The Finnish electricity grid’s head of operations says sabotage can’t be ruled out
An undersea power cable linking Finland and Estonia broke down on Wednesday, Finland’s prime minister said, the latest in a series of incidents involving cables and energy pipelines in the Baltic Sea.
The Finnish electricity grid’s head of operations, Arto Pahkin, told the public broadcaster Yle that sabotage could not be ruled out.
Continue reading...Zelenskyy describes cruise and ballistic missile strikes, which caused blackouts in several regions, as ‘inhuman’
Christmas morning in Ukraine was overshadowed by a massive Russian aerial attack using cruise missiles to target energy infrastructure across the country, which Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned as “inhuman”.
“Today, Putin deliberately chose Christmas to attack. What could be more inhuman? More than 70 missiles, including ballistic missiles, and more than a hundred attack drones,” the Ukrainian president said on Telegram.
Continue reading...DJ whose anything-goes spirit had a huge influence on British club culture had suffered a stroke in 2021
DJ Alfredo, who had a significant influence on Ibiza becoming a global centre for dance music culture, has died aged 71.
Amnesia, the club where he held a residency during the 1980s, announced the news, writing on Instagram: “Thank you for the nights and beats we shared together. Your music and vision shaped the sound of Balearic Beat and the soul of Amnesia. So many memories were made through your energy, your legacy will live on our dancefloor forever. You will never be forgotten.”
Continue reading...Two crew members from Ursa Major are missing and 14 have been rescued, Russian foreign ministry says
An engine room explosion sank a Russian cargo ship called Ursa Major in the Mediterranean Sea between Spain and Algeria and two of its crew are missing, the Russian foreign ministry has said.
The vessel, built in 2009, was controlled by Oboronlogistika, a company that is part of the Russian defence ministry’s military construction operations, which had previously said it was en route to the Russian far-eastern port of Vladivostok with two giant port cranes lashed to its deck.
Continue reading...Treasury minister denies claims by Bangladesh that she helped broker corrupt deal with Russia to build nuclear plant
The Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq has been questioned by the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team after Bangladesh’s anti-corruption commission accused her and family members of embezzling billions for a nuclear power plant.
The Labour MP, who denies allegations that she helped broker a deal with Russia to build the energy project, reportedly told a government official that she was the victim of a “political hit job”.
Continue reading...Emmanuel Macron appears to have few good options after Michel Barnier’s government became the first to fall from a no-confidence vote in more than 60 years
The French prime minister, Michel Barnier, resigned on Thursday morning, after far-right and leftist lawmakers joined forces to topple his government only three months after it took office.
Barnier and his government will stay on in a caretaker capacity, taking care of day-to-day business until the appointment of a new government, the Élysée said in a statement on Thursday.
Continue reading...Michel Barnier resigns as prime minister but will stay on in caretaker role until new government is appointment
The French president Emmanuel Macron has held meetings with parliament and senate leaders before a speech to the nation on Thursday evening, as pressure grows for him to swiftly appoint a new prime minister in the wake of the French government’s historic collapse.
The rightwing prime minister, Michel Barnier, met Macron for just over an hour in order to hand in his resignation letter, a day after his minority coalition became the first to be toppled by a no-confidence vote in more than 60 years and only three months after it took office.
Continue reading...The nun is alleged to have been the conduit between the gang and its associates in prison
A nun was among 25 people arrested in Italy on suspicion of being part of a criminal gang with links to the country’s most powerful mafia network, the ’Ndrangheta.
The nun is alleged to have been the conduit between the gang and its associates in prison, prosecutors in Brescia, northern Italy, said on Thursday.
Continue reading...As president prepares to appoint his next prime minister, we take a look at how the complex parliamentary arithmetic may shape his choice
As French president Emmanuel Macron attempts to find a new prime minister to replace Michel Barnier, who lost a vote of no confidence on Wednesday, his choices will be guided by whether he can secure approval for his choice from the national assembly, the lower house of the French parliament.
The incoming prime minister would need the support of 288 deputies to survive another no-confidence vote, but could govern on simple majorities for individual bills.
Continue reading...Nika Gvaramia among numerous other opposition members to be arrested on Wednesday as police raid homes and offices
Georgian police have raided the offices of an opposition party and arrested its leader in an apparent attempt to quash a wave of mass protests triggered by the governing party’s decision to suspend negotiations on joining the European Union.
Protesters on Wednesday night gathered for a seventh consecutive night of protests, facing off against riot police who have used water cannon and teargas to disperse them on previous nights. Protesters have thrown fireworks at police officers and built barricades on the Georgian capital’s central boulevard.
Continue reading...Gangs charging €8,000 for illegal travel packages that avoid crossing Channel on small boats
Hundreds of people have been detained in Northern Ireland trying to get into Great Britain by crossing the border from Ireland in an operation aimed at cracking down on people smugglers.
Criminal gangs are charging up to €8,000 for the illegal travel package they present as a safer route to crossing the Channel on small boats , say immigration officials.
Continue reading...Three-month-old government felled by combined vote from parties of left and far right over controversial budget
Boris Vallaud, the head of the centre-left Socialist party (PS) tells the prime minister that the no confidence motion is “first and foremost your failure: the failure of Michel Barnier”.
MPs elected thanks to the ‘republican front’ against the far right “were bound by only one promise, one loyalty, one commitment - not to give in to the far right,” Vallaud says, adding that Barnier “clearly found it more appropriate to speak to the far right than to the left. And we cannot resign ourselves to this.”
Continue reading...Minority coalition of PM Michel Barnier falls after three months, the shortest of any administration of France’s Fifth Republic
France has been plunged into political crisis after a no-confidence vote brought down the government, ending the beleaguered minority coalition of the rightwing prime minister Michel Barnier after only three months.
The no-confidence motion brought by an alliance of left-wing parties was supported by MPs from Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration, far-right, National Rally. A total of 331 lawmakers — a clear majority — voted on Wednesday night to bring down the government.
Continue reading...More than 500 officers participated in the operation, which was co-ordinated with British, French and European agencies
Police have carried out dawn raids in several cities in Germany and France in an internationally coordinated operation to smash a network accused of smuggling migrants to Britain in small boats.
Coordinated with Europol, the French security service and British police after months of intelligence-gathering, the raids on Wednesday concentrated on western German cities where gangs are believed to have procured small boats and found migrants wanting to be taken to the UK from France across the English Channel.
Continue reading...Triggered by an austerity budget, a no-confidence vote threatens fresh instability – and Macron’s future
With threats mounting inside and outside the EU’s borders and Germany in paralysis, the last thing Europe needed was fresh upheaval besetting its other big power. Yet that is exactly what France is facing with a no-confidence vote expected today that could bring down the government.
The shaky minority administration assembled by Prime Minister Michel Barnier only three months ago began to wobble badly on Monday after he triggered an extraordinary constitutional mechanism to force through an austerity budget.
Continue reading...Czech foreign minister says Europe ‘needs to send a strong signal to Moscow that this won’t be tolerated’
A senior European diplomat said that up to 100 “suspicious incidents” in Europe this year could be attributed to Russia, as western officials grapple with how to respond to suspected Russian sabotage attempts.
Speaking ahead of a meeting with Nato counterparts in Brussels, the Czech foreign minister, Jan Lipavský, stressed that Europe “needs to send a strong signal to Moscow that this won’t be tolerated”.
Continue reading...November was Ukraine’s worst month since September 2022 for territory lost to Russian forces. These charts and maps show the latest developments in the war
Ukraine lost an area equivalent to the size of New York City to Russian forces in November – the worst monthly figure for Ukrainian defenders since September 2022.
After the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Russia gained ground quickly before being pushed back in a Ukrainian counteroffensive. Last year, with the conflict mostly at a stalemate, Institute for the Study of War (ISW) data shows that Russian forces took 2,233 sq km (862 sq miles) of territory. Already in 2024 they have taken about 2,656 sq km.
Continue reading...Administration of Michel Barnier likely to fall after far-left and far-right opponents table motions
France is staring into the unknown as the minority government of the prime minister, Michel Barnier, faces near-certain defeat in a no-confidence vote that could dramatically intensify the political crisis in one of the EU’s key member states.
If the vote on Wednesday is carried, Barnier’s administration, which took office only in September, would be the first in France to be ousted with a motion of no confidence since 1962. Its fall, at the hands of the far-right and leftwing parties, would be a significant blow to Europe weeks before Donald Trump returns to the White House.
Continue reading...It seems Michel Barnier’s experience of negotiating Brexit with the British was no match for the bitter rivalry of French politics
When Emmanuel Macron welcomes world leaders to the reopening of Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral this weekend, after fire damaged it five years ago, he might have hoped it would serve as a metaphor for people from all backgrounds coming together to prevent a hallowed edifice collapsing.
Instead, it is likely the French government itself will have fallen by Wednesday evening, with voters’ trust of politicians and the political process in charred ruins.
Continue reading...Downgrading species’ protection status for political gain puts decades of conservation efforts at risk, says WWF
Europe’s wolves will lose their “strict protection” status, alarming conservationists who fear for the survival of an animal brought back from the brink of local extinction.
A committee charged with saving wildlife took the wolf’s protection status down a notch on Tuesday after members voted through a proposal from the European Union that lowers the bar for shooting a wolf.
Continue reading...