Lyra McKee Remembered

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Photo by Eve Maier on Unsplash The NUJ is among those who have remembered journalist Lyra McKee on the fifth anniversary of her death. The 29-year-old freelance journalist was shot dead while observing a riot in Northern Ireland in 2019. Tribute to her was paid by Seamus Dooley, NUJ Irish secretary. On Monday, he said: “The thoughts of…

Rwanda Genocide Remembered

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Photo by Hanna Morris on Unsplash  An estimated 3 million people were “slaughtered” in the Rwanda genocide. It is an event that has passed into the annals of history as one of the worst ever such atrocities. The weekend,therefore, was a chance for the international community to come together to mark what was the 30th anniversary of this…

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

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Photo by Håkon Grimstad on Unsplash Irene Shashar, a survivor of the Warsaw ghetto, has addressed MEPs in a plenary session in Brussels to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On a highly-charged occasion on Thursday she described how she survived the horrors of Nazism in Warsaw as a “Holocaust Hidden Child”. This involved fleeing through a sewer to…

Holocaust Remembrance

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Photo by Erica Magugliani on Unsplash International Holocaust Remembrance Day (27 January) will be marked this week with a series of special events. These kicked off on Tuesday when the European Commission hosted an international conference,  ‘Remembering the past. Shaping the future’ in Brussels. The conference was opened by Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas. It was organised by the Commission in partnership…

EU-US Summit

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Photo by Nelson Ndongala on Unsplash An MEP has given a guarded welcome to the outcome of the recent summit between the EU and U.S. The European Union and the United States of America held their second summit in Washington, DC and comment has come in on the negotiations. German MEP Reinhard Bütikofer, transatlantic spokesperson of the Greens/EFA…

15 August 1975: Murder of Bangladesh’s Founding Father – An evil attempt to murder Bangladesh

48 years ago on 15 August 1975, Bangladesh witnessed the darkest dawn in the history since its independence in 1971. The Father of the Nation of Bangladesh and then President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, popularly known as “Bangabandhu” (Friend of Bengal) along with most of the members of his family including his ten-year old son was…

1956 Mining Disaster

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Photo by Kai Pilger on Unsplash Special commemorations will take place in Charleroi next month in memory of one of the worst ever disasters in Belgium. On 8 August 1956 some 262 miners perished in the Bois du Cazier in Marcinelle. They included 136 Italians, more than half the victims. Today, the site is preserved as an industrial heritage…

Napoleon and Wellington Lock Horns Once Again

Fancy a blast of history and a reminder of what some call Britain’s finest ever military victory? If so, make a beeline this weekend to the Domain de la bataille de Waterloo 1815 for a host of historical events. You will find yourself back in the middle of the 19th century at the time of…

Europeans and Slavery

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Photo by Bogdan Dada on Unsplash The coronation of King Charles III would always be a special moment in history, but future historians may regard an earlier announcement as his “crowning achievement”: the opening of sealed royal archives to reveal details of the monarchy’s historic involvement in the slave trade. This initiative is most welcome. What would now…

Eradicating Antisemitism in the EU

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Photo by Håkon Grimstad on Unsplash Israel’s President Isaac Herzog has called on MEPs to work to eradicate antisemitism in Europe and adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism. His comments coincide with International Day of Commemoration today Friday 27 January. Herzog opened his address to members in Brussels by saying: “I stand before you as the…