The 50-point plan also aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% and includes new projects for offshore wind farms
Emmanuel Macron has unveiled a national “ecological plan” to reduce France’s greenhouse gas emissions by 55% and end the use of fossil fuels by 2030.
Speaking after a special ministerial council at the Elysée, the French president said an extra €10bn (£8.7bn) would be put towards the 50-point programme, which he described as “ecology à la Française”.
Continue reading...Ukrainian military says attack that apparently killed Viktor Sokolov was timed to coincide with meeting of naval officials
Ukraine has claimed it killed Adm Viktor Sokolov, the commander of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, along with 33 other officers, in one of Kyiv’s boldest attacks yet on the occupied peninsula of Crimea.
The Ukrainian military said Friday’s attack on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol was timed to coincide with a meeting of naval officials.
Continue reading...Airport will share 164 cancellations between airlines until Sunday as it seeks to avoid diversions
Thousands of passengers flying to and from Gatwick this week will have their flights cancelled after the airport announced a cap on movements because of a shortage of staff in air traffic control.
Gatwick imposed an immediate cap on Monday of 800 flights taking off or landing a day.
Continue reading...Incident that left police officer and four attackers dead marks one of gravest escalations in violence for years
Kosovan authorities say they have recovered a large cache of arms after ethnic Serb gunmen stormed a village in the restive north at the weekend, battling police and barricading themselves into a monastery.
“We can easily say that the equipment was destined for several hundred other assailants,” the interior minister, Xhelal Sveçla, said on Monday.
Continue reading...British territory’s commissioner withdraws decision after supreme court challenge
A group of Tamil asylum seekers stranded on a tiny British territory in the Indian Ocean have won their fight against being forcibly returned to Sri Lanka after a government climbdown.
The group are on Diego Garcia, part of the Chagos Islands, which the UK calls the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) and over which it continues to claim sovereignty despite a UN court ruling that they are part of Mauritius.
Continue reading...Emma Heming Willis says she has been ‘care partner’ to husband, 68, after actor was diagnosed with frontotemporal degeneration
Six months after Bruce Willis was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, it is “hard to know” whether the actor, known for roles in Die Hard and Pulp Fiction, is aware of the extent to which his condition has worsened, his wife has revealed in a new interview.
Emma Heming Willis also told Today’s Hoda Kotb in an interview broadcast on Monday that she has been a “care partner” to her husband since the moment of the diagnosis.
Continue reading...Representative for Louise Redknapp says sisters Easther and Vernie Bennett refused to play Pride events due to trans people ‘hijacking’ gay community
Chart-topping British girl group Eternal have cancelled a planned full-band reunion due to an alleged difference in views on transgender rights.
A representative for singer Louise Redknapp, who went on to have a successful solo career, confirmed reports that she had left the reunion due to a clash in values with sisters Easther and Vernie Bennett.
Continue reading...Former president vows to investigate TV networks for ‘country-threatening treason’ should he win US election next year
Donald Trump said Comcast, the owner of NBC and MSNBC, “should be investigated for its ‘Country Threatening Treason’” and promised to do so should he be re-elected president next year.
In response, one progressive group said the former US president and current overwhelming frontrunner in the Republican 2024 presidential nomination race had “gone full fascist”.
Continue reading...Eight questioned over claims that negligence and mistakes contributed to disaster in which thousands died
Libya’s chief prosecutor has ordered the detention of eight current and former officials pending a full inquiry into the collapse of two dams during torrential rain that left thousands dead in the port city of Derna this month.
There have been widespread claims that local officials knew the dams were too weak to withstand flooding but for various reasons no structural repairs were undertaken. The Libyan State Audit Bureau has submitted evidence that funds were made available for repair work that was never undertaken.
Continue reading...Officials react defensively to Heroico, which has been compared to Full Metal Jacket for its scenes of physical and psychological abuse
Mexico’s national guard has been urging its troops to go to see Héroes, a rousingly patriotic film about a 19th-century US invasion, in an apparent attempt to drown out the similarly named Heroico – a film which paints a much less flattering picture of the armed forces.
Héroes tells the story of the Battle of Chapultepec during the 1846-48 Mexican-American war and the “Child Heroes” – six cadets who refused to retreat and instead fought to the death. The last of them supposedly leapt from the ramparts holding the Mexican flag, to prevent its capture.
Continue reading...Senator Menendez was indicted on a set of explosive charges of corruptly aiding the government in Cairo
The indictment of Senator Bob Menendez on charges of corruptly aiding the Egyptian government has set the stage for a week of renewed pressure on US lawmakers to withhold military aid to Egypt.
Menendez stepped town temporarily from his position as head of the Senate foreign relations committee on Friday after he was indicted by New York’s southern district court on a set of explosive and detailed charges.
Continue reading...Former British PM calls for 3% levy on oil and gas export revenues of biggest producers to generate $25bn a year for global south
Petrostates should pay a small percentage of their soaring oil and gas revenues to help poor countries cope with the climate crisis, the former UK prime minister Gordon Brown has urged.
Countries with large oil and gas deposits have enjoyed a record bonanza in the last two years, amounting to about $4tn (£3.3tn) last year for the industry globally. Levying a 3% windfall tax on the oil and gas export revenues of the biggest-producing countries would yield about $25bn a year.
Continue reading...UK law firm Leigh Day says money given to 77 workers for murders and rapes ‘sidesteps’ multinational’s responsibility over attack
Unilever is to make payments to 77 tea pickers who worked on one of its plantations in Kenya that was targeted during post-election violence in 2007.
The UK law firm Leigh Day, representing the workers, said the London-based consumer goods multinational had agreed to make voluntary, or ex-gratia, payments to former workers at its subsidiary Unilever Tea Kenya, who were attacked by armed assailants at its plantation in Kericho.
Continue reading...‘Historic’ summit seen as part of effort to counter Beijing in the region as Pacific leaders seek more support on climate change
President Joe Biden will host Pacific leaders at the White House this week as the US seeks to bolster its engagement with the nations amid growing concern about China’s presence in the region.
The US is expected to offer funding for infrastructure and more maritime cooperation, and new embassies for Cook Islands and Nuie. But the talks have already suffered a setback as Solomon Islands prime minister Manasseh Sogavare, now closely aligned with Beijing, will not attend.
Continue reading...Russian forces repelled near Bakhmut after counterattacks on two villages recently retaken by Ukraine; air raid alerts in all Ukrainian regions.
Air raid alerts were sounding in all Ukrainian regions on Sunday evening. The alerts were called at 12.30am local time on Sunday with the air force warning of incoming missile and drone strikes. Explosions were record in Kyiv Rih, and Odesa.
Two people were killed on Sunday after Russian shelling struck the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson. The region’s governor said at least eight people were also injured in the attack as Ukrainian armed forces responded to Russian advances in the east and south.
The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces says its fighters had repelled Russian attacks on two villages near Bakhmut. Russian forces had “tried to restore lost positions near Klishchiivka … but were unsuccessful.”
The mayor of Russia’s Kursk had to cancel the Kursk City Day fireworks celebration after a Ukrainian drone struck an administrative building, damaging the roof. There have been more reports of explosions.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy handed awards to two Polish volunteers during a stopover in Poland on Saturday but did not meet any officials amid strained relations between Kyiv and Warsaw over grain imports.
An imprisoned Russian opposition figure has been transferred to a maximum security prison in Siberia, where he was placed in a tiny “punishment cell”, his lawyer Vadim Prokhorov said.
Russia’s suspension of petrol exports will probably limit already tight supplies in the global market and have the biggest impact on countries that depend on Russian fuel supplies, the UK Ministry of Defence has said. In its latest intelligence update, the ministry said Russians had probably faced localised petrol and diesel shortages in recent weeks.
Pope Francis has said the weapons industry is a key driver of the “martyrdom” of Ukraine’s people in the war with Russia, saying countries should not “play games” by promising weapons and then withholding them as this would only continue their misery. The Associated Press reports that the pontiff appeared to refer to Poland’s recent announcement that it was no longer sending arms to Ukraine when reporters asked him about the war as he was returning to Rome from a visit to Marseille, France.
The Russian-installed head of the Donetsk oblast has imposed a curfew banning the presence of civilians on streets and in public places from 11pm until 4am from Mondays to Fridays, Reuters reported. Denis Pushilin published a decree on Sunday that forbade assemblies, rallies and demonstrations, in addition to other mass events, in the Russian-controlled parts of the Donetsk oblast – unless they were permitted by the local operational headquarters for military threat response.
The European Commission has sent another €1.5bn in macro-financial assistance to Ukraine. The commission has pledged a total of €18bn to Ukraine – the country has already received €12bn. The funds go towards keeping essential public services running, such as hospitals, schools and housing for relocated citizens, as well as paying wages and pensions.
Continue reading...Researchers explore whether the animals adapt their behaviour in response to people’s happiness, sadness or anger
They are known for living in packs and being sociable animals. Now meerkats are being investigated to see if they can also pick up on human emotions.
Researchers and psychologists from Nottingham Trent University are studying meerkats in zoos to see if they can detect emotions such as happiness, sadness or anger from people, and whether they then adapt their behaviour accordingly.
Continue reading...Sunday’s attack marks serious escalation in Kosovo after months of mounting tensions with Serbia
A standoff between gunmen and Kosovo authorities at a monastery near the border with Serbia ended after four people were killed, authorities in Pristina said, after a police operation to regain control of the area.
“We put this territory under control. It was done after several consecutive battles,” Xhelal Svecla, Kosovo’s minister of internal affairs, told reporters after the standoff was over.
Continue reading...Manufacturers expect levy agreed in Brexit deal to hand chunk of market to global firms, including China
Car giants including Renault, BMW and Mercedes-Benz have called on EU leaders to “act now” and delay plans for a 10% tariff on electric car exports from Europe.
Renault’s chief, Luca de Meo, led the calls, saying that if the EU did not take action then policymakers would simply be “handing a chunk of the market to global manufacturers” including Chinese companies, which are making significant inroads.
Continue reading...Emmanuel Macron says he will consult coup leaders on withdrawal after two months of defying their expulsion order
France will withdraw its ambassador from Niger followed by the French military contingent in the next months, Emmanuel Macron has said in the aftermath of the coup in the west African country that ousted the pro-Paris president.
The French president’s announcement appeared to end two months of defiance in which Paris’s ambassador had been kept in place in Niamey despite coup leaders ordering him to leave.
Continue reading...Designer revisits his lifelong interest in science, with iridescent silks and undulating 3D layers
Giorgio Armani may be the world’s most recognisable designer, but as the 89-year-old wrote in his autobiography, his childhood ambition was to be a physician.
While that particular goal eluded him, at his fashion show in Milan on Sunday afternoon he revisited his lifelong interest in science, citing his inspiration for his new collection as “vibrations”.
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