Category Archives: Europe

‘So many precious things were lost’: Rhodes after the fires – photo essay

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The photographer Gideon Mendel travelled to Rhodes a month after the fires as part of his Burning World project. He sought to document the impact on lives and landscapes

July 2023 was the hottest month ever recorded, and Rhodes in Greece was one of many places that faced scorching temperatures and wildfires. There were no human casualties but the fire ravaged about 135,000 hectares of forest and vegetation, burned more than 50,000 olive trees and many domestic animals, destroyed about 50 homes and led to the mass evacuation of tourists from the area.

I travelled to the region a month after the fires, making new work for my Burning World project. I choose not to document the flames but rather seek out their aftermath, the traces left behind on lives and landscapes.

The Ekaterini hotel in Kiotari, south Rhodes

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British arms maker BAE Systems sets up in Ukraine

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Manufacturer of much of the western equipment used against Russian invasion says it aims to produce artillery

The British defence company BAE Systems is setting up a local entity in Ukraine and has signed deals with its government to help ramp up its supply of weapons and equipment.

BAE said it would work directly with Kyiv to explore potential partners for a plan to ultimately produce 105mm light artillery guns in Ukraine and to better understand Ukraine’s requirements.

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Families of Yorkshire divers who died on Greece trip ‘may never know what happened’

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Investigation into deaths of Vincent Hong and Timothy Saville ‘let down’ by Greek authorities, says coroner

The families of two men from Yorkshire who died on a scuba diving trip in Greece have been told they may never find out exactly what happened to their loved ones.

A Hull coroner has said it is not possible to determine what caused the deaths of Dr Vincent Hong, a consultant cardiothoracic anaesthetist, and Timothy Saville, a Huddersfield businessman, who died within three days of each other on the same trip.

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Buy now, pay later firm Klarna reports first month of profit in three years

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Fintech company still made second-quarter operating loss of £62m as calls grow for sector to be regulated

Klarna, a buy now, pay later firm, has reported a profitable month for the first time in three years.

The Swedish company, which allows shoppers to defer and split the cost of items but has been accused of tipping people into debt, has struggled to make money in recent years amid rising bad debts and weak consumer confidence.

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Russia-Ukraine war: critics of counteroffensive are ‘spitting in the faces of soldiers’, says Kyiv – as it happened

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Ukraine’s foreign minister also says critics of the offensive’s slow progress should ‘shut up’

At a glance: what we know on day 554 of the invasion

A military spokesperson says Ukrainian armed forces are making progress in the direction of Novoprokopivka – the village beyond Robotyne, in the direction of Melitopol.

The capture of Robotyne was announced earlier this week. Even though just a few miles from where Ukrainian troops were at the start of the counter-offensive, it marked a significant achievement in breaking through an initial line of Russian defences prepared over the winter.

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Top issues in Grant Shapps’ in tray as new UK defence secretary

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Ben Wallace’s successor faces major issues on several fronts including Ukraine and a British military seeking more investment

Grant Shapps’ appointment comes at a time of the largest war in Europe since 1945, with Britain a key strategic partner for Ukraine as it seeks to kick out the Russian invaders. A central part of the job is public and private diplomacy, with the UK particularly keen to maintain its position as a bridge between Kyiv, always seeking new weapons, and an often cautious White House, already increasingly mindful of the looming 2024 election battle, most likely with Donald Trump.

Once Boris Johnson had been ousted from Downing Street, Kyiv looked to Wallace as an increasingly important figure, with the former defence secretary central in efforts to find a pathway for Ukraine to eventually join Nato and in ensuring long-term military support continues. Shapps will want to keep the long-term door to Nato membership open, but he may have give Kyiv candid advice and help it temper its not always realistic lobbying.

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‘A success for Kremlin propaganda’: how pro-Putin views permeate Italian media

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With pro-Russia commentators regularly appearing on TV, Italians are less likely to back Ukraine than people in most other EU states

Whenever Nello Scavo returns from Ukraine, he is overcome with frustration. As a war correspondent for the Italian national newspaper Avvenire, he knows the first question people will ask him is: “Is it really as bad as they say?”

“Sometimes I think that only if I come back badly injured will people start taking me seriously,” he told the Guardian. “It’s as if they don’t believe that Russia is massacring civilians. The problem is that Vladimir Putin has always enjoyed wide sympathy in Italian politics and public opinion, with the Kremlin always enjoying effective propaganda here.”

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Train hits and kills five track maintenance workers in northern Italy

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Mayor of northern town of Brandizzo speaks of ‘chilling scene’ after accident near Turin

Five railway workers in northern Italy were killed when they were hit by a train while carrying out overnight maintenance work.

Paolo Bodoni, the mayor of Brandizzo, told the AGI news agency that an emergency worker had described to him a “chilling scene, with human remains across 300 metres”.

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Yevgeny Prigozhin spoke of threats to his life days before death, video appears to show

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Wagner boss apparently seen in Africa saying ‘everything’s fine’ as he addressed rumours about wellbeing

A newly released video of Yevgeny Prigozhin purports to show the Wagner group boss in Africa addressing rumours about his wellbeing and threats to his life, just days before his death.

“For everyone discussing whether I’m alive or not and how I’m doing. It’s currently a weekend in the second half of August 2023. I’m in Africa,” Prigozhin says in the short video published by the Grey Zone Telegram channel that is linked to Wagner group.

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Ørsted shares fall 25% after it reveals troubles in US business

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Almost £7bn wiped off value of world’s largest offshore wind company over possible £1.8bn write-down

Shares in the world’s largest offshore wind company have tumbled by nearly a quarter after it said it may have to write down the value of its US portfolio by nearly £2bn.

Ørsted said it had been hit by a flurry of setbacks in its American business, triggering a rapid sell-off in its shares, listed in Copenhagen.

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EU imports of Russian liquified gas leap by 40% since Ukraine invasion

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Pipeline flows from Russia have fallen to historic lows, but shipments of LNG from all over the world have surged

EU imports of Russian liquified natural gas (LNG) have increased by 40% since the invasion of Ukraine despite efforts to cut down supplies.

Member states have bought more than half of Russia’s LNG on the market in the first seven months of this year, according to analysis of data by Kpler, which tracks marine and tanker traffic.

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Gatwick passenger numbers soar as strikes hit flight punctuality

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Demand for travel results in 41% rise but air traffic control industrial action across Europe affects timings

Passenger numbers at Gatwick airport soared to 19 million during the first six months of the year, according to its operator, although air traffic control strikes across Europe contributed to an increase in delayed departures and landings.

Demand for travel resulted in 41% more passengers travelling through the airport between January and June compared with 2022 – when Covid restrictions were still in place – Gatwick said as it released half-year results.

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‘Avoid getting drunk’: row erupts over rape comments by Italy PM’s partner

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Giorgia Meloni called on to condemn partner who appeared to suggest women could avoid rape by not getting too drunk

A row has erupted in Italy after a journalist and the partner of Giorgia Meloni appeared to suggest that women could avoid rape by not getting too drunk, with opposition parties calling on the prime minister to distance herself from his comments.

“If you go dancing you are fully entitled to get drunk ... but if you avoid getting drunk and losing consciousness, perhaps you’d also avoid getting into trouble, because then you’ll find the wolf,” Andrea Giambruno said on his show on the right-leaning channel Rete 4 after recent high-profile gang rape cases near Naples and in Palermo.

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US concerned that arms negotiations between Russia and North Korea ‘actively advancing’ – as it happened

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Sergei Shoigu, Russian defence minister, has recently travelled to North Korea to try to convince them to sell ammunition, says White House. This live blog is closed

Russia’s Tass news agency reports, citing Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin, that a drone was “destroyed” in the Ruzsky district of the Moscow region.

“Tonight, an attempt was made to mass attack drones in the Central Federal District. One of the UAVs heading for Moscow was destroyed by air defense forces in the Ruzsky district. There were no preliminary casualties and no damage,” Sobyanin wrote in his Telegram channel.

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Ukrainian drones attack six Russian regions and hit military planes

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Kyiv says four cargo planes destroyed in city 500 miles from border with Ukraine

Ukrainian drones have attacked at least six regions deep within Russia, including an airfield where they destroyed military transport planes, in one of the largest-scale attacks on Russia in months.

A drone assault on the city of Pskov in north-western Russia damaged four IL-76 military cargo aircraft, Russian authorities said early on Wednesday, engulfing two of the planes in flames.

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Documents show Putin’s order to move superyacht before Ukraine invasion

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Russian president ordered urgent removal of Graceful from Hamburg shipyard, investigation claims

Vladimir Putin moved his $100m (£75m) superyacht from a German shipyard to Russia just weeks before he ordered the invasion of Ukraine, according to secret documents released in a new investigation.

A Russian anti-corruption organisation set up by the jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny claims emails show that the Russian president ordered the urgent moving of the 82-metre superyacht, called Graceful, from a shipyard in Hamburg, where it was undergoing a $32m refit, by 1 February 2022.

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‘Farewell ceremony’ for Yevgeny Prigozhin takes place in St Petersburg – as it happened

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Spokesperson says ‘those who wish to bid their farewell’ to the mercenary leader should go to the Porokhovskoye cemetery. This live blog is closed

My colleague Dan Sabbagh has a special dispatch from Kupiansk, a town in the Kharkiv region where some residents have abandoned their homes because of renewed shelling.

In its latest intelligence update, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said military service in the Russian armed forces has become increasingly lucrative since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.

On 4 February 2022 Russian president Vladimir Putin noted that a lieutenant received 81,200 rubles per month. By October 2022, he announced that even mobilised private soldiers would receive 195,000 rubles per month.

Many junior ranks serving in Ukraine are now on over 200,000 rubles per month. This is over 2.7 times the Russian national average salary of 72,851 rubles. By way of comparison, 2.7 times the average UK salary would equate to over £90,000 a year.

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Funeral of Yevgeny Prigozhin held in ‘closed format’ in St Petersburg

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Kremlin earlier said president’s presence ‘not envisaged’ at funeral of Wagner chief who was killed in plane crash last week

The funeral of Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin was held at a private cemetery on the outskirts of his home town of St Petersburg, his press service said on Tuesday hours after the Kremlin announced that Vladimir Putin would not be attending.

“The farewell to Yevgeny Viktorovich took place in a closed format. Those who wish to say goodbye may visit Porokhovskoye cemetery,” the press service said in its first post on Telegram in two months, ending days of speculation over how the warlord would be laid to rest.

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‘I couldn’t take it any more’: holdouts quit Kupiansk after renewed Russian shelling

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People who stayed through last year’s occupation are now abandoning the city amid fears of a ‘Bakhmut 2.0’

Antonina Sanina, 75, had spent the last two nights hiding in the basement of her apartment block in Kupiansk. She had endured six and a half months of Russian occupation last year, but now the renewed shelling of the city had prompted her to abandon her home. “I couldn’t take it any more,” she said a few minutes after local volunteers had driven her to safety.

She said eight neighbours hid in the cellar with her as the Russians targeted what they thought, wrongly, was a barracks nearby. “You could barely sleep. It would be on and off. Then you’d just wake up and you wouldn’t know – was that an actual hit or was it a dream?” A day before she took flight, one civilian was killed and 11 injured in a daytime artillery strike on the city centre.

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