Schengen shut

Almost two thirds of Europe's “open” Schengen borders are now patrolled by guards , analysis by The National reveals.

More than two dozen land borders snaking 11,300km across the map of Europe are subject to “temporary” controls, meant to battle factors including illegal migration, smuggling, terrorism and the fallout from the war in Gaza.

Checks began around the whole of Germany on Monday in a particularly symbolic blow to the Schengen ideal, as the country once split by the Iron Curtain put its hard-won open borders on hold amid voter anger over asylum seekers and extremism.

Visitors with Schengen visas who are told they can travel freely around Europe will find guards asking for passports at road crossings, train stations, bridges and ferry ports. In one three-month period more than 450,000 people were stopped at borders between Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland.

Europe and the world

Meanwhile the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy urged on Tuesday for “compromise” to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, which he believes could end the war and de-escalate the region's “most perilous” situation in years.

In an interview with The National, Josep Borrell said that the EU is conducting “intense shuttle diplomacy” to reduce tension, adding that Israeli control of the Salah Al Din corridor near the border with Egypt will not “defeat terrorism” in the Gaza Strip.

The EU was also putting in place the team that will lead its presence at the Cop29 climate talks in Azerbaijan.

Dutch politician Wopke Hoekstra was reappointed as the EU's climate tsar with a new brief emphasising “clean growth”.

Mr Hoekstra said climate action should move “closer together” to economic growth as he was nominated for a five-year term by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. She named her new team on Tuesday after a fraught back-and-forth with the 27 EU capitals, who put forward one candidate each.

Spain's Teresa Ribera will also have a hand in the EU's Green Deal agenda as vice president overseeing a “clean, just and competitive transition”.

Ms von der Leyen's new team also includes the first EU defence commissioner, namely Lithuania's former prime minister Andrius Kubilius, as she seeks a more muscular role for the bloc after Russia's invasion of Ukraine brought war to its doorstep.

Walk this way

Oxford Street may be one of the world’s busiest shopping areas, with about half a million visitors a day, but no one could claim to love the vista it presents to visitors or locals.

Now London Mayor Sadiq Khan has announced plans to ban traffic from the shopping strip. An earlier attempt by Mr Khan to ban traffic from the road was blocked by Westminster City Council in 2018, which was run by the Conservative Party at the time.

“Oxford Street was once the jewel in the crown of Britain’s retail sector but there’s no doubt that it has suffered hugely over the last decade,” Mr Khan said. “Urgent action is needed to give the nation’s most famous high street a new lease of life.

“I am excited to be working with the new government, and local retailers and businesses, on these plans that will help to restore this famous part of the capital to its former glory, while creating new jobs and economic prosperity for the capital and the country."