Category Archives: Europe

Protesters storm Abkhazia parliament over Russian investment deal

Posted on by

Black Sea separatist region is backed by Moscow but recognised as part of Georgia by most of the world

Protesters have stormed the regional parliament in Abkhazia, forcing the government to halt an investment deal with Russia that some fear will spoil the breakaway Georgian region’s natural beauty.

The Black Sea separatist region is backed by Moscow but recognised as part of Georgia by most of the world. It has been thrust into turmoil over concerns that a proposed investment deal with Russia could lead to apartment complexes mushrooming in a region known for its natural beauty and beaches.

Continue reading...

Scholz’s call with Putin will open ‘Pandora’s box’, Zelenskyy says

Posted on by

Ukrainian president says talk between German and Russian leaders on war will reduce Putin’s isolation

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that a telephone conversation between Olaf Scholz and Vladimir Putin will open a “Pandora’s box”, after the German chancellor and the Russian leader discussed the war in Ukraine in a rare call on Friday.

Scholz urged his Russian counterpart to withdraw troops from Ukraine and negotiate with Kyiv to achieve a just and lasting peace, in the first call between a major western leader and Putin since December 2022.

Continue reading...

‘A fork in the road’: laundry-sorting robot spurs AI hopes and fears at Europe’s biggest tech event

Posted on by

Humanoid called Digit fuelled boosterism at Web Summit, but also raised concerns about jobs, safety and climate

This year’s Web Summit, in Lisbon, was all about artificial intelligence – and a robot sorting laundry.

Digit, a humanoid built by the US firm Agility Robotics, demonstrated how far AI has come in a few years by responding to voice commands – filtered through Google’s Gemini AI model – to sift through a pile of coloured T-shirts and place them in a basket.

Continue reading...

Shrinking GDP forecast adds to German woes after coalition collapse

Posted on by

European Commission figures predict German economy, usually the engine of the EU, will contract O.1% this year

Germany’s looming general election will be fought against the backdrop of a stagnating economy, the European Commission has forecast, with GDP expected to have contracted in 2024.

The commission’s quarterly forecast suggested Germany, traditionally the engine of the bloc’s economy, will be its weakest performer in 2025, notching up growth of just 0.7% after shrinking by 0.1% this year.

Continue reading...

Fans clash at football match between France and Israel

Posted on by

Skirmish quickly quashed by security guards at stadium as riot police is deployed at ‘high-risk’ game

A skirmish involving Israel fans broke out in the stands of the Stade de France during a tense match between Israel and France’s men’s football teams, but a heavy police presence ensured a repeat of the serious violence in Amsterdam was avoided.

The game had been designated as “high risk” after the hooliganism and antisemitism witnessed in the Netherlands before and after a Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv last week.

Continue reading...

Man suspected of supplying boats to people smugglers arrested in Amsterdam

Posted on by

Turkish national accused of supplying engines and boats to cross-Channel smugglers in Belgium and northern France

A suspected supplier of “hundreds” of small boat engines used by people smugglers to transport asylum seekers across the Channel has been arrested in Amsterdam, officials said.

A 44-year-old Turkish national was arrested on Wednesday after arriving at Schiphol airport, the UK’s National Crime Agency said. The suspect was due to be extradited to Belgium to face charges of being involved in human trafficking as part of a criminal organisation.

Continue reading...

Jailed Bosnian Serb general says he aided and abetted Srebrenica genocide

Posted on by

Confession met with scepticism after other war criminals made similar statements to win early release from prison

A Bosnian Serb general jailed by the war crimes tribunal in The Hague for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre has confessed to having “aided and abetted the genocide”.

Survivors and families of the more than 8,300 people who died in the mass killing reacted with scepticism to the confession by Radislav Krstić, a corps commander who led the assault on the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica and oversaw the execution of captured men and boys.

Continue reading...

UK court sides with Icelandic firm over artist’s spoof corruption apology

Posted on by

Judge considering complaint by fishing firm Samherji rules artist Odee unlikely to be able to defend work as parody

The property rights of Iceland’s largest fishing company prevail over the right to artistic expression of an artist who spoofed the firm’s website to draw attention to a high-profile corruption scandal, London’s high court has ruled.

For his 2023 work We’re Sorry, the Icelandic artist Oddur Eysteinn Friðriksson, who goes by the moniker Odee, copied the corporate identity of Samherji, a major supplier to Britain’s fish and chips industry, and uploaded on to the spoof website a statement titled “Samherji Apologizes, Pledges Restitution and Cooperation with Authorities”.

Continue reading...

Banana-phobe Swedish minister’s staff insisted on ‘no traces in the room’

Posted on by

Colleagues speak up in Paulina Brandberg’s support after leaked emails reveal efforts to spare her from the fruit

A Swedish government minister’s fear of bananas has become a national talking point after emails revealed that such is the strength of her aversion that aides try to clear rooms of the fruit before she enters.

Paulina Brandberg, the minister for gender equality and work life, has previously spoken out about her issue with bananas, describing it as “the world’s weirdest phobia”.

Continue reading...

Almost half of Valencia’s flood victims were aged over 70, figures show

Posted on by

Police reveal ages and genders of the 216 people who died in Valencia, along with eight other victims elsewhere in Spain

Almost half of the 216 people known to have died in the catastrophic floods that hit the eastern Spanish region of Valencia at the end of October were 70 or above, according to a police analysis.

Figures from the data integration centre set up after the disaster show that 131 of the victims were male, 85 were female and 104 were aged over 70, including 15 aged over 90.

Continue reading...

Gulag History Museum in Moscow temporarily closed ‘for safety reasons’

Posted on by

Kremlin critics fear move is part of Russia’s efforts to whitewash Soviet past and shut independent cultural institutions

Moscow’s award-winning Gulag History Museum announced its surprise closure on Thursday, a move critics attribute to the Kremlin’s efforts to whitewash Russia’s Soviet past.

The closure was officially put down to alleged violations of fire safety regulations but comes amid an intense campaign by Russian officials against independent civil society and those who question the state’s interpretation of history.

Continue reading...

French military systems in Sudan may break UN arms embargo, says Amnesty

Posted on by

Group says it has identified the Galix defence system on armoured vehicles imported from the UAE and calls for government to investigate

France must investigate the use of its military systems by Sudan’s paramilitary forces, which could be in breach of an arms embargo, Amnesty International has said.

The group said it had identified the French-made Galix defence system being used in Sudan on armoured vehicles manufactured in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – considered a key supplier of weapons to the Rapid Support Force (RSF).

Continue reading...

Dutch authorities investigate alleged police violence after pro-Palestinian protest

Posted on by

Amsterdam police say they are aware of footage that appears to show officers beating protesters after banned rally

Dutch authorities have said they are investigating reports of police violence against pro-Palestinian protesters after a banned rally on Wednesday evening had been broken up.

Amsterdam police said on X that they were aware of online footage, which seemed to show police officers beating protesters who had already been released after being taken away from the site of the protest.

Continue reading...

Monaco Grand Prix’s long-term future resolved with F1 extension until 2031

Posted on by
  • Race remains on F1 calendar after six-year deal agreed
  • Contest has been part of motor sport scene since 1950

Formula One’s iconic Monaco Grand Prix will remain on the calendar until at least 2031 after a six-year extension was announced on Thursday, with a date change to June that also avoids future clashes with the Indianapolis 500.

The race around the streets of Monte Carlo was part of the first world championship season in 1950 and has been present since, with the exception of 2020 during the global pandemic.

Continue reading...

Paris prosecutor seeks jail and public office ban for Marine Le Pen

Posted on by

Request in embezzlement trial threatens to undermine National Rally’s efforts to polish image before 2027 polls

A Paris prosecutor has requested a five-year prison sentence and a five-year ban from public office for the far-right leader Marine Le Pen, at a trial in which she and 24 others are accused of embezzling EU funds.

The trial, which comes almost a decade after initial investigations started, threatens to undermine her National Rally (RN) party’s efforts to polish its image before the 2027 presidential election, which many believe she could win.

Continue reading...

Dead drops, PR stunts and punishment beatings: the rapid rise of Russia’s powerful darknet drug industry

Posted on by

Tech-savvy organised crime groups profiting from billion-dollar enterprise that is spreading beyond Russian borders

At any one moment in towns and cities across Russia, thousands of drug packages lie buried in the ground, attached by magnets to lamp-posts or taped underneath window sills, waiting to be picked up by their intended customers.

From the streets of Moscow to remote towns in Siberia, hand-to-hand buying of illegal drugs – as is the norm in most of the world – is on the wane. Instead, retail-size bags of drugs are secreted using spycraft by an army of young kladmen (stash men) who upload dead-drop locations, which are unlocked when customers make an online purchase.

Continue reading...

Loyalty the key as impulsive Trump picks team for America First agenda

Posted on by

President-elect’s team has China hawks, an alleged Assad defender and a Fox News host – all have been vocally loyal

As Donald Trump rushes to fill out his cabinet and enact his America First agenda in the United States and abroad, a clear throughline for his foreign policy and national security team has been a vocal loyalty to the president-elect – at least in this election cycle.

The rapidly expanding roster includes established – and some Maga supporters would say establishment – foreign policy hawks, and a neophyte defense secretary who until this week was still a conservative commentator on Fox News.

Continue reading...

Mysterious 300-carat diamond necklace fetches £3.8m in Geneva auction

Posted on by

Worn at Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, the necklace has possible links to the downfall of Marie Antoinette

A mysterious diamond-laden necklace with possible links to a scandal that contributed to the downfall of Marie Antoinette has sold for $4.8m (£3.8m) at an auction in Geneva.

The 18th-century item of jewellery containing approximately 300 carats of diamonds had been estimated to sell at the Sotheby’s Royal and Noble Jewels sale for $1.8-2.8m.

Continue reading...

Amsterdam police detain pro-Palestine protesters defying ban

Posted on by

Dozens held under emergency measures imposed after violence that erupted around football match

Police have detained pro-Palestinian protesters rallying in central Amsterdam in defiance of a ban imposed after violence stemming from a football match between Ajax and Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Dozens of demonstrators, some with Palestinian flags, chanted “Amsterdam is saying no to genocide” and “Free Palestine”.

Continue reading...

Ireland orders X, TikTok and Instagram to curb terrorist content

Posted on by

Regulator issues online safety ruling after finding weak processes leave networks ‘exposed to terrorist content’

Elon Musk’s X, TikTok and Meta’s Instagram have been ordered by Irish media regulators to take “necessary measures” to prevent terrorist content being platformed in order to comply with sweeping new online safety legislation.

The Irish media regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, said it issued the ruling after its investigations determined that the social media networks were “exposed to terrorist content” due to weak processes.

Continue reading...