Owners of gite where formerly missing British boy spent time say he enjoyed sharing in their family life
The owners of a remote French gite where teenager Alex Batty stayed on and off for two years have said he was eager to go to school and “get back to a normal life”.
Ingrid Beauve and Fred Hambye said they treated Alex as part of their family and had no idea of his true identity until last week.
Continue reading...Russia has no interest in fighting with Nato country, Vladimir Putin says, but says he will send military units near border with Finland. This live blog is closed
A Ukrainian military intelligence officer is undertaking sabotage missions in Russia that he claims do not have the approval of his superiors, according to this dispatch from south-eastern Ukraine in the Sunday Times.
It comes as the frontlines of the war calcify into something of a stalemate with the onset of bitter winter, boosting the significance of other forms of warfare in Kyiv’s fight against Moscow’s invasion. In this case, without the approval of senior officers.
Mykola is an officer in the main intelligence directorate of Ukraine’s defence ministry. He trains operatives for secret missions in Russia: sabotage, poisonings, assassinations, diversions. He claims they are unauthorised by the chain of command above him.
Last week, he invited me to his training centre in south-east Ukraine, a place so secret that before we even got in his car, I had to switch off my phone and seal it in a bag that blocks out all signals.
Often, when Kostiantyn Grygorenko walks the streets of Izium, he spots people he suspects collaborated with the Russians during the five-month occupation of his home town last year.
He used to feel an overwhelming rush of emotions when he saw them. Now, he tries to conserve his energy and nerves and ignore them. But still, it gets to him.
Continue reading...Official says party favours sending refugees to third countries such as Rwanda for application processing
Germany’s opposition conservatives are seeking to win back voters with a sweeping change to the country’s immigration and asylum policy, including plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.
Jens Spahn, a leading member of the Christian Democrats (CDU), said at the weekend that his party was in favour of the transportation of future refugees to third countries for processing of asylum applications such Ghana and Rwanda in Africa, or to non-EU European countries such as Moldova and Georgia.
Continue reading...Russian airbase said to be among targets and Ukrainian civilian killed by drone debris in Odesa
Russia and Ukraine launched more than a dozen drones at each other’s territory for a second day on Sunday, one of which apparently targeted a Russian military airport, while a Ukrainian civilian was killed after drone debris slammed into his house near the Black Sea.
At least 35 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight over three regions in south-western Russia, the Russian defence ministry said in a post on the messaging app Telegram.
Continue reading...Victims were from Nigeria, the Gambia and other African countries and included women and children, UN agency says
Dozens of people are missing and presumed dead after their boat sank off Libya’s coast, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has said, in the latest migration tragedy off north Africa.
The 61 people are believed to have died because of high waves, which swamped their vessel after it left from Zuwara, on Libya’s north-west coast, the IOM’s Libya office said in a statement on Saturday.
Continue reading...Vladimir Putin vows to make Russia self-sufficient power in face of west and warns of ‘problems’ with neighbouring Finland
Russian president Vladimir Putin vowed to make Russia a “sovereign, self-sufficient” power in the face of the west. In a campaign speech he accused the west of unsuccessfully trying to “sow internal troubles” in Russia.
Putin also warned of “problems” with neighbouring Finland after it joined Nato earlier this year. Russia plans to reorganise military divisions to station more troops in its north-west region, by the EU and Nato border.
But Putin dismissed US president Joe Biden’s claims that Russia could attack a Nato country as “nonsense”. It came after Biden said Putin would not stop at Ukraine if it secures victory, as he pleaded with Republican lawmakers to authorise further aid to Kyiv.
Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s visit to Washington DC last week has yet to bear fruit as Biden called lack of Congressional support for aid a “Christmas gift” to Russia. Biden has requested $61.4bn (£48.4bn) in further aid to Ukraine but Republicans in Republicans in Congress have rejected the proposals.
Russia is not interested in extending the Black Sea grain deal, the agriculture minister said. The deal led to 33m tonnes of grain leave Ukraine’s ports before it collapsed in July.
Ukraine claims Russia has suffered almost 350,000 troops dying or being injured. The figure is higher than the 315,000 estimated by US intelligence, according to reports, but even that represents a significant toll for Moscow.
Ukraine continued its use of ‘memetic warfare’ as the defence ministry posted a video of two Russian tanks being destroyed, with guitar music and the caption “WELCOME TO UKRAINE.” Scholars have tracked the use of memes to try and grab control of the war narrative.
An intelligence report from the UK Ministry of Defence said Russia is likely to deploy “electoral fraud and voter intimidation” when elections take place in occupied Ukrainian territories. Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia will vote in March’s presidential elections but they are expected to not be “free or fair”.
It comes as Vladimir Putin was confirmed to be running for president again as an independent candidate in Russia after two decades in power. Russian news agencies reported the news on Saturday, with the victory of Putin, 71, a formality.
Russia continued to batter Ukrainian targets with mortars overnight, with Dnipro in the centre, Sumy in the north and Zaporizhzhia in the south-east hit with artillery.
Russian rocket forces have loaded a new Yars intercontinental ballistic missile into a silo at the Kozelsk base south-west of Moscow. The missiles are capable of delivering multiple nuclear warheads.
More than a year after the Russians retreated from Izium, the Ukrainian city is wracked by suspicion and distrust about collaborators. Read Shaun Walker’s Observer dispatch from a city still in ruins here.
Lorry blockades are continuing at the Polish-Ukrainian border. Polish drivers say Ukraine is undercutting them as about 2,150 Ukrainian lorries remain stuck in Poland unable to return.
Continue reading...Teenager whose disappearance, aged 11, sparked an international police hunt, flies home after being found in France
Teenager Alex Batty has returned to the UK six years after disappearing while on holiday in Spain with his mother and grandfather, police said on Saturday.
Detectives told a press conference at Greater Manchester police HQ that the teenager, who was 11 when he went missing, met his step-grandfather at Toulouse airport earlier on Saturday before flying back to the UK.
Continue reading...Crane installs weathervane symbolising resurrection, resilience and hope following devastating 2019 fire
The installation by a crane of a new golden rooster on Notre Dame, reimagined as a dramatic phoenix with licking, flamed feathers, goes beyond being just a weathervane atop the cathedral spire.
It symbolises resilience amid destruction after the devastating April 2019 fire – as restoration officials also revealed an anti-fire misting system is being kitted out under the cathedral’s roof.
Continue reading...Highest-ranking church official ever to stand trial before Vatican criminal court sentenced to five years and six months in jail
A Vatican court on Saturday sentenced a once powerful Italian cardinal to five years and six months in jail for financial crimes at the end of a historic trial.
Angelo Becciu, 75, a former adviser to Pope Francis who was once considered a papal contender himself, is the most senior clergyman in the Catholic church to face a Vatican criminal court.
Continue reading...Teenager believed to have been abducted by mother in 2017 was found in France earlier this week
Alex Batty, the British teenager who has been missing for six years, will return to the UK on Saturday afternoon.
The 17-year-old is expected to be reunited with his grandmother, Susan Caruana, his legal guardian, who has not seen her grandson since he disappeared in 2017.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our Ukraine war coverage here
Russia is increasing its efforts to capture Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region, transporting battalion reserves to the area, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian army has said.
Kupiansk was liberated from Russian occupation in September 2022 by the Ukrainian counteroffensive, and has been a target since then, as it serves as an important logistics centre for the Russian invasion’s progression to the south and west. It was captured by Russia in February 2022.
Continue reading...Nadia Murad and 430 US citizens of Yazidi background suing conglomerate over payments it made to terrorist group
About 430 Americans of Yazidi background and Nobel laureate Nadia Murad accused French conglomerate Lafarge of supporting brutal attacks on the population through a conspiracy with the Islamic State, according to a complaint reviewed by AFP.
The civil suit, filed in a New York court by attorneys that include human rights lawyer Amal Clooney references a $778m US Department of Justice fine and guilty criminal plea in October 2022 by Lafarge, which was acquired by Swiss company Holcim in 2015.
Continue reading...Piedmont town near French border is now best budget ski resort in Europe for adults, figures show
The ski resorts of Bulgaria have long been seen as the best option for British skiers hoping to hit the slopes on a budget. Borovets and Bansko might not have the glitz of Verbier, the after-ski buzz of St Anton, or the picturesque villages of the Trois Vallées, but as the solid, wallet-friendly option, Bulgaria has been unbeatable for more than a decade.
All that has changed, however, with the Bulgarian resorts this year being eclipsed by an unlikely budget rival: Bardonecchia in Italy. The Piedmont town, 96km from Turin and a few minutes’ drive from the border with France, is now the best value ski resort in Europe for adults, according to research.
Continue reading...CNN and New York Times report disappearance of 2,700 pages of classified material that caused alarm in US intelligence circles
A 10in-thick binder containing nearly 3,000 pages of highly classified material related to the investigation of Russian election interference as well as links between Moscow and Donald Trump went missing in the final days of his presidency, CNN and the New York Times reported.
CNN said the disappearance raised alarms in the American intelligence community because “some of the most closely guarded national security secrets from the US and its allies could be exposed”.
Continue reading...French president accuses Hungarian PM of being dishonest to the public about his reasons for vetoing aid
Viktor Orbán must not be allowed to take the EU “hostage”, Emmanuel Macron has said, after the Hungarian prime minister blocked a €50bn EU aid package for Ukraine in the early hours of Friday.
As leaders of the European Union start working on the details of Plan B to raise the money through cash and loans, the French president said Orbán was being dishonest to the public about his reasons for vetoing the financial package and would ultimately come around.
Continue reading...Arrests in Germany and the Netherlands increase fears that Jewish institutions in the UK could be targeted by Hamas
Britain’s terror threat level is being kept under “very close” review amid concerns that extremist groups could target Jewish institutions in the UK, a day after German prosecutors said they had foiled a Hamas attack plot by making four arrests.
MI5 and counter-terror police indicated they were focused on whether the war in the Middle East could galvanise extremists into taking violent action, as Israel’s intense bombing of Gaza extends to its third month.
Continue reading...British teen allegedly kidnapped in 2017 told passing driver ‘I need a future’ after he was found in remote corner of France
A British teenager allegedly kidnapped by his mother six years ago fled across the Pyrenees after she announced plans to take him to Finland, French police have said.
Alex Batty, 17, told a passing driver “I need a future” after he was found in a remote corner of south-west France in the early hours of Wednesday, carrying only a skateboard and €100 in cash.
Continue reading...French president says Hungarian leader told him he would not block aid to Ukraine ‘if rules are met’. This live blog is closed
Albin Kurti, Kosovo’s prime minister, called the EU’s decision to open accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova a “historic moment” – but also used the opportunity to underscore that enlargement to the western Balkans “is the best way to bolster peace & security across the continent”.
As one of the most democratic & pro-EU states in the region, Kosovo should be granted candidate status w/o delay.
Continue reading...Kyiv hopeful ‘all necessary legal procedures’ will be completed at EU summit in January
Ukraine has expressed confidence it will receive a €50bn aid package from the EU, despite Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, vetoing the funding at a crucial summit in Brussels.
In a statement, the foreign ministry in Kyiv shrugged off Orbán’s blocking tactics. It said it expected “all necessary legal procedures” to be completed at an EU summit in January, with the aid delivered “as soon as possible”.
Continue reading...Hungary vetoes aid package for Ukraine; Kremlin says EU accession for Ukraine ‘very remote prospect’
Hungary’s president, Viktor Orbán, vetoed a €50bn EU aid package to Ukraine, just hours after Kyiv had celebrated the bloc taking the symbolic step of agreeing to open membership talks. Ukraine was counting on the funds to help its damaged economy survive in the coming year.
The Kremlin said that Ukraine’s accession into the EU was a very remote prospect and Brussels’ initiatives on that were just an expression of political support for Kyiv. Neither Ukraine nor Moldova, another former Soviet republic seeking accession, match EU’s strict criteria and letting Kyiv in could destabilise the bloc, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told a briefing.
Russia launched 14 drones at Ukraine overnight, all of which were shot down, the Ukrainian air force wrote on Telegram on Friday morning.
Japan has unveiled new sanctions on Russia, Belarus and organisations in the UAE, Armenia, Syria and Uzkekistan, over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. In total, Japan has now applied export bans on 494 Russian organisations and 27 Belarusian.
The EU has decided to open membership negotiations with Ukraine, in an unexpected move that will be a critical boost to Volodymyr Zelenskiy and deal a blow to Vladimir Putin. The announcement, made on Thursday after eight hours of tense negotiations in Brussels, came despite the opposition of Hungary, whose prime minister, Viktor Orbán, had for weeks said it would veto any opening of accession talks.
After hours of talks, Orbán walked out the room as leaders formally made the decision to open accession talks – thus getting unanimity. The Hungarian prime minister said: “Hungary does not want to share in this bad decision, and for this reason Hungary did not participate in the decision today.”
Zelenskiy said: “This is a victory for Ukraine. A victory for all of Europe. A victory that motivates, inspires, and strengthens.”
Putin held his annual end-of-the-year press conference for the first time since launching the invasion, saying “there will only be peace in Ukraine when we achieve our aims”, seeking to project confidence in his war machine.
Putin also said he was open to repairing relations with Europe and the US but added that Russia had done nothing wrong in its invasion of Ukraine. He blamed the west for “spoiling relations” with Russia.
The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, arrested in Russia on espionage charges, lost an appeal on Thursday to be released from jail and must remain in custody until at least 30 January.
The Guardian visited Avdiivka. After almost a decade on the frontline, the city is a wreck, with just 1,200 people left, but it remains of huge symbolic value.
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