News Snippets from the European Press

Portugal: Viral Clio A Renault Clio became famous in Portugal for the wrong reasons after it was seen driving on the A28 in Viana do Castelo with its back end entirely destroyed. Photos of the car went viral although it has finally ended its days at a scrapyard which recently announced that the Clio “can now enjoy a well-deserved rest.”

Denmark: Cliff breakup A Section of the white limestone and chalk Mons Klint cliffs, a popular tourist spot on the island of Mons, broke away on February 13 after a period of prolonged and heavy rain.  This was the second incident in the area so far this winter, following a more serious landslide at the beginning of January.

Rainy season: Denmark experienced its wettest February in more than 10 years with 59 millimetres of rain during the first half of the month. This was 29 per cent more than the usual monthly figure of 50.3 millimetres but lagging behind 2020 when the country’s weather stations recorded an unprecedented 135 millimetres.

Norway: Marmite okay Norway’s English-speaking media came to the recue of Marmite recently after Anglican vicar and author Richard Coles claimed that it was banned.  Not so, The Local, said, clarifying that the love-it-hate-it yeast extract spread needs special authorisation in neighbouring Denmark as it is fortified with added vitamins.

Bumpsadaisy An aircraft bound for Stockholm was slightly damaged after a wingtip struck a fence at Oslo airport on February 14. Although no-one was injured, this was the third incident in a fortnight after a plane clipped another aircraft’s wing on February 13 and a third collided with the same fence on February 2.

Italy: Iraq gift Italy presented Iraq with a replica of the Ninth Century BC five-metre-tall Bull of Nimrod which Isis terrorists destroyed in 2015 by bulldozing the archaeological site 30 kilometres from Mosul.  The statue was recreated by Italian artists who consulted images and video footage to copy the monument using 3D-printing technology.

Call up The European Union should create its own army to prevent conflict and oversee peacekeeping missions, declared Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, a former president of the European parliament.  Other EU members were less keen with Spain, Denmark, Poland and Slovenia labelling the proposal as “unrealistic and unnecessary.”

Belgium: Cashing in Shops may no longer refuse cash under recent legislation although Unizo, which represents small and medium-sized businesses, described the decision as “bullying” and attempting to solve a non-existent problem. The legislation is in line with EU regulations and means that business which repeatedly refuse cash can be fined.

Big Freeze The Belgian government told the EU and the G7 that Ukraine’s financial problems could be solved by allowing it to raise funds from private sector lenders by using Russian central bank assets currently frozen by sanctions. Belgium suggested the strategy because most of these assets are held in Europe and G7 countries.

Germany: Mystery wall Investigators from Rostock and Christian-Albrechts universities discovered a one-kilometre section of stone wall off the Mecklenburg-Western Pomeria coast estimated to be more than 10,000 years old.  Built when the area was above sea level and densely wooded, experts believe its purpose was linked to reindeer hunting.

Ocean wave The next Ocean Race Europe departs on August 10, 2025, from Kiel, which was the finish port of the Volvo Ocean Race 2001-2002 and hosted the 2022-2023 Ocean Race’s penultimate leg . The route will begin in the Baltic, continuing through the North Sea, English Channel and Atlantic before finishing in the Mediterranean.

Netherlands: Spy game The Netherlands’ Ministry of Defence revealed that Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD) discovered hackers working for China had infiltrated a military network in 2023.  Advanced Chinese malware used on Fortigate systems from the Californian company, Fortinet, had made this possible.

Wotcher cock Animal welfare organisations in the Rotterdam area asked the city council to tackle the problem of abandoned poultry after its animal collection service failed to pick up a cockerel abandoned in a hotel room. Police later collected it and took it to Zwerfkip en Zo, which finds homes for abandoned animals.

France: Fair dues A French court ruled that funeral homes must pay royalties for music played during services and ordered OGF, one of the country’s largest funeral companies, to pay €80,000 and €37,000 to two copyright associations.  Applauded as “a win” for artists, critics said the measure was “an insensitive money grab.”

That’s rich More than 50 per cent of France’s 34 government ministers, including the 34-year-old PM Gabriel Attal, are millionaires, researchers found after scouring data made available to the public under transparency laws.  A quarter of the ministers also belonged to the one per cent of the population classed as “super-rich.”

Finland: Strike-stricken Finland’s spate of strikes over the last two months has cost the economy approximately one billion euros, the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) calculated.  The latest stoppages affected bus-drivers and petrol station employees on February 14, followed by dockers on February 15 and 17.

No change Most Finns are satisfied with the country’s alcohol laws, with 57 per cent seeing no reason to change them, although 11 per cent told a recent survey that they would like to see regulations tightened up.  Forty-four per cent said they would like to buy wine in shops instead of the state-owned Alko monopoly.

Ireland: Phased out The Central Statistics Office (CSO) added air fryers, gin and disposable vapes to the basket of items and services used to calculate Ireland’s annual inflation rate.  Landlines, swiss rolls and digital cameras are amongst newly-excluded goods “as they no longer play as significant a role in consumer spending”, the CSO said.

No comment Intel, which employs 4,600 people in Leixlip and 300 in Shannon, plans to raise at least €1.86 billion to fund a semiconductor factory in Ireland, sources close to the California-based company said.   An Intel representative later declined to comment on reports that it was sounding out possible investors.

Sweden: Fashion riches According to the annual estimated wealth and assets assessment compiled and published each year by the US business magazine Forbes, businessman Stefan Persson is Sweden’s richest person. Persson’s $16.87 billion (€15.66 billion) fortune is based on the H & M fashion chain in which he holds a major stake.

Jailhouse blues Sweden’s Prison and Probation Service is creating a management team to deal with the increasingly urgent cell shortage.  The service has said that the lack of space means the problem can only get worse and before long it will be difficult to accommodate those on remand and as well as those serving terms.