PM sends message of solidarity as Ukrainians celebrate anniversary of exit from USSR
Keir Starmer has told Ukrainians that the UK will back them “today and always” as Kyiv marks 33 years since it declared independence from the Soviet Union.
The prime minister described his message to frontline fighters and people who have sought refuge in Britain as “crystal clear” as community groups, councils and parishes around the UK plan to mark the anniversary on Saturday.
Continue reading...Police in western city of Solingen search for unknown assailant after attack during festival attended by thousands that also seriously injured five
Police in Germany are searching for an unknown suspect behind a mass stabbing at a festival on Friday night that killed three and injured eight, five of them seriously.
The knife attack took place as thousands of people gathered at the central square in the city of Solingen in the country’s west during celebrations to mark its 650th anniversary, billed as a festival of diversity.
Continue reading...Stings needing medical attention surge by 41% as rising sea temperatures due to the climate crisis boost reproduction
Costa Brava resorts in Spain’s north-east are struggling to cope with an influx of jellyfish as rising sea temperatures facilitate reproduction and drive species farther north.
Between May and August almost 7,500 people on the Catalan coast sought medical attention for jellyfish stings – a 41% increase on last year. The stings are painful and can have unpleasant consequences for anyone with compromised immunity.
Continue reading...French actor, who died aged 88 last Sunday, had expressed wish to be buried like ‘anyone else’
Alain Delon had expressed the wish to be buried just like “anyone else”.
But as a crowd of journalists, television crews and fans gathered outside the wrought iron gates of his country home on Saturday, it was clear this was not the funeral of just anyone.
Continue reading...Indian PM says he respects and supports ‘sovereignty and territorial integrity’ of Ukraine during historic visit
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, made a historic visit to Kyiv on Friday and told Volodymyr Zelenskiy he was ready to work “as a friend” to bring about a peace deal that would end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Modi said he respected and supported Ukraine’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity”. “It is our highest priority,” he said, adding that he had told Vladimir Putin during their meeting in July that “problems cannot be resolved on the battlefield”. The war could only end through “dialogue and diplomacy”, he stressed.
Continue reading...Prisoners who carried out attack that left several guards dead at high-security jail ‘liquidated’, says national guard
Russian special forces have freed hostages taken by four men linked to the Islamic State who carried out an attack at a high-security prison in the southern Volgograd region, resulting in the deaths of several prison guards.
Russia’s national guard announced in a statement that special forces snipers “liquidated” all four hostage-takers before the colony was stormed and the hostages were freed.
Continue reading...Daughter, 18, of tech tycoon Mike Lynch was one of seven people to die when the Bayesian sank off Sicily
The 18-year-old daughter of the British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, whose body was recovered on Friday from the wreck of her father’s yacht, was “fiercely intelligent and genuinely kind” and had a promising future, friends and teachers have said.
Hannah Lynch was described as “one of the best English students in the country”. She was one of seven people, including her father, who died after his yacht Bayesian sank during a storm off the coast of Sicily on Monday.
Continue reading...Meeting with president in bid to break political deadlock hailed as positive even if Macron has yet to name a PM
Leaders of France’s leftwing coalition declared they were “extremely satisfied” after Emmanuel Macron launched the first of a series of tense consultations aimed at pulling together a new government.
The New Popular Front (NFP) wants the president to name its candidate prime minister to break a six-week political deadlock.
Continue reading...Coastguard confirms body of Hannah Lynch, 18, found after four-day search, bringing number of dead to seven
Prosecutors in Italy are investigating potential manslaughter charges relating to the sinking of the superyacht Bayesian as the body of Mike Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, was recovered.
The Bayesian sank off the coast of Sicily early on Monday morning when the area was hit by violent storms. Seven people died, including the British tech entrepreneur Lynch.
Continue reading...Indian PM calls on Ukraine and Russia to open dialogue as soon as possible to find way out of conflict
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser in the Ukrainian president’s office, has told Reuters that Narendra Modi’s visit to Kyiv is significant because New Delhi “really has a certain influence” over Moscow.
“It’s extremely important for us to effectively build relations with such countries, to explain to them what the correct end to the war is - and that it is also in their interests,” he said.
Continue reading...Campaigners denounce ‘pure slaughter’, which could threaten survival of entire Scandinavian population
More than 150 brown bears have been killed in the opening days of Sweden’s annual bear hunt, as controversy mounts over what conservationists have called “pure slaughter”.
The Swedish government issued 486 licences to shoot bears in this year’s hunt, equivalent to about 20% of the remaining brown bear population. This follows a record-breaking cull of 722 bears last year. By Thursday afternoon – the second day of the hunt – 152 bears had already been shot, according to Sweden’s Environmental Protection Agency.
Continue reading...Marinovka airbase becomes latest target of Kyiv’s ambitious long-range drone campaign
Ukraine has carried out a night-time drone attack on a Kremlin military airfield near the city of Volgograd and announced the capture of another village in Russia’s Kursk region, as Russian forces pressed on with their advance in the Donetsk region.
Volgograd’s governor, Andrei Bocharov, said the strike took place at about 3am. Local people reported a series of explosions. Several hours later, ammunition continued to detonate as a vast carpet of black smoke engulfed the area.
Continue reading...Social media influencer and brother among six detained for crimes including trafficking and sexual exploitation of minors
A Romanian court has ordered Andrew Tate to be placed under house arrest, his representative said, after he was among six people taken into custody in an investigation into human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
The former professional kickboxer and his brother Tristan were among six people detained on Wednesday for an initial 24 hours after Romania’s anti-organised crime prosecuting unit, Diicot, conducted four house searches in Ilfov county and the Bucharest municipality.
Continue reading...Felipe David says he acted ‘without thinking’ when he saw the boy had gotten into trouble at Alicante apartment
A Brazilian migrant living in Spain has been hailed as a hero after he risked his own life to rescue a young child who was dangling precariously off a second-floor balcony in the coastal city of Alicante.
Felipe David Souza, a 29-year-old painter, was preparing to head home on Wednesday when he heard screams outside the apartment where he was working. He glanced out and saw that a crowd of people had gathered on the street below.
Continue reading...Tech tycoon, 59, was among six people missing since early hours of Monday morning when Bayesian yacht capsized
The British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch has been confirmed dead by search and rescue authorities after his yacht sank off the coast of Sicily during a violent storm, according to officials.
Lynch, 59, the founder of Autonomy Corporation, was among six people missing after the British-flagged 56-metre sailing boat Bayesian capsized at about 5am local time on Monday off the coast of Palermo when the area was hit by a tornado.
Continue reading...Tech tycoon’s 18-year-old daughter Hannah is still unaccounted for, reports say. This live blog is closed
Assostampa, one of the main unions of Italian journalists, has issued a press release accusing the authorities of hindering the work of reporters on the Bayesian incident in Porticello.
According to the union, the “silence of the authorities is making the work of the press difficult, forcing them to carry out a complex and challenging task in order to verify the news”.
Continue reading...French service sector drives growth but experts warn strong figures mask disappointing performance elsewhere
The Paris Olympics have provided a boost to the eurozone economy after a sharp rise in spending as athletes and spectators descended on the French capital for the summer sporting event.
Figures from a closely watched survey of businesses showed monthly French private sector output rose to its highest level in 17 months in August.
Continue reading...Emma Ramsay, 19, was on holiday with friends in San Antonio and police are treating her death as an accident
A Scots law student has died while on holiday in Ibiza after reportedly falling from a sixth-floor hotel balcony.
Emma Ramsay, 19, is reported to have died in the early hours of Tuesday morning after a fall at a beachfront hotel in the resort of San Antonio, in the north-west of the Spanish island.
Continue reading...Comments come after wave of false claims online about suspect in killing of 11-year-old boy
A Spanish judge has called for an end to social media anonymity in the wake of a wave of online disinformation after the killing of an 11-year-old boy.
Miguel Ángel Aguilar, a judge from the court that handles hate crimes and discrimination, wants to oblige platforms to reveal users’ true identity in cases of suspected hate crime so the law can impose digital restraining orders.
Continue reading...Singer shares ‘rollercoaster of emotions’ at end of European leg of Eras tour, saying she is grateful ‘we were grieving concerts and not lives’
Taylor Swift has spoken for the first time about the three Vienna shows on her blockbuster Eras tour that were cancelled earlier this month after a foiled terror attack, saying she felt “a new sense of fear” and a “tremendous amount of guilt”.
The planned terror attack was uncovered by Austrian authorities who eventually arrested three teenaged suspects – aged 17, 18 and 19 – for allegedly planning an Islamist attack in the Vienna region, with Swift’s shows being the “focus” of the plot.
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