Italy: G20 - climate and Covid
04 Nov 2021
When the G20 leaders met in Rome last weekend, at their first face to face meeting since the pandemic started, climate change and Covid were on the agenda. The talks come amid increasingly dire warnings for…
Moldova: severe energy crisis
28 Oct 2021
Moldova has made history by buying gas from a source that was not Russia's Gazprom. The one million cubic metres came from Poland's PGNiG. Moldova will need much larger volumes if Russia cuts supplies, as it…
Italy: flash flooding and hurricane
28 Oct 2021
An official In Catania, Sicily, called the situation ‘very critical’. Streets are completely flooded, and a red alert - the highest level warning - has been issued for flooding in northeast Sicily and the southwest region…
EU strategy on combatting anti-Semitism
21 Oct 2021
Last week you prayed for an end to anti-Semitism in European football matches. This week the European Commission has presented its first ever comprehensive strategy on combatting antisemitism and fostering Jewish life. The commission said, ‘This…
Channel smugglers are outwitting France and UK
21 Oct 2021
People-smuggling networks in migrant camps are slick and organised. It took little more than a week for Hamid to find a people-smuggler in Calais. Within a couple of days, he was hiding near the beach with…
Canary Islands: a month of volcanic activity
21 Oct 2021
Unfortunately, there has been no change in activity in the Canary Islands volcano; the eruption continues to feed the growing lava flow field at high effusion rates. Its northern margins continue to be active and advancing…