Serbian opposition hold rally after populist ruling party wins most votes in snap poll deemed unfair by observers
Police fired teargas as thousands gathered in Belgrade to demand the annulment of parliamentary and local elections a week ago that international observers said were unfair.
The populist ruling Serbian Progressive party (SNS) won 46.72% of the votes in snap parliamentary elections last weekend, according to state election commission preliminary results.
Continue reading...Birth of Christ was formerly celebrated on 7 January, but has moved in symbolic shift away from Russia
Russian shelling in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region has killed five people, including an 87-year-old man and his 81-year-old wife who died after a strike on their apartment building.
The barrage on Sunday injured nine other people, including a 15-year-old, sparked fires in homes and at a private medical facility, and set a local gas pipeline alight, the head of the regional military administration, Oleksandr Prokudin, said.
Continue reading...When Vladimir Kosarevsky was ordered to destroy books referring to same-sex relationships, he raised the alarm instead – then went to Spain to rebuild his life
As a gay man growing up in Russia, books were Vladimir Kosarevsky’s refuge, offering him a precious glimpse into lives that in some way echoed his own. So when the Moscow librarian received orders late last year to destroy books referencing same-sex relationships – part of a sweeping attack on gay and transgender rights – Kosarevsky knew it was a line he wouldn’t cross.
“I realised that if I did it, I would never ever be able to forgive myself,” Kosarevsky told the Guardian from northern Spain, where he is claiming asylum. “It had always been important to me to see those heroes in books, because it represents you somehow. It makes you visible, even when the politics in Russia are determined to erase you.”
Continue reading...Spokesperson says attack on the Maghazi camp in central Gaza is a ‘massacre’ and warns that death toll is likely to rise further
See all our Israel-Gaza war coverage
The UN high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, has said a “humanitarian ceasefire” is the only way to ensure aid reaches civilians in Gaza, hostages are released and to stop the “devastating loss of lives”.
The death toll from Israeli strikes inside Gaza has climbed to 20,258, the majority of them women and children, said the health authorities on Saturday.
Continue reading...Waves of Russian attacks hit Kherson region, say officials; Ukraine to celebrate Christmas Day on 25 December for first time
David Cameron could rewrite some of his international legacy by delivering crucial weapons to Ukraine.
While prime minister, Cameron was part of a generation that believed doing more business with Russia would secure peace and profit. As foreign secretary, he is now firmly focused on supporting Ukraine and restraining Russia.
Maybe this is the moment in which we have to look at the danger coming from a great power which threatens our democracy, which threatens Europe itself, not only Ukraine.
And if we don’t change course rapidly, if we don’t mobilise all our capacities, it will let Putin win the war in Ukraine. Similarly If we are not able to stop the tragedy which is happening in Gaza, I think our project will be very much damaged.
Continue reading...Ukraine says movement of lorries restored after suspension of protest, but truckers’ blockades of three other crossings continue
Polish farmers have ended their blockade of one of the border crossings between Ukraine and Poland and the movement of lorries has been fully restored, the Ukrainian border service has said.
“Truck traffic has been restored: Polish farmers have ended the blockade in front of the Medyka-Shehyni crossing,” the service said on the Telegram messaging app on Sunday.
Reuters and AFP contributed to this report.
Continue reading...Accident happened during repair work on furnace, says spokesperson for industrial park in eastern Indonesia
At least 13 people were killed and 46 injured in eastern Indonesia on Sunday after an explosion at a Chinese-funded nickel-processing plant, an industrial park official said.
The island of Sulawesi is a hub for the mineral-rich country’s production of nickel, a base metal used for electric vehicle batteries and stainless steel.
Continue reading...Club consisting of many Syrians living in Germany has its trip interrupted, as attitudes to migration seem to be hardening
For the past seven years, they’ve crisscrossed Germany, climbing mountains, following babbling streams and trekking through leafy forests.
It was the hiking club’s most recent outing in the eastern state of Saxony, however, that thrust them into uncharted territory. As members of the group, many of them Syrians living in Germany, made their way through the area’s spectacular scenery, a call was made to police to report a group of migrants, amid suspicions that they had been smuggled across the nearby Czech border.
Continue reading...HMS Trent will take part in exercises with Guyana as tensions over mineral-rich Essequibo region raise anxieties
A Royal Navy patrol ship will be sent to Guyana in a show of British support for the Commonwealth country.
The South American country is in a dispute with Venezuela over a mineral-rich border region.
Continue reading...The 2019 attacks killed 269 people, but investigators say search for answers obstructed under ex-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa
Accusations are growing that the former Sri Lankan government, led by strongman president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, blocked an investigation into the country’s worst terrorist attack amid claims that they had helped orchestrate the blasts in order to return to power.
In the attacks on Easter Sunday in 2019, six suicide bombers targeted churches and luxury hotels across the country, killing 269 people, including eight British tourists.
Continue reading...Josep Borrell is concerned voters will be scared into choosing populist parties for European parliament because of nearby wars
European parliamentary elections in June could be as fateful as the US presidential race, the EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has warned, saying he believes voters’ fear of the unknown may lead them to back rightwing populist parties.
“I am afraid of fear, I am afraid Europeans vote because they are afraid. It’s scientifically proven that fear in the face of the unknown and uncertainty generates a hormone that calls for a security response. This is a fact,” Borrell told the Guardian.
Continue reading...Drone attack follows the Pentagon openly accusing Iran of directly targeting ships for the first time since the start of Gaza war
The United States shot down four drones headed towards a US destroyer in the southern Red Sea and launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on Saturday, US Central Command (Centcom) said.
“These attacks represent the 14th and 15th attacks on commercial shipping by Houthi militants since Oct. 17,” Centcom said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Continue reading...Russian shelling and drone attacks reported in region of Kherson; Ukrainians plan to celebrate Christmas on 25 December for the first time
Waves of Russian shelling and drone attacks struck the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson on Saturday, killing one person and injuring seven, officials in the region said. Russian forces also shelled a power station closer to the frontlines in eastern Ukraine, injuring five workers and knocking out electricity to the town of Kurakhovo.
Many Ukrainians will on Monday celebrate Christmas Day on 25 December for the first time, after the government changed the date from the Orthodox Church observance of 7 January in a snub to Russia, Agence France-Presse reports. The law signed by president Volodymyr Zelenskiy noted that Ukrainians wanted to “live their own life with their own traditions and holidays”. It allows them to “abandon the Russian heritage of imposing Christmas celebrations on 7 January”, it added. Christianity is the largest religion in Ukraine, with the Russian Orthodox Church dominating religious life until recently.
Former TV journalist Yekaterina Duntsova has said she will challenge in the supreme court the decision to disqualify her from running in the Russian presidential election next year, calling it unjustified and undemocratic.
Poland’s new foreign minister has called on European countries to boost long-term plans for military production after returning from his first foreign visit, to neighbouring Ukraine. “Wars are not decided by tactical engagements but by industrial capacities, and we are behind the curve,” said Radosław Sikorski, in an interview in Warsaw, a few hours after returning from Kyiv on Saturday.
Financial institutions that support the Russian military-industrial complex are to be blacklisted in the US after president Joe Biden signed an executive order yesterday to deny banks under sanctions access to the American financial system.
Fighting age Ukrainian men in Estonia could be extradited to their home country and forced to join the war effort amid a shortage of soldiers. Estonia’s public broadcaster ERR reports that the Baltic nation stands ready to support Ukraine in its proposals to conscript Ukrainian men abroad for military service.
The Communist party of Russia, the second largest party in parliament, has selected a 75-year-old candidate, Nikolai Kharitonov, who won just under 14% of the national vote when he stood against Putin in 2004, to stand in the presidential polls.
The assassination of the Wagner mercenary army chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was approved by a close ally of Vladimir Putin, the Wall Street Journal has reported after conversations with western intelligence officials and a former Russian intelligence officer.
Protesting Polish truckers have unblocked the key border crossing of Shehyni-Medyka between Poland and Ukraine, Kyiv’s economy minister Yulia Svyrydenko announced, hailing an “important improvement”.
Both Ukrainian and Russian troops are suffering from “exceptional levels of rat and mice infestation” in some sectors of the frontline, according to UK intelligence. The Ministry of Defence says rodent populations have risen due to milder temperatures in recent months and plenty of food.
Continue reading...London mayor had claimed law stopped him allowing vehicles beneath emissions standards to be donated to war effort
Sadiq Khan has pledged to send 4x4s and other vehicles to Ukraine that would otherwise be scrapped under the Ulez scheme.
The mayor of London has asked the transport secretary, Mark Harper, to enable people to donate suitable vehicles to Ukraine through scrappage schemes.
Continue reading...Military production cannot remain on peacetime footing while war in Ukraine goes on, Radosław Sikorski says after visit to Kyiv
Poland’s new foreign minister has called on European countries to boost long-term plans for military production after returning from his first foreign visit, to neighbouring Ukraine.
“Wars are not decided by tactical engagements but by industrial capacities, and we are behind the curve,” said Radosław Sikorsk, in an interview in Warsaw, a few hours after returning from Kyiv on Saturday.
Continue reading...Red-Tabara group claims responsibility for assault in Vugizo that killed 12 children, three women and five men
An attack by rebels in western Burundi has killed 20 people, all but one of them civilians, the central African country’s government has said.
The attack was claimed by the Red-Tabara rebel group, which in its own statement said it had killed 10 members of the security forces. The attack occurred on Friday evening in the town of Vugizo, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where the rebels have a base.
Continue reading...Demonstrators in and around Oxford Street campaign against retailers including Puma, Hewlett-Packard and Axa
Hundreds of people have marched along Oxford Street in London calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and a boycott of “Israel-linked” brands, as traffic in the busy shopping district was brought to a standstill days before Christmas.
“There can be no Christmas as usual while a genocide is happening,” the organisers and activist group Sisters Uncut wrote on social media on Saturday, calling for the boycott of brands including Puma, HP and Axa.
Continue reading...This Christmas most people’s thoughts are with the victims of the Prague gunman
Just one day before the Czech Republic was due to begin its Christmas celebrations, it held a national day of mourning for the victims of the worst mass shooting in its history.
Flags flew at half mast and a minute’s silence was held at noon for the 14 people killed by a lone shooter on 21 December in the arts faculty at Prague’s Charles University. Images of students hiding from the killer on narrow ledges high above the street horrified the peaceful central European country, where mass violence is extremely rare.
Continue reading...Flags fly at half mast and minute’s silence observed two days after Charles University student killed 14 people
Bells rang out and flags flew at half mast on Saturday as the Czech Republic mourned the 14 victims of the country’s worst mass shooting.
The archbishop, Jan Graubner, said mass at the main St Vitus cathedral at Prague Castle and a minute of silence was observed at midday, with people stopping in streets amid heavy rain and snow, and in malls while Christmas shopping.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our Russia-Ukraine war coverage here
Financial institutions that support the Russian military industrial complex are to be blacklisted in the US after president Joe Biden signed an executive order yesterday to deny banks under sanctions access to the American financial system.
“This announcement makes clear that those financing and facilitating the transactions of goods that end up on the battlefield will face severe consequences,” deputy US treasury secretary Wally Adeyemo wrote in a Financial Times op-ed.
What we’re trying to do is go after materials that are key to Russia’s ability to build weapons of war. In order for them to get those materials, they need to use the financial system, which makes the financial system a potential choke point and this is a tool that’s targeted at that choke point.
Our overall goal here is to put sand in the gears of Russia’s supply chain, which we think is one of the most effective ways to slow Russia down. But in order for the Ukrainians to speed up frankly and go faster, they need our support and that’s going to require Congress to act.
Russia’s recent advances near Avdiivka, as well as around other cities such as Kupiansk, Bakhmut and Marinka, are also further evidence that Russia has firmly seized the initiative on much of the battlefield.
“Currently, the situation on the front line is difficult and is gradually deteriorating,” Yehor Chernev, the deputy chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament’s committee on national security, defense and intelligence, said in an interview. “Without American ammunition, we are beginning to lose territory that was hard won this summer.”
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