Foreign Office updates travel advice for France, saying location and timing of clashes is unpredictable
British holidaymakers travelling to France have been warned they could face disruption after four nights of unrest in reaction to the police killing of a 17-year-old boy of Algerian and Moroccan descent.
The Foreign Office has changed its travel advice, warning of the potential for disruption to travel, curfews and that the “location and timing of riots are unpredictable”.
Continue reading...Police braced for unrest after funeral for Nahel, killed by police on Tuesday, held near Paris on Saturday
More than 1,000 people were arrested in the fourth night of unrest, as family and friends prepare to bury the 17-year-old fatally shot by police.
Associated Press reports that France’s interior ministry said that 1,311 people were arrested as protesters once again clashed with police.
Continue reading...Gen Mark Milley says no one should have any illusions about difficulty of Ukrainian offensive
Here are pictures from Friday of family and co-workers attending the funeral of a young female killed in a missile attack that hit a restaurant in downtown Kramatorsk on 27 June.
The Guardian’s Shaun Walker, Andrew Roth and Pjotr Sauer have written an analysis about the likely vengeful response opponents of Vladimir Putin should expect after the attempted Wagner mutiny last weekend.
Continue reading...Fourth night of demonstrations sees 45,000 police deployed as authorities claim the situation is calmer
Nearly 1,000 people in France were arrested and 80 police injured during a fourth night of unrest triggered by the fatal police shooting of a teenager, but officials claimed the situation was calmer than on the previous night.
Forty-five thousand police officers, including special forces, were deployed to respond to rioting across the country on Friday night, with the situation in two major cities – Marseille and Lyon – highlighted as particular chaotic, with buildings and vehicles torched and stores looted.
Continue reading...National broadcaster embroiled in a real-life drama over clandestine payments to its star presenter
It has become Ireland’s top-rated show – a tale of celebrity, secrets and lies that has entranced the public and dominated the airwaves. Some reckon it is the most gripping drama ever produced by RTÉ.
Unfortunately for the national broadcaster, it is an all too real scandal over clandestine payments that has engulfed its star presenter and senior managers and planted a question mark over RTÉ’s future.
Continue reading...Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate warns that staff are leaving Zaporizhzhia as Moscow has mined power units; Pope Francis calls for peace
Overnight, the BBC has been reporting that recruitment continues at Wagner mercenary offices across Russia, despite the fallout from the weekend’s armed mutiny. It writes:
Using a Russian phone number, we called more than a dozen recruitment centres saying, if asked, that we were inquiring on behalf of a brother.
All those who replied confirmed that it was business as usual.
Continue reading...Government struggles to contain continuing unrest after police shooting of teenager in Paris suburb
• French riots – latest updates
Emmanuel Macron has urged parents to keep teenagers at home as France’s government said it was reviewing “all options” to contain escalating violence after three nights of rioting sparked by the fatal police shooting of a teenager at a traffic stop.
Promising additional security forces would be deployed on Friday night, Macron, who left an EU summit in Brussels early to attend a crisis cabinet meeting, appealed to “the responsibility of mothers and fathers” and said it was not the job of the French republic to take their place.
Continue reading...Nationwide ban on bus and tram services follows violence triggered by the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old on Tuesday. This blog is now closed
An ambulance driver was filmed berating police after Nahel’s death. In the video, which has circulated widely online, he shouted at officers:
He’s 17, you see he has a baby face. For a driving licence offence. For a driving licence offence, brother. I know the lad, I watched him grow up. His mother brought him up all alone, his dad left. She’s going to bury her son. For a driving licence offence.
You’re going to see how it goes tonight. Everyone’s sleeping right now – you’re going to see how Nanterre awakens.
Continue reading...Last week’s Wagner revolt was less an attempted coup, more an impulsive demonstration that got out of hand
Could Yevgeny Prigozhin have somehow captured Moscow last weekend? The emerging consensus – from experts and in western capitals – is probably not: the extraordinary rebellion of last Friday and Saturday was far less than an attempted coup, and more an impulsive demonstration that quickly got out of hand.
Consider the numbers involved in Saturday’s march on Moscow. The best estimates of rebel numbers are nothing like the 25,000 claimed by Prigozhin himself, probably closer to the 4,000 cited by the Institute of the Study of War. Even that is only a small part of Wagner’s total Ukraine force, generally estimated to be 15,000, the size of an army division.
Continue reading...Vilhelm Junnila, already criticised for Nazi ‘joke’, found to have called for abortions in Africa to combat climate crisis
The new Finnish coalition government has been plunged into crisis, as a key minister was forced to resign after it emerged he had called for Finland to support abortions in Africa to combat the climate crisis.
Vilhelm Junnila, of the far-right Finns party, resigned after a week of fiercely criticised revelations, including that he made jokes about “Heil Hitler” and had given a speech at an event attended by neo-Nazis.
Continue reading...Decision agreed quickly at Brussels summit of leaders as bloc highlights vulnerability of supply chains
EU leaders have launched a policy towards China of “de-risking”, a softening of its unofficial “decoupling” approach that reflects concerns over the economic damage of cutting off the world’s second-biggest economy or entering a trade war with it.
The decision was agreed quickly at a summit of leaders in Brussels after the European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, went into the summit with consensus among the 27 member states.
Continue reading...Pavel Fuks, a Ukrainian who made a fortune in Russia and is under investigation for fraud, was granted special visa for the rich in 2012
An oligarch who made a fortune in Russia and is under Ukrainian sanctions has UK residency after being granted a special visa for the rich.
Pavel Fuks, a Ukrainian national who had sanctions imposed in 2021, is also under criminal investigation for fraud and tax evasion in his home country. But the Guardian has established that Fuks, known as a regular at an exclusive Mayfair restaurant, was granted a so-called golden visa in 2012, followed by indefinite leave to remain in the UK in 2017. “It’s effective as of today,” his spokesperson said.
Continue reading...Review of research finds particularly clear evidence that LEZs in cities reduce heart and circulatory problems
An increasing number of research studies are showing that low emission zones (LEZs) improve health.
More than 320 zones are operating across the UK, Europe and notably in Tokyo, Japan. These reduce air pollution across an area by curbing the number of highly polluting vehicles, normally older diesels. Schemes, including London’s ultra-low emission zone, can improve air quality. This should lead to improved health, but does this actually happen?
Continue reading...Police fire teargas at rioters as 6,000 march through Nanterre to protest against shooting of 17-year-old
Violence has erupted for a third consecutive night in France as Emmanuel Macron struggles to contain mounting anger after the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old boy of north African descent during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb.
The officer concerned was charged with voluntary homicide on Thursday and placed in provisional detention in the capital as an estimated 6,000 people marched through the streets of Nanterre in memory of the teenager, identified as Nahel M.
Continue reading...Leaders already exploring plans with other African nations to tackle root causes of migration-related deaths
The EU may seek a new wide-ranging partnership with Egypt including measures to stem irregular migration and break criminal people-smuggling networks.
EU leaders are already exploring plans beyond a looming €1bn (£860m) deal with Tunisia to other countries in Africa as part of a wider bid to tackle the root causes of migration-related deaths and disappearances.
Continue reading...German man says he first contacted Scotland Yard about suspect Christian Brückner in 2008
The man who tipped off police about Christian Brückner, the main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, has said his initial approach to the Metropolitan police in the year after she disappeared was ignored and he was only taken seriously when he contacted them again nine years later.
The German man, identified only as Helge B, said he had approached Scotland Yard in 2008, suspecting Brückner’s involvement in the child’s abduction, but he heard nothing back from them. Publicity around the 10th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance in 2017 prompted him to contact them again, after which they acted on his information, he said.
Continue reading...Male suspect reportedly from Bristol could face a prison term of up to five years for the widely condemned act
Italian police have identified a man from England as the suspected culprit behind an inscription carved into a wall of the Colosseum, after a four-day search.
A young man wearing a blue flowery shirt was filmed by an onlooker using a key to scratch his and his girlfriend’s name into an internal wall of the 2,000-year-old monument last Friday. If convicted, the suspect could face a hefty fine and prison term under Italy’s strict cultural heritage protection laws.
Continue reading...Group’s chief refuses to sign contracts with Kremlin, says head of Duma defence committee; Russian president poses for selfies in Dagestan
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports that the distribution of humanitarian aid in Nevske in the Ukraine-controlled portion of Luhansk has been paused after Russian shelling.
It cites the regional governor Artem Lysohor, who said there were no casualties or injuries, but that due to the deterioration of the security situation, the humanitarian aid would be distributed later.
The rescue operations at the site of the missile strike in Kramatorsk have been completed.
A total of 12 people, including three children, died as a result of the attack. 60 people were injured, including an eight-month-old baby.
Continue reading...Killing of 17-year-old in Nanterre has triggered nights of clashes and politicians fear unrest will spread
Amid the twisted and smouldering carcasses of burned-out cars, the stench of melted tarmac and smoke-blackened buildings, French housing estates were braced for more nights of rioting and soul-searching on fractured race relations and deep distrust of the police.
“There’s so much anger,” said Chakir, a 21-year-old youth worker, who had been awake until 5am on the streets of his housing estate in Roubaix, northern France, where more than 100 young people had lit firework rockets with cigarette lighters and thrown them at lines of riot police. They were protesting after the death of a 17-year-old boy, Nahel, of Algerian background, who was shot dead at close range by police at a traffic stop in Nanterre, west of Paris, on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Leftwing opposition leader who was PM during eurozone crisis says party needs ‘profound renewal’
Alexis Tsipras, the former student activist who rose to become Greece’s first radical leftwing prime minister, has resigned as leader of Syriza four days after the party’s crushing defeat in general elections.
Eight years after taking Europe by storm, Tsipras said he was stepping down to make way for a new leader who could oversee Syriza’s “profound renewal”.
Continue reading...