Latest news with #KristianSkeie
Euronews
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Remembering genocide in Srebrenica through the lens of Kristian Skeie
"Our memories are not very good. We forget quickly." This 11 July marks three decades since more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys from Srebrenica - a small town in eastern Bosnia - were systematically executed over the course of several days. It was the worst atrocity on European soil since World War II. For Swiss-based photographer Kristian Skeie, the anniversary is not just about remembrance — it's a reminder of the need to keep paying attention. His ongoing project, which he started 15 years ago, documents the lasting impact of the genocide: families gathering at mass graves for annual burials, children walking the same hills where their fathers were executed, survivors retracing the now-ritualised 120km march from Tuzla to Srebrenica. 'This project is all about how people find strength,' he tells Euronews Culture, 'or how people manage to pull themselves together after having experienced a genocide, and then continue their lives afterwards.' The genocide in Srebrenica, which took place in July 1995 near the end of the Bosnian War, was part of a broader campaign of ethnic cleansing carried out by Bosnian Serb forces. 'The Bosnian Serb population, led politically by Radovan Karadžić and militarily by Ratko Mladić - with support from Slobodan Milošević in Serbia - wanted to become part of a Greater Serbia,' Skeie explains. 'They were unhappy with the breakup of Yugoslavia, and what followed was a campaign to get rid of the Bosniaks entirely. In a very simplified way that's what was going on." Declared a UN safe area, Srebrenica was under the protection of Dutch UNPROFOR peacekeepers. But on 11 July, Mladić and his troops entered the town, separating men from women and children. While the latter were to be deported, the men and boys were taken to execution sites to be killed. One man featured in Skeie's project is Ramiz Nukić, a survivor of the genocide who spent years scouring the land around his home in search of bones - driven by the hope of finding his murdered relatives. 'He realised that if he had this craving to find the remains of his family members… surely others will have the same craving." By the time of his death two years ago, Nukić had located the remains of nearly 300 people. Every year on 11 July, newly identified remains are still being buried. 'These are real burials,' Skeie says. 'It's up to the families to decide if they want to bury their loved ones that year … sometimes they only have a finger, an arm." On Friday, seven victims - including two 19-year-olds - will be laid to rest in a collective funeral at the memorial centre's cemetery near Srebrenica. For Skeie, his work is not about providing easy answers. His images are meant to prompt reflection, discomfort, memory. 'This is the kind of photography that needs text as well,' he says. 'You can tell a lot with a picture, but I do not believe you can tell everything. Not this kind of photography anyway.' He adds: "I think looking at old photos that documented the war itself is incredibly valuable. But in a way, what we're doing now is also saying: we're not giving up on this. We're continuing to go back and see what's happening here. But as we're seeing elsewhere now - we can talk about Gaza, Sudan - it just keeps happening. It goes on all the time." Still, he holds onto the belief that bearing witness matters - even if change is slow. 'It's more important than ever before. But at the same time, you wonder: does it make a difference? Because it keeps happening all the time anyway. But I do choose to think that it does perhaps remind people… we gotta find better solutions. We cannot have a society like this. I have children. I don't want them to grow up like this.' Thirty years on, Bosnia remains divided along ethnic lines, while both Bosnian Serb leaders and neighbouring Serbia continue to reject the classification of the Srebrenica massacre as genocide, despite rulings from two UN courts. Serbia's President Aleksandar Vučić expressed condolences on X while calling the Srebrenica massacre a 'terrible crime.' Vučić added that 'we cannot change the past but we must change the future.' Watch the video in the web player above to hear directly from Kristian Skeie.
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Women's Euro 2025: 25 reasons to be excited
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. ZURICH SWITZERLAND - NOVEMBER 29: Maddli, the UEFA Women's EURO 2025 Mascot, during the Women's International Friendly match between Switzerland and Germany at the Stadion Letzigrund on November 29, 2024 in Zurich, Switzerland (Photo by Kristian Skeie - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images). | Credit: Linus Hallsenius - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images Women's Euro 2025 is upon us – and there's plenty of reason to be excited. With the elite of the sport gathering for 31 matches across the next month or so, Women's Euro 2025 is set to be even bigger and better than the last edition, with England looking to defend a title on foreign soil for the first time. Advertisement St Bernards, glaciers and goals, goals, goals – it promises to be one hell of a summer in Switzerland... 25 reasons to be excited for Women's Euro 2025 1. More cowbell! Lia Walti of Switzerland | Credit: Sebastian Widmann - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images The Swiss have no intention of staying neutral as they host the Women's European Championship for the very first time. Forget your vuvuzelas – fans took cowbells to Euro 2022, so expect plenty of jangling in the stands this summer. 2. A Nordic opener Euro 2025 kicks off with the big one: Iceland vs Finland?! Oddly, the hosts' first game doesn't open the tournament as England's did in 2022 – instead, it's the Nordic grudge match three hours earlier, at 5pm UK time on July 2, at the 10,000-capacity Thun Arena. The winner gets to keep the North Pole. 3. Can England retain it? For the first time, the Lionesses go into a tournament as holders. They're second-favourites in the odds, behind Spain, just as they were before lifting the trophy three years ago. Fittingly, England plundered 22 goals at Euro 2022 – a tournament record – so how about 25 goals for Euro 2025, eh? 4. Sarina the Carpenter Sarina Wiegman, manager of England | Credit: Naomi Baker - The FA/The FA via Getty Images Not only did Sarina Wiegman construct the England team that won Euro 2022 but she had already won Euro 2017 with the Netherlands, her home nation, so the 55-year-old could complete an extraordinary treble this year. It has been done before, though: as Germany gaffer, Tina Theune bagged back-to-back-to-back European Championships in 1997, 2001 and 2005. Simply the best. 5. Maddli the dog Maddli, the Women's Euro 2025 Mascot | Credit: Kristian Skeie - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images You can't have a major international tournament without a cute, cuddly mascot, so step forward, Maddli. She's named after Madeleine Boll, who was in Sion's youth team in 1965 until the Swiss FA learned that they were fielding a girl and revoked the 12-year-old's licence. The 2025 mascot (below) is a St Bernard puppy, although it was unveiled back in November, so expect it to be about 12ft tall now. 6. The Group of Death No reigning champion has ever gone out in the group stage, but England's draw is hellish. Only two go through, and they take on France, who finished above them in qualifying; then the Dutch, who finished above them in the '23-24 Nations League; and then finally... 7. Wales on debut The Welsh women's team reached this, their first-ever major tournament, by winning play-offs against Slovakia and the Republic of Ireland. Their reward is a horrific group, but they won't roll over – and especially not for the English. 8. Infinite Jess Jess Fishlock of Wales | Credit: ©SPORTSFILE Wales' presence is reward for Jess Fishlock's years of service since her debut in 2006. Now 38, the Cardiffian will be the oldest goalscorer in Euros history if she nets – record holder Julie Nelson was just 37 when she registered for Northern Ireland in 2022. 9. Tenuous mountain references INTERLAKEN, SWITZERLAND - SEPTEMBER 30: General view of the Aletsch Glacier pitch during day one of the UEFA Women's EURO 2025 Ticket and Volunteer Launch Event at Grindelwald Terminal on September 30, 2024 in Interlaken, Switzerland. (Photo by Francesco Scaccianoce - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images) | Credit: 2024 UEFA The tournament slogan is 'The Summit Of Emotions', and you can assume a commentator will point out that struggling Team X has 'a mountain to climb' at the very first opportunity. Ticket sales were launched with a game on a glacier (pictured top right), 3,454m above sea level, featuring ex-Arsenal defender Johan Djourou. Why not? 10. Big crowds St. Jakob-Park stadium | Credit: 2022 Barbey It's hard to follow Euro 2022 – a Euros-record 87,192 spectators watched the final at Wembley and the biggest capacity here is 35,689 at Basel's St Jakob-Park – but more than half a million tickets for the 31 games have been sold already: over twice as many as in 2017. 11. Searingly bright lights Eventually removed from the host venues were Liechtenstein capital Vaduz, whose stadium was too small, and Lausanne, who dropped out to concentrate on staging the Swiss Federal Gymnastics Festival. St Jakob-Park had to change its lighting to bag the final, spending £1m to keep the darkness away. 12. From nine to nein? Germany's Euros record is ridiculous: they've won eight of the 11 tournaments they've contested, including six in a row between 1995 and 2013. They've now gone a whole two tournaments without winning the thing, though. Crisis. 13. Terrestrial TV BBC Sport presenter Gabby Logan | Credit: Getty Images No need for a subscription to Sky Sports, TNT, DAZN or – the BBC and ITV will share live coverage of the tournament, with Wales' first fixture on the Beeb and England's opener on ITV. Sit back and enjoy. 14. Harder vs Eriksson In Group C, Denmark vs Sweden will feature Pernille Harder up against her fiancée, Magdalena Eriksson. The couple previously played for Chelsea together, then both switched to Bayern Munich. 15. Italy not being rubbish for once? Italy and Norway share the record for the most appearances at the European Women's Championship, missing only one edition each, but Le Azzurre have largely been poor. While they were finalists in 1993 and 1997, Italy haven't made it to the semis since and 'boast' the most losses in Euros history (20). 16. New ball please Credit: Unknown For this tournament, Adidas have produced a shiny orb called Konektis (above). Switzerland has four official languages – German, French, Italian and Romansh – but it turns out this has been inspired by none of them: Konektis means 'connected' in Esperanto, that artificial dialect the whole planet was meant to be speaking by now. 17. Potential new winners There's a fair chance there'll be a new name on the trophy (if England don't win it). Due in part to Germany's previous dominance of the competition, and this being only the 14th edition of the Euros, Spain – the favourites and reigning world champions – have never even reached a final, and neither have fellow contenders France. 18. Poland's premiere Ewa Pajor of Poland celebrates | Credit: Getty Images Fourteen of the 16 sides at Euro 2025 also participated at the tournament in 2022; there's no Austria nor Northern Ireland this time around, though it's not only Wales who are making their first ever appearance. Poland, too, are ready for their debut, spearheaded by Barcelona hotshot Ewa Pajor. 19. An English boss The only British coach at Euro 2025 is in charge of… Norway. Teesside-born supremo Gemma Grainger is a former manager of Leeds, Middlesbrough and Wales, agonisingly losing a 2023 World Cup play-off with the latter, but was clearly pining for the fjords. 20. Battle for the Ballon d'Or Aitana Bonmati of Spain | Credit: FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images Not to be confused with 'Batlle for Ballon d'Or', the forlorn campaign for Spain full-back Ona Batlle to claim the honour. La Roja could go five for five in the Ballon d'Or Femenin, however: Alexia Putellas won it in 2021 and '22; Aitana Bonmati in '23 and '24. 21. Goals, goals, goals The 2022 tournament broke the Euros goals record, with a total of 95 scored across 31 fixtures. It is a milestone that could well be smashed again, even though the leading scorer in qualification, Slovenia's Lara Prasnikar (nine), didn't even make it to Switzerland. 22. An English take on VAR Sian Massey-Ellis | Credit: PA There are no British referees officiating at this tournament, but there are two Romanians and one from the proud European country of Brazil. Emily Carney will run the line, though, with Sian Massey-Ellis on VAR duty, joined by English-based Australian Jarred Gillett. 23. Jostling for 2029 Nations gathering in one place for a month can only mean one thing: a chance to lobby UEFA to stage Euro 2029. Denmark and Sweden plan a joint bid while Italy, Poland, Portugal and Germany all revealed interest in going solo. The hosts will be chosen in December. 24. Iconic moments Alessia Russo of England | Credit: Alex Pantling - The FA/The FA via Getty Images Euro 2022 produced many moments that will live forever in England hearts: Georgia Stanway's blockbuster against Spain, Alessia Russo's backheel against Sweden and Chloe Kelly's celebration after scoring the winner in the final. Will July bring more happy memories? 25. Girls getting inspired The impact of hosting and then winning Euro 2022 was enormous in England: FA figures show that hundreds of thousands more girls have become involved in school football in the host cities alone. For every hero Euro 2025 produces, thousands more will want to follow in their footsteps.
Extra.ie
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Extra.ie
What latest UEFA update means for Ireland's chances of automatic Euro 2028 place
Ireland have received a boost in their bid to qualify for Euro 2028 following UEFA's latest update. The governing body confirmed places at the tournament will be reserved for the two best-ranked host nations who don't automatically qualify. Ireland were confirmed as co-hosts along with Scotland, Wales and England back in 2023. Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England will co-host UEFA EURO 2028. Pic: Kristian Skeie/UEFA via Sportsfile Northern Ireland had been included as part of initial plans but that fell through when the plug was pulled on funding for the dilapidated Casement Park. The GAA ground has not been used since 2011 and spiralling construction costs have kept the project grounded for years on end. Elsewhere, in Dublin, the Aviva Stadium is scheduled to host six games throughout the tournament. Casement Park's inclusion in Euro 2028 was shelved as issues persisted with the derelict GAA ground. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile That figure could yet swell, however, with the five fixtures intended for Casement Park set to be divided out among other nations. The latest update from UEFA is a positive; it means that if two of England, Wales and Scotland reach the tournament through qualifying, Ireland are guaranteed to be at the tournament. That is irrespective of how they get on in their own qualification campaign, making it a backdoor safety net for the Boys in Green – although fans will still be looking for a solid qualifying campaign when it rolls around. As Casement Park is out of the equation, Northern Ireland will not be similarly afforded a backdoor exemption if they fail to qualify for the tournament.
