Europe

LONDON (AP) — A closely watched survey shows that the British economy is not far away from shrinking amid intensified Brexit uncertainties.

Financial information firm IHS Markit said Tuesday that its “all-sector” purchasing managers’ index dipped to 50.3 points in January from 51.5 the previous month. Were it to fall below 50, it would be indicating a fall in output.

05 Feb 2019; DW: Robbers raided dozens of safe deposit boxes from a bank in Belgium at the weekend after tunneling in, prosecutors said.

The thieves tunneled up into the vault of an Antwerp branch of BNP Paribas via a nearby sewer system.

At 1:34 p.m. (12:34 UTC) the bank's alarm was triggered despite the vault door remaining locked. By the time authorities made it into the vault, thieves had opened and robbed 20 to 30 deposit boxes and fled into the tunnel.

05 Feb 2019; DW: Germania had "no other option" but to file for bankruptcy following financial trouble, the airline's CEO Karsten Balke said on Tuesday.

The Berlin-based company cancelled all flights and advised passengers to contact their travel agents about alternative arrangements.

People who bought their tickets directly from the company "unfortunately have no claim to alternative trips," the company said.

05 Feb 2019; DW: A fire in an eight-story building in a wealthy Paris neighborhood killed at least eight people and injured 28 others early Tuesday morning.

Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz later told reporters that a woman had been taken into custody, albeit cautioning that "the investigation has just begun." He said it was still too early to determine the cause of the fire, but that authorities suspected it to be a criminal act. 

04 Feb 2019; DW: Queen Elizabeth II and other members of Britain's royal family could be evacuated from London in case of no-deal Brexit civil unrest, Britain's Sunday Times and Mail on Sunday newspapers reported on Sunday.

MADRID, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Spain's unemployment rose 2.61 percent in January from a month earlier, or 83,464 people, as employers cut temporary jobs for the Christmas season, official data showed Monday.

The end of the Christmas and New Year period had its traditional negative effect on the job market in Spain. This is the steepest January rise in unemployment since 2009 when the economic crisis shed around 200,000 jobs. The figure is well above the 63,747 rise in unemployment seen in 2018 or the 57,257 increase in 2017.

BERLIN; 03 Feb 2019; AA: Germany said on Saturday that it would oppose stationing new medium-range nuclear missiles in Europe after the U.S. and Russia announced that they are pulling out of a landmark arms treaty.

“Stationing medium-range nuclear missiles in Europe now would be the wrong answer. We can’t fight a fire by adding fuel to the fire,” Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in an interview with Funke Media Group.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Krzysztof Strzemeski watched with unease as a high school friend voiced support for Poland’s nationalist government on social media, followed by hate-filled extremist posts. But when the liberal mayor of Gdansk was stabbed to death in public in January, he could no longer hold back his anger.

“Congratulations for your perseverance sharing right-wing filth,” the 58-year-old university lecturer wrote to his former classmate. The two haven’t communicated since.

MOSCOW (AP) — Following in the footsteps of the U.S., Russia will abandon a centerpiece nuclear arms treaty but will only deploy intermediate-range nuclear missiles if Washington does so, President Vladimir Putin said Saturday.

President Donald Trump accused Moscow on Friday of violating the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty with “impunity” by deploying banned missiles.

Moscow has strongly denied any breaches and accused Washington of making false accusations in order to justify its pullout.

03 Feb 2019; AFP: Hundreds of people demonstrated Saturday in Stuttgart, the bastion of Germany's car industry, against a recent driving ban on older diesels, wearing yellow vests to match protesters in France whose movement began as a reaction to proposed fuel hikes.

Since January 1, only diesel vehicles meeting the Euro 5 emissions standard are allowed into Stuttgart, home of Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler, Volkswagen subsidiary Porsche and the world's biggest car parts supplier Bosch.