Angela Merkel has threatened to centralise Germany’s pandemic response as several of the country’s federal states refuse to implement an emergency brake mechanism on easing restrictions in spite of rapidly rising infection rates. Interviewed on German television on Sunday night, the German chancellor complained that the political instruments to break a third wave of the...
The EU is expected to take into account the level of vaccination coverage in a country such as the UK and its record in facilitating exports to the bloc when deciding on whether to prohibit individual vaccine shipments. The revision of the export authorisation scheme, widening the criteria that will guide Brussels’ decisions on individual...
Pablo Iglesias, the leader of the hard-left party Podemos and a deputy prime minister in Spain’s ruling coalition, has said he is stepping down to run for head of the Madrid region. “I have informed [the prime minister] Pedro Sánchez about my decision to leave my post in government when the campaign begins,” he said in a...
Prosecutors in Germany are investigating a possible link between three recent letter bomb attacks on German food retail companies. “We assume there is a connection,” state prosecutors in Heidelberg said on Friday after attacks on a supermarket chain, a drinks company and a baby food producer this week. They said further attacks were not likely but could...
A Paris court has been asked to convict the French state for its alleged failure to act to halt the climate crisis. The historic legal case, being brought by four environmental groups after a petition signed by more than 2 million citizens, seeks to hold the country responsible for ecological damage and its subsequent detrimental...
Healthcare workers in Madrid have gone to extreme lengths – some walking for hours – to relieve their exhausted colleagues as Spain grapples with the double whammy of a deadly storm and the coronavirus pandemic. Storm Filomena hit Spain on Friday, blanketing large parts of the country in snow and bringing Madrid to a standstill as the city...
Mr Macron, the French President, is coming under heavy scrutiny within France for his botched handling of the coronavirus vaccine roll-out, with figures this week showing just over 500 jabs had been administered. The French President has also been condemned from some across the bloc after no deal was nearly reached between UK and EU over its...
The new missile, called the RS-18 Sarmat, has a range of 6,200 miles. Moscow has announced that a flight test of the new missile is imminent. The missile ejection tests – where it releases the warheads – have so far been completed with positive results. The missile can carry ten large nuclear warheads or 16 smaller ones....
The centre-right politician became Chancellor of Germans 15 years ago in 2005. During the pandemic Germany has recorded 1.35m coronavirus cases and 33,230 fatalities. Ms Merkel typically delivers an annual televised address to the German people to mark the new year. She commented: “In nine months, a parliamentary election will take place and I won’t be...
Professor David Blake was speaking at a time when prospects for a post-Brexit trade deal between the UK and the EU were hanging in the balance, with one of the key sticking points being the bloc’s insistence on Britain adhering to rules and regulation aimed at protecting its single market after the end of the year. And the...