Russia-Ukraine war: Nato ministers agree to plan for greater alliance role in coordinating Ukraine aid, says Stoltenberg – as it happened

Allies will plan for ‘greater Nato role in coordinating security assistance and training’, says Nato secretary general

They have become a familiar sight in the skies above parts of Russia: long-range enemy drones, buzzing their way to another target.

In the biggest Ukrainian onslaught inside Russian territory since Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion two years ago, Ukraine has in recent weeks carried out a series of attacks on Russian oil refineries and ports. On Tuesday, it hit a refinery and drone factory in the industrial region of Tatarstan - more than 800 miles from the border.

Allied support to Ukraine is a fraction of the resources needed for deterrence and defence of North Atlantic area and yet the successful defence of Ukraine greatly impacts the overall cost of Nato’s defence.

Serious long-term support of Ukraine requires predictable, equitable and robust allocation of resources.

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Endangered Greek dialect is ‘living bridge’ to ancient world, researchers say

Romeyka descended from ancient Greek but may die out as it has no written form and is spoken by only a few thousand people

An endangered form of Greek that is spoken by only a few thousand people in remote mountain villages of northern Turkey has been described as a “living bridge” to the ancient world, after researchers identified characteristics that have more in common with the language of Homer than with modern Greek.

The precise number of speakers of Romeyka is hard to quantify. It has no written form, but has survived orally in the mountain villages around Trabzon, near the Black Sea coast.

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Ukraine military draft age lowered to boost fighting force

Volodymyr Zelenskiy signs bills lowering age for combat duty from 27 to 25 and requiring those given disability waivers to undergo a fresh assessment

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has signed a bill to lower the mobilisation age for combat duty from 27 to 25, a move that should help Ukraine generate more fighting power in its war with Russia.

The move expands the number of civilians the army can mobilise into its ranks to fight under martial law, which has been in place since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

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Three killed after helicopter crashes in Swiss Alps

Three others injured after aircraft slid down slope during drop-off near summit of Petit Combin mountain

Three people have been killed and three others injured after a helicopter crashed while dropping off skiers on the Petit Combin mountain in the Swiss Alps.

The B3-type helicopter crashed at a landing site during a heliski drop-off on Tuesday, the Wallis regional police force said in a statement.

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‘Wonderful experience’: Researcher’s close encounter with Svalbard polar bears

Meteorologist says bears were not aggressive but they fired signal gun to scare them away

Katarzyna Kudłacz was preparing a breakfast of scrambled eggs at a research station on Svalbard when she looked up to see she had three unexpected guests.

Shocked and in awe, the meteorologist immediately alerted her colleagues to the female polar bear and her two cubs peering into the Polish research station in Hornsund, in the south of the Norwegian archipelago, their noses pressed up against the window.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: drones strike Russian factories more than 1,000km from Ukraine

Kyiv officials say attack in Tatarstan was on a facility producing long-range drones

Two weeks before the deadly terrorist attack at a Moscow theatre killed more than 130 people in March, the United States intelligence community notified its Russian counterparts of an imminent assault.

But on Tuesday Russian spy service chief Sergei Naryshkin has said that while the US did send Moscow intelligence, it was far too general.

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Finland school shooting: 12-year-old arrested after fellow pupil dies

Two other children seriously injured in incident in Helsinki suburb described by minister as ‘horrifying’

A 12-year-old child has died and two others have been seriously wounded in a school shooting in Finland.

The suspect, a fellow pupil, ran off after the shooting but was later arrested, police said. He was holding a licensed handgun owned by a close relative and admitted carrying out the shooting in an initial interview, they added.

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Ukrainian drone attacks target oil refinery and factory deep inside Russia

Attacks more than 800 miles from border are first in Tatarstan region since beginning of war

Ukraine has launched a series of drone strikes against targets in Russia more than 800 miles from the border, in some of its deepest attacks into Russia’s industrial heartland since the beginning of the war.

The Ukrainian drones targeted one of Russia’s largest oil refineries and a factory that produces Iranian-designed Shahed drones that have been used on the frontlines.

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US teenager among three killed in avalanche near Swiss resort of Zermatt

Police say they have yet to identify a man and woman also killed in avalanche on Monday

Three people, including a teenager from the US, have been killed in an avalanche near the Swiss resort of Zermatt, police said on Tuesday. One person was flown to hospital with serious injuries.

The avalanche occurred at about 2pm on Monday in an off-piste area of the Riffelberg, above the resort and below the Matterhorn. Rescuers recovered three bodies and the injured skier, a 20-year-old Swiss man.

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Five killed by falling trees as winds reach 96mph in southern Poland

Deaths, including those of two children, occured in three separate incidents, two in Zakopane and one in Rabka-Zdrój

Five people have been killed by falling trees as strong winds battered southern Poland on Monday, reaching a speed of 96mph (155km/h) in the highest parts of the Tatra mountains.

In the town of Rabka-Zdrój, two women and a six-year-old died after a tree crushed them, firefighters said.

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Opposition wins across Turkey owe much to younger, fresher candidates

A new cohort of leaders inflicted an unprecedented wave of defeats on President Erdoğan who seemed to have little to offer the electorate

A fresh-faced challenger hailed a new dawn for Turkish democracy, as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan comforted a defeated crowd outside his party’s headquarters, telling them: “Unfortunately we couldn’t get the result we wanted … everything happens for a reason.”

Supporters of Istanbul’s mayor celebrated long into the night after Ekrem İmamoğlu secured a second term in office, as Turkey’s main opposition party swept to victory in local elections.

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EU pumps four times more money into farming animals than growing plants

CAP scheme, which pays more to farms that occupy more land, drives ‘perverse outcomes for a food transition’, says study

The EU has made polluting diets “artificially cheap” by pumping four times more money into farming animals than growing plants, research has found.

More than 80% of the public money given to farmers through the EU’s common agriculture policy (CAP) went to animal products in 2013 despite the damage they do to society, according to a study in Nature Food. Factoring in animal feed doubled the subsidies that were embodied in a kilogram of beef, the meat with the biggest environmental footprint, from €0.71 to €1.42 (61p to £1.22).

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Russia-Ukraine war: Volodymyr Zelenskiy discusses drone production with military and government officials – as it happened

Ukrainian president says officials discussed project to build integrated electronic warfare control system to protect against Russian attacks

Russia has attacked the town of Vovchansk in Kharkiv Oblast, injuring a 27-year-old woman, according to The Kyiv Independent.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy tweeted on X that he met with military and government officials to discuss drone production plans and a project to build an integrated electronic warfare control system, to protect Ukraine and its soldiers from Russian attacks.

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Outrage in Spain as video shows Madrid police ‘violence’ on unarmed black men

Leftwing parties call for government action after footage of incident in Lavapiés spread on social media

Leftwing parties in Spain are demanding explanations after a video appeared to show a pair of police officers using violent force on two unarmed black men in a central Madrid neighbourhood.

The video, shot on Friday in Lavapiés, appears to show one of the men on the ground and immobilised by a police officer who seemingly has him in a chokehold. A second police officer appears to then strike the immobilised man twice with a baton before grabbing and punching another man standing nearby.

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Remains of missing French toddler Émile Soleil found in French Alps

Bones were discovered near the hamlet of Le Vernet, close to where the boy went missing in 2023

French police are searching for clues to how a boy who disappeared eight months ago died after the discovery this weekend of his partial remains.

In a case that shocked France, Émile Soleil, aged two and a half, vanished in July while staying with his grandparents in a hamlet in the French Alps. A massive air and land search at the time found no trace of the child.

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Turkey’s opposition party sweeps to local elections victory in snub to Erdoğan

Ekrem Imamoğlu secures unexpected second term as Istanbul’s mayor, propelling the CHP to the centre of national politics

Turkey’s main opposition party dealt an unexpected blow to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s rule on Sunday with a sweeping victory in Turkey’s local elections, maintaining control of major cities including the capital, Ankara, and Istanbul, where Ekrem Imamoğlu secured a second term as mayor.

“My dear Istanbulites, you opened the door to a new future today,” Imamoğlu told overjoyed supporters of his opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) while declaring victory. “Starting from tomorrow, Turkey will be a different Turkey. You opened the door to the rise of democracy, equality and freedom … You ignited hope at the ballot box.”

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Collection of unreleased Marvin Gaye songs found in Belgium

Questions surround ownership of demo tapes reportedly left by soul artist as a thank-you to his Ostend hosts

A collection of cassette tapes containing a host of unreleased Marvin Gaye songs has been found in the Belgian city of Ostend.

It has potentially lain hidden in Belgium for over 40 years, according to the BBC.

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Russia demands extradition of Ukraine security chief and others for ‘terrorism’

SBU dismisses demand as pointless and hypocritical, ‘coming from the terrorist state itself’

Russia has demanded that Ukraine extradite a number of people, including the head of the country’s SBU security service, over claims they are connected with “terrorist” acts.

The SBU immediately dismissed the Russian demand as “pointless” and said the Russian foreign ministry had “forgotten” that Vladimir Putin was the subject of an international arrest warrant.

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At least two people killed in Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy network

Lviv governor says more people may be under rubble after cruise missile attack as Moscow ratchets up targeting of infrastructure

Russia has carried out another round of missile and drone strikes against Ukraine’s much-depleted energy network, killing at least two people.

One man died in a cruise missile attack on infrastructure in the western Lviv region, and another was killed after a projectile hit a petrol station in the north-eastern Kharkiv region, officials said on Sunday.

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Nile crocodiles and Burmese python among rare species seized in Spain

Other endangered animals rescued in 2023 included a burrowing parrot, an African spurred tortoise and a blood-eared parakeet

Specialist wildlife police in eastern Spain have rescued an exotic list of endangered animals over the past year, including a pair of Nile crocodiles, an African spurred tortoise weighing 25kg and a 2-metre Burmese python.

The Seprona division of the Guardia Civil said in a statement on Sunday that its officers recovered “numerous examples” of species protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora during 2023.

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