Category Archives: Europe

Head of drone manufacturer critically injured in car bomb in Russia

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Assassination attempt demonstrates Ukraine’s ability to continue clandestine operations deep inside Russian territory

The head of a leading Russian drone manufacturer has been critically injured in a car bomb near Ekaterinburg, in what appears to be the latest in a series of assassination attempts targeting figures linked to the country’s war in Ukraine.

Vladimir Tkachuk, the founder of the private drone manufacturer Uraldronzavod, was rushed to intensive care on Wednesday after a bomb planted beneath his Mercedes exploded, according to Russian state media, citing emergency services. His bodyguard was killed in the explosion.

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Head of drone manufacturer critically injured in car bomb in Russia

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Assassination attempt demonstrates Ukraine’s ability to continue clandestine operations deep inside Russian territory

The head of a leading Russian drone manufacturer has been critically injured in a car bomb near Ekaterinburg, in what appears to be the latest in a series of assassination attempts targeting figures linked to the country’s war in Ukraine.

Vladimir Tkachuk, the founder of the private drone manufacturer Uraldronzavod, was rushed to intensive care on Wednesday after a bomb planted beneath his Mercedes exploded, according to Russian state media, citing emergency services. His bodyguard was killed in the explosion.

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Drone found at German airport after cargo plane collides with object mid-air

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Investigators looking into whether incidents at Leipzig are linked after DHL plane forced to make emergency landing

A DHL cargo plane was forced to make an emergency landing after colliding with an unknown object as it was climbing away from Germany’s Leipzig airport, where police later found a drone on the ground.

The German government on Wednesday confirmed the incident, which led to serious disruption of air traffic.

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Zelenskyy calls for more air defences as Russian attack on Kyiv kills at least 17

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Ukraine shoots down most drones but no ballistic missiles in overnight attack that mainly targeted civilian facilities

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has blamed allies for not delivering air defences fast enough after Ukraine failed to shoot down a single Russian missile in a deadly overnight attack that killed at least 17 people and ⁠injured dozens more.

Preliminary data from the Ukrainian air force showed its defences shot down 98 of the 115 drones fired by Russia overnight, but no ballistic missiles.

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Video game maker EA bought by Saudi-led group for $55bn

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Company acquired in deal involving Affinity Partners, a firm run by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner

Electronic Arts, the maker of video games such as The Sims, Madden NFL and Battlefield, has been bought by Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund and a group of investors for $55bn (£41bn).

The company announced the completion of the deal on Tuesday evening, only days after the EU gave its approval, the final regulatory green light needed.

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Hundreds camp in Rome heatwave as Meloni government cracks down on squats

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Spin Time provides homes, food banks and after-school clubs but the authorities have locked out residents

Hundreds of people have spent a week sleeping in tents in the Rome heat amid a standoff between Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government and local politicians over the future of Italy’s most high-profile centre for housing and social assistance.

A minor fire last week forced the evacuation of the building, occupied by grassroots groups since 2013, and it has remained closed as the Meloni government attempts to crack down on such squatted properties.

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MI6 is top European foreign intelligence service, peer review finds

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UK’s Secret Intelligence Service praised for playing long game and having ‘a taste for dirty tricks’

MI6 has been ranked as the most powerful foreign intelligence service in Europe ahead of France and the Netherlands, according to a peer review.

The British intelligence agency scored 251 points in the research and was commended for its expertise in recruiting high-level informants and penetrating the ruling elites in Russia, China, Iran and Turkey, according to the review by 60 professionals from 25 countries.

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EU chief criticises Spain’s migrant plan after Ceuta crisis meeting

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Migration commissioner says scheme regularising undocumented people ‘not a good signal’ for Europe

The EU’s top official on migration has criticised Spain’s plan to regularise undocumented migrants as “not a good signal” for Europe, after an emergency meeting intended to draw a line under divisions on the Ceuta crisis.

Magnus Brunner, the European commissioner for migration, said that while the EU could not currently see a direct link between events in Ceuta and Spain’s regularisation plan, the policy was “definitely not a good signal for the rest of Europe”.

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Refuse collectors help Italian woman recover binned €1m lottery ticket

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Winner called waste management team after she realised stub showing she had hit the jackpot had been thrown away

A €1m lottery ticket has been recovered from the rubbish in Italy after the frantic winner called on refuse collectors to help her retrieve it, according to the waste management company.

The instant win ticket was “miraculously still in one piece” after garbage workers combed through mounds of rubbish on their truck, said Roberto Nicola Toscano, the administrator of the SANB company in Italy’s southern Puglia region.

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Daphne Caruana Galizia was investigating suspected corruption when killed, jury told

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Journalist’s son says his mother was examining leak from Electrogas, part owned by Yorgen Fenech who is on trial

Daphne Caruana Galizia was investigating suspected corruption by the businessman Yorgen Fenech and members of Malta’s government when she was killed, a jury has heard.

The heir to one of Malta’s biggest fortunes, Fenech is on trial for murder, accused of commissioning and paying for Caruana Galizia’s killing in a car bombing in October 2017.

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Cancer survivors need protection from future discrimination, say German politicians

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Campaigners say people who have had cancer face discrimination in areas including bank loans, adoption of children and insurance

German politicians who have survived cancer have spearheaded proposals to protect people long in remission from what they call rampant discrimination in areas including bank loans, adoption of children and insurance.

The policy known as “the right to be forgotten” (RTBF) is a central demand of a community estimated to number 5.5 million people in Germany: former cancer patients who have been given a clean bill of health by their doctors.

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Price of olive oil expected to rise again as European crops feel the heat

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Farmers warn impact of high temperatures, drought and wildfires on range of foodstuffs means costs will increase

Farmers across Europe are warning of a slump in food production and rising prices as crops from maize to salads suffer as a result of extreme heat, drought and wildfires.

Olive groves have also been hit as the climate crisis drives temperatures across the continent to fresh record highs, meaning the cost of olive oil – already at elevated levels – is expected to start rising again.

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Stronger EU borders needed after Ceuta crisis, von der Leyen says

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European Commission president says work needed in five areas of migration control including returning more people

The president of the European Commission has called for action to strengthen Europe’s borders after tens of thousands of people arrived and quickly left the Spanish territory of Ceuta, triggering a furious row between Madrid and other European countries.

In a letter to Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, on Monday, Ursula von der Leyen said: “From this incident, it is clear that we must do more to further strengthen our borders at critical points, including vigilant monitoring and the use of physical barriers where needed.”

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Anti-war politician flees Russia amid pre-election crackdown on dissent

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Boris Nadezhdin, who gained prominence after standing against Putin in 2024, says he is now in France

The prominent Russian anti-war politician Boris Nadezhdin has fled to Paris as Moscow tightens its grip on dissent before parliamentary elections later this year.

Nadezhdin, a veteran liberal politician, gained international prominence during Russia’s 2024 presidential election when his long-shot campaign against Vladimir Putin unexpectedly gathered momentum before electoral authorities barred him from running.

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Paris prosecutor investigates alleged bullying in government departments after suicide attempt

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Internal inquiries also opened after two suicides and two attempted suicides of staff in departments connected to PM’s office

The Paris state prosecutor has opened a preliminary inquiry into alleged workplace bullying after the attempted suicide of a staff member in a department connected to the French prime minister’s office, France Inter radio has revealed.

The public radio station reported on Monday that two government workers in different departments had ended their lives in the past year, and two others had attempted suicide. The radio station said complaints of alleged workplace bullying had been made.

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Romania blasts rock to divert water from drought-hit Danube to nuclear reactor

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Hungary and Romania face energy crisis as record-low river levels force atomic power plants to reduce output

Romanian naval forces carried out a controlled explosion to help redirect vital cooling water from the drought-hit Danube to the country’s last working nuclear ⁠reactor, while neighbouring Hungary ​said it may be able to eke out two more days of power from its only atomic plant.

Hungary and Romania have been forced to shut down nuclear reactors cooled by the Danube for the first time, as record-low water levels deepen fears of an energy crisis across the region.

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Russia blames Ukraine for deadly restaurant bombing in Moscow

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Foreign ministry accuses Kyiv of carrying out attack reports say may have been aimed at air force chief

Russia has blamed Ukraine for a bombing at a restaurant in central Moscow that killed five people, amid growing speculation that a senior Russian military commander was the intended target.

The explosion occurred on Saturday evening near the entrance to an upmarket Italian restaurant in one of the city’s seven Stalin-era skyscrapers on Kudrinskaya Square.

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Man arrested after Scottish woman found dead inside suitcase in Athens

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Greek police say 26-year-old Afghan national is believed to have left Elisabeth-Jane Ross’s body in derelict building

Greek authorities have arrested an Afghan national in connection with the death of a Scottish woman whose body was found in a suitcase in an abandoned building in central Athens.

Elisabeth-Jane Ross, 38, a charity worker described as an “angel full of innocence and goodness” by friends, had been in Greece for almost three weeks when she is believed to have died.

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Two helicopters collide outside Athens as Greece battles to control wildfires

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Fire department says two-person crew of one aircraft killed in incident during gale-force winds to west of capital

Two firefighting helicopters have collided west of Athens, killing the two-person crew of one of the aircraft, as efforts to control a massive wildfire barrelling towards the outskirts of the Greek capital intensified.

Footage showed one of the helicopters losing control in the face of gale-force winds that have pushed flames towards settlements on Athens’ western fringes.

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Callas, Beethoven, bee-eaters or storks: competition seeks to redesign euro notes

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The EU is using a currency redesign as an opportunity to be less neutral and try some finely balanced identity-building

Is Europe best represented by the bold intellect of Marie Curie, the sprawling imagination of Miguel de Cervantes and the intense musical genius of Ludwig van Beethoven? Or by a migrating stork and a bee-eater, swooping across borderless plains and enjoying freedom of movement across European countries?

The quest to settle this issue has engaged a surprising number of people across the continent, after more than 6 million people voted in a survey within just a week of its launch to determine whether the newly redesigned euro bank notes should depict either cultural figures or birds and waterways.

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