Author: staff
In Austria and Germany, Krampus parades bring chaos and controversy. While the tradition is meant to scare children into behaving, recent events have left many injured — raising questions about safety and the darker side of festive customs. In Austria and parts of Germany, Saint Nicholas, who visits on 6 December, is traditionally accompanied by the Krampus. While Saint Nicholas rewards well-behaved children with gifts, those who have misbehaved are punished by his fearsome, birch rod-wielding companion. The Krampus, with his devil-like appearance featuring horns and chains, has roots in mythology and evokes imagery of the fallen angel Lucifer.To celebrate…
It’s a personal victory European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who campaigned to get this proposal through EU governments, and whose pet pony Dolly was killed by a wolf in 2022. Countries that supported the proposal included Andorra, Armenia, Georgia, Iceland, Norway, North Macedonia, Moldova, Liechtenstein, Serbia, Switzerland and Ukraine, along with all 27 EU members. The United Kingdom rejected it, as did Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Monaco and Albania, while Tunisia and Turkey abstained, according to two people in the room. “The change will enter into force in three months, unless at least one third of the Parties to the Council of Europe’s Bern…
Trump is notorious for using music at his campaign rallies without the artists’ permission. However, one musician is happy that Trump used his song – and has denied that it is a “gay anthem”… Controversy surrounding Donald Trump’s unauthorized use of artists’ music is nothing new, with many acts asking him to stop playing their songs at campaign events without direct approval.This year alone, Céline Dion, Beyoncé, Woodkid, Jack White, Sinead O’Connor’s estateand several others issued statements criticising Trump for using their music, while Isaac Hayes’ estate went as far as filing a lawsuit against the politician.The Village People originally asked…
All these campaigns were disrupted on Friday Nov. 29, it said — in between the presidential election’s first round and the parliamentary vote on Sunday Dec. 1. Two attempts were launched out of Romania itself, TikTok said. One network of 78 accounts with 1,781 followers tried to promote ultranationalist and far-right Călin Georgescu, and another of 12 accounts attempted to boost independent candidate Mircea Geoană. The networks were “very, very small networks” launched out of Romania, targeting a Romanian audience, said Brie Pegum, TikTok’s global head of product for authenticity and transparency. The Sputnik campaign included 11 accounts with close to…
Updated: 03/12/2024 – 12:15 GMT+1 Beirut had faced a series of Israeli air strikes from September this year, after the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel extended to the Lebanese capital. A ceasefire was eventually brokered in late November. Beirut had faced a series of Israeli air strikes from September this year, after the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel extended to the Lebanese capital. A ceasefire was eventually brokered in late November.
The French pharma firm is seeking to increase insulin production in Beijing as trade tensions between the EU and China simmer on. Sanofi will invest around €1bn in China to build a new insulin production site in Beijing, the French firm said in a WeChat statement.The site, which will be Sanofi’s fourth production facility in the country, is to be in an economic development zone near the capital.The move marks Sanofi’s single biggest investment in China.According to medical journal the Lancet, China now has the largest number of people living with diabetes worldwide, accounting for approximately one-quarter of the global…
Allies are keen to bolster Ukraine’s defence and footing in the war before Donald Trump retakes office in the US in just over a month. NATO allies need to focus more on delivering military assistance to Ukraine so it can stop Russia’s slow but steady advance than discuss what a possible peace deal could look like, the alliance’s chief said on Tuesday.Foreign ministers from the military alliance’s 32 member states are gathering in Brussels for a two-day summit with Ukraine high on the agenda. Secretary-General Mark Rutte told reporters in a press conference hours before the start of the summit that…
French officials were keen to emphasise that the return of the objects – part of a larger haul of over 3,000 – was a “diplomatic handover” rather than a “restitution”. France has returned three ancient artefacts to Ethiopia, dating back between one and two million years. The items, which include two prehistoric stone axes and a stone cutter, were handed over by French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot to Ethiopia’s tourism minister Selamawit Kassa in a symbolic ceremony at the National Museum of Ethiopia last week.The three artefacts were part of a collection of around 3,500 items stored at the French embassy…
Should Barnier lose the vote, as is expected, he will become the shortest-serving prime minister in modern French history. The EU’s former chief Brexit negotiator was appointed by President Emmanuel Macron in September and given the impossible mission of passing a slimmed down budget without a parliamentary majority. Barnier is set to give an interview on French television on Tuesday evening, in what could be a last-ditch appeal to lawmakers to refrain from toppling the government. If the parliament does oust Barnier, it would be the first time a French government has suffered the humiliation of losing a no-confidence vote…
“Most redundant services should be restored, and will hopefully not be affected further,” the company said. Finnish authorities are currently investigating the incident together with the network company, Transport and Communications Minister Lulu Ranne said on Tuesday. “We take the situation seriously,” she added. This latest disruption comes two weeks after an incident involving two undersea fiberoptic communication cables in the Baltic Sea — one between Finland and Germany and another between Sweden and Lithuania — where breaches sparked suspicions of sabotage.