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Seven Israeli soldiers wounded in explosion in Gaza City, IDF says

Seven Israeli soldiers were wounded in an explosion targeting an armoured vehicle in Gaza City on Friday night, the Israel Defense Forces have said. The soldiers were wounded while operating in the Zeitoun neighbourhood, which has been the site of intense Israeli military activity in recent weeks. Intense clashes in the area on Friday night were reported by Arab media, including Al Jazeera, which said that Hamas had attempted to kidnap some of the Israeli soldiers at the time of the explosion – reports the Israeli military said were false. Israel declared Gaza City a “dangerous combat zone” on Friday, ending the daily humanitarian pauses that were meant to alleviate hunger there. Gaza City is in the throes of famine, a result of an Israeli blockade that despite the pauses has choked off food and medical supplies into the territory. The Israeli defence ministry approved plans to occupy and take over Gaza City last week, and despite international and domestic opposition, is pushing ahead with the offensive. Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more than 63,000 people over the last 23 months. Israel launched the war after Hamas-led militants carried out an attack in southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. On Thursday, Abu Obeida, a spokesperson for Hamas’s military wing, warned that Israel’s plans to occupy Gaza City would increase the chances of the group capturing Israeli soldiers and that any Israeli military operation would put the lives of remaining hostages at risk. Before its offensive, the Israeli military is seeking to forcibly displace the residents of Gaza City to southern Gaza. Israeli bombardments of the area have intensified in recent days, with the Israeli air force carrying out strikes on tent encampments in Zeitoun and the al-Nasr neighbourhood of Gaza City on Saturday morning, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. At least 62 Palestinians had been killed across Gaza in the previous 24 hours, Gaza’s health authorities said. The renewed bombardment has already caused more than 23,000 residents of Gaza City to leave, the UN said on Thursday. Gaza City hosts nearly half of Gaza’s 2 million population and is in the grip of famine. The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross has warned that it would be impossible to keep these residents safe during a mass-displacement scenario. “It is impossible that a mass evacuation of Gaza City could ever be done in a way that is safe and dignified under the current conditions,” said Mirjana Spoljaric in a statement on Saturday. She added that no other area in the Gaza Strip had the capacity to accommodate such a massive displacement, given the already dire shortages of food and shelter. Gaza’s health ministry reported on Saturday that 10 people had died as a result of starvation or malnutrition in the past 24 hours, including three children. Since the war beganin October 2023, 332 people have starved to death in Gaza – the majority of whom have died since July. Despite the worsening humanitarian crisis, Israel will soon slow or halt aid into parts of northern Gaza as it begins its Gaza City offensive, an Israeli official told the Associated Press on Saturday. The official said Israel would halt airdropped aid into Gaza City over the coming days and decrease the number of aid trucks that entered northern Gaza, even as the UN says the number of aid trucks entering Gaza is far below what is needed. The continued Israeli-aid blockade and planned Gaza City operation has drawn a global outcry, including condemnation by six European foreign ministers on Friday. Many EU member states, such as Ireland and Spain, have called for a suspension of the bloc’s free trade pact with Israel, but countries including Germany and Hungary are against this measure. On Saturday, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said she was “not optimistic” that the EU would take any measures against Israel because of internal EU divisions. “I’m not very optimistic, and today we are definitely not going to adopt decisions … We are divided about this issue,” Kallas told journalists at a meeting in Denmark for foreign ministers to discuss suspending EU funding to Israeli startups. The proposal would require a voting majority in the bloc, something that the EU does not have. The Irish foreign minister, Simon Harris, said: “If the EU does not act as a collective now and take sanctions against Israel, whenever will it. What more could it possibly take? Children are starving.” As the EU debated taking steps against Israel, the US announced it would not allow the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, to travel to New York next month for the UN general assembly. It also denied and revoked the visas of about 80 Palestinian officials. Abbas was due to attend a conference where Britain, France, Canada and Australia are expected to recognise a Palestinian state – a step opposed by the US and Israel. The step is unprecedented, as the US is obliged to allow access for foreign diplomats to the UN in New York under the 1947 UN headquarters agreement, except in the case of a security threat. The decision drew international condemnation, with the vice-president of the Palestinian Authority, Hussein al-Sheikh, calling it a clear violation of international law. EU foreign ministers urged the US to reconsider its decision to bar Palestinian officials from attending the UN general assembly, Kallas said on Saturday. The Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, called the decision “unjust” and expressed support in a phone call to Abbas. Palestine is a member of the UN and is a permanent observer state, allowing it to participate in the organisation’s proceedings.

Irish missionary and seven others freed weeks after kidnapping in Haiti

An Irish aid worker and seven fellow captives have been released nearly a month after they were kidnapped in Haiti. Gena Heraty, a missionary who ran the Our Little Brothers and Sisters orphanage in the hills outside Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, was abducted on 3 August along with seven Haitians, including a three-year-old child. “We are relieved beyond words. We are so deeply grateful to everyone, in Haiti and internationally, who has worked tirelessly over these terrible weeks to help secure their safe return,” her family said in a statement. Simon Harris, Ireland’s tánaiste (deputy prime minister), celebrated the end of their terrible ordeal in a statement on social media. “We warmly welcome the news that Gena and all of the Haitian nationals taken captive on August 3, including a small child, have been released and are reported to be safe and well,” Harris said. “This has, of course, been an extraordinarily difficult and stressful situation for the Heraty family. I wish to pay tribute to their resilience and determination to support Gena and her fellow captives over these past difficult weeks,” Harris added, calling Heraty “a respected humanitarian and deeply courageous person who has dedicated her life to supporting the most vulnerable people in Haiti”. Heraty had reportedly been living in Haiti for 32 years and had been responsible for about 270 children at the orphanage in Kenscoff. Haiti has been thrust into a seemingly interminable spiral of violence since February last year when politically connected and heavily armed gangs launched a coordinated uprising against the government. Criminal groups now control virtually the entire capital and a UN-backed policing mission has failed to stop gang foot-soldiers rampaging across the Caribbean city. The situation has become so dire that authorities have resorted to using armed drones and recruiting foreign mercenaries in an attempt to win back control of the city. Ireland’s department of foreign affairs strongly advises its citizens not to visit the Caribbean country as a result of the “extremely volatile” security situation. “There are frequent clashes between gangs and security forces. Kidnappings, robberies, and violent crime are prevalent,” its website warns. According to the Irish Independent, Heraty’s group was abducted after armed attackers stormed the building at about 3.30am on a Sunday morning. “They broke through a wall to enter the property before heading to the building where the director was staying, leaving with nine hostages,” the local mayor said at the time. Some reports claimed the kidnappers were part of Viv Ansanm (Live Together), the criminal coalition that rose up last year, plunging Haiti’s capital into chaos.

‘Really transitional moment’: what should we do about declining fertility rates?

“We happen to be alive at this really transitional moment,” said Prof Jane Falkingham, the director of the Centre for Population Change at the University of Southampton. “We’re moving from a world with high fertility and high mortality to a world of low mortality and low fertility. We have to get our heads around how we’re going to make that transition from the old world to the new world.” Earlier this week, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the fertility rate for England and Wales had fallen for the third year in a row to reach a record low of 1.41. The rate represents the average number of live children women can expect to have in their child-bearing life. The figures are part of a long-term trend of declining fertility rates across much of the globe – and experts are still working out exactly what the repercussions will be for our society and economy. “We’re going to have an ageing population, so we need to think about the ages we start work, the ages we finish work, and how we organise the life course,” said Falkingham. “These are a lot of big policy challenges and we’ll have to think through what the solutions will be.” Some of the effects are already being felt, with schools in some parts of the UK closing or merging due to declining pupil numbers, and the sector expected to lose £1bn in funding by 2030. In June it was announced that five primary schools in Westminster, central London, would be merged to two, after they reported declining pupil numbers, put down to housing costs and falling birthrates. Paul Morland, a demographer and the author of No One Left: Why the World Needs More Children, said the sharp decline in fertility rates meant that “instead of just steadily building up the problem for the future, we’re dramatically building up the problem for the future”. “You’ll start seeing that in schools closing. And what that means is in 20 years’ time, we will have a smaller and smaller number of people of working age. That’s going to make the public finances impossible, and the welfare state unsustainable,” he said. Dr Rebecca Montacute, the research director at the Social Market Foundation, a cross-party thinktank, said declining fertility rates caused “major economic challenge” in the long term. “You simply will have fewer people of working age who are able to pay taxes and then actually pay for all of the goods and services that we need in the wider economy. At the same time, you have more ageing people, and they have obviously a heavy cost to the state in terms of the health and social care they need,” she said. This would leave government with a “stark choice” between reducing public services or bringing in younger workers from abroad, both of which were politically challenging, she said. However, there are many who say a declining fertility rate is no cause for alarm, and will actually bring environmental and economic benefits due to less consumption and demand for resources. Dr Joshua Hill, the chief research and operations officer at the charity Population Matters, said: “Tackling biodiversity loss, like rewilding, is easier to do with a lower population, and it also leads to a reduction in pollution and waste. “For the UK, having a smaller population makes everything easier. It increases our food security. Health crises become lower. We are a small nation with a high population density. Everything is scarce, relatively.” The UK population is predicted to grow to 86 million by 2100, fuelled by net migration (without migration, it is modelled to fall to 48 million), so Hill argues there is little concern about a declining workforce in the short term. He said the advent of artificial intelligence could lead to a reduced demand for workers anyway. “I think actually the reality is that joblessness is going to be a far bigger problem than having not enough people,” he said. There is, however, concern about who will care for our ageing population, and whether our current social care system has the resources to cope, particularly when unpaid, informal support networks – often created by children or younger relatives – are not there. “The cohort of women born in the 1960s, around 20% of them didn’t have children, so when they move into their 70s, 80s and 90s, we’re going to see more of a focus on the funding of social care,” said Falkingham. But she said this would probably lead to the emergence of different models of care, such as through friendship groups, or a greater reliance on technology. Japan, for instance, is starting to roll out home-care robots to help look after its ageing population. But Japan should also act a warning for what could come in the future, Morland said. “People say Japan is not falling to pieces, and that’s true. But it has got massive debt and its innovation and creativity has gone down and down. So it definitely suggests long-term decline, whether that’s government debt or the number of patents,” he said. Japan has also seen an epidemic of lonely deaths, with 68,000 people expected to die alone and unnoticed this year, the majority of them over 65. “There is a risk that a lot of older people will be left uncared for,” Morland said. “There’s a lot of dependence of older people on their children, and they just won’t be there to do it. We have three workers for every retiree where we used to have four, five or six, and that’s putting huge pressure on the state.”

‘Most of this is symbolic’: the new wave of anti-migrant vigilantes in Europe

Sporting black shirts emblazoned with an iron cross, a dozen or so men marched through the centre of Reykjavík, courting attention on a buzzy Friday night. In Poland and the Netherlands, vigilantes thronged along the German border, ready to turn back any asylum seekers they came across. In Belfast, they roamed after sunset, demanding to see the identity documents of migrants and people of colour. Each of the groups, who are part of a renewed wave of anti-migrant vigilantes that have sprung up in recent months across Europe, have sought to cast themselves as a sort of protective force. But those who have studied vigilantes warn that their actions often exacerbate security concerns, sow fear and fuel the far right. “Most of this is symbolic. They don’t stop migration. They don’t create more safety in the streets,” said Tore Bjørgo, a professor at the University of Oslo and former director of the university’s Centre for Research on Extremism. “It’s a show for media and often for political purposes because, quite often, the extreme-right and far-right organisations use this as a way to get publicity and recruit new members.” Europe has long seen waves of anti-migrant vigilantes, often springing up as the discourse around migration hardens. This summer has been no exception: Spain had days of turbulence in the south-eastern province of Murcia after dozens of baton-wielding individuals took to the streets to “hunt” people with foreign origins, while Belfast, in Northern Ireland, has grappled with a campaign of intimidation targeting people of colour. In Poland, self-declared “citizen patrols”, at times numbering in the hundreds, gathered along the border with Germany earlier this summer, insisting their presence was needed to prevent asylum seekers from moving between the two countries. The Netherlands had a similar movement, with a dozen or so people heading to the German border near the villages of Ter Apel and Sellingen in June. Sporting high-visibility vests and lamps, they reportedly spent one night flagging down vehicles, asking people to show identification. Rights campaigners and governments have described the actions as being grounded in fear and supercharged by misinformation. In the lead-up to the unrest in Spain, racist messaging on social media rocketed by 1,500%, according to tracking by the central government, while the Warsaw-based Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights linked the actions in Poland to “a radicalising political narrative that portrays migration as a threat, fuelling social fears and distrust of state institutions”. While the vigilantes may be acting out of fear, they often also provoke it among those they purport to protect. “There’s very little evidence that they make people feel that their streets are more secure – quite the opposite,” said Bjørgo, who noted that while they rarely used physical violence, their militant style displayed a capacity for violence that was quite frightening, particularly to minorities. “Quite a few of the participants are well-known criminals and violent people, so they are generally causing more fear than they are creating a sense of safety.” For some, vigilantism offers a means of rebranding themselves. Research carried out on one group in Norway in 2016 found that many members had a criminal history, ranging from domestic violence to drug dealing and burglary. “This is a way to improve their standing in the community,” said Bjørgo. “It’s a show of masculinity and protecting women.” Recent reports from Iceland and Northern Ireland suggest that convicted criminals remain a mainstay of these movements. In Iceland, the chair of the national police union, Fjölnir Seæmundsson, said police had been told that the vigilantes, who have suggested that their goal is to protect Icelanders from migrants, had made threats against people who had criticised them, including telling women that they needed to be “silenced for good”. The idea of people thinking they could take the law into their own hands was a cause for concern, he told the local news site Vísir. “There are numerous examples that suggest this only ends badly.” Despite their relatively tiny numbers, the outsized role that these groups play on social media and traditional media allows them to potentially reframe how we see migration, according to Dr Matthijs Gardenier, a sociologist at Paul-Valéry Montpellier University. Gardenier had a first-hand glimpse of this power about a decade ago when he launched into research on anti-migrant vigilantes in Calais and, a few years later, in Dover. “There were not many of them, but in the UK especially, the images they posted online could be seen millions of times. And then the tabloids and other media started to pay attention.” This attention was swiftly parlayed into influence. “They were using the patrols, the vigilantism, the security measures, to show refugees – who have fled wars, who have nothing, who are waiting to cross – not as people who fall within the field of humanitarian concern, but within the fields of security concerns. And that may have a big influence on public opinion,” he said. In this way, vigilantes have become part of a wider ecosystem, helping to build the case for those who insist migration must be addressed solely through border walls and fences. “This process started before these groups existed,” said Gardenier. “But I think they strengthen that process and feed into the factions who want borders to act as a massive security device.” Ultimately, as groups marched through streets across Europe, creating content and capturing headlines, it was the far-right who stood to gain the most, Gardenier said. “Their patrols, their activities, all that they do, are producing spectacular images, a visual show for social media,” he said. “Then this framing plays a role to shape public opinions and to push people to vote for the far right.”

Ukrainian lawmaker shot dead in Lviv as Zelenskyy says hunt for killer is under way – as it happened

This blog will be closing shortly. You can keep up to date with the Guardian’s Ukraine-Russia coverage here. Here is a summary of the key events from today’s live blog: Andriy Parubiy, a Ukrainian politician who previously served as the parliament speaker, was shot dead in western city of Lviv on Saturday. Prosecutors have opened a murder investigation and said police were still searching for the shooter but have not mentioned possible motives at this stage. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned it as a “horrific murder” and said “all necessary forces and means” would be used in the investigation. By Saturday afternoon, tributes had come in from colleagues in Ukraine’s parliament and the government, praising Parubiy’s contribution to Ukraine’s fight for sovereignty and independence. Former president Petro Poroshenko said on Telegram that the killing of Parubiy, who was a member of the parliamentary committee on national security, defence and intelligence, was “a shot fired at the heart of Ukraine”. Iryna Herashchenko, a lawmaker from the European Solidarity party, described Parubiy as “one of the founders of the modern Ukraine … principled and decent, patriotic, intelligent”. In a statement on Telegram, foreign minister Andrii Sybiha described Parubiy as “a patriot and statesman” who “rightfully belongs in the history books”. Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko called for a prompt investigation of the murder, calling it “a profound loss” for the country. One person was killed and 24 were injured, including three children, in Zaporizhzhia after a Russian strike on a five-story residential building. Regional governor Ivan Fedorov said the attack on Zaporizhzhia cut power to 25,000 residents. The Ukrainian air force recorded five missile and 24 drone hits at seven locations with debris falling on 21 sites, according to a statement on the Telegram messaging app on Saturday. Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region came under a “massive attack” early on Saturday, the region’s governor said, reporting strikes in Dnipro and Pavlograd. “The region is under a massive attack. Explosions are being heard,” Sergiy Lysak wrote on Telegram, warning residents to take cover. He said overnight Russian strikes killed two people in Dnipropetrovsk. On Saturday, in a post on X, Zelenskyy accused Moscow of using “the time meant for preparing a leaders-level meeting to organise new massive attacks” and called for “tougher” banking and energy sanctions on Russia. He said Russia’s latest attack had shown its “utter disregard”. Speaking after a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in the Danish capital Copenhagen, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she had asked EU governments to submit proposals next week for another package of sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine. The chief of Russia’s general staff, Valery Gerasimov, said on Saturday that Russian forces were conducting non-stop offensives along the entire frontline in Ukraine. Since March, Russia has captured more than 3,500 square km (1,351 square miles) of territory in Ukraine and taken control of 149 villages, Gerasimov added. Ukrainian military said on Saturday that it had struck Russian oil refineries in Krasnodar and Syzran overnight. Kyiv’s military recorded multiple explosions and a fire at the Krasnodar oil refinery in Russia’s south and said there was also a fire in the Syzran oil refinery area in Samara region. Russian authorities in Krasnodar said falling drone debris damaged one of the refinery’s units and a fire had broken out over an area measuring 300 square metres (3,230 square feet). That fire was later extinguished, authorities said. There were no casualties, and employees were evacuated, authorities wrote on Telegram. Russia’s defence ministry said it had downed 11 Ukrainian drones over the Krasnodar region overnight. The Russian defence ministry said on Saturday its troops had taken control of the village of Komyshuvakha in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. The ministry said its forces had successfully carried out strikes with high-precision weapons on Ukrainian missile and aviation enterprises, as well as military airfields in Ukraine. Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports. Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un are among the world leaders who will attend a military parade with President Xi Jinping in Beijing next week, in a show of collective defiance amid western pressure. Against the backdrop of China’s growing military might during the Victory Day parade on 3 September, the three leaders will project a major show of solidarity. The Russian defence ministry said it had shot down 20 Ukrainian drones, including 18 over Moscow-annexed Crimea, between 4am and 8am GMT on Saturday. The other two drones were shot down over Russia’s western Smolensk region. In an earlier statement, Russia’s defence ministry said it had destroyed 86 Ukrainian drones overnight into Saturday. Reuters could not independently confirm the reports. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met the families of soldiers killed fighting for Russia against Ukraine and offered condolences for their “unbearable pain”, state media said on Saturday. Pyongyang has not confirmed the number of its soldiers that died fighting for Russia, though Seoul estimates it is about 600, with thousands more wounded.

Car rams into crowd outside bar in northern France, killing one

A man has driven a car into a crowd outside a bar in northern France after a dispute in which one person was killed and five others injured, according to prosecutors. The incident took place in the town of Évreux, Normandy, at about 4am on Saturday. Authorities have launched an investigation into homicide and attempted homicide, with prosecutors saying they had ruled out terrorism as a motive. Police have taken two men and a woman into custody. “Unfortunately, the toll is very heavy,” Rémi Coutin, the local prosecutor, said. Of the five people who were injured, two were in critical condition. The attack took place after an altercation between a young woman and several men, Coutin said, with staff escorting the wine bar’s customers outside. The prosecutors said the altercation had “escalated and ended in a terrible tragedy” after a man entered a vehicle and “deliberately reversed at high speed into the crowd outside the establishment”. Guy Lefrand, the mayor of Évreux, said in a statement posted on social media: “This morning I was informed of a serious incident that occurred in front of La Winery on Winston Churchill avenue. A fight broke out, causing a crowd to erupt, and a vehicle struck several people.” Lefrand noted that one person had been killed and five others injured, and offered his condolences: “I would like to express my deepest sympathy and solidarity with the victims, their families and loved ones.” Commending the emergency services and police for their response, the mayor added: “The situation has now returned to calm. An investigation is under way to establish the exact circumstances of this tragedy.”

‘March of commercialisation’: writing is on the wall for Berlin’s nightclubs

A forlorn disco ball counting down the time remaining hangs at the entrance of the beloved Berlin club Wilde Renate, known only as Renate, which is rapidly heading into its final nights of wild abandon. Unlike its more hyped cousin Berghain and posher late sister Watergate, Renate has long stood for a certain more relaxed type of Berlin-brand partying – more poor than sexy to borrow the capital’s lamented motto. The club, a ramshackle garden leading to a maze-like block of derelict flats playing EDM, house and techno handpicked by live DJs on each floor, has welcomed visitors from across the city and around the world for 18 years. Instead of dress codes and picky or menacing bouncers, there were “welcoming” bartenders and a vibe like a “giant house party”, said guests on a recent Friday night. There were even rumours of a resident cat. “I’ve always loved this old building with all its levels,” said Philipp Wittwer, a 34-year-old engineer out with friends. “It’s like a haunted house – there are so many rooms I’ve never seen, even after coming for years.” But in late December the bash will be over. And for several other clubs making up the city’s unique nightlife, the writing is on the wall. Many cities including London, Paris and New York have experienced a rash of late-night venue closures, creating depressing “night-time deserts” where there once was a vibrant scene. But for a European capital that like no other built its reputation on fun and decadence, the pain is especially palpable in Berlin. Before the pandemic, the industry contributed, directly and indirectly, about €1.5bn (£1.3bn) to the chronically cash-strapped economy each year. According to the left-leaning daily Tageszeitung, Clubsterben (the death of clubs) will fuel “the march of commercialisation” in Berlin. It said: “When they only open for snot-nosed brats, solvent tourists or company events, you’ll hardly be able to speak of ‘Berlin club culture’.” Nightlife veterans at Renate also saw the ground shifting beneath their feet. Berliner Rouven Kelling, 30, said: “If the alternative places all die out then all you’ll have are the mainstream clubs where you hear the same music everywhere and only drink Aperol Spritzes. Then we’ll get the kind of tourists we don’t want – it’ll be all Instagram models and TikTok people.” As low-tempo techno with French pop samples drifted from the speakers, Rodrigo Lobos, 29, a warehouse manager from Sweden, said the “chill atmosphere” had lured him and his girlfriend, Emily Solis, 25, into Renate. “In Stockholm the clubs close at 3am but here you can go non-stop,” he said, sipping a beer he said would cost him twice as much back home. Solis, a receptionist, said she’d see little point in making the trip if Berlin’s fabled clubs vanished: “I’m here for the party.” The reasons for Renate’s looming demise are multifaceted. The owner of the site, a major local property developer, reportedly wants to build on the site of Renate’s cherished garden. Unlike Berghain, the techno temple and hedonist attraction that helped put the city on the global party map in the 2000s, Renate does not own its own premises and its lease will run out at the end of the year. The club did not respond to requests for comment. Popular spots Mensch Meier and Re:mise both closed in 2023, while institutions such as About Blank, Club Ost, OXI, VOID and Else have all appeared on the endangered list due in part to the planned expansion of an autobahn. Laura Gülcker, 34, a product developer, said she came from a rural western German town once a year for clubbing. She said that compared with “more corporate” discos with bottle service in cities like Düsseldorf, Berlin had spots that were “really relaxed, diverse – beautiful”. Gülcker likened Renate’s garden to an “enchanted forest” with its mature trees and rickety gazebos festooned with antique chandeliers. Her friend Verena Tekaat, a 31-year-old working in the textile industry, said for two women heading into the night together, it was a big plus that Berlin’s nightclubs were not marooned in remote districts. Emiko Gejic, spokesperson for the Clubcommission Berlin, representing the sector’s interests, said rising rents, soaring energy costs and the pressures of gentrification on the once-cheap and abundant real estate market have put the pinch on the nightclub scene, which traces its freewheeling origins to the Weimar republic a century ago. Germany’s “oldest and biggest” gay disco, SchwuZ, this month declared itself bankrupt after nearly half a century in business, falling victim to inflation, management troubles and the existence of dating apps, among other factors. Gejic said noise complaints had also driven many popular spots out of the city centre, as has the financial squeeze on people of peak clubbing age due to surging rents. The drop in alcohol consumption among younger people has also sapped clubs of crucial income, leading many to hike prices at the door. Party nights now routinely cost €20 and upwards. Low-cost airlines once delivered party people from across Europe to Berlin for a weekend bacchanalia, with many visitors forgoing a hotel in favour of a two-night dance marathon before collapsing into sleep on the return flight. However, high taxes and airport fees at the little-loved new international hub BER have pushed budget carriers out of Berlin. Today, a common fixture of the local party scene is a cluster of revellers gathered on benches outside a Späti (late-night convenience shop) with canned drinks and a playlist blasting from a mobile phone. Gejic insisted all was not lost, noting the pioneer spirit that gave rise to clubs in abandoned industrial spaces after the Berlin Wall fell could be found in “young, community-based collectives” organising parties in unexpected places around town. “I’m rather hopeful when I look at the scene creating new formats, getting involved, showing great solidarity and being politically active,” she said. “That’s the scene that I think will also break new ground in future.”

Proposals for commercial planes to operate with one pilot shelved after critical EU report

Proposals for commercial aeroplanes to operate with just one pilot in the cockpit have been put on ice after a report for the European regulator suggested it would make flying more dangerous. A three-year research project into “extended minimum crew operations” commissioned by the EU Aviation Safety Agency (Easa) found that despite advances in technology there was not sufficient evidence that flying with a single pilot could be as safe as with the two currently required. The verdict has been welcomed by pilots’ groups, which had campaigned against potential changes to the rules. Although airlines and manufacturers have not publicly argued for fewer pilots, the current cockpit design and regulations on maximum flying times mean three or four are required on long-haul flights. The report for Easa concluded that with fewer crew “an equivalent level of safety [with] the current two-crew operations cannot be sufficiently demonstrated”. That applied even to scenarios where two pilots were in the cockpit for take-off and landing but a co-pilot could rest as an aircraft cruised on autopilot. The Easa report said: “Development of cockpit technology and further research will be needed before exploring the feasibility of such operational concepts.” It highlighted issues such as “pilot incapacitation monitoring, fatigue and drowsiness, sleep inertia” as well as the cross-checks carried out by two pilots working together. The report alluded to a longer-term potential “smart cockpit” taking over more of the pilots’ workload, with technology to monitor human alertness, that “may have the potential to set the basis for new operational concepts”, but it said this would also need “a solution to prevent security threats”. The security of the cockpit has been difficult to resolve: reinforced doors were introduced after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 to prevent entry. However, in the 2015 Germanwings plane crash the co-pilot used the locked door to keep the captain away from the flight deck. The European Cockpit Association, representing pilot unions across Europe, said the report was a “reality check” and welcomed it as independent validation of its safety concerns. It had warned in campaigns that aircraft manufacturers and airlines were pushing for flights with only one pilot at the controls. A spokesperson said: “The reality is that manufacturers and avionics developers remain deeply engaged in advancing technologies aimed at removing one pilot from the cockpit. This Easa study offers a clear reality check on the safety case. While the conclusions confirm and reinforce our existing concerns, the underlying motivations behind the push for reduced crew operations are still very much present.” The aircraft manufacturer Airbus said it was “constantly looking for ways to improve and advance its range of products to enhance safety, efficiency and performance”. A spokesperson added: “For the foreseeable future, this means having a well-rested and competent human pilot in command of a robust and flexible system, including appropriate automation. We believe that pilots will remain at the heart of operations and that automation can play a crucial role by assisting them in the cockpit and reducing workload.” Easa said there was no timeline in place for changing the rules. A spokesperson said the agency had always considered single-pilot operations “extremely complex and not foreseeable in the next decade”. It said a smart cockpit “might have the potential to set the basis for new operational concepts such as extended minimum crew operations. However, any consideration of this will depend on the new technologies first proving their safety benefit … when applied in the current two-pilot operations.” The Easa report was published in the wake of the Air India crash, which has cast new fears over aviation safety and the role of the pilots in preventing or contributing to accidents. Martin Chalk, an ex-BA pilot and formerly the general secretary of the pilots’ union Balpa, said: “Having two pilots obviously did not stop the Air India crash – but if this is a human factors issue, a single pilot is certainly not going to help. And if there are concerns from a mental health point of view, spending more time alone in the cockpit is the worst thing you could do.” A spokesperson for Iata, the global airlines trade body, said it did “not see significant demand or momentum toward single-pilot operations in commercial aviation”, adding: “Aircraft flying today were designed and certified for two-pilot operations. Many of these aircraft will remain in service for the next 25 years, reinforcing the continued relevance of the two-pilot model.”