle East with a “cool head” after President Donald Trump chastised the prime minister for failing to provide sufficient support for his strikes on Iran.Britain, historically a staunch ally of Washington, initially refused to allow its military bases to be used by the US for its assault on Tehran, only tempering that position when Iran attacked its neighbours — allowing UK bases to be used for limited defensive strikes.Trump responded by castigating Starmer three times, including in the Oval Office on Tuesday where he told reporters “This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with”.Starmer, who had previously said any British military action must have a “viable, thought-through plan”, told parliament Wednesday that the so-called special relationship was on display every day in the conflict, and didn’t hang on the words of the US president.Citing American planes flying from British bases, British jets protecting US bases and the sharing of intelligence, he said: “That is the special relationship in action.”Hanging on to President Trump’s latest words is not the special relationship.”Starmer said he knew people across Britain were worried about the potential for escalation, and as a result he said Britain would act “with clarity, with purpose and with a cool head”.Starmer has been criticised from all sides at home for the decision, with opponents on the left calling for him to condemn the military action. On the right, opposition leaders Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage attacked Starmer for failing to back Britain’s key security and intelligence ally.Starmer said Britain had been liaising closely with the US for weeks on pre-deploying military assets to the region.After an Iranian-made Shahed drone hit the runway on the British Akrotiri base on the island of Cyprus, London said it would deploy HMS Dragon, an air-defence destroyer, along with additional helicopters with counter-drone capabilities. Related Story Source link
Animal activists have been turning up the heat on Milan Fashion Week to adopt a fully fur-free policy, with dozens of protesters demonstrating outside the Giorgio Armani show Sunday.Although the Armani Group went fur-free a decade ago, activists hope the powerful luxury company can pressure the National Chamber of Italian Fashion (CNMI), which organises fashion week, to disallow brands which use fur from participating.Sunday’s demonstration was one of several protests carried out this week in Milan by international anti-fur activists organised under the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade (CAFT).Behind a barricade and large banner saying “Milan Fashion Week Go Fur-Free”, activists with a megaphone yelled “Shame on you for what you do!” as Armani guests left the show.Use of fur in the global fashion industry has dramatically fallen in recent years due to concerns about animal cruelty, changing trends and new synthetic alternatives.However, there remain notable holdouts, such as Fendi, owned by French conglomerate LVMH, a storied Italian luxury brand whose roots are in fur.Pierre-Emmanuel Angeloglou, the chief executive of Fendi, sits on the board of directors of the CNMI along with brands like Dolce & Gabbana, Prada and Ermenegildo Zegna, which have already rejected fur.Campaigners hope the anti-fur designers can convince Milan Fashion Week to ban fur, as London and New York have done.Smaller fashion weeks, including in Berlin, Copenhagen and Amsterdam, have also gone fur-free.”It won’t be Fendi that helps us reach our goal, because they have no interest in pushing this issue forward, but other brands might be able to contribute,” Alberto Bianchi, 25, one of the protest’s organisers, told AFP.The CNMI did not respond to an AFP request for comment.The activists had demonstrated on Wednesday outside Fendi’s Milan headquarters where its runway show took place.Inside, newly seated designer Maria Grazia Chiuri showed a collection that included “remodelled” furs, or old furs reworked.Bianchi said that focus on recycling could possibly be seen as “a step forward” but cautioned that LVMH is still actively investing in the use of fur.”I see it as a one-off move maybe to do a bit of greenwashing,” he said. “As long as we still have fur farms in Europe and we still have the possibility of importing it, it’s a gesture that doesn’t change the underlying idea.”The coalition won a victory in late January when pressure campaigns led to shipping giant DHL and cosmetics company Wella withdrawing as sponsors of Milan Fashion Week.Later this month, the European Commission is expected to rule on a 2023 citizens’ initiative that called on the EU to ban fur farms and the killing of animals such as mink, foxes, raccoon dogs or chinchillas solely for their pelts.Activists cite the cruelty inherent in fur farming, in which the animals are crammed into tiny wire battery cages before being gassed or electrocuted.Milan Fashion Week ends today, with focus now turning to Paris Fashion Week – which similarly does not have an anti-fur policy. Related Story Source link
Pope Leo XIV signs a soccer ball during a visit to a parish in Rome Sunday. – Reuters The secret conclave that elected Pope Leo head of the Catholic Church last May was interrupted when one of the 133 cardinals involved was found carrying a cellphone, a massive security breach, a book released Sunday revealed.As the clerics were preparing to take their first vote inside the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel, which was fitted with jamming equipment to prevent outside communications, security officials picked up the signal of an active mobile connection.The cardinals stared at each other incredulously, then one of the older clerics discovered he had a phone in his pocket and handed it over, according to *The Election of Pope Leo XIV, a new book by two long-time Vatican correspondents.The book does not name the cardinal or suggest he had any motive for keeping his phone, saying that the moment left him “disoriented and distressed”.The scene was “unimaginable even for a film and never before seen in the history of modern conclaves”, wrote the authors, Gerard O’Connell and Elisabetta Pique.One such film, the 2024 hit *Conclave, imagined a tangled web of intrigues during the fictional selection of a pontiff.Last year’s unprecedented discovery of a phone was in its own way more startling than anything portrayed in that movie, O’Connell told Reuters.”Reality (was) better than fiction,” he said.Clerics taking part in a conclave take a vow not to communicate with the outside world and surrender their phones and all other communication devices for the duration of the proceedings, which can last for days.The Vatican press office did not respond to a request for comment about the new book, which offers behind-the-scenes details of one of the world’s most secretive elections.The cardinals met in a two-day conclave from May 7-8 under an intense global spotlight to elect a successor to Pope Francis, who died in April after 12 years leading the 1.4bn-member church.Much of the speculation at the time focused on the possibility that the cardinals would elect a new pontiff from Asia or Africa, given that the conclave was the most geographically diverse in history, with clerics from 70 countries taking part.However, no candidate from those regions garnered much support, according to the book, which discloses details of the cardinals’ votes for the first time based on information from interviews with participating clerics.While it is strictly forbidden for cardinals to reveal details of the secret balloting at a conclave without permission from the future pope, it is common for journalists to slowly tease out information from clerics in the years afterward.Two candidates immediately emerged as frontrunners inside the conclave, the book said.One was Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, a long-time Vatican official identified by many outlets as a leading favourite.The other was US Cardinal Robert Prevost, a figure who was mostly unknown outside church circles but would emerge as Pope Leo, the first pontiff from the US.On the first vote in the conclave, held in the evening of May 7, Prevost already received between 20-30 votes, an unusually large number, according to the book.Philippine Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, who was also seen as a favourite going into the election, only ever received fewer than 10 votes in the conclave.On the fourth ballot in the afternoon of May 8, Prevost won with 108 votes.Tagle was sitting next to Prevost as the final vote was being tallied and offered the future pope a cough drop to soothe his throat, the book said. Related Story Source link
File Picture: Ian Russel. (AFP) The father of British teenager Molly Russell, who took her own life after viewing pro-suicide content online, hopes a documentary about her death will inspire change.The film — “Molly vs the Machines” — about his 14-year-old daughter will “bring back some of the grief”, Ian Russell acknowledged.But in an interview with AFP he said it will highlight how the tragedy was not isolated, and “there’s a real hope that it will become part of a conversation that might help bring about change”.The documentary, which premieres in British cinemas from March 1 and airs on the UK’s Channel 4 on March 5, recounts his quest to hold “digital systems designed for profit” accountable for his loss, according to Russell.Perhaps surprisingly, he opposes an outright social media ban for children, arguing “getting the platforms to change is actually much more effective”.The bereaved father is also seeking an end to impunity for big tech, which he says purposefully targets vulnerable people with addictive algorithms feeding them harmful content for monetary gain.’Baffling’Molly took her own life in 2017, with a coroner concluding five years later that she had died from an act of self-harm while suffering from the “negative effects of online content”.The inquest into her death heard that, of the 16,300 posts Molly saved, shared or liked on Instagram in the six-month period before her death, 2,100 related to depression, self-harm or suicide.Her engagement with pro-suicide content increased towards the end of her life, until “this intelligent, caring, beautiful person had been persuaded she was worthless”, her father said.”How Molly of all people could ever have been convinced of that, for those of us lucky enough to have known her, is just baffling,” he added.Research published in October by the Molly Rose Foundation, a suicide prevention charity founded and chaired by Russell, showed 37% of children aged 13-17 had seen at least one type of high-risk content relating to suicide, self-harm, depression or eating disorders during the week they were surveyed.According to the data, which was collected before child safety obligations of the UK’s landmark Online Safety Act became law, 27 % of those children said they had viewed such content at least 10 times that week.Tougher lawsThe foundation has welcomed legislation put forward by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government.It called a decision to ban AI chatbots from generating illegal or harmful content — a loophole exposed by sexualised deepfakes created by X’s AI chatbot Grok — a “welcome downpayment”.But it said the Online Safety Act, which legally obliges tech companies to better safeguard children and adults online, could go further.The law should require greater transparency from platforms and use separate age limits for different tools — such as AI chatbots.The foundation argues that would push companies to offer fewer high-risk services and make platforms safer.It is also calling for “fundamentally repurposed” algorithms that promote healthy content from trusted sources instead of “harmful and toxic material”.And it advocates for better digital education at schools to enable young people to “critically reflect” on online content.Russell favours this two-pronged approach over a social media ban for children, pointing out that Australia’s under-16s block only covers 10 platforms and might push minors to more dangerous fringe sites.Youngsters might find ways to bypass the rules, he added, while those turning 16 will enter an “unregulated” space.’Stand up’Concerns are only deepened by the impression that “tech barons” like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and X owner Elon Musk are above the law, according to Russell.He sees glimmers of hope, however. Zuckerberg recently addressed the safety of his platforms before a jury and under oath in an unprecedented California social media addiction trial.And in January, Britain’s media regulator Ofcom opened a probe into X for failing to meet its safety obligations. It is also investigating X and xAI — which developed Grok — over whether they complied with personal data law over sexualised deepfakes.”If leaders are brave enough to stand up and lock antlers with the barons of big tech, then change will happen,” Russell said. Related Story Source link