Nassim Mimun, who left with Lammy’s and his wife’s bags after ‘tone escalated’, acquitted owing to lack of evidence
A French taxi driver accused of stealing money and luggage from David Lammy has been acquitted due to lack of evidence, a prosecutor said.
Nassim Mimun, 40, drove the deputy prime minister and his wife, Nicola Green, more than 600km (370 miles) from Forli, near Bologna in northern Italy, to the ski resort of Flaine in the French Alps on 11 April.
Continue reading...Resolution may be delayed without agreement over the force’s mandate and a timetable for Israeli withdrawal
A UN security council resolution mandating the introduction of an international stabilisation force into Gaza is likely to be ready within two weeks, but may be delayed if disputes cannot be resolved over the force’s mandate, including the question of US military leadership, its relationship with the Palestinian civil police force and a timetable for Israeli military withdrawal.
At a meeting in Istanbul of Muslim countries considering offering troops on Monday, the Turkish foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, said: “The countries will shape their decisions based on the mission and authority of the International Stabilization Force. I believe that if the mission conflicts with the principles and policies of the countries that will send troops, it will be difficult for these countries to send troops.”
Continue reading...Fast-fashion retailer faces political anger, fury from workers and warnings it will damage city’s progressive image
The online fast-fashion retailer Shein will open its first permanent bricks-and-mortar store in the world in Paris this week amid political outrage, fury from workers and warnings from city hall that it will damage the French capital’s progressive image.
The Singapore-based clothing company, which was founded in China, has built a massive online business despite criticism over its factory working conditions and the environmental impact of low-cost, throwaway fashion.
Continue reading...Three others rescued at the Torre dei Conti, which was undergoing restoration works
A medieval tower in central Rome has partly collapsed twice during renovations, injuring one worker and trapping another.
Falling debris from the initial collapse of the Torre dei Conti, just after 11.30am (0930 GMT), close to the Roman Forum ruins, hit a 64-year-old worker, the Ansa news agency reported. He was taken to San Giovanni hospital in a critical condition although Francesco Rocca, Lazio’s regional president, said his injuries were not life threatening.
Continue reading...Leader of Spanish region’s People’s party had clung to power despite calls for him to stand down over 2024 disaster
‘Mud on our hands; blood on his’: fury lingers one year after deadly floods
Carlos Mazón, the embattled president of the eastern Spanish region of Valencia, has bowed to public fury and political pressure by resigning over his botched handling of the deadly floods that killed 229 people in the area just over a year ago.
Mazón, a member of the conservative People’s party (PP), had hung on despite calls for him to stand down after it emerged that he spent more than three hours having lunch with a journalist as the floods hit and people were drowning in their homes, garages and cars.
Continue reading...Researchers to investigate whether environmental factors may have affected female animal’s pigmentation
An amateur photographer in southern Spain has captured unprecedented images of a white Iberian lynx, prompting researchers to investigate whether environmental factors could be at play as wildlife watchers revelled in the rare sighting.
Ángel Hidalgo published the images on social media, describing the singular animal as the “white ghost of the Mediterranean forest”.
Continue reading...Laure Beccuau said ‘upper echelons of organised crime’ unlikely to be involved as one perpetrator remains at large
The brazen daytime heist at the Louvre was carried out by petty criminals rather than professionals from the world of organised crime, the Paris prosecutor has said, describing two of the suspects as a couple with children.
The assertion comes two weeks after thieves parked a stolen truck outside the world’s most-visited museum, used a furniture lift to reach the first floor, then smashed their way into one of the museum’s most ornate rooms. Less than seven minutes later, they escaped on scooters with crown jewels worth an estimated €88m (£76m).
Continue reading...Mother of Bella May Culley, 19, awaiting sentencing on Monday, says conditions have improved after transfer to new jail
A pregnant British teenager accused of drug-smuggling has been moved to a mother and baby unit in a Georgian prison, her mother said.
Bella May Culley, 19, who is reported to be eight months pregnant, was arrested at Tbilisi airport in May.
Continue reading...Bodies of missing man and 17-year-old daughter who had fallen 200 metres found on Sunday morning in South Tyrol
Five German climbers, including a 17-year-old girl, have died after being swept away by an avalanche in the Italian Alps, rescuers have said.
Italian media said three groups of climbers – believed to have been travelling independently of one another – had been caught in the torrent of snow as it pulsed down a mountain near the Swiss border in the north-eastern region of South Tyrol on Saturday.
Continue reading...Escalating battle for city comes as overnight Russian drone and missile strikes kill six people, including two children
Ukraine has deployed special forces to the embattled eastern city of Pokrovsk in an attempt to push back an intense Russian assault involving thousands of troops, Kyiv’s top commander has said.
The escalating battle in the strategically important city comes as an overnight wave of Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine killed six people, including two children, and cut power to tens of thousands, officials said on Sunday.
Continue reading...French-Turkish actor appeared in a string of high-profile films, as well as hit BBC series The Missing
Tchéky Karyo, who appeared in some of director Luc Besson’s biggest hits and a string of international films, died on Friday at the age of 72, his family have announced.
A statement from his wife and children sent to AFP said he had “succumbed to cancer”.
Continue reading...Woman, 38, and man, 37, had been arrested on Wednesday in relation to theft of £76m worth of jewellery in Paris
Two more suspects, a man and a woman arrested this week over the jewel heist at the Louvre, have been charged and remanded in custody, prosecutors have said.
The charges on Saturday brought to four the number of people now charged over the spectacular robbery.
Continue reading...Student-led movement continues to demand political change as embattled president issues rare apology
Tens of thousands of Serbians have gathered to commemorate victims of a fatal railway station collapse a year ago, a tragedy that galvanised anti-government sentiment that still threatens the embattled president, Aleksandar Vučić.
A student-led movement organised the rallies in the country’s second largest city, Novi Sad, where on 1 November 2024, the canopy at the newly renovated railway station collapsed.
Continue reading...Abdulrahman al-Qaradawi has been imprisoned in the UAE for almost a year for criticising Emirati, Egyptian and Saudi governments
The UN special rapporteur on torture is being urged to investigate Lebanon’s role in the treatment of the Egyptian-Turkish poet and activist Abdulrahman al-Qaradawi, a dissident who has been imprisoned in the United Arab Emirates for more than 10 months over a post he made on social media.
Legal counsel representing Qaradawi filed a complaint to the UN rapporteur on Thursday, asking it to examine the situation.
Continue reading...Four men given prison terms for desecration that was possibly ‘orchestrated by Russian intelligence services’
A French court on Friday jailed four Bulgarians for desecrating a Jewish memorial with red handprints last year, in what prosecutors think may have been foreign interference linked to Russia.
The Paris criminal court gave two-year sentences to Georgi Filipov and Kiril Milushev, described as the perpetrators, and four years and three years respectively to Nikolay Ivanov and Mircho Angelov, considered the operation’s “masterminds”. Angelov is still at large.
Continue reading...Dutch-controlled company informs customers about suspension but is said to want to de-escalate trade war
Nexperia, the EU-based automotive chipmaker at the centre of a geopolitical dispute, has suspended supplies to its Chinese factory, stepping up a trade war that threatens to halt production at carmakers around the world.
The company wrote to customers this week informing them all supplies to a Chinese plant had been suspended.
Continue reading...Regional authority is investing €1.5m in the project but has stipulations about featuring ‘identifiable locations’ on screen and the film premiering at an international film festival
The Madrid regional government is hoping to harness the power of film tourism by investing €1.5m (£1.3m) in a new Woody Allen movie that will be shot in and around the Spanish capital and which will be contractually obliged to feature the word “Madrid” in its title.
Regional authorities are confident the 89-year-old film-maker’s next project could do for Madrid what Roman Holiday did for Rome tourism in the early 1950s, and what Sex and the City and Emily in Paris have more recently done to increase visitor numbers to New York and the French capital.
Continue reading...Party will take lead in first round of talks to form coalition government after securing most votes
The Dutch liberal-progressive party D66 won the most votes in Wednesday’s general election, the news agency ANP has reported, putting its 38-year-old leader, Rob Jetten, on course to become the youngest prime minister in the Netherlands.
While the last few thousand votes are still being counted, Dutch media reported on Friday that Geert Wilders’ anti-immigration, anti-Islam Party for Freedom (PVV) could no longer win.
Continue reading...Robbery in Lyon left five employees slightly injured after explosion in latest high-profile incident to hit country
Six people have been arrested after thieves used explosives and military-grade weapons to break into a laboratory in Lyon that deals with precious metals, including gold, in the latest, brazen daytime heist to hit France.
Police said that the minutes-long raid, which took place on Thursday, had briefly allowed thieves to get away with an estimated €12m (£10.5m) in loot. At the time, 28 employees were present at Laboratoires Pourquery, five of whom were slightly injured.
Continue reading...Antoni Gaudí’s masterwork is still under construction but now stands taller than Ulm Minster in southern Germany
Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia basilica became the world’s tallest church on Thursday after a part of its central tower was lifted into place.
The masterwork of the architect Antoni Gaudí now rises to 162.91 metres (534ft 8in) above the city, the church said in a statement. That beats the spire of Ulm Minster in Germany, which tops out at 161.53 metres.
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