Category Archives: Europe

Silvio Berlusconi leaves €100m to partner Marta Fascina in his will

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Three-time Italian prime minister leaves overall control of family holding company to two eldest children

The late Silvio Berlusconi left €100m (£85.4m) to his partner, Marta Fascina, in his will and control of the family holding company, Fininvest, to his two eldest children, a source has confirmed.

The three-time Italian prime minister, who died last month and whose empire is estimated to be worth more than €6bn, also left €100m to his brother, Paolo, and €30m to Marcello Dell’Utri, a former senator with his Forza Italia party who served jail time for association with the mafia.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: six die in missile strike on Lviv; US to send cluster munitions to Kyiv

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Cluster munitions banned by most of world under treaty US, Russia and Ukraine did not sign

On his recent visit to the US, Boris Johnson “reminded” Donald Trump he “actually played an important role” in supporting and arming Ukraine against its Russian invaders, the former British prime minister said, adding that British aid to Kyiv was “enabled” by Trump’s example.

Johnson made the claim about the notoriously pro-Russian former president – and brushed off mention of Trump’s impeachment for blocking military aid to Ukraine – in an interview on One Decision, a podcast hosted by Sir Richard Dearlove, a former chief of the British intelligence service MI6, and the journalist Julia Macfarlane.

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Wagner boss Prigozhin has returned to Russia, Lukashenko says

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Belarus president says head of mercenary group behind failed mutiny is in St Petersburg

The Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, who last month brokered a deal to end Wagner’s armed mutiny, has said the head of the mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has returned to Russia.

“As for Prigozhin, he’s in St Petersburg. He is not on the territory of Belarus,” Lukashenko told reporters. “Where is Prigozhin this morning? Maybe he left for Moscow.”

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Germany did not listen to warnings about Russia, says Annalena Baerbock

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Foreign minister says Ukraine war has changed country’s mindset about ‘chequebook diplomacy’

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has changed how Germany views security and made Berlin realise it failed to listen to eastern European allies who warned of threats from Moscow, Annalena Baerbock, the German foreign minister, has written in the Guardian.

In a frank admission about the flaws in postwar German foreign policy, she said countries in eastern Europe had been right to warn Germany that hoping for the best in dealing with the threats from an autocratic Russia was not an adequate response. For too long, she said, Germany had resorted to “chequebook diplomacy”, or a belief that political and economic interaction would lead Russia to a democratic path.

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EU sets out first-ever soil law to protect food security and slow global heating

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Proposal to improve soil health throughout continent by 2050 criticised for lack of legally binding targets

The European Commission has proposed the continent’s first soil law, intended to undo some of the damage done by intensive farming and mitigate global heating.

Amid intense opposition to proposed laws on nature restoration and curbs on pesticides, the European Commission put forward proposals in Brussels on Wednesday to revive degraded soils. Research indicates that this could help absorb carbon from the atmosphere and ensure sustainable food production.

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Boris Johnson claims he ‘reminded’ Trump about key role in Ukraine aid

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Former British prime minister says in interview that Trump ‘played an important role’ in arming Ukraine and set an example

On his recent visit to the US, Boris Johnson “reminded” Donald Trump he “actually played an important role” in supporting and arming Ukraine against its Russian invaders, the former British prime minister said, adding that British aid to Kyiv was “enabled” by Trump’s example.

Johnson made the claim about the notoriously pro-Russian former president – and brushed off mention of Trump’s impeachment for blocking military aid to Ukraine – in an interview on One Decision, a podcast hosted by Sir Richard Dearlove, a former chief of the British intelligence service MI6, and the journalist Julia Macfarlane. The episode was released on Thursday.

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Spanish minister proposes €20,000 ‘universal inheritance’ from age of 18

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Yolanda Díaz says money for study, training or starting a business would ensure ‘equality of opportunity’

Spain’s leftwing labour minister, Yolanda Díaz, has proposed a scheme to tackle social inequality by giving every young person in the country €20,000 (£17,000) to be spent on study, training or setting up a business once they reach the age of 18.

According to Díaz’s Sumar platform, which announced the policy before Spain’s snap general election on 23 July, the initiative would cost €10bn, which would be raised by taxing the rich.

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Macron accused of authoritarianism after threat to cut off social media

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Élysée insists French president not advocating general blackout as ministers say rioters using platforms to organise violence

Emmanuel Macron is facing a backlash after threatening to cut off social media networks as a means of stopping the spread of violence during periods of unrest.

Élysée officials and government ministers responded on Wednesday by insisting the president was not threatening a “general blackout” but instead the “occasional and temporary” suspension of platforms.

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Italian men hid father’s body so they could claim his pension, police believe

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Body of Bruno Delnegro was found in a cave in Abruzzo last year, with three sons and girlfriend of one now under investigation

Italian police believe that the body of man found by walkers in a remote spot in the Abruzzo region a year ago had been left there by his sons who continued to pocket his pension.

The body of Bruno Delnegro, who died of natural causes, was found by two Canadian walkers last July in a cave about 215 miles (350km) from his home in Trani, in the southern Puglia region.

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Meta delays EU launch of Twitter rival Threads amid uncertainty over personal data use

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New app developed by Facebook and WhatsApp owner is due to launch in the UK and US on Thursday

Mark Zuckerberg’s rival to Twitter will not launch in the EU on Thursday amid regulatory uncertainty about the service’s use of personal data.

Sources at Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, said regulations were behind the postponement of an EU launch, amid a series of clashes between the social media group and the bloc.

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Kremlin denies China’s president urged Putin not to use nuclear arms in Ukraine

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Xi Jining reportedly warned Russian counterpart against using nuclear weapons on visit to Moscow in March

The Kremlin has denied a report that the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, had personally warned his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, against using nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

“No, I can’t confirm it,” Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on Wednesday when asked about a Financial Times report that said Xi delivered the message when he visited Moscow in March.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Zaporizhzhia situation ‘tense’ as both sides accuse each other of planning attack on nuclear plant – as it happened

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This live blog has now closed, you can read more about the war in Ukraine here

Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, reports that overnight residential buildings and a medical facility were damaged by a rocket attack on Druzhkivka in the Donetsk region.

The claims have not been independently verified.

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Emmanuel Macron’s uphill battle to achieve ‘lasting order’ in deeply divided France

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Wave of unrest after teenager’s death leaves French president weighing pleas to tackle inequality against calls for tougher policing

Emmanuel Macron is facing the biggest domestic challenge of his fraught second term in office, after the police shooting of a teenager of Algerian origin at a traffic stop last week led to multiple nights of urban unrest.

The French president on Tuesday announced crisis funding to help the reconstruction of burned-out buildings and public services. But questions remain over deep divisions in French society and the political class.

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Russia may be open to prisoner swap for jailed US reporter Evan Gershkovich

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Kremlin spokesman says there have been ‘certain contacts on the subject’ with the US but says any discussion will be held in secret

The Kremlin has suggested it could be open to a possible prisoner exchange involving jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, but reaffirmed that such talks must be held away from the public eye.

Asked whether Monday’s consular visits to Gershkovich, who has been held behind bars in Moscow since March on charges of espionage, and Vladimir Dunaev, a Russian citizen in US custody on cybercrime charges, could potentially herald a prisoner swap, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow and Washington had touched on the issue.

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Russia has planted suspected explosives on Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant roofs, says Zelenskiy

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President’s claims come after meeting with Emmanuel Macron, and Russia’s competing claim that Ukraine was planning its own attack on the plant

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has again warned Russia may be planning to “simulate an attack” the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, claiming that Russian troops have placed “objects resembling explosives” on the roofs of buildings at the site.

Citing Ukrainian intelligence, Zelenskiy said the objects had been positioned on the roof of several power units of the power plant that is currently held by Russia.

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France riots: prosecutors investigate death of man hit by projectile in Marseille

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Inquiry comes after President Emmanuel Macron met mayors to explore ‘deeper reasons’ for violence

French prosecutors have opened an investigation into the death of a 27-year old man who was hit by a projectile at the time of the riots on Saturday, the Marseille prosecutor’s office has said.

The man died on Saturday night while Marseille was engulfed in riots and pillaging, but prosecutors said it was not possible to determine where the man was when he was shot or whether the victim had taken part in the riots.

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France brings back women and children held in camps in Syria

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Twenty-five children and 10 adults sent to camps for suspected jihadists repatriated to France

France has repatriated 25 children and 10 women who were held in prison camps for suspected jihadists in north-east Syria, the fourth such operation in a year, the foreign ministry has said.

The minors would be handed over to childcare services while the adults would be handed over to the relevant judicial authorities, the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

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