UK to retain EU safety mark in latest Brexit climbdown

Government bows to pressure from industry over costs of switching over to British marking

The UK will retain the EU’s product safety mark indefinitely, in the latest climbdown from proposed post-Brexit changes, after the government bowed to pressure from industry and manufacturers.

The CE (Conformité Européenne) mark is used by the bloc to certify that a wide range of items – from electrical goods and construction materials to medical devices and toys – meet safety standards.

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Protests erupt in Bulgaria after attacks on woman by ex-partner deemed ‘mild’

Rallies in Sofia and other cities after leniency shown to man whose ex-girlfriend says she was cut hundreds of times by him

Thousands of Bulgarians have taken to the streets to protest against violence against women after a harrowing case of a teen cut hundreds of times shocked the Balkan nation.

Approximately 5,000 people demonstrated in Sofia, while protests also took place in other cities across the country, where rallies over violence against women are rare.

In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org

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UK imposes sanctions on Russian judges for sentencing of Putin opponent

British-Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza lost his appeal against a 25-year prison term on Monday

The UK government has imposed sanctions on those involved in the “deplorable” sentencing of the dual-national dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza after a Russian court dismissed his appeal against a 25-year sentence.

Six figures – three judges, two prosecutors and an expert witness – will face sanctions for their role in a “politically motivated conviction”.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: civilian deaths reported after strikes in Kryvyi Rih, Kherson and Donetsk

Ukraine defence minister says Moscow has intensified strikes on military infrastructure; Kremlin says Ukraine counteroffensive ‘not working out as planned’

Alexey Kulemzin, the Russian-imposed mayor of the occupied city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, has reported that “facades, balconies, roofing and glazing” have been damaged in Kuibyshevskyi district in the city by overnight shelling.

Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin appears to have said in a voice message published on Monday that his Wagner group was not currently recruiting fighters but was likely to do so in future.

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British woman among three killed in French motorway collision

Miriam Posen, from London, killed in three-vehicle crash on A26 that left five others in a critical condition

A British woman has died along with two other people in a three-car collision on a motorway in northern France.

More than 65 firefighters and nine ambulances attended the crash on Sunday evening, which involved eight children and involved a British nine-seater family vehicle and two other cars on the A26 near Neuville-Saint-Vaast and Thélus.

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Niger coup leaders accuse France of plotting military intervention

Junta that seized power claims Paris is aiming to reinstate deposed president as regional tensions grow

The military junta that seized power in Niger has accused France of plotting military intervention to reinstate the deposed president, Mohamed Bazoum, as tensions in the region continued to grow in the wake of the coup.

The junta said on national TV that France was searching “for ways and means to intervene militarily in Niger” and had held a meeting with the chief of staff of Niger’s national guard “to obtain the necessary political and military authorisation”.

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Four Tunisians arrested for piracy over engine thefts from migrant boats

Men held in Sicily accused of intercepting vessels and demanding cash, phones and vital engines

Police in Italy have arrested four Tunisians on charges of piracy, accusing them of intercepting migrant boats in the central Mediterranean and stealing their engines, leaving the vessels adrift.

Investigators said the four men would identify boats carrying asylum seekers to Europe and, with the help of other vessels, blockade them in international waters off the Tunisian coast, before boarding them to rob the passengers of money and phones and the boat of its valuable engine.

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Italy seeking to leave ‘atrocious’ China Belt and Road plan without harming ties – minister

‘Improvised and atrocious’ decision in 2019 made Italy the only major western member, says Guido Crosetto, the defence minister

Joining China’s vast Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was an “atrocious” decision, Italy’s defence minister has said, and the issue was how to leave it without damaging ties with Beijing.

Guido Crosetto said in an interview published on Sunday that the move made four years ago under a previous government had done little to boost exports, while Chinese exports to Italy had soared.

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Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 523 of the invasion

At least six people have been killed in Kryvyi Rih, and two people killed in occupied Donetsk, after several strikes across Ukraine

At least six people, including a 10-year-old child, have been killed and more than 50 people injured when Russia struck a high-rise apartment in Kryvyi Rih. Authorities said people were trapped under rubble. Oleksiy Kuleba, the deputy head of Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office, called for revenge, saying: “Every day, Ukrainian cities are under fire from Russian terrorists. Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Kharkiv. This is only for the last few days.” He said targeting civilians was a sign of “the despair and defeat of the Russian Federation at the front”.

Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, said “This is how the week begins in a Ukrainian city that just wants a quiet, normal life. Russia wants to take peace and life away”, and offered condolences to the victims and their families. The city is the home town of both Zelenska and her husband.

On Telegram, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said more than 350 people are working on the rescue mission in Kryvyi Rih after what he said were two Russian ballistic missiles hit the city.

Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza on Monday lost an appeal against his 25-year jail sentence, the RIA state news agency reported. Kara-Murza, who holds Russian and British citizenship, was jailed for 25 years in April for treason and spreading “false information” about Russia’s war in Ukraine, Reuters reports. Britain added six new designations to its Russia sanctions list, an update to the government website showed on Monday, targeting judges and officials involved in the trial of Kara-Murza.

According to Reuters, Ukraine and Croatia have agreed on the possibility of using Croatian ports on the Danube and the Adriatic Sea for the export of Ukrainian grain, Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said after talks with his Croatian counterpart on Monday.

Russian airstrikes destroyed an estimated 180,000 metric tonnes of grain crops in the space of nine days this month, the Ukrainian foreign ministry said on Monday, Reuters reports.

Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation, said Russia lost 87 units of equipment last week, including 33 strongholds, 26 armored combat vehicles and 15 tanks. These claims have not been independently verified.

The Kremlin on Monday described a recent drone attack on Moscow as an “act of desperation” by Ukraine after setbacks on the battlefield. AFP reports that Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said it has been “very difficult” for Ukrainian forces on the frontline since it launched its counteroffensive in June. He added: “It is obvious that the counteroffensive is not a success. In an act of desperation, the regime in Kyiv is turning to such terrorist attacks. All possible measures have been taken to defend civil infrastructure [against Ukrainian strikes].”

Ukrainian forces have recaptured nearly 15 sq km (5.8 sq miles) of land from Russian troops in the east and south over the past week during their counteroffensive, a senior defence official said on Monday. Kyiv’s forces have now retaken 204.7 sq km in the south since they launched a major push back against Russian forces early last month, deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said on Telegram.

The Kremlin said on Monday that Ukraine’s counteroffensive is “not working out as planned” and that Nato resources supplied to Kyiv had been “wasted”, during the course of a two month-long operation that has seen limited gains for Ukraine.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: ‘War is returning to Russia,’ says Zelenskiy, after drones damage Moscow buildings – as it happened

Night-time drone attack damages two office blocks, as Ukrainian president says ‘this is an inevitable … and absolutely fair process’

President Vladimir Putin said the Russian navy will get 30 new ships this year, Reuters reports.

Putin made the announcement at a ceremony in St Petersburg to mark Russia’s annual Navy Day after reviewing a parade of warships on the Neva river.

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UK’s post-Brexit policing pact put at risk by migration laws, say peers

Committee concerned illegal migration legislation will jeopardise sharing of DNA, fingerprinting and criminal records

The UK’s post-Brexit policing pact with the EU on sharing DNA, fingerprinting and criminal records could be put at risk by Suella Braverman’s migration laws, a House of Lords committee has said.

Lady Hamwee, the chair of the Lords justice and home affairs committee, has written to the home secretary to say its members are “particularly concerned” that the new illegal migration legislation along with new data laws could lead to the “termination and/or suspension” of the security cooperation elements of the Brexit trade deal.

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Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 522 of the invasion

Putin says Russia ‘building up power’ of its navy; drone attack on Moscow damages two office blocks

President Vladimir Putin praised Russia’s navy in an address at the annual Navy Day parade. He announced 30 new ships this year as he said Russia was “building up the power” of its navy.

Putin has said African and Chinese proposals could serve as a basis for finding peace but added elements were “difficult or impossible” to implement. He was speaking at a press conference after meeting African leaders in St Petersburg.

A night-time drone attack on Moscow damaged two office blocks, the mayor of the Russian capital said early on Sunday, Russia’s state news agency Tass reported. The capital’s Vnukovo airport was temporarily shut. City mayor Sergei Sobyanin posted on Telegram that there were “no victims or injured”. However, Tass reported a security guard had been injured in the attacks.

Ukraine’s ministry of defence has said Saturday’s Russian missile attacks killed one person and 10 were injured in Sumy. In Zaporizhzhia two people died and two were injured.

Moscow said on Sunday its forces had thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to attack Russia-annexed Crimea with 25 drones overnight.

The latest UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) update says satellite imagery captured on 19 July has identified approximately 300 tents and 200 vehicles in Tsel, Belarus, where Wagner troops have likely established a military camp there. The MoD said it was unclear what happened to the heavy equipment Wagner used in Ukraine, suggesting it was possible it was forced to return these to the Russian military.

Pope Francis has called on Russia to revive the Black Sea grain deal, through which Moscow had allowed Ukraine to export grain from its seaports despite the war.

The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said Russia has lost 245,700 troops in Ukraine since the start of the war. According to the report, as of 9am (EET) on 30 July, Russia has also lost 4,205 tanks, 8,178 armoured fighting vehicles.

Ukrainian soldiers fired UK-donated AS90 self-propelled artillery guns to mark the end of their training in south-west England. British army instructors taught the 72 Ukrainian army personnel how to operate and maintain the guns when in combat, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

The Associated Press has reported that Saudi Arabia will host a Ukrainian-organised peace summit in early August.

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Spain stalemate drags on as Pedro Sánchez’s socialist party loses crucial seat

Votes from overseas means left and right blocs now neck and neck in race for power

Spain’s socialist party has suffered a setback in its efforts to form a new leftwing coalition government after this month’s inconclusive election as a count of overseas votes handed a crucial seat across to the opposition conservatives.

The result means the left and right blocs are now neck and neck as MPs prepare for a vote in congress that will determine who gets to govern.

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Storm leaves eight dead after trees fall on campsite in Russia

Emergency services clear debris after storm hits site in Mari El, along northern bank of Volga River

Eight people died and another 10 were hospitalised in Russia when trees fell at a campsite during a severe storm described as a hurricane.

“According to the latest information, eight people died in Mari El due to the hurricane that took place the day before,” said Yevgeny Maslov, the mayor of the city of Yoshkar-Ola.

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Moscow buildings damaged in overnight drone attacks that Russia blames on Kyiv

Officials say one person is injured in the latest in a series of strikes on the Russian capital that Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for

Three Ukrainian drones were downed over Moscow early on Sunday, Russia’s defence ministry said, in an attack that briefly shut an international airport.

While one of the drones was shot down on the city’s outskirts, two others were “suppressed by electronic warfare” and smashed into an office complex. A security guard was injured, Russia’s state news agency Tass reported, citing emergency officials.

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Poland raises fears about ‘dangerous’ situation with Wagner troops near border – as it happened

Poland has been concerned about the spillover of war on to its territory ever since Russia invaded Ukraine. This blog is now closed

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has issued a special invitation to a Ukrainian fencer to take part in the Paris Olympics next year, after she was disqualified from a tournament for refusing to shake hands with her defeated Russian opponent.

The IOC president, Thomas Bach, a former Olympic champion fencer himself, wrote in person to Olha Kharlan to make a “unique exception” to Olympic qualifying procedures, in an unusually emotional letter.

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Channel Island Nazis inquiry under pressure to find out why perpetrators never faced justice

Thousands of people may have perished on Alderney during the second world war but their murderers never stood trial

The official inquiry into Nazi atrocities committed on Alderney in the Channel Islands is under pressure to investigate why those responsible for committing war crimes on British soil were never brought to trial in the UK.

Prof Anthony Glees, the security and intelligence expert who advised Margaret Thatcher’s war crimes inquiry, told the Observer: “This is a vital opportunity to establish all the facts, and it must examine why those who perpetrated such heinous war crimes were never brought to trial in this country. The review into the atrocities on Alderney is to be warmly welcomed, but I believe it should not just focus on the numbers killed, as important as that is.”

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Thousands march in Liverpool as city hosts Kyiv Pride

City continues relationship with Ukrainian capital forged when it hosted Eurovision song contest

Thousands took to the streets of Liverpool on Saturday as the city hosted KyivPride on behalf of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and an organiser praised the “amazing friendship” between the cities.

The joint march continues a relationship built when Liverpool hosted the Eurovision song contest on behalf of the war-torn country earlier this year.

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Greece wildfires under control but strong winds still a threat, say officials

‘No active front’ in Rhodes, Corfu and central Greece blazes as more than 460 firefighters remain on alert

Wildfires that have scorched Greece for more than two weeks are under control, but firefighters remain in key hotspots as strong winds remain a threat, officials have said.

“Scattered fire pockets are being extinguished,” the fire department said on Saturday, adding that there was “no active front” in the three biggest wildfires in Rhodes, Corfu and central Greece that forced thousands of people to flee.

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‘This is another beast’: UN chief heat officer on living amid fires, how to cool cities and fears for her daughter

Eleni Myrivili, whose job is to help cities prepare for extreme heat, says many people do not understand how deadly it can be

It is “shocking” how little people know about the danger of hot weather, the United Nations global chief heat officer has said, as high temperatures bake cities across the northern hemisphere and politicians backslide on climate promises.

A study this month found that extreme heat in Europe last summer killed 61,000 people, most of whom were women and older people. As well as killing people through heatstroke, hot weather can push the bodies of people with heart and lung disease into deadly overdrive.

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