Category Archives: Europe

Poland’s president says he will not rest until ex-interior minister and deputy freed from prison

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Andrzej Duda’s remarks escalate battle for rule of law with new government and come as politicians convicted of abuse of power begin hunger strike

Poland’s president has said he will not rest until two politicians from the opposition nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party – both on hunger strike – are freed from prison, in a further dramatic escalation in the new government’s battle to restore the rule of law.

“I will not rest in the fight for a fair and just Polish state,” the president, Andrzej Duda, who is closely aligned with PiS, declared on Wednesday. “I won’t be scared. I will act legally, in accordance with the constitution and the law – as before.”

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Trump told European leaders that US ‘will never come to help you’

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Then president told European commissioners in 2020 that ‘Nato is dead’ and the US would never defend Europe if it were attacked

Donald Trump told the president of the European Commission in 2020 that the US would “never come help” if Europe was attacked and also said “Nato is dead”, a senior European commissioner said.

Multiple news outlets said the exchange between Trump and Ursula von der Leyen at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2020 was described in Brussels on Tuesday by Thierry Breton, a French European commissioner responsible for the internal market, with responsibilities including defence.

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New French PM seeks to send strong message on law and order

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Gabriel Attal attempts to set tone as Macron government tries to counter rise of Marine Le Pen’s far-right

The new French prime minister, Gabriel Attal, has sent a strong message on law and order on his first full day in office, visiting a police station and promising to deliver security to “responsible working French people”, who he said wanted calm.

“There is no security without our police,” said Attal on Wednesday outside a police station in Ermont in the Val-d’Oise, setting the tone for his attempts to counter the rise of Marine Le Pen’s far-right.

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Alexei Navalny jokes about ‘nearly naked’ Moscow party from Arctic prison

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Jailed Russian opposition leader ridiculed backlash to controversial event in first public appearance since disappearance

The jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has ridiculed the backlash to a “nearly naked party” in Moscow during his first appearance since being banished to an Arctic prison, as authorities temporarily shut the nightclub where the party happened.

“Did you have a party?” Navalny asked the representative of the prison authorities during a video conference court appearance from the IK-3 penal colony in the Yamalo-Nenets region. “You probably had a naked party like [Nastya] Ivleeva?”

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French post office opens changing room for online shoppers

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Customers can collect their parcels and try on items in one trip during trial at La Poste branches

It is an increasingly common irritant of modern life. You order an item of clothing online; you wait with anticipation for it to arrive, and five minutes after it has arrived you’re packaging it up because it doesn’t fit.

For shoppers in France, however, the national post office may have the answer – or at least a way of making the process less logistically challenging. It is experimenting with in-store changing rooms to cater to people who want to quickly return purchases they do not want.

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Average of 18 people a day died trying to reach Spain in 2023

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NGO’s figure is nearly triple that of 2022, making last year deadliest on record along migration route

An estimated 18 people a day died or disappeared while trying to reach the shores of Spain last year, a leading NGO has said, as increased migration controls led to people taking more treacherous routes in the hope of making it to Europe.

The 6,618 people who died included 384 children, Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders) said in its latest report, many attempting to reach Spain’s Canary Islands.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: Zelenskiy makes surprise trip to Lithuania

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The surprise visit to the Baltic Nato member country will see Zelenakiy travel to Tallinn and Riga after Vilnius

Zelenskiy has posted an update via his X account. In the statement, he calls Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania “reliable friends and principled partners” to Ukraine.

He has confirmed that while in Vilnius he will hold talks with the president, prime minister, speaker of the Seimas, as well as meet with politicians, the media, and the Ukrainian community. Security, EU and Nato integration, co-operation on electronic warfare and drones, and further coordination of European support are all on the agenda, he says.

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‘Many thought they’d get away with it’: Argentine colonel to stand trial in Italy

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Lt Col Carlos Luis Malatto fled Argentina in 2011 and will be tried in Rome for premeditated killing of eight people in last military dictatorship

A judge in Rome has ordered Lt Col Carlos Luis Malatto, a former Argentine army officer accused of murder and forced disappearances during Argentina’s 1976-83 military dictatorship, to stand trial in Italy for the premeditated killing of eight people.

The former military officer is accused of crimes against humanity in Argentina, but he fled the country in 2011 and had been living in a tourist village in the province of Messina, Sicily. In a letter to the court of appeal in the Argentine state of Mendoza, Argentine prosecutors alleged that Malatto “actively participated in various detention procedures and is one of the most infamous perpetrators” of the dictatorship “for his participation in interrogations under torture”.

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Adopting rightwing policies ‘does not help centre-left win votes’

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Study of European electoral data suggests social democratic parties alienate supporters by moving towards the political centre

Adopting rightwing policies on issues such as immigration and the economy does not help centre-left parties win votes, according to new analysis of European electoral and polling data.

Faced with a 20-year decline in their vote share, accompanied by rising support for the right, far right and sometimes the far left, social democratic parties across Europe have increasingly sought salvation by moving towards the political centre.

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Poland police arrest fugitive MPs as tensions rise between new and old governments

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Two men had taken refuge in Andrzej Duda’s presidential palace after dispute

Polish police have arrested two politicians convicted of abuse of power who had taken refuge for hours in the palace of President Andrzej Duda, in a dramatic escalation of a standoff between the new and previous governments.

Duda had welcomed the members of the former ruling party into the presidential palace as police went to their homes to arrest them. Polish media reported the men were arrested inside the palace. Warsaw police gave no details, saying only that the arrest was “in accordance with the court order.”

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Gabriel Attal becomes youngest French PM as Macron tries to revive popularity

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Attal, 34, rose in opinion polls during his time as education minister and may help ruling party in EU elections

Emmanuel Macron has appointed France’s youngest-ever prime minister, Gabriel Attal, as he seeks to reinvigorate a difficult second term as president and limit any possible gains for the far right in the forthcoming European elections in June.

Attal, 34, who was serving as education minister, has been referred to as a “baby Macron” as he shares similar qualities to the president, such as his ambition, strong media presence and centrist politics. He is considered to be the best-known and most recognisable face of the close circle of young politicians around the president.

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Gabriel Attal’s real challenge will be to break French parliament’s political deadlock

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The new PM was chosen to boost Emmanuel Macron’s agenda but, as his predecessor found out, pushing through legislation won’t be easy

As Gabriel Attal, France’s new prime minister, hastily made his first trip to the northern Pas‐de‐Calais to assess flood damage and reassure struggling residents and local politicians on Tuesday, it symbolised the challenges that await him.

A popular former government spokesperson and master political communicator, Attal was chosen to boost government by the centrist Emmanuel Macron who is approaching the two-year mark of his difficult second term with dipping approval ratings and facing voters’ growing distrust of politics in general.

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Spain makes facemasks mandatory in hospitals as respiratory illnesses

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Rules reintroduced as ‘commonsense measure’ despite opposition from some regional administrations

Face masks will be mandatory in hospitals and health centres in Spain from Wednesday as the country experiences a surge in cases of flu, Covid and other respiratory illnesses.

The government decision, which was made six months after the use of masks ceased to be obligatory in health facilities and pharmacies, has been met with opposition from some regional administrations.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: more than 1,000 Ukrainian towns and villages without electricity

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The blackout comes as temperatures fell to about -15 C in many parts of the country

Russia hit multiple settlements in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region over the past 24 hours, injuring two civilians, the region’s governor, Oleh Syniehubov, has said.

In the village of Dvorichna, a Russian attack at 17:30 injured a 57-year-old man and a 63-year-old woman, the governor wrote on Telegram.

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Gabriel Attal, 34, becomes youngest ever French prime minister – Europe live

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Former education minister succeeds Élisabeth Borne, who resigned on Monday, as Emmanuel Macron seeks to give fresh impetus to his government

Congratulations are starting to pour in for Gabriel Attal, the youngest prime minister of France’s Fifth Republic.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has appointed the country’s 34-year old education minister, Gabriel Attal, as prime minister, French media outlets reported. He is the youngest French PM in modern history and will succeed Élisabeth Borne, who resigned yesterday.

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Canada reverses course after blocking Russian anti-war activist’s citizenship

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Maria Kartasheva’s in-absentia conviction over blogposts about Ukraine war threatened application for Canadian citizenship

Canada has reversed course after initially blocking a Russian anti-war activist from receiving citizenship because she had run afoul of Moscow’s harsh laws criminalizing dissent over the invasion of Ukraine.

Maria Kartasheva’s plight had baffled immigration lawyers and exposed the confusing reality of Canada’s immigration bureaucracy. Last year, the 30-year-old was charged and convicted by Russian prosecutors of violating a law barring criticism of the military. And even though her opinions mirrored Canada’s foreign policy, the conviction threatened to derail her application for Canadian citizenship.

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Police officers go on trial over assault of black footballer that shocked France

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Three accused of violence against Théodore Luhaka in 2017 that left him with permanent disabilities

Three police officers have gone on trial north of Paris accused of assaulting a 22-year-old footballer in 2017, in one of the most significant cases of alleged police violence against a black man in France in the past decade.

Théodore Luhaka, who had been talking to friends on his housing estate in Aulnay-sous-Bois at the end of the afternoon of February 2017, was stopped as part of a police identity check. He was teargassed, beaten on the face and body, and left with permanent disabilities and incontinence after an extendable police baton perforated his anus.

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Second Russian performer detained for sock-on-penis stunt

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Incident involving Shchenki singer Maxim Tesli follows imprisonment of rapper Vacio for doing same at Moscow party

A Russian singer has been detained for appearing before a concert audience wearing nothing but a sock on his penis, weeks after a rapper was jailed for doing the same at a Moscow party that caused a national scandal.

Maxim Tesli, the frontman of a band called Shchenki (The Puppies), was detained at a St Petersburg airport, the state news agency Tass reported. The local news outlet Fontanka said he had been charged with petty hooliganism.

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Mar Galcerán makes history as Spain’s first parliamentarian with Down’s syndrome

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After being elected to Valencia’s regional assembly, Galcerán says she wants to be seen as a person, not for her disability

For decades she battled to ensure that people with intellectual disabilities were part of the conversation. The extent of the progress she had made, however, was laid bare recently when Mar Galcerán became Spain’s first parliamentarian with Down’s syndrome.

“It’s unprecedented,” the 45-year-old told the Guardian. “Society is starting to see that people with Down’s syndrome have a lot to contribute. But it’s a very long road.”

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Greenland startup begins shipping glacier ice to cocktail bars in the UAE

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Arctic Ice argues its rare, pure product can be part of Greenland’s green transition and greater independence

Frozen daiquiri anyone? Drinking a cocktail on top of a Dubai skyscraper may seem decadent enough, but a Greenland entrepreneur wants to add ancient glacier ice scooped from the fjords to the glass, for the ultimate international thrill.

Arctic Ice harvests ice from the fjords of Greenland, and then ships them to the United Arab Emirates to sell to exclusive bars. Using glacial ice in drinks is a common practice in Greenland, and, over the years, several entrepreneurs have unsuccessfully attempted to export it. Its co-founder Malik V Rasmussen said the ice, which has been compressed over millennia, is completely without bubbles and melts more slowly than regular ice. It is also purer than the frozen mineral water usually used in Dubai’s ice cubes.

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