Europe

Relations between Britain and the European Union were thrown into a fresh crisis Friday, just weeks after the two concluded a trade deal to end the long-running saga of Brexit, the British departure from the bloc after four decades of membership. EU officials say they plan to launch legal action soon against Britain for its unilateral decision to delay by several months the implementation of part of the Brexit deal that requires customs checks on goods being traded between Britain and its Northern Ireland province. The delay, London says, will give traders and consumers in British-ruled Northern Ireland time to adjust to the new and complicated trading arrangements that require, among other things, health inspections and certificates for food and livestock shipments. Britain and the EU agreed to the new rules to avoid the establishment of a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, which would have breached the U.S.-brokered 1998 Good Friday peace … [Read more...] about EU Threatens Retaliations, Tariffs in Northern Ireland Dispute with Britain

MILAN (AP) — The virus swept through a nursery school and an adjacent elementary school in the Milan suburb of Bollate with amazing speed. In a matter of just days, 45 children and 14 staff members had tested positive. Genetic analysis confirmed what officials already suspected: The highly contagious virus variant first identified in England was racing through the community, a densely packed city of nearly 40,000 with a chemical plant and Pirelli bicycle tire factory a 15-minute drive from the heart of Milan. “This is the demonstration that the virus has a sort of intelligence, even if it is a single-cell organism. We can put up all the barriers in the world and imagine that they work, but in the end, it adapts and penetrates them,” lamented Bollate Mayor Francesco Vassallo. Bollate was the first city in Lombardy, the northern region that has been the epicentre in each of Italy’s three surges, to be sealed off from neighbours because of mutant versions that the World Health … [Read more...] about AP: Covid Uptick in EU Driven by Virus Variants ‘Racing Through’ Communities

The number of foreign criminals living free in communities throughout the United Kingdom has hit a record high, with over 10,000 criminals roaming the streets despite being eligible for deportation. Home Office figures revealed that some 10,373 foreign criminals have been released from prison yet have so far skirted deportation — meaning the number of foreign national offenders living in British communities has hit the highest level in recorded history. While the pandemic has made deportations more difficult, the drop in deportations predates the coronavirus. The number of foreign national offenders remaining in the country has dramatically risen since 2012 when, officially, fewer than 4,000 were living in Britain. In the year leading up to September, only 3,374 criminals were kicked out of the country, representing a drop of a third over the previous year period, The Times reports . Last year, nearly 2,600 foreign criminals were released from prison rather than … [Read more...] about Record 10,373 Foreign Criminals Eligible for Deportation Are Roaming Britain’s Streets Free

Iranian military veteran Fariboz Rakei has received a short prison sentence for leading a boatload of migrants, including a seven-year-old child, on a perilous journey across the English Channel. The 49-year-old is one of ten people who have been convicted for offences related to people-smuggling migrants in the Channel so far this year, and has received the longest sentence yet — of just four-and-a-half years. This is despite the fact he is a so-called “boomerang migrant” , having already been deported from Britain to Germany as recently as 2019 following a previous illegal channel crossing, according to KentOnline. Criminals in Britain who receive non-“life” sentences are almost always automatically released early on licence halfway or, more rarely, two-thirds of the way through their terms, too, so the headline figure of four-and-a-half years is not likely to reflect the amount of time he Rakei will actually serve in prison. An Iranian man who risked his own life … [Read more...] about Iranian Military Veteran Gets Short Sentence for Piloting Illegal Migrants Across Channel

LONDON (AP) – The Vaxi Taxi was a godsend for Leslie Reid. The 48-year-old stagehand wanted to get a COVID-19 shot, but he was worried about riding public transport to the vaccination centre because his immune system had been weakened by a bout with flesh-eating bacteria that almost cost him his arm. So Reid jumped at the opportunity when his doctor called and offered him the shot, together with door-to-door transportation. “I was one of the fortunate ones,”  he said after being inoculated inside a black van cab at a community vaccination event in north London. “I’m sure there are plenty more vulnerable people than me that should have gotten this. What can I say? I’m very glad.” The “Vaxi Taxi” that ferried Reid to his appointment and whisked him home again is just one initiative doctors and community organizers are promoting as they try to make sure everyone gets inoculated. While Britain has engineered one of the world’s most successful coronavirus vaccination programs, … [Read more...] about ‘Vaxi Taxis’ Dash Around London, Help Boost Vaccine Uptake Among Ethnic Minorities