Second world war veteran Harold Terens and Jeanne Swerlin enjoy wedding party – with Macron and Biden
Together, the collective age of the bride and groom was nearly 200. But second world war veteran Harold Terens and his sweetheart, Jeanne Swerlin, proved that love is eternal as they tied the knot Saturday inland of the D-Day beaches in Normandy, France.
Their respective ages – he’s 100, she’s 96 – made their nuptials an almost double-century celebration.
Continue reading...Péter Magyar’s Tisza party trails the populist leader in the polls, but is offering liberal voters renewed hope
Thousands of people rallied in Budapest on Saturday as a political newcomer led a push to mobilise voters against Hungary’s populist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, ahead of European elections on Sunday.
“We defeated apathy,” declared Péter Magyar, a former government insider who switched sides and launched an opposition movement, as he stood in front of a vast crowd which filled the capital’s Heroes’ Square.
Continue reading...Attack on Mette Frederiksen unlikely to be ‘politically motivated’, authorities say, as 39-year-old man remanded
An attack on the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, which left her “shaken” and with a whiplash injury, was probably not “politically motivated”, Danish authorities have said.
A 39-year-old Polish man, who was apprehended after allegedly hitting the prime minister on Friday evening, was remanded in custody until 20 June after appearing before a Copenhagen court, the prosecutor Taruh Sekeroglu told reporters.
Continue reading...Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, was hit by a man on Friday evening
Robert Fico, Slovakia’s prime minister who was shot and seriously injured in May, cast his vote at a hospital in Bratislava.
Fico, a populist politician who is closely allied with Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and has promoted a foreign policy more friendly toward Russia, wrote on social media:
I voted in the hospital because these elections are also important. It is necessary to vote for MEPs who will support peace initiatives and not the continuation of war.
Consent of western countries given to Ukraine to use western weapons to attack targets on Russian territory is just a proof that big western democracies do not want peace, but an escalation of tensions with the Russian Federation, which will surely happen.
Continue reading...Video is believed to be one of last two sightings before British TV doctor left village of Pedi on Greek island
The wife of the British TV doctor Michael Mosley, who has gone missing on the Greek island of Symi, has said her family “will not lose hope” as the search for her husband continues.
Mosley, known for his appearances on The One Show and This Morning, disappeared during a walk in the north-east of the island on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Foreign secretary had brief video call with person claiming to be Petro Poroshenko, says Foreign Office
The UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, has been the victim of a hoax video call with someone claiming to be Petro Poroshenko, the former president of Ukraine, it has been revealed.
A number of text messages were exchanged followed by a brief video call between Lord Cameron and someone purporting to be Poroshenko, the Foreign Office said in a statement.
Continue reading...Business secretary is due to meet Czech tycoon to discuss a takeover the Guardian has raised questions about
The business secretary, Kemi Badenoch, is being pressed to question the Royal Mail bidder Daniel Křetínský on his business links, after the Guardian raised questions about a series of controversial global property deals connected to the Czech billionaire’s longtime business partners.
Badenoch is scheduled to meet the tycoon next week to discuss his £3.57bn bid for the 500-year-old institution, which will be subjected to a review under the National Security and Investment Act.
Continue reading...Figurine sits in front garden of family that previously claimed to have seen tears of blood from another statue
In the front garden of the Gregori family home on the outskirts of Civitavecchia, a port city close to Rome, is a well-curated grotto containing a tiny, rusting statue of the Virgin Mary surrounded by plants and flowers. The figurine was bought from a souvenir shop at the Catholic pilgrimage site in Medjugorje, Bosnia.
In late April, as a group of pilgrims huddled around the grotto to pray, the statue purportedly exuded a scented oil. It was not the first time it was said to have sweated oil, but the moment, filmed by some of those present and shared on social media, reignited fascination in Italy over claims of the supernatural, pitting believers against naysayers. The story was all the more intriguing because the Gregoris were the protagonists of another mysterious weeping statue case in the mid-1990s.
Continue reading...Attack took place in central Copenhagen on Friday but it is unclear whether Frederiksen was injured
A man has been arrested after attacking Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen in central Copenhagen on Friday.
It was unclear whether Frederiksen was injured by the attacker. The prime minister’s office said in a statement that Frederiksen was “shocked by the incident”, but did not provide further details.
Continue reading...Party of far-right populist predicted to take 11 seats against six for challenger who is building a centrist movement
Céline, a civil servant and administrator in several French government ministries, used to keep quiet about the fact that she voted for the far-right, anti-immigration party of Marine Le Pen. “I couldn’t talk about it at work; people would say: ‘You’re a fascist.’ It was frowned upon – it was almost a sackable offence,” said the 68-year-old, who retired three years ago.
But today, even in her hometown of Boulogne-Billancourt, west of Paris, where the largely well-off residents have been historically closed to the far right, and voted 83% for the centrist Emmanuel Macron in the 2022 presidential final round, Céline has noticed a shift in the public mood.
Continue reading...US president says sorry for ‘weeks of not knowing’, referring to members of Congress holding up $225m aid package
The US president, Joe Biden, has apologised publicly to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, for the months of delay in American military assistance that allowed Russia to make gains on the battlefield, and announced a further $225m (£177m) in military aid to Ukraine.
Meeting Zelenskiy in Paris on Friday, Biden told him: “You haven’t bowed down, you haven’t yielded at all, you continue to fight in a way that is … just remarkable. We are not going to walk away from you.”
Continue reading...Celebrations cancelled due to low uptake as people go off public nudity in country known for liberal attitudes
An organisation promoting nudity and a self-confident approach towards the body in Germany has sounded the alarm over the future of naturism in the country.
The German Association for Free Body Culture (DFK), an umbrella organisation for myriad naturist interest groups, has told its members that celebrations in August marking the anniversary of its creation will no longer go ahead owing to a lack of interest.
Continue reading...Local police scour Greek island of Symi two days after TV doctor and columnist went missing
The search for the TV doctor and columnist Michael Mosley has resumed on the Greek island of Symi, two days after he went missing.
Local police have confirmed that officers with sniffer dogs are scouring the island after they paused the search-and-rescue operation for the 67-year-old Briton on Thursday night.
Continue reading...German tennis player agrees deal after Brenda Patea alleged he pushed and strangled her, which he denied
The German tennis player Alexander Zverev has settled an assault case against him for allegedly pushing and strangling his then girlfriend, a charge he denied.
The deal reached between the world No 4 and his former partner Brenda Patea marks the end of a lengthy legal battle, with the Berlin court hearing the case officially declaring no verdict.
Continue reading...Leaders rally behind Zelenskiy to make clear to Putin that, as in 1944, freedom in Europe is worth fighting for
Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron have marked the 80th anniversary of D-day with a rallying cry for support for Ukraine as Volodymyr Zelenskiy was embraced by western leaders in Normandy.
The US president used his address at the American commemorative event to send a message to Moscow that the US and its allies “will not bow down” and will “stand for freedom”.
Continue reading...President warns at 80th anniversary that democracy is under greater threat than at any time since second world war
Joe Biden has marked the 80th anniversary of the D-day landings in Normandy with an impassioned call to western allies to continue supporting Ukraine in the face of the “unending struggle between dictatorship and freedom”.
Speaking on Thursday at a ceremony at the Normandy American cemetery attended by his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, and dozens of surviving veterans from the second world war, Biden drew parallels between the Allied troops who fought to free Europe and the alliance of nations that came together to defend Ukraine against Russian aggression.
Continue reading...World leaders attend international commemorative ceremony as French president draws comparisons with Ukraine conflict
The British prime minister Rishi Sunak will miss the major international ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day but the Labour leader Keir Starmer will attend alongside world leaders at the Omaha Beach event.
Sunak is attending events in Normandy including speaking at the major British ceremony, but he will not be present alongside leaders including Emmanuel Macron and Joe Biden at the international gathering.
Continue reading...Agent says columnist and presenter has been missing since he went for a coastal hike on Greek island of Symi
A search is under way for the TV doctor and newspaper columnist Michael Mosley, who went missing after going on a coastal walk on the Greek island of Symi.
The 67-year-old, known for his appearances on The One Show and This Morning, was last seen when he set off hiking along St Nicholas beach at 1.30pm local time (1130 BST) on Wednesday. His wife, Dr Clare Bailey, alerted authorities after he failed to return by 7.30pm, but they were unable to locate him overnight.
Continue reading...French officials insist on checking paperwork of 400 troops landing in Normandy for 80th anniversary commemoration
Eyebrows were raised at the Ministry of Defence when French immigration and customs insisted on checking the paperwork of 400 British paratroopers immediately after they dropped into fields near Saneville, Normandy on Wednesday.
Some felt the French were trying to make a point in response to the UK’s decision to leave the EU and, while immigration checks for British troops on exercise abroad are routine, doing so at a public commemoration is deemed exceptional.
Continue reading...American says she is ‘sad but determined’ after Italian court upholds her conviction
Amanda Knox has said an Italian court’s decision to uphold her slander conviction for wrongly accusing a bar owner of murdering the British student Meredith Kercher was “unfair and incorrect” and vowed to continue her fight against “this injustice”.
Knox, 36, left through a back exit of a Florence appeals court on Wednesday and cancelled a planned press conference after judges rejected her appeal to have the conviction dropped.
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