Category Archives: Europe

Protest from US after Kosovo closes Serbian offices

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Risk of raising tensions after parallel institutions serving Serb minority are declared illegal and shuttered by ethnic Albanian-led government

Kosovo authorities on Friday closed five parallel institutions working with the ethnic Serb minority, a move that was immediately criticised by the US and could further raise tensions with neighbouring Serbia.

Elbert Krasniqi, Kosovo’s minister of local administration, confirmed the closure of five so-called parallel institutions in the north – where most of the ethnic Serb minority lives – writing online that they “violate the Republic of Kosovo’s constitution and laws”.

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Zelenskiy fires head of air force after fatal crash of donated F-16 fighter jet

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Mykola Oleshchuk’s dismissal thought to be linked to death of pilot and loss of plane newly delivered to Ukraine

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has fired the head of Ukraine’s air force a day after it emerged that a recently delivered F-16 jet had crashed earlier this week, killing the pilot.

“I have decided to replace the commander of the air forces … I am eternally grateful to all our military pilots,” Zelenskiy said in his evening video address on Friday, without giving a reason for the dismissal of Mykola Oleshchuk.

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Europe blog: high-profile politician sprayed with liquid as Germany gears up for key state elections – as it happened

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Sahra Wagenknecht, whose alliance opposes Nato and military aid for Ukraine, said she was ‘scared but fine’ after incident in Erfurt

My colleague Deborah Cole has written a preview of this weekend’s elections in Saxony and Thuringia, looking at how the far-right AfD and the alliance founded by Sahra Wagenknecht – the politician who was attacked with liquid on Thursday – could spell an upheaval of the political landscape in Germany. You can read the full piece here:

The DPA news agency reports that German security authorities have warned of “unconventional incendiary devices” sent via freight service providers.

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Nicole Kidman’s erotic drama Babygirl sets pulses racing at Venice film festival

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Film among host of sexually explicit features on this year’s lineup as erotica returns to screens after years of chastity

It’s been 25 years since Nicole Kidman starred in Stanley Kubrick’s erotic classic Eyes Wide Shut opposite her then husband, Tom Cruise.

Although the Oscar-winner has evaded sexually explicit roles in recent years, she is making a comeback to the genre by playing the lead in one of the most risque feature films to premiere at the Venice film festival this year.

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Shell to cut hundreds of jobs in oil and gas exploration operations

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Reduction of about a fifth of workforce in two subdivisions part of plan to slash up to $3bn in costs by end of 2025

Shell is to cut hundreds of jobs from its oil and gas exploration operation in the latest move by the chief executive, Wael Sawan, to slash up to $3bn (£2.3bn) in costs by the end of next year.

The energy company is to cut about a fifth of its workforce in two subdivisions of its oil and gas business responsible for exploration strategy and developing its oil and gas finds.

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Funeral of refugee activist Viraj Mendis to draw mourners from all over Europe

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Mendis, who stayed in Manchester church for two years in 1980s to fight deportation, has died aged 68 in Germany

Refugees and human rights activists are making their way to Bremen in north-west Germany for the funeral of a man who fought for freedom and safety for asylum seekers.

Viraj Mendis came to prominence after seeking sanctuary in a Manchester church where he spent two years in the 1980s. He died aged 68 on 16 August in Bremen, which offered him sanctuary after he was deported from the UK.

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Basel to host Eurovision song contest for Switzerland in 2025

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City fought off competition from Berne, Geneva and Zurich to host event, which began in Switzerland in 1956

The Swiss city of Basel will host Eurovision in 2025, as the song contest’s 69th edition returns to the country where it was born in 1956.

The Alpine republic won the right to host next year’s event after the Swiss artist Nemo won the 2024 contest with the song The Code.

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Man sprays paint at German party leader during campaign event

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Sahra Wagenknecht attacked while about to speak on stage in run-up to Thuringia and Saxony state elections

The leader of a breakaway populist leftwing party in Germany, Sahra Wagenknecht, has been sprayed with pink paint while campaigning in elections in the eastern state of Thuringia.

Wagenknecht, a former high-profile member of the far-left party Die Linke, who this year founded the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), was attacked on stage on Thursday as she prepared to address crowds in Erfurt. She ducked as a man approached the stage and spattered paint in her direction, which hit her dress and face.

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Former Red Brigades member arrested in Argentina after four decades on run

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Leonardo Bertulazzi, 65, wanted in Italy for kidnapping and other crimes allegedly committed as part of far-left group

Police in Argentina have arrested a former Red Brigades member who has spent more than 40 years on the run from the justice system in Italy, where he is wanted for crimes including kidnapping and criminal association that he allegedly committed as part of the far-left guerrilla group.

Leonardo Bertulazzi had been living in Argentina for years as a refugee, a status he lost under the administration of the country’s radical rightwing president, Javier Milei. He was previously sentenced in absentia to 27 years in prison, and Italian police officers were present in Buenos Aires during his capture.

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Venezuela’s Maduro ‘has no democratic legitimacy’, EU decides

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Josep Borrell and European Council will not acknowledge president-elect as leader without seeing voting tallies

The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has said its members have given up hope of Nicolás Maduro producing evidence that he won Venezuela’s election and will not accept his legitimacy as president-elect.

Addressing reporters after EU foreign ministers held a video call with Edmundo González, the former diplomat widely believed to have beaten Maduro in the 28 July vote, Borrell announced: “The European Council decided that Maduro has no democratic legitimacy as president.”

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Clogs’ popularity helps Birkenstock to highest ever quarterly sales

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‘Ugly’ footwear trend boosts German company’s results but shares fall on bigger-than-expected drop in margins

Strong sales of clogs – which have been adopted by the American models Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner as part of this summer’s trend for “ugly” shoes – have helped Birkenstock to the highest quarterly sales in its history.

The German shoemaker, which listed on the US stock market in October last year valued at $7.5bn, said sales of “closed-toe silhouettes”, which include its clunky clogs, rose by more than twice the average for its products.

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Sweden warns of heightened risk of Russian sabotage

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Weapons facilities targeted as security companies report more sabotage attempts, espionage and cyber-attacks

Swedish authorities have warned of a heightened risk of Russian sabotage, in particular of weapons facilities, as the defence industry said it was being increasingly targeted.

Security companies in Sweden reported a rise in sabotage attempts, including using drones over defence company facilities to document and map them, “more aggressive” espionage, cyber-attacks and misinformation.

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EU states working on fresh proposal for youth mobility scheme with UK

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Giving young people chance to work, learn and train across Europe is ‘glue’ between countries, says German ambassador

EU member states are working on an updated proposal for a youth mobility scheme with the UK after an earlier paper by the European Commission was rejected out of hand by Labour in April, it has emerged.

EU sources say the 27 countries hope to come up with viable negotiating points for Brussels in coming weeks to feed into the expected negotiations on a reset of EU-UK relations being sought by the British prime minister, Keir Starmer.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Putin regime ‘threatening world with nuclear catastrophe,’ says Ukraine – as it happened

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IAEA has urged both sides to refrain from fighting around nuclear plants

Russia said Thursday that it took two more east Ukrainian villages - in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions - as its forces continue their advance deeper into the country.

The defence ministry said Russian forces captured the village of Mykolaivka, around 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the city of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, as well as the settlement of Stelmakhivka in the neighbouring Lugansk region.

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‘A test case for German democracy’: populists ride high before state elections

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Political landscape faces upheaval as far-right AfD and left-conservative BSW expected to perform strongly

The far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party has plastered the city centre of Erfurt with eye-catching posters of a jet soaring through a clear blue sky, conjuring up many Germans’ dream of a tropical holiday. Only the tagline reveals a darker message: “Summer, Sun, Remigration.”

As it campaigns for votes in its east German heartland, the AfD has long since embraced the slogan that last winter sent hundreds of thousands of Germans on to the streets in protest against revelations of a rightwing “master plan” to deport unwanted foreigners and citizens alike.

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Suspect arrested in Sweden after Britons found dead in burnt-out car

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Person held on suspicion of aiding and abetting murder of Londoners Farooq Abdulrazak and Juan Cifuentes

Swedish authorities have arrested and held a person on suspicion of aiding and abetting the murder of two British citizens who were found dead in a burnt-out car in Malmö.

The two victims, whose identities have been confirmed by the prosecutor as Farooq Abdulrazak, 37, and Juan Cifuentes, 33, were discovered on 14 July.

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Refugee NGOs attack EU shipwreck ‘double standard’ after Bayesian effort

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Organisations who try to save lives in Mediterranean say Sicily response showed what can be done

The tremendous resources and global attention dedicated to the tragedy of the Bayesian superyacht hint at a double standard for shipwrecks in the Mediterranean, several NGOs dedicated to assisting asylum seekers have said, citing the barriers they regularly face as they attempt to save lives in the same waters.

The groups that spoke to the Guardian were swift to express their regret and extend their sympathies for the deaths of seven people after the luxury vessel was hit by violent storms off the coast of Italy.

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‘Happiness recession’: UK 15-year-olds at bottom of European satisfaction league

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Quarter of British teenagers in age group report low life satisfaction, compared with 7% of their Dutch peers

More 15-year-olds are reporting low life satisfaction in the UK than anywhere else in Europe, amid what experts are describing as a “happiness recession” for British teenagers.

The group is at the bottom of European rankings in terms of life satisfaction across 27 nations, analysis by the Children’s Society reveals. In the UK 25% of 15-year-olds reported low life satisfaction, compared with 7% of Dutch children of the same age – the lowest level among any of the countries surveyed.

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Starmer promises ‘project of hope’ in UK amid concern about rise of far right

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Prime minister says ‘progressives have to provide the better answer’ during visit to Germany

Keir Starmer has expressed concern that the UK could face a rise in mass far-right populism as seen in Germany and France, as he said it was his mission to “inject some hope” into the country.

Speaking to reporters in Germany, where the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) could come top in three state elections next month, Starmer said the increase in support for such groups was “something that occupies my time”, especially after UK riots partly inspired by far-right misinformation.

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Telegram CEO charged in France for ‘allowing criminal activity’ on messaging app

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Pavel Durov, who has French citizenship, faces prosecution over alleged failure to suppress spread of sexual images of children and calls for violence

The head of Telegram, Pavel Durov, has been charged by the French judiciary for allegedly allowing criminal activity on the messaging app but avoided jail with a €5m bail.

The Russian-born multi-billionaire, who has French citizenship, was granted release on condition that he report to a police station twice a week and remain in France, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement.

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