The Week UK - 03.08.2019

Europe at aglance NEWS 7

3August 2019 THE WEEK

Stockholm

Rapper on trial:The American rap star

A$AP Rocky remained in custody in

Sweden this week, despite President

Trump’s request that he be freed. A$AP,

(real name Rakim Mayers) was arrested

with two of his bodyguards on 30 June,

for allegedly beating upa19-year-old

man onastreet in Stockholm. Although

prosecutors say one of the bodyguards

struck first, the rapper–who pleaded not

guilty to assault charges this week–insists

they acted in self-defence.A#FreeRocky

campaign was mounted in the US; it

attracted the attention of Kim Kardashian

West, who urged the president to

intervene. Trump duly rang Stefan Löfven,

the Swedish PM, offering to stand bail for

Mayers, only to be told that Sweden has

no bail system. He then tweeted he was

“very disappointed” in Löfven, adding:

“Give A$AP Rocky his FREEDOM. We

do so much for Sweden but it doesn’t seem

to work the other way around.”

Moscow

Navalny “poisoned”:Russia’s opposition

leader Alexei Navalny has suffered what

officials described asa“severe allergic

reaction” inaMoscow jail. Navalny,

who is servinga30-day term for

organising an anti-government protest

last weekend, was taken to hospital with

rashes on his upper body and swelling on

his face. His own doctor has said that she

is certain that he was poisoned, and this

week he wrote on his blog that as he has

never suffered from an allergy before,

she may be right. In one of the biggest

crackdowns in years, police arrested

nearly 1,400 people during last Saturday’s

demonstrations against the exclusion of

high-profile opposition candidates from

local elections.

Paris

Heatwave:As temperatures hit 42.6°C in

the French capital last week–the highest

ever recorded in the city–Parisians were

warned that Notre Dame was at risk of

further collapse. The architect in charge of

restoring the cathedral said the vaults

could cave in, owing to masonry joints –

which were saturated with water on the

evening of the fire–crumbling as salts

within them crystallised in the heat.

Europe was enduring its second heatwave

in amonth, and national temperature

records were also broken in Belgium

(41.8°C), Germany (41.5°C) and the UK

(see page 20). In France, four nuclear

reactors were temporarily shut down to

avoid cooling problems, and in various

cities across the continent municipal

buildings were opened to those seeking

shade, water was distributed to the

homeless, and health services were put

on high alert.

Villa Santa Maria, Italy

Mussolini row:The uncovering ofagiant

tribute to Benito Mussolini, carved into a

cliff during his regime, has highlighted

bitter divisions in Italy over the fascist

dictator’s legacy. The word “DUX” –

Latin for “Duce”–was revealed when

shrubs on the rock face above the village

of Villa Santa Maria in Abruzzo were

recently cleared to createaclimbing route.

Left-wing politicians are demanding that it

be erased in accordance witha1952 law

prohibiting the veneration of fascism, but

the local mayor is determined to preserve

the landmark. “I have no intention of

covering it up,” said Giuseppe Finamore.

“It’s always been there, and if it serves to

attract tourists to the village, all well and

good.” Separately, the new right-wing

mayor of Predappio, the town in northern

Italy where Mussolini is buried, has

supported calls for his tomb to be open to

the public year-round, to boost tourism.

Mallorca

Anti-cruise ship

petition:More

than 11,

Mallorcans

have signed

apetition

demanding that

only one cruise

ship be allowed

to dock in

Palma de Mallorca each day, and no more

than 4,000 passengers be permitted to

disembark. Currently, around 500 giant

cruise ships visit the Spanish port each

year, disgorging some two million people

in total. According to the petition, the

impact of all these visitors(see page 13)

is “unsustainable and undesirable for our

city”. Opponents of the move argue that

the ships are responsible for bringing

s256mayear in revenue to the island and

support around 5,000 jobs.

Bucharest

Murder outcry:

Romania’s interior

minister resigned

this week, following

protests about the

police’s fatally slow

response to the

abduction of a

teenage girl last

month. Alexandra

Macesanu, 15, was

seized on 24 July

while hitchhiking. She was able to ring

police three times, yet it took them 19

hours to reach her captor’s house as they

struggled to trace her calls and obtain

unnecessary search warrants, by which

time it was too late.A65-year-old

mechanic has confessed to her murder,

and that of another young woman. Several

inquiries have found Romania’s police

to be under-funded and ill-trained.

Catch up with daily news at theweek.co.uk

Athens
Smoking ban:Greece is finally to enforce
alaw against smoking in public places,
ten years after it was approved by MPs.
The ban has been widely flouted, even in
parliament: in 2016, the country’s deputy
health minister was filmed smoking during
apress conference. But Greece’s new
prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis,
is determined to change the habits of a
nation in whichaquarter of male deaths
are attributed to smoking, and 27% of
people light up every day–the highest
rate in Europe.Ahotline for reporting
violations is being introduced, offenders
will face fines of up tos500, and
businesses that ignore the ban risk being
closed down. The move has widespread
public support, but is deeply unpopular
with the owners of bars and restaurants,
who argue that their customers should be
allowed to smoke to ease the stress caused
©F by the country’s recession.

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