Man jailed for life for murder of university student that horrified Italy

Brutal killing of Giulia Cecchettin, 22, triggered protests across country and cast grim spotlight on femicide in Italy

Filippo Turetta has been sentenced to life in jail for the murder of Giulia Cecchettin, a university student whose brutal killing cast a grim spotlight on femicide in Italy.

Cecchettin, 22, was stabbed more than 70 times before her body was wrapped in black plastic bags and dumped in a ditch close to a lake north of Venice in November last year. Her murder triggered protests across the country.

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Smartphones should carry health warning, Spanish government told

Report by committee of experts also calls for doctors to ask about screen time during checkups

Smartphones sold in Spain should carry a label warning users about their potential health impacts, experts have told the Spanish government, in a report that calls for doctors to ask about screen time during checkups.

As Spain pushes forward with a draft law to limit children’s exposure to technology, the 50-member committee of experts has also called for minors to have limited exposure to digital devices until they are 13 to mitigate what they see as a public health problem.

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Meloni says Italy aims to protect jobs after CEO of Fiat owner Stellantis quits

Company is at loggerheads with Italian government, which claims it has not invested enough in the country

The Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has said her government will try to protect jobs as political tensions mount with Fiat maker Stellantis after the abrupt resignation of its chief executive.

Meloni said she would attempt to “defend” employees in the carmaker’s Italian operations in the wake of the surprise exit of Carlos Tavares, its longstanding chief executive, who left after the company said “different views have emerged” between the executive and its board.

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Court rules former Nazi camp guard, 100, can face trial in Germany

Gregor Formanek is charged with aiding and abetting 3,322 murders at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp

German authorities are pressing for a 100-year-old former Nazi concentration camp guard to face trial almost 80 years after the end of the second world war.

The higher regional court in Frankfurt said on Tuesday it had overturned a decision by a lower court under which the suspect had been deemed unfit to stand trial.

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Michel Barnier defends budget in TV interview as government faces no confidence vote on Wednesday – as it happened

Minority government of prime minister faces near-certain defeat in a no-confidence vote that could spark crisis

The Libertés, indépendants, outre-mer et territoires (Liberties, Independents, Overseas and Territories, Liot) group, which has about two dozen elected members, will not vote for Wednesday’s censure motion (i.e. the no confidence motion over the budget).

“At this stage, none of the Liot MPs intend to vote for censure tomorrow,” Harold Huwart, the MP for Eure-et-Loir and spokesperson for the parliamentary group, was quoted as saying:

First of all, because the country is in a difficult moment, censorship is an act whose final consequences no one can measure. Voting for censorship is particularly irresponsible.

None of the deputies (of Liot) want to be associated with an act of destabilisation plotted by extremes who come together in a desperate attempt.

Let’s be clear: a motion of censure is not a coalition or a political agreement, it is nothing other than the expression of a disavowal of the policy and budgetary choices proposed by the Government.

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Georgian police fire teargas at pro-EU protesters as political crisis deepens

Tbilisi experiences fifth day of demonstrations amid anger over ruling party’s decision to shelve EU accession talks

Georgian police have fired teargas to try to disperse thousands of pro-EU demonstrators rallying in the centre of Tbilisi amid a deepening political crisis in the Black Sea nation.

The country’s prime minister hours earlier had vowed “no negotiations” with the opposition, enraged by the ruling Georgian Dream party’s decision to shelve EU accession talks after it claimed victory in an election they decried as fraudulent.

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Starmer rejects false choice between Trump’s US and EU in key speech

At lord mayor’s banquet in London, British PM says ‘national interest demands that we work with both’

Keir Starmer has “utterly rejected” the idea that the UK must choose between the United States and Europe when Donald Trump comes to power, arguing that it is in the national interest to work with both.

The prime minister said the UK would “never turn away” from its relationship with the US, despite the difficulties the new administration could pose, as it had been the “cornerstone” of security and prosperity for over a century.

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Talks over return of Parthenon marbles to Athens are ‘well advanced’

Exclusive: Keir Starmer reiterates support for British Museum reaching deal with Greek PM, who visits UK on Tuesday

Talks concerning the Parthenon marbles between Athens and the British Museum are “well advanced”, the Guardian has learned, even if officials have decided the cultural row will be low on the agenda when the prime minister, Keir Starmer, meets his Greek counterpart on Tuesday.

The fate of the classical masterpieces, which caused a quarrel last year between Rishi Sunak and Kyriakos Mitsotakis, will not be actively raised by either side when the two leaders hold their first Downing Street discussions. Starmer’s spokesperson said on Monday: “Our position on the Elgin marbles has not changed.”

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Belgium found guilty of crimes against humanity in colonial Congo

Court said five women were victims of ‘systematic kidnapping’ by state over forced removal from mothers as small children

The Belgian state has been found guilty of crimes against humanity for the forced removal of five mixed-race children from their mothers in colonial Congo.

In a long-awaited ruling issued on Monday, Belgium’s court of appeal said that five women, born in the Belgian Congo and now in their 70s, had been victims of “systematic kidnapping” by the state when they were removed from their mothers as small children and sent to Catholic institutions because of their mixed-race origins.

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Centre-right Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael set to retain power in Ireland

Parties expected to hold talks as election results show incumbents closing in on majority needed to govern

The two main centre-right parties in Ireland are expected to start talks on returning to government as the general election put the incumbents within touching distance of forming the 34th Dáil.

With all Teachta Dála (TD) seats filled by 10pm on Monday evening, Fianna Fáil – led by Micheál Martin – and Fine Gael – led by the taoiseach, Simon Harris – won 86 seats, just two shy of the 88 needed for a majority.

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Romania’s Social Democrats on course to win parliamentary majority despite far-right surge

Centre-left PSD looks to have held off far-right challenge, with 70% of Romanians voting for mainstream parties

Romania’s ruling Social Democrat party (PSD) was on course to win the most votes in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, holding off a strong far-right surge that could yet deliver the country’s presidency to a Moscow-friendly ultranationalist.

Amid uncertainty as to whether the constitutional court would on Monday order the first round of the presidential ballot to be rerun, officials said that with 99.5% of votes counted, the centre-left PSD was credited with 22.6% of the vote.

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Georgian opposition leader arrested after fourth night of protests

Police detained Zurab Japaridze as he was leaving rally outside parliament against suspension of EU accession talks

Georgian police have arrested a prominent opposition leader after using water cannon and teargas to scatter anti-government protesters who rallied outside parliament for a fourth consecutive night.

The protests were sparked by the government’s announcement last week that it was suspending talks on joining the EU. Critics saw that as confirmation of a Russian-influenced shift away from pro-western policies, something the ruling party denies.

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German chancellor Olaf Scholz pledges €650m in military aid to Ukraine on Kyiv visit

Scholz said Germany was ‘strongest supporter of Ukraine in Europe’ and promised speedy arms deliveries

Olaf Scholz has met the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in an unannounced visit to Kyiv that was his first since the early months of full-scale war as he sought to reassure Ukraine of German support.

The German chancellor announced a military aid package worth €650m (£540m) during the trip amid doubts over his Ukraine policy at home and uncertainty over the upcoming presidency of Donald Trump and what it may mean for the war in Ukraine.

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French government faces no-confidence vote on Wednesday

PM Michel Barnier tells MPs they face ‘moment of truth’ after left and right lodge motions censuring government

The French government appears likely to fall this week after leftwing and far-right parties lodged motions of no confidence in response to the prime minister’s decision to push through a belt-tightening budget without a vote.

If passed by MPs, the motions, which will be put to a vote in the national assembly on Wednesday, will bring down the government and force Michel Barnier’s resignation after only two and a half months.

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Irish Greens virtually wiped out in general election rout

Junior coalition partner loses all but one of 12 seats, while gangland figure Gerry Hutch loses election bid

The Green party in Ireland has been virtually wiped out in the general election, and its leader admitted it was entering a period of “rebuild” after the electorate removed any prospect of the party re-entering government.

The Greens lost all but one of their 12 seats, with its leader, Roderic O’Gorman, scraping through on the 13th count.

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Romanian elections: ruling Social Democrats on course for most votes

Exit poll suggests leftwing PSD poised to defeat resurgent far-right movement in parliamentary election

Romania’s main centre-left party was on track to finish first in parliamentary elections, according to early exit polls, seemingly beating an advancing far right boosted by the shock victory of an ultranationalist in last week’s presidential first-round ballot.

The ruling Social Democratic party (PSD) was forecast to receive 26% of the vote, ahead of the far-right nationalist Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) on 19%, while the National Liberal party (PNL) and centre-right Save Romania Union (USR) were vying for third on 15-16%.

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Protesters rally in Georgia for fourth night as opposition grows to freeze on EU talks

Georgian media reports protests in at least eight cities and towns after Saturday’s demonstrations leave 44 in hospital

Protesters rallied in Georgia’s capital for a fourth consecutive night on Sunday and there were signs that opposition was spreading to the government’s decision to suspend talks on joining the European Union.

For months, tensions have been rising between the ruling Georgian Dream party and opponents who accuse it of pursuing increasingly authoritarian, anti-western and pro-Russian policies.

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Putin may have wanted Skripal dead over what he knew, UK officials believe

Ex-spy had information about Putin’s ‘embezzlement’ of profits from metals production, intelligence official says

Vladimir Putin may have ordered the assassination attempt on Sergei Skripal because the former Russian spy harboured secret information about the Russian president’s “criminal embezzlement” of profits from metals production, the UK government believes.

A leading intelligence official on Russia has said he took “at face value” Skripal’s assertions that secrets he knew about how Putin may have made money led to the nerve agent attack on him in Salisbury.

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Belgium’s sex workers win maternity pay and pension rights in world first

Move by lawmakers hailed as ‘huge step forward’, ending legal discrimination against sex workers

Belgian sex workers have gained the right to sick days, maternity pay and pension rights under the first law of its kind in the world.

Lawmakers voted in May to give sex workers the same employment protections as any other employee, in an attempt to clamp down on abuse and exploitation.

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‘The EU wants Ukraine to win this war’: who is its new chief diplomat Kaja Kallas?

She stepped down as Estonia’s prime minister to take up foreign policy role replacing tough talker Josep Borrell

It was no surprise that Kaja Kallas went to Ukraine on her first day as the EU’s chief diplomat.

Kallas, who stepped down as Estonia’s prime minister to take up the role, was accompanied in Kyiv on Sunday by the new European Council president, António Costa, and European enlargement commissioner, Marta Kos, marking the leadership changeover at the EU institutions on 1 December.

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