Prosecutors are investigating the French owners on suspicion of crimes including homicide by negligence

International News via Reuters:

Swiss prosecutors said on Friday they had ordered one of the two owners of a ski resort bar where a fire on New Year’s Day killed 40 people to be detained due to flight risk, with local media saying the order had been carried out.

Prosecutors are investigating the French owners on suspicion of crimes including homicide by negligence, while victims’ families have filed legal complaints over the fire at the “Le Constellation” bar in Crans-Montana in the Canton of Valais.

Shortly after Swiss newspaper 24 Heures reported that one of the couple, Jacques Moretti, has been remanded in custody, prosecutors said they had issued an order for him to be held.

Under Swiss law, a person is held in custody until a court rules within 48 hours on whether their detention is warranted.

The Valais police declined to comment. 

Early on Friday, Jacques and Jessica Moretti entered the prosecutors’ office in the town of Sion for a hearing. Hours later, video footage from Swiss broadcaster RTS showed Jessica Moretti leaving without her husband.

“My thoughts are constantly with the victims of this unimaginable tragedy that took place in our establishment, and I would like to apologise to all the victims and those who are still struggling today,” she said.

Swiss authorities have designated Friday a national day of mourning and church bells rang out across the country to honour victims.

The couple has said they would cooperate fully with the investigation. More than half of those who died were teenagers and a further 116 people were injured, many of them seriously.

Several French and Italian citizens were among the dead, and Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called for stern punishment to be meted out to those responsible for the blaze.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella and French President Emmanuel Macron joined Swiss leaders, victims’ families and firefighters carrying white roses at a ceremony on Friday in the town of Martigny, where a minute’s silence was held.

Dozens of people also stood near the shuttered bar in nearby Crans-Montana in silence, heads bowed under heavy snowfall.

Authorities placed hundreds of letters, teddy bears and bouquets of flowers for the fire victims beneath a protective igloo.

POLITICIANS CALL FOR FULL ACCOUNTABILITY

Speaking at the Martigny ceremony, Swiss President Guy Parmelin said he hoped that those responsible for the fire would be brought to account “without delay or leniency”.

That must also include relevant political authorities, said Mathias Reynard, head of the Valais government.

Speaking in Rome on Friday, Meloni pledged to help the families of the Italian victims find justice.

“What happened in Crans-Montana is the result of too many people not doing their job or thinking they were making easy money. Those responsible must be identified and prosecuted.”

Witnesses and prosecutors have said the blaze appeared to have been started by the use of sparkling candles that set foam soundproofing on the basement ceiling alight.

Questions remain about oversight at the bar, which the local mayor admitted this week had missed multiple safety checks.

Prosecutors said last weekend that the legal criteria to detain the bar’s owners had so far not been met.

In a January 6 statement, the owners said: “We are devastated and overcome with grief, our thoughts are constantly with the victims, their loved ones who have been bereaved so brutally and prematurely, and all those who are fighting for their lives.”

Twenty-one of the dead were from Switzerland, seven from France, and six from Italy. A Swiss-French dual national and a French-British-Israeli national were also among the dead.

Reporting by Cecile Mantovani in Sion, Emma Farge in Geneva and Dave Graham in Zurich, additional reporting by Umit Bektas in Crans Montana, Manuel Ausloos and Alvise Armellini in RomeEditing by Gareth Jones

EU capitals had had until 5 p.m. Brussels time (1600 GMT) to confirm their votes in writing after ambassadors of the EU’s 27 members signalled their provisional approval of the deal a few hours earlier

International News via Reuters:

European Union member states confirmed on Friday a broad majority of them support a planned free trade agreement with South American bloc Mercosur, Cyprus, which holds the EU rotating presidency, said.

EU capitals had had until 5 p.m. Brussels time (1600 GMT) to confirm their votes in writing after ambassadors of the EU’s 27 members signalled their provisional approval of the deal a few hours earlier.

The deal is set to be the largest trade accord the EU has concluded, although it will still require approval from the European Parliament before it can enter force.

Reporting by Inti Landauro, editing by Philip Blenkinsop

With Donald Trump determined to shake up global trade, the European Commission and countries such as Germany and Spain argue the deal will help offset business lost from U.S. tariffs

International News via Reuters:

EU states gave a provisional go-ahead on Friday for the bloc to sign its largest ever free trade accord with South American group Mercosur, more than 25 years since talks began and after months of wrangling to secure enough backers.

With Donald Trump determined to shake up global trade, the European Commission and countries such as Germany and Spain argue the deal will help offset business lost from U.S. tariffs, and reduce reliance on China by securing access to critical minerals.

Opponents led by France, the European Union’s largest agricultural producer, say the agreement will jack up imports of cheap food products, including beef, poultry and sugar, undercutting domestic farmers.

FARMERS MARCH, BLOCK HIGHWAYS

Farmers have launched protests across the EU, blocking French and Belgian highways and marching in Poland on Friday.

France voted against the deal – but at least 15 countries representing 65% of the bloc’s total population voted in favour, enough for approval, EU sources and diplomats said.

An EU diplomat and Poland’s agriculture minister said that 21 countries supported the agreement, with Austria, France, Hungary, Ireland and Poland against and Belgium abstaining.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz hailed Friday’s vote as a “milestone” and said the deal would be good for Germany and for Europe.

“But 25 years of negotiations is too long. It’s vital that the next free trade agreements are concluded swiftly,” he said in a statement. 

EU capitals have been given until 5 p.m. Brussels time (1600 GMT) to provide written confirmation of their votes.

This would clear the way for Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to sign the agreement with Mercosur partners – Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – in Asuncion, possibly next week.

The European Commission concluded negotiations on the deal a year ago. The European Parliament will also need to approve the accord before it can enter force. 

FRANCE SAYS THE BATTLE IS NOT OVER

The free trade agreement would be the European Union’s biggest in terms of tariff reduction, removing 4 billion euros ($4.66 billion) of duties on its exports. The Mercosur countries have high tariffs, such as 35% on car parts, 28% on dairy products and 27% on wines.

The EU and Mercosur will hope to expand evenly split goods trade worth 111 billion euros  in 2024. EU exports are dominated by machinery, chemicals and transport equipment, and Mercosur’s are focused on agricultural products, minerals, pulp and paper.

To win over deal sceptics, the European Commission has put in place safeguards that can suspend imports of sensitive farm produce. It has strengthened import controls, notably regarding pesticide residues, established a crisis fund, accelerated support for farmers, and has pledged to cut import duties on fertilisers.

The concessions were not enough to win over Poland or France, but Italy shifted from a ‘no’ in December to a ‘yes’ on Friday.

“It seems to me the balance that has been found is sustainable,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told a press conference.

Mathilde Panot, lower house chief of the far-left France Unbowed party, said on X that France had been “humiliated” by Brussels and on the world stage.

French far-right and far-left parties are set to launch no-confidence motions in the government over the likely approval. 

French Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard has said the battle is not over and has pledged to fight for a rejection by the EU assembly, where the vote could be tight. European environmental groups also oppose the accord, saying commodities shipped to Europe will often come from deforested land.

“The simple truth is that this unpopular deal is a disaster for the Amazon rainforest and no progressive MEP that is committed to forest protection should ever support it,” Greenpeace EU campaigner Lis Cunha said.

German Social Democrat Bernd Lange, the chair of parliament’s trade committee, expressed confidence that the deal would be passed, with a final vote most likely in April or May.

($1 = 0.8587 euros)

Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop, additional reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout, Kuba Stezycki and Alan Charlish, Giselda VagnoniEditing by Gareth Jones, Toby Chopra and Andrew Heavens

Poland views the United States and NATO as crucial to its security in the face of an increasingly assertive Russia, and policymakers in Warsaw fear divisions in the alliance could embolden Moscow

International News via Reuters:

Poland’s prime minister is worried about the strain the United States’ threat to take over Greenland is putting on NATO, he said on Friday, adding that as a loyal ally Warsaw should be honest with Washington about its concerns.

Poland views the United States and NATO as crucial to its security in the face of an increasingly assertive Russia, and policymakers in Warsaw fear divisions in the alliance could embolden Moscow.

A U.S. military seizure of Greenland from a longtime ally, Denmark, would send shockwaves through the NATO alliance and deepen the divide between Trump and European leaders.

“I’m very concerned about the Greenland issue, and I’m also very concerned about events in the United States, and everything that’s building such ideological and political tension within NATO and the United States itself,” Tusk told a press conference.

“But because we’re allies, friends, and Poland is an exceptionally loyal ally of the United States, I also believe that when you’re in such a position, you don’t do anything on your knees; you just say what you think. Among friends, you should speak honestly about what’s right and what’s wrong.”

Reporting by Barbara Erling, Alan Charlish, Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Alex Richardson