‘Nightmare is over’: Polish election result brings relief for LGBTQ+ people

Community looks tentatively to future as party that sought to demonise them is unlikely to retain power

For the past eight years, fear and anxiety has threaded through much of Bart Staszewski’s daily life. As a gay man living in Poland, he found himself increasingly under attack by a government that had sought to depict the LGBTQ+ community as a threat to the nation and its children, fuelling prejudices and hate crimes across the country.

But since last month’s election pointed to a possible route to power for opposition parties, Staszewski has been gripped by a wave of relief. “It’s like I’m breathing fresh air for the first time in eight years,” he said. “After years of hate against people like me, the nightmare is over.”

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Russia-Ukraine war live: Russia will succeed in Ukraine unless American support continues, warns US defence secretary

Lloyd Austin ‘guarantees Putin will be successful’ if US support for Kyiv ends during Senate hearing on Joe Biden’s request for funding

Russian president Vladimir Putin and top government and security officials on Monday discussed strengthening measures to counter external interference after a weekend riot in Dagestan that targeted airline passengers from Israel, the Kremlin said.

In a statement at the start of Monday’s meeting of members of his Security Council, the government and the heads of law enforcement agencies, Putin accused the west and Ukraine of stirring up unrest inside Russia after rioters in the predominantly Muslim Dagestan region stormed an airport to “catch” Jewish passengers on a flight from Tel Aviv.

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Russian soldiers accused of killing family of nine in Ukraine

Russia makes first known arrests of its own soldiers after 2022 invasion on suspicion of killing Ukrainian civilians

Two Russian soldiers have been arrested on suspicion of killing a family of nine, including two young children, in their home in the Russian-occupied eastern Ukrainian town of Volnovakha.

Russian media reported that the killings took place last Friday night and the suspects had used machine guns with silencers to kill the family at night in their sleep.

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Michelangelo’s secret sketches under church in Florence open to public

Artist spent months in a chamber below the Medici Chapels to evade Pope Clement VII’s death sentence

Michelangelo Buonarroti left behind a trail of artistic marvels, including his statue of David and the sublime frescoes that adorn the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Now a “secret” room in Florence whose walls are sketched with doodles that the Italian Renaissance master is believed to have created while evading a death sentence ordered by Pope Clement VII amid his falling out with the powerful Medici family is to officially open to the public for the first time.

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French couple take dealer to court for share of African mask’s €4.2m sale price

Pensioners sold rare object found in attic for €150 – but campaigners say it must be returned to Gabon

A retired French couple who sold an African mask to a secondhand goods dealer for €150 (£130) have gone to court for a share of the proceeds after the mask fetched €4.2m (£3.7m) at auction.

But campaigners insist that the rare artefact instead should be returned to Gabon, in a case that has raised questions over Africa’s cultural heritage looted by colonial France.

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French police detain Russian tycoon over alleged financial and sanctions violations

Alfa Bank founder Alexey Kuzmichev was sanctioned by EU for ‘well-established ties’ to Vladimir Putin

Police in France have detained the Russian tycoon Alexey Kuzmichev and raided two of his properties in connection with alleged tax evasion, money laundering and sanctions violations.

The French financial prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday that searches had taken place a day earlier at Kuzmichev’s Paris home and an estate in in the Mediterranean Var region.

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Eurozone economy shrinks by 0.1%, putting it at brink of recession

Ireland and Austria post biggest declines, while Germany contracts by 0.1% and France grows by 0.1%

The eurozone is teetering on the brink of a winter recession after the latest official figures showed its economy contracted by 0.1% in the third quarter of 2023.

In a worse than forecast performance, the 20-nation single currency zone has now failed to grow in three of the past four quarters, leaving its economy only 0.1% higher than it was a year earlier.

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Spain’s Princess Leonor swears oath as republican ministers boycott ceremony

Heir to throne pledges allegiance to constitution at congress in Madrid on her 18th birthday

Princess Leonor, the heir to the Spanish throne, has pledged her allegiance to the constitution in a ceremony that was boycotted by republican government ministers and Catalan and Basque nationalist MPs.

Leonor swore the oath in Spain’s congress as she turned 18 on Tuesday, and was accompanied by her parents, King Felipe and Queen Letizia, her sister, Sofía, and Spain’s acting prime minister, Pedro Sánchez. Her grandfather Juan Carlos, the self-exiled former king, was absent.

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Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 615

The White House responds to House Republican plans for Israel and Ukraine funding; Vladimir Putin blames Ukraine for the Dagestan antisemitic riot

The White House said on Monday that offsets sought by House Republicans for Israel and Ukraine spending would be “devastating” for US national security. “Politicizing our national security interests is a nonstarter. Demanding offsets for meeting core national security needs of the United States – like supporting Israel and defending Ukraine from atrocities and Russian imperialism – would be a break with the normal, bipartisan process and could have devastating implications for our safety and alliances in the years ahead,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Monday he was confident the US House of Representatives would back a request for additional funds for Ukraine’s military, adding he was aware of “considerable political resistance” to the bill’s provisions. US House speaker Mike Johnson said last week that funding to support Ukraine and Israel should be handled separately, suggesting he would not back President Joe Biden’s $106bn aid package for both countries.

Russian president Vladimir Putin said without evidence that Ukrainian agents of western spy agencies were behind a rampage in the southern region of Dagestan that targeted a flight from Israel. Clashes with police left 20 people injured. Putin cast the violence as part of US efforts to weaken Russia. US national security council spokesperson John Kirby called Putin’s allegation “classic Russian rhetoric” saying “the West had nothing to do with this”.

Moldova has blocked access to the websites of major Russian news media, including the Interfax and TASS news agencies, accusing them of taking part in an information war against the country. A decree published online by Moldova’s intelligence and security service listed 31 websites to be blocked immediately for “online content used in the war of information against the Republic of Moldova”.

The first US-made F-16 combat aircraft that the Netherlands is donating to Ukraine will arrive in Romania’s training centre within two weeks, outgoing Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said on Monday.

Russian shelling hit the frontline region of Kherson in southern Ukraine on Monday, killing two civilians, local authorities said.

Russia has significantly bulked up its forces around the devastated Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, with its soldiers switching from a defensive posture to taking “active actions”, a Ukrainian military commander said.

In its latest intelligence update, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said a Russian state-backed private military company was specifically attempting to recruit women into combat roles in Ukraine for the first time.

Russia’s federal security service said it had detained a Russian man in Crimea on suspicion of treason, accusing him of passing military secrets to Ukraine, according to a state news agency.

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Swedish authorities battle to stabilise stricken ferry leaking oil into Baltic Sea

Coast guard tackling ‘very serious’ incident as severe weather hampers efforts to empty oil from Marco Polo, which grounded near Hörvik

A ferry that ran aground off south-eastern Sweden had “extensive damage” and was leaking oil into the Baltic Sea, a spokesman for the Swedish coast guard said.

On 22 October the Marco Polo was running between two Swedish ports – Trelleborg and Karlshamn – when it ran aground near Horvik and started leaking. It continued under its own power before grounding a second time.

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Russia blames Ukraine for antisemitic riot at airport in Dagestan

Foreign ministry says Kyiv played ‘direct and key role’ after mob stormed planes in search of Israeli passengers

Russia has blamed Ukraine for the antisemitic riot in the mostly Muslim region of Dagestan on Sunday in which an angry mob stormed the airport in Makhachkala in search of Jewish passengers arriving from Israel.

Maria Zakharova, the Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, said on Monday that the riot was the result of a “provocation” orchestrated from outside Russia, with Ukraine playing a “direct and key role”.

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EU official warns of antisemitism in European society as fears grow over rising Islamophobia – as it happened

Michael O’Flaherty, director of agency for fundamental rights, says ‘dramatic moments in our societies trigger antisemitic responses’. This live blog is closed

“Lovers and defenders of democracy, it’s high time to stand up,” tweeted the EU’s coordinator on combating antisemitism Katharina von Schnurbein.

She was responding to the incident in Dagestan, describing the mob as “hatred unleashed by globally downplaying the barbaric acts of Hamas of 7 Oct and allowing antisemitism and anti-Zionism to fester around the globe.”

The authorities in European countries have a responsibility to make sure that everyone is safe and protected from violence and discrimination.

It’s also important for the authorities to protect people’s right to peaceful protest and expression and ensure that governments’ security responses to violence don’t harm rights.

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Dutch F-16 jets to arrive at Romanian training centres in weeks; Moldova blocks Russian news agencies – as it happened

Dutch PM says F-16 jets for Ukraine to arrive in two weeks; Moldova accuses Russia of information war against country. This blog is closed

In its latest intelligence update, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said a Russian state-backed private military company (PMC) is specifically attempting to recruit women into combat roles in Ukraine for the first time.

Posting to X, formerly Twitter, the MoD wrote:

Recent social media adverts have appealed for female recruits to join Borz Battalion, a part of Russian PMC Redut, to work as snipers and uncrewed aerial vehicle operators. Redut is likely directly sponsored by the Russian main directorate of intelligence.

In March 2023, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said that 1,100 women were deployed in Ukraine, which would equate to only around 0.3 per cent of its force. As Redut’s advert points out, they currently serve in mostly medical support and food service roles.

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Weather tracker: UK and France brace for Storm Ciarán

Torrential rain and 100mph gusts forecast in some areas when low-pressure system makes landfall

Storm Ciarán is expected to arrive in the UK and Ireland, France, and the Iberian peninsula on Wednesday night into Thursday. Gusts of up to 100mph (160km/h) could be possible off the western coast of France before the severe winds filter through the Channel. Brittany and the western French coast could experience wind speeds of more than 80mph, and it is likely to remain windy through the weekend.

Torrential rain is also expected, with a chance of flooding in parts of western France and the north-western Iberian peninsula. Coastal inundation is also likely to be a risk along the northern Spanish and Portuguese coasts, as well as along the French coastline, with sea swell caused by strong winds and the low-pressure displacement of seawater. The rest of France could also experience heavy rain.

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Antisemitism is deeply ingrained in European society, says EU official

Remarks by rights chief come as civil society groups warn of a rise in antisemitism amid Israel-Hamas war

Antisemitism is a “deeply ingrained racism in European society” that poses an existential threat to the continent’s Jewish community and the fundamental aims of the European Union, an EU official has warned.

Michael O’Flaherty, the director of the bloc’s agency for fundamental rights, said it was worrying that only a third of the general population considered antisemitism a big problem, when there was no doubt “dramatic moments in our societies trigger antisemitic responses”.

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Claims about genuine age of Bobi, world’s oldest dog, to be investigated

Guiness World Records to look into claims after scepticism over whether the Portuguese mastiff really lived to be 31

The death of Bobi the Portuguese mastiff at 31 was history-making – no dog before had ever reached such a grand old age.

But awe soon turned into scepticism, as vets wondered whether it was biologically possible for a dog to live for the equivalent of 200 human years.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: Moscow says it has shot down 36 Ukrainian drones – as it happened

Claims drone strike or debris from downed drone has caused fire in oil refinery near Black Sea in Russia

Once a week, Ukrainian parents bring their children to a community centre in Kyiv for canine therapy.

Beijing Xiangshan Forum, China’s biggest annual show of military diplomacy, started on Sunday, but the name of Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu, initially listed in the forum’s agenda as the first guest speaker at tomorrow’s opening ceremony, was not on the agenda.

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Bologna seals off ‘leaning tower’ over fears it is tilting too far

Italian city’s mayor says square around 12th-century structure will shut for ‘a few years’ for repairs

The square surrounding Bologna’s medieval “leaning tower” is to be closed off for “a few years” amid concerns that the 12th-century structure is tilting a little too precariously.

The Italian city’s mayor, Matteo Lepore, said the closure of Piazza di Porta Ravegnana was necessary in order to “save” the Garisenda tower. “We’re not intervening because we think it could collapse at any moment,, we’re intervening because we want to make it safe and restore it,” he said.

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Aurelius Group in talks to buy the Body Shop, says report

Banking sources say a deal for the beauty products chain is expected to be signed next month

The private equity investor Aurelius Group is in talks to buy the beauty products chain the Body Shop, which has been put up for sale by its Brazilian owner, Natura & Co, a source familiar with the talks has told Reuters.

If completed, the deal is expected to value the Body Shop at a lower price than the £400m-£500m suggested in some media reports, the source said.

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