List of All Articles with Tag 'europe'

Europe’s car and chemical makers are at risk of losing competitiveness to China and the US as both

The remains of a mountain climber who vanished on a Swiss glacier in 1986 have been recovered after they were revealed by melting ice. DNA tests confirmed the remains were those of the 38-year-old hiker from Germany who went missing nearly four decades ago near the Matterhorn mountain, Switzerland’s most famous peak. A huge search at the time failed to find any trace of him. Police in the Valais canton said: “DNA analysis enabled the identification of a mountain climber who had been missing since 1986. “In September 1986, a German climber, who was 38 at the time, had been reported missing after not returning from a hike.” The force did not give the climber’s identity nor information on the circumstances of his death. Climbers crossing the Theodul glacier above Zermatt this month had spotted a hiking boot and crampons emerging from the ice. Alpine glaciers are increasingly giving up long-held secrets as the planet heats up, accelerating the rate of glacier retreat. In 2015, the remains of two young Japanese climbers who went missing on the Matterhorn in a 1970 snowstorm were found and their identities were confirmed through the DNA testing of their relatives. In 2014 the body of missing British climber Jonathan Conville, missing since 1979 on the Matterhorn, was discovered by a helicopter pilot. His family said finally knowing he had died in an environment he loved was bittersweet. Last year plane parts were found on the Aletsch glacier from a Piper Cherokee that crashed in 1968. And two sets of human remains were also revealed – one thought to have died in the 1970s or 1980s on the Chessjen glacier, and one on the Stockji glacier in the 1980s. Switzerland has more glaciers – 1,400 – than any other country in Europe, accounting for about half of all those in the European Alps. Swiss glaciers experienced record melting last year, losing more than 6 per cent of their volume and alarming experts at the Swiss Academy of Sciences who said a loss of 2 per cent would once have been considered extreme. Separate research found that the country’s glaciers had lost more than half their total volume since the early 1930s – a much faster shrinkage than scientists had forecast. At that rate, they said, almost all the Alpine glaciers would be gone by the end of this century. “Glacier retreat is accelerating. Closely observing this phenomenon and quantifying its historical dimensions is important because it allows us to infer the glaciers’ responses to a changing climate,” said Daniel Farinotti, a co-​author of the study. Alpine glaciers irrigate crops, and melt water from them cools rivers, so is vital to biodiversity including fish. The glaciers also collect pools of water in “ice dams”, which threaten flooding if the water is released. European glaciers are projected to lose more than 80 per cent of their current mass by 2100 under a high-emissions worst-case scenario, and many will disappear regardless of the emission scenario, according to a 2019 IPCC report. Read More Climate change comes for European skiing: After deadly conditions and closed runs, is this the beginning of the end? Floods, fires and deadly heatwaves are the alarm bells of a planet on the brink Summer 2022 was ‘a sign of things to come’ for UK climate, says Met Office Alaska man inadvertently films his own drowning on a glacial lake with helmet GoPro Russia: Putin ‘threatening civilian ships in Black Sea’ as Ukraine advances - latest Ukraine’s troops advance around Bakhmut despite intense artillery fire, military say

Russian forces intercepted two missiles over its southern port of Taganrog and the Azov district in the Rostov

By Huw Jones and Tom Sims LONDON/FRANKFURT Three banks from the European Union failed to meet binding capital

Kyiv's troops are pushing through heavy intense artillery fire from Russian forces to advance in the east of Ukraine, the commander of the country's armed forces has said. Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi said that despite meeting stuff resistance, Ukraine's ground forces are making "gradual advances in the direction of Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region. The city, which is now occupied by Russian forces, has gained symbolic significance for both Kyiv and Moscow having been the scene for some of the most intense fighting of the war. "The enemy fiercely clings to every centimetre, conducting intense artillery and mortar fire," Col Gen Syrskyi said in a statement. It comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted a video late on Thursday night in which Ukrainian soldiers said they had taken the village of Staromaiorske, which sits in the western park of Donetsk region the opposite side to Bakhmut. Russian military bloggers said artillery fire at the Ukrainian troops had effectively razed the village and reported more barrages Friday. Capturing the village, which is south of a cluster of settlements that Ukraine capture at the beginning of its counteroffensive last month, would give Ukraine a platform to push deeper into Russian-held territory. Fighting has intensified at multiple places along the more than 600-mile frontline, where Ukraine deployed its recently acquired Western weapons to push back Russia's troops. That includes the southern Zaporizhzhia region. However, Kyiv's troops are attacking without the air support it says is vital – and face an enemy that has had months to fortify their positions as Ukraine prepared its counter punch. Russia is trying to hold on to the territory it controls in the four provinces it illegally annexed in September: Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Kherson and Luhansk. Col Gen Syrskyi said fighting that targets the enemy's artillery as well as its command and control structure is a priority as his troops probe Russian lines for weaknesses. "In these conditions, it is crucial to make timely management decisions in response to the situation at hand and take measures for maneuvering forces and resources, shifting units and troops to areas where success is evident, or withdrawing them from the enemy's fire," he said. Elsewhere, Mr Zelensky marked Ukraine's Statehood Day – which coincides with commemorations of the adoption of Christianity on lands that later became Ukraine, Russia and Belarus – by reaffirming the country's sovereignty. His words were a rebuke to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who used his claim that Ukraine didn't exist as a nation to justify his invasion. "Now, like more than a thousand years ago, our civilizational choice is unity with the world," Mr Zelensky said in a speech on a square outside St. Michael's Monastery in Kyiv. "To be a power in world history. To have the right to its national history, of its people, its land, its state. And of our children, all future generations of the Ukrainian people. We will definitely win!" Moscow also accused Kyiv of firing two missiles at southern Russia, with the Defence Ministry said it shot down a missile in the city of Taganrog, about 20 miles east of the border with Ukraine, and local officials reported 20 people were injured. The Russian Defence Ministry later said it downed a second missile near the city of Azov. Ukraine's secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Oleksiy Danilov, blamed Russian air defense systems for the explosion in Taganog. Separately, an explosion was reported to have hit an oil refinery in the southwestern Russian city of Samara. In St Petersburg, African leaders pressed Russian President Vladimir Putin to move ahead with their peace plan aimed at ending Russia's invasion and to renew a deal on the export of Ukrainian grain that Moscow tore up last week. While not directly critical of Russia, the words on the second day of a summit with Mr Putin were more forceful than those previously voiced. "This war must end. And it can only end on the basis of justice and reason," African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat said. At the summit, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi urged Russia to revive the Black Sea grain deal. Since withdrawing from the deal, Russia has bombed Ukrainian ports and grain depots. Mr Sisi, whose country is a big buyer of grain via the Black Sea route, told the summit it was "essential to reach agreement" on reviving the deal. A senior Ukrainian official accused Russia on Friday of threatening civilian vessels in the Black Sea, urging the international community to condemn Moscow's actions. Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary Baby died after ‘extremely vulnerable’ mother gave birth alone in prison G20 ministers reach agreement on most, but not all, climate issues Why is Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin back in Russia?

Most European banks emerged stronger from a stress test on how they would weather a sharp economic downturn,

Uncertainty over the end point for the European Central Bank’s unprecedented bout of interest-rate hiking will hang over

Solid economic growth in France and Spain, and a very modest recovery in Germany could be enough to confirm that the euro area has already exited a recession that started in the final quarter of 2022.

Vitol’s Turkish fuel distribution company Petrol Ofisi is in advanced talks to buy BP Plc’s gas station network

The Mayor of London’s plans to expand a contentious charge on drivers of older, more polluting cars to

It comes as an American tourist remains in a serious condition after he was assaulted last week.

Bonds around the world extended a retreat as the Bank of Japan, so far a holdout on ultra-loose