Françoise Bornet’s embrace with then boyfriend in 1950 became one of the most famous images of the city
It was one of the most famous kisses of the 20th century – a postwar clinch that became a 1980s poster phenomenon, bringing fame and court battles.
Françoise Bornet, the young lover immortalised in the French photographer Robert Doisneau’s The Kiss by the Hôtel de Ville, has died aged 93.
Continue reading...Russia’s presidential is a foregone conclusion, but the appearance of democracy still matters greatly to its leader
In news that likely shocked no one, Vladimir Putin last month announced that he will seek a fifth presidential term in the upcoming March elections.
In a country where Putin, 71, has come to dominate Russia’s political system and the media over the past two decades, the outcome will probably leave little room for imagination.
Continue reading...At least five people die in wave of Russian strikes on Kyiv and Kharkiv; Russia accidentally bombs its own city
Russian missile and drone strikes on Kyiv and the north-eastern city of Kharkiv killed at least five people on Tuesday and injured dozens of others, Ukrainian officials said. The attacks caused widespread damage and hit power supplies, Ukraine’s authorities said.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said gas pipelines had been damaged in Kyiv’s Pecherskyi district, while electricity and water had been cut off in several districts of the capital. Heating and water supplies were damaged in Kharkiv, said its mayor, Ihor Terekhov.
Russia said it had accidentally bombed a village in its own southern Voronezh region near Ukraine. In a statement quoted by Russian news agencies, the Russian army said “an abnormal discharge of aircraft ammunition occurred over the village of Petropavlovka in the Voronezh region. There are no casualties.”
Turkey said it would not allow two British minehunter ships to transit its waters en route to the Black Sea for use by Ukraine. Turkey is enforcing an international pact under which it can block passage of military ships of warring parties through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits. It exempts naval ships that are returning to home bases.
One man was killed and seven people were injured on Tuesday in a Ukrainian attack on the city and region of Belgorod, near Russia’s border with Ukraine, the Russian defence ministry and regional officials claimed.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, urged faster supplies of air defence systems, combat drones and long-range missiles. His ministry said Kuleba called on Ukraine’s western partners to respond to a new Russian strike on Ukraine by “accelerating the supply of additional air defence systems, combat drones of all types, long-range missiles with a range of 300+ km”.
Lithuania’s president, Gitanas Nausėda, and Latvia’s president, Edgars Rinkēvičs, also called for more air defence systems for Ukraine.
Continue reading...Leonard Farruku’s family ‘facing a double tragedy with not being able to have his body back home’ in Albania
The family of a man believed to have killed himself on the controversial Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland, Dorset, say they have had to turn to crowdfunding to bring him back to Albania for burial.
Leonard Farruku, 27, was found unresponsive onboard the vessel commissioned by the Home Office to accommodate up to 500 asylum seekers at Portland Port, Dorset, on 12 December.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Continue reading...Moscow shows bullish determination, draining western-supplied air defences and talking of Kyiv’s total capitulation
Scenes of devastation have greeted Ukrainians in the first days of 2024, as Russia launches some of its heaviest missile and drone barrages since the start of the war.
The strikes, which began on 29 December and have killed dozens of civilians, offer an early and grim taste of what may lie ahead, as Moscow signals it has the capacity for a long and brutal war in Ukraine.
Continue reading...Hermoso gives testimony as judge investigates former Spanish football federation president over kiss after World Cup win
The Spanish footballer Jenni Hermoso has given evidence to a judge investigating the kiss she received from the then president of the Spanish Football Federation, Luis Rubiales, after Spain’s win in the World Cup final last August.
Rubiales’ decision to take Hermoso’s head in his hands and kiss her on the lips caused an outcry and a national and international debate on sexism. It has also led to Rubiales being investigated for alleged sexual assault and coercion by a judge at Spain’s highest criminal court, the audiencia nacional.
Continue reading...Culture minister announces withdrawal of art project announced in dying weeks of Law and Justice party administration
Poland’s new government has scrapped the submission conceived under the previous nationalist-populist administration for the country’s Venice Biennale pavilion and replaced it with an interactive show by a Ukrainian art collective, provoking complaints of “censorship” from the artist originally tasked with the Polish entry.
The culture minister, Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz, who was appointed by centrist prime minister Donald Tusk on 13 December, announced the withdrawal of the project, Polish Exercises in the Tragedy of the World: Between Germany and Russia, on Friday. The project had been announced in the dying weeks of the Law and Justice party (PiS) government in what was perceived as an ideological parting shot.
Continue reading...Man taken to hospital with bullet wound after incident involving pistol owned by Emanuele Pozzolo
Italian opposition leaders are demanding “clarity” from the prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, after a gun owned by an MP from her far-right Brothers of Italy party was accidentally fired at a New Year’s Eve gathering.
Emanuele Pozzolo confirmed that the pistol belonged to him but denied firing the bullet, which grazed the leg of a 31-year-old man who was among the security entourage of the Italian justice ministry undersecretary Andrea Delmastro.
Continue reading...Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, says four people were killed and 92 injured across the country
Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and its second-largest city, Kharkiv, have come under heavy Russian missile attacks, killing at least five people, a day after Vladimir Putin warned that Russia would “intensify” its assault on Ukraine.
Explosions were heard in all districts of the Ukrainian capital on Tuesday morning, shaking buildings in the city centre, in the third successive day of airstrikes on Ukraine
Continue reading...Unless from a wealthy family, internships for many mean chipping away at savings and cutting back on essentials
By day, he was mostly an unpaid intern, getting a glimpse of day-to-day life in university research as he networked with potential employers.
Nightfall would often send him rushing to his second shift; this time, at a library in the suburbs of Paris as he strives to pay his bills.
What we see is that, many times, they [internships] are actually replacing entry-level jobs
Tea Jarc, of the European Trade Union Confederation
Unpaid internships have really become a barrier for the social mobility of young people
María Rodríguez Alcázar, of the European Youth Forum
Continue reading...‘I cried. And then I watched it back and cried again,’ says one as nation processes shock royal broadcast
It began like any other Danish New Year’s Eve. Martin Ebmark, a hotelier from the central town of Billund, was, “like everyone”, sitting watching the queen’s annual address on the television with his family.
He and his wife raised a toast to the queen, resplendent in a Cadbury-purple frock, “when she started talking about ‘the right time’. My wife turned to me and said, ‘she’s not doing what I think she’s doing! Is she?’ Then, she did it.”
Continue reading...Most of Shahed-type drones targeting Odesa and Lviv intercepted, say officials, although teenage boy is killed by falling debris
Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updates
Russia marked the new year with the launch of a record 90 Shahed-type drones over Ukraine, as Vladimir Putin vowed to further intensify attacks after a Ukrainian strike on the south Russian city of Belgorod.
Ukraine said it had intercepted 87 of the drones, but a 15-year-old boy was killed and seven people wounded by falling debris from one of the downed aircraft in the Black Sea port city of Odesa, according to the head of the region’s military administration, Oleh Kiper. Debris also caused a number of small fires, including at the city’s port.
Continue reading...Russian president says Moscow will continue to strike ‘sensitive’ military targets in Ukraine and says war is turning in Russia’s favour. This live blog is closed
Volodymyr Zelenskiy vows to unleash ‘wrath’ on Russian forces in 2024. But the Ukrainian president’s new year’s address made almost no direct reference to the situation on the frontline or the limited success of a counteroffensive launched in June.
Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of New Year’s Day attacks. Five people have been killed in attacks on Ukraine’s southern Odesa region and the occupied eastern city of Donetsk.
Ukraine claims Russia has launched a ‘record number’ of attack drones. Ukraine’s Air Force said 87 out of 90 drones had successfully been shot down in the hours leading into New Year’s Day.
Vladimir Putin calls Ukrainian strikes on Belgorod ‘terrorist act’ that will ‘not go unpunished’. Russia’s president said it would continue to strike “sensitive” military targets in Ukraine.
The death toll following Ukrainian strikes on Belgorod has risen to 25, according to region’s governor. Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Monday a four-year-old girl died from injuries sustained in the attack.
The death toll as a result of the attack on the Russian border city of Belgorod on 30 December has increased to 25, according to the region’s governor.
Continue reading...Giannini, nicknamed Tripolino, had said his secrets were light meals, no stress or smoking and taking each day as a gift
Italy’s oldest man, who credited “light meals and no stress” for his longevity, has died at the age of 111.
Tripoli Giannini, nicknamed Tripolino, died at his home in Cecina, near Livorno in Tuscany, on New Year’s Eve. He was the second-oldest man in Europe, after André Ludwig, a Frenchman who is 75 days older.
Continue reading...Blaze in Dublin comes less than fortnight after suspected arson attack on vacant Galway hotel earmarked for asylum seekers
Irish police have been investigating a second fire in less than a fortnight at a building local people reportedly believed would be used to accommodate asylum seekers.
The emergency services were called to the scene at the Ringsend area of Dublin in the early hours of New Year’s Eve.
Continue reading...Registrations open after country became first former Soviet-ruled nation to legalise gay marriage
Same-sex couples in Estonia are able to marry from New Year’s Day, in a milestone move people say brings the Baltic nation closer to its Nordic neighbours.
Estonia became the first former Soviet-ruled country to legalise gay marriage when the Riigikogu, Estonia’s parliament, voted in favour of marriage equality in June. A majority of 55 MPs voted for amending the Family Act, while 34 MPs voted against the bill in the 101-seat parliament.
Continue reading...New Year’s address made almost no direct reference to the situation on the 1,000-km front line or the limited success of a counteroffensive
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has vowed in his New Year’s address to unleash “wrath” against Russian forces in 2024, saying Ukraine had become stronger as the war moves toward its second year.
But Zelenskiy’s slick 20-minute video message, delivered from his Kyiv office, made almost no direct reference to the situation on the 1,000-km (600-mile) frontline or the limited success of a counteroffensive launched in June.
Continue reading...Monarch will step down on 14 January, the 52nd anniversary of her accession, and leave the throne to her son Frederik
The queen of Denmark has announced that she is to abdicate after 52 years on the throne.
Announcing the surprise news to the nation in her new year speech, Queen Margrethe II said she would step down on 14 January, the 52nd anniversary of her accession, leaving the throne to her son, Crown Prince Frederik.
Associated Press contributed to this report
Continue reading...Kate Vokes, 54, and Archie Vokes, 22, from Manchester, killed while skiing off-piste near Mont Blanc
The family of a mother and son who died in an avalanche in the French Alps have said they are “beyond heartbroken” by the tragedy.
Kate Vokes, 54, and Archie Vokes, 22, from Manchester were killed when the avalanche swept through an off-piste section of the resort of Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, near Mont Blanc, on 28 December.
Continue reading...Move aims to reduce pressure of thousands of daily visitors to Italian city and protect residents
Venice is to limit the size of tourist groups in an attempt to reduce the pressure of thousands of visitors crowding its squares, bridges and narrow walkways each day.
From June, groups visiting the Italian canal city will be limited to 25 people, or roughly half the capacity of a tourist bus, the city announced this weekend. The use of loudspeakers, popular among tour groups but “which can generate confusion and disturbances”, will be banned in the city and on nearby islands, officials said in a statement.
Continue reading...