The 70-year-old former collective farm boss has been in power in reclusive, Moscow-allied Belarus since 1994
Belarusians began voting on Sunday, with president Alexander Lukashenko expected to cruise to victory unchallenged for a seventh term, prolonging his three-decade authoritarian rule.
Lukashenko – a 70-year-old former collective farm boss – has been in power in reclusive, Moscow-allied Belarus since 1994.
Continue reading...Pressure growing on Labour to improve trade with EU as Rachel Reeves admits Brexit damaged UK
Keir Starmer is under growing pressure to forge closer economic links with Europe five years on from Brexit, as a major new poll shows voters clearly favour prioritising more trade with the EU over the US.
The MRP survey of almost 15,000 people by YouGov for the Best for Britain thinktank shows more people in every constituency in England, Scotland and Wales back closer arrangements with the EU rather than more transatlantic trade with Washington. MRP polls use large data samples to estimate opinion at a local level
Continue reading...The latest protests come after private meeting between Robert Fico and Vladimir Putin in December
The Slovakian prime minister, Robert Fico, has rejected calls for his resignation after tens of thousands demonstrated against his government’s policy shift closer to Russia.
About 60,000 people protested in the capital, Bratislava, on Friday and approximately 100,000 turned out for rallies in cities across the country, the largest demonstrations since Fico returned to power in 2023.
Continue reading...Some say recent suspected sabotage of transatlantic cables serving Europe and UK means Ireland must be able to defend itself
They are the bedrock of the internet, keeping everything from TikTok to emergency services, business, banking systems and political and military communications running smoothly.
But deep under the sea, the network of cables around British and Irish shores are being considered as increasingly attractive targets for military, terrorist or criminal actors after several incidents in the Baltics where internet cables were severed and internet communications were disrupted.
Continue reading...Work that made its creator a superstar then mysteriously disappeared is mesmerising art lovers once more
It was commissioned by a Greek king, made its creator a superstar and in his native Denmark attracted crowds like no other painting before. Then it mysteriously disappeared.
Now, nearly nine decades after it was last seen gracing the stairwell of the royal palace that would become the Athens parliament, Carl Bloch’s masterpiece, Prometheus Unbound, has found fame again in Greece.
Continue reading...Researchers say study may help global efforts in controlling disease that still destroys crops today
It was a disaster that killed about 1 million people, devastating 19th century Ireland, but while the potato disease linked to the Irish famine is well known, a battle has raged over where it originated.
Scientists have long been divided over whether the fungus-like pathogen Phtytophthora infestans cropped up in the Andes or originated in Mexico.
Continue reading...Record gusts of 113mph recorded, with ‘unprecedented’ power cuts, fallen trees and 130,000 homes without water
A man has been killed and more than 725,000 homes and businesses have been left without power in Ireland after Storm Éowyn battered the country, leaving a trail of destruction.
More than 500,000 homes were at risk of disruption to water supplies, and boil-water notices were issued in several counties. Authorities said it would take more than a week to restore power to all premises.
Continue reading...Russian president strikes noticeably favourable tone, downplaying Trump’s economic threats
Vladimir Putin has said he is ready to discuss the war in Ukraine with Donald Trump and suggested it would be a good idea for them to meet.
In his first comments since Trump issued threats to inflict economic damage on Russia if it failed to end the war in Ukraine, Putin struck a favourable tone towards the US president.
Continue reading...Miguel Arruda charged with theft after allegedly removing baggage from carousel and taking it home, reports say
A far-right politician in Portugal has been accused of stealing suitcases at several airports and kicked out of his political party as a result, the party has said.
According to several news outlets, police questioned Miguel Arruda on Tuesday at Lisbon airport and charged him with luggage theft after some of the missing suitcases were allegedly found at his home.
Continue reading...Pyongyang said to be planning to increase support despite high casualties among estimated 11,000 already sent
North Korea is preparing to send more soldiers to fight in the Ukraine war, military officials in South Korea have said, despite reports of heavy casualties among troops from the communist state who have already been sent to the battlefield.
The claim that Pyongyang could be planning to increase its support for the Kremlin came as Donald Trump suggested he would attempt to rekindle his relationship with Kim Jong-un, describing the North Korean leader as a “smart guy” in an interview with Fox News.
Continue reading...Allegations of rape, beatings and collusion by EU-funded security forces prompt shift in migration arrangements
The European Commission is fundamentally overhauling how it makes payments to Tunisia after a Guardian investigation exposed myriad abuses by EU-funded security forces, including widespread sexual violence against migrants.
Officials are drawing up “concrete” conditions to ensure that future European payments to Tunis can go ahead only if human rights have not been violated.
Continue reading...Deteriorating security environment and incidents in Baltic have forced military reassessment in northern Europe
Submarines normally operate in secret, lurking in the deep. So when the British defence secretary, John Healey, authorised a Royal Navy Astute-class attack sub to surface close to the Russian “spy ship” Yantar south of Cornwall in November, it was unusual enough.
What was even more notable, however, was that the minister went on to tell the House of Commons on Wednesday what he had done. It was, Healey said, conducted “strictly as a deterrent measure”, as was his decision to accuse the Kremlin of spying on the location of undersea communication and utility cables that connect Britain to the world.
Continue reading...Serge Atlaoui is expected to be transferred after an agreement was reached with the government in Paris, Yusril Ihza Mahendra says
A French man who has been on death row in Indonesia since 2007 for alleged drug offences is expected to return home in weeks after an Indonesian minister said an agreement would be signed on Friday to allow his transfer.
Serge Atlaoui is expected to return to France on 5 or 6 February, the senior minister for law and human rights affairs, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, told Reuters on Friday.
Continue reading...General Osama Najim was released on a technicality and repatriated by Italy without any prior consultation, says international criminal court
Italy’s interior minister said on Thursday a Libyan man detained under an international war crimes arrest warrant and then unexpectedly released had been swiftly repatriated because of his “social dangerousness“.
Osama Najim, also known as Almasri, was detained on Sunday in Turin under an arrest warrant issued by The Hague-based international criminal court (ICC).
Continue reading...Fianna Fáil leader officially elected PM a day after chaotic scenes in Dáil, as thoughts turn to future and Trump
Ireland’s newly appointed prime minister, Micheál Martin, has vowed to protect the country “at a moment of real threat” just days after Donald Trump threatened to wipe out its tax advantage and repatriate American jobs.
He was speaking moments as he was officially appointed as prime minister, but 24 hours after chaotic scenes in the Dáil caused the cancellation of his formal appointment.
Continue reading...In leaked memo to culture minister, Laurence des Cars sounds alarm over state of Paris art gallery
Visiting the Louvre has become a “physical ordeal” as the throngs of tourists, leaks and substandard catering take a toll on the world’s most-visited museum, its director has said in a leaked memo.
The document, written by Laurence des Cars for the French culture minister, Rachida Dati, but leaked to the media on Thursday, sounded the alarm over the state of the Paris museum.
Continue reading...Friedrich Merz says he will boost border controls if he wins power in next month’s elections
Germany’s opposition leader has pledged to strengthen border controls and step up deportations if he becomes chancellor after elections next month, a day after an Afghan man was arrested over a knife attack in which two people died.
Friedrich Merz, whose conservative CDU/CSU alliance is leading in polls, said he would not allow attacks like the one in the Bavarian city of Aschaffenburg on Wednesday to become a “normal affair”.
Continue reading...Nine Real Sociedad football fans were injured, one seriously, in central Rome late on Wednesday, allegedly after being violently attacked by hardcore “ultra” Lazio supporters.
According to reports in Italian media, the Spanish fans were among a group of about 70 allegedly set upon by what appeared to be about 80 Lazio ultras, who were armed with clubs, chains and knives and hammers, outside a pub on Via Leonina in the Monti district of the Italian capital. Security in the city has been upped before the Europa League match at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico on Thursday night.
Continue reading...Family complained food was ‘uneatable’ and room was dirty and smelly at four-star Club Med hotel in Provence
A British family who claimed they “went home miserable” from a luxury French hotel after they were given stale croissants and a smelly room have won thousands of pounds in damages.
Damen Bennion, 52, told his children “Daddy would get things sorted” when they arrived at their holiday in Provence and found the four-star hotel did not meet their expectations.
Continue reading...Report reveals solar power generated 11% of Europe’s electricity, surpassing coal at 10%
Europe made more electricity from sunshine than coal last year, a report has found, in what analysts called a “milestone” for the clean energy transition.
Solar panels generated 11% of the EU’s electricity in 2024, while coal-burning power plants generated 10%, according to data from climate thinktank Ember. The role of fossil gas fell for the fifth year in a row to cover 16% of the electricity mix.
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