Category Archives: Europe

Wagner mutiny has weakened Putin, says Scholz, as Russian president makes rare public visit

Posted on by

German Chancellor says uprising shows ‘cracks’ in autocracy in Moscow, after Vladimir Putin greeted crowds of fans in unusual tour of southern city

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said the failed Wagner mutiny last weekend has weakened Vladimir Putin’s authority, as the Russian president sought to repair the damage to his standing by meeting military staff at the Kremlin and greeting crowds on a rare public walkabout.

Speaking in a wide-ranging, hour-long interview with the ARD broadcaster, Scholz said: “I do believe he is weakened as this shows that the autocratic power structures have cracks in them and he is not as firmly in the saddle as he always asserts.”

Continue reading...

Ex-Rwandan military policeman found guilty of genocide by Paris court

Posted on by

Philippe Hategekimana also convicted of crimes against humanity relating to mass killings in 1994

A Paris court has found a former Rwandan military policeman guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity during the 1994 slaughter in his home country and sentenced him to life in prison.

The court found Philippe Hategekimana, 66, guilty of nearly all the charges against him.

Continue reading...

Malta to allow abortion but only when woman’s life is at risk

Posted on by

Watered-down law passed which says three specialists must agree that a termination is necessary

Maltese lawmakers have unanimously approved legislation to ease the strictest abortion laws in the EU, voting to allow terminations – but only in cases where a woman’s life is at risk.

Ahead of the vote on Wednesday, pro-choice campaigners withdrew their support, saying last-minute changes make the legislation “vague, unworkable and even dangerous”.

Continue reading...

Russian general who may have known about Wagner mutiny goes missing

Posted on by

US intelligence claims Gen Sergei Surovikin, who has close ties to Yevgeny Prigozhin, had prior knowledge of uprising

A Russian general who previously led the invasion force in Ukraine has not been seen in public since Saturday, with US intelligence reportedly claiming he had prior knowledge of the uprising led by the Wagner chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Gen Sergei Surovikin is the head of the Russian aerospace forces and formerly Moscow’s supreme commander in Ukraine. Prigozhin had welcomed his appointment to that post in 2022, calling him a “legendary figure” and “born to serve his motherland”.

Continue reading...

French engineer sentenced to life in prison after killing three women over job losses

Posted on by

Gabriel Fortin, 48, found guilty of murder of two HR directors and a jobcentre worker and attempted murder of a fourth person in 2021 attacks

An unemployed French engineer who shot dead three women whom he blamed for his joblessness was given a life sentence on Wednesday for the murders.

In 2021, Gabriel Fortin, 48, killed two human resources directors and a jobcentre employee, and attempted to kill a company executive following a string of dismissals.

Continue reading...

Climate crisis linked to rising domestic violence in south Asia, study finds

Posted on by

Increase of 1C in average annual temperature connected to more than 6% rise in physical and sexual domestic violence

As deadly heatwaves sweep through cities in India, China, the US and Europe amid the climate crisis, new research has found that rising temperatures are associated with a substantial rise in domestic violence against women.

A study published in JAMA Psychiatry on Wednesday found a 1C increase in average annual temperature was connected to a rise of more than 6.3% in incidents of physical and sexual domestic violence across three south Asian countries.

Continue reading...

Kramatorsk strike death toll rises to 11 – as it happened

Posted on by

Three children among dead in Russian attack that hit pizza restaurant in eastern Ukraine; US president says ‘hard to tell’ if Putin weakened by Wagner mutiny. This blog is now closed.

Three children were among the dead, with another child wounded, after the Russian strike on a pizzeria in Kramatorsk, according to Ukraine’s regional governor of Donetsk, who warned the figure may still rise.

In a message posted to Telegram, Pavlo Kyrylenko said:

Eight dead and 44 injured - these are the preliminary consequences of yesterday’s attack on Kramatorsk. Three children were among the dead, one child was among the wounded.

The Russians struck with two missiles - one aimed at a private enterprise, the second at a pizzeria.

Continue reading...

Deadly Russian missile strike on busy pizza restaurant in Kramatorsk

Posted on by

Four children among 10 people killed in rocket attack on packed restaurant in eastern Ukraine city

Four children were among 10 people killed in a devastating Russian rocket attack on a packed pizza restaurant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk.

Ukraine’s state emergency service said at least 56 people were injured, some critically, when two Iskander missiles slammed into the cafe in the city centre on Tuesday evening, when it was full of diners. The restaurant is popular with civilians and foreign journalists.

Continue reading...

Ukraine defence minister expects Nato guarantee for after war

Posted on by

Exclusive: Oleksii Reznikov says entry to alliance non-negotiable and pledges need to be made now

Ukraine’s defence minister has raised the stakes before the next Nato summit, saying he expects a guarantee that his country will be invited to join the military alliance at the conclusion of the war with Russia, describing membership as non-negotiable.

Before the 33rd meeting of the alliance’s leaders taking place in a fortnight in Vilnius, Oleksii Reznikov said Kyiv recognised that accession to Nato was not possible while the conflict continued but insisted hard pledges for the future would need to be made.

Continue reading...

Nato ready to face threat from ‘Moscow or Minsk’, says alliance head after Wagner chief’s exile

Posted on by

Jens Stoltenberg says alliance has strengthened eastern flank and will protect ‘every inch of Nato territory’ after Prigozhin move

Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg has said the alliance is ready to defend itself against any threat from “Moscow or Minsk” and has increased its military presence on its eastern flank in recent days after Belarus welcomed Wagner rebel leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.

“It’s too early to make any final judgment about the consequences of the fact that Prigozhin has moved to Belarus and most likely also some of his forces will also be located to Belarus,” Stoltenberg told reporters.

Continue reading...

US targets Wagner by sanctioning gold companies suspected of funding group

Posted on by

‘The US will continue to target the Wagner group’s revenue streams to degrade its expansion and violence,’ US treasury says

The United States has taken fresh aim at Russia’s Wagner group, imposing sanctions on companies it accuses of engaging in illicit gold dealings to fund the mercenary force.

In a statement on Tuesday, the US treasury department said it slapped sanctions on four companies in the United Arab Emirates, Central African Republic and Russia it accused of being connected to the Wagner Group and its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Continue reading...

Belarusian leader confirms arrival of exiled Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin

Posted on by

Moscow claims paramilitaries have agreed to hand over weapons after failed Rostov uprising

The Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin flew into exile in Belarus on his private jet on Tuesday, as Moscow claimed the paramilitary force had agreed to hand over its weapons after the group’s failed insurrection.

“Yes, indeed, he is in Belarus today,” the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, said in comments first reported by Belta, the country’s national news agency.

Continue reading...

Outcry after tourist carves name on wall at the Colosseum in Rome

Posted on by

Italy’s culture minister has called for the man who defaced the site with ‘Ivan+Hayley 23’ to be identified and prosecuted

Italian police are on the hunt for a young tourist who carved his and his girlfriend’s names into a wall of the Colosseum, sparking widespread condemnation.

The English-speaking tourist was filmed by an onlooker using keys to engrave “Ivan+Hayley 23” into the wall of the 2,000-year-old Roman amphitheatre on Friday afternoon.

Continue reading...

Met police admit downloading sim of French publisher, lawyer claims

Posted on by

Ernest Moret had devices seized after arrest by counter-terrorism police on arrival in London in April

The Metropolitan police have admitted downloading the sim card from the phone of a radical French publisher who was arrested by counter-terrorism police at St Pancras station in April, his lawyer has claimed.

Officers returned the iPhone and laptop it had seized from Ernest Moret, 28, to his London lawyer on Tuesday after the Met announced late on Friday that no further action would be taken against him. He had been arrested on his way to the London book fair and held for almost 24 hours under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

Continue reading...

Pompeii fresco find possibly depicts 2,000-year-old form of pizza

Posted on by

Ancient painting includes fruit that looks like a pineapple – although it is almost certainly something else

A striking still life fresco resembling a pizza has been found among the ruins of ancient Pompeii, although the dish seems to lack two essential ingredients – tomato and mozzarella – and includes an item that looks suspiciously like a pineapple.

The fresco, which dates back 2,000 years, emerged during excavations in the Regio IX area of Pompeii’s archaeological park, which is close to Naples, the birthplace of pizza. The painting was on a wall in what is believed to have been the hallway of a home that had a bakery in its annexe.

Continue reading...

EU’s flagship nature laws in jeopardy after voting stalemate

Posted on by

Nature Restoration Law vote tied at 44 in favour and 44 against amid claims of lies and fake news

The future of the EU’s flagship environment laws are again hanging by a thread with a cliffhanger vote, flared tempers and accusations of lies, fake news and manipulation of voting in the European parliament.

Emotions were running high after voting on the European parliament committee steering through the Nature Restoration Law (NRL) ended in a dead heat on Tuesday, with 44 votes in favour and 44 against. It can now progress to a vote of the full parliament in a plenary session in July.

Continue reading...

UN says Russian forces have tortured and executed civilians in Ukraine

Posted on by

Report details widespread and systematic torture with summary executions of more than 70 people

Russian forces have carried out widespread and systematic torture of civilians detained in connection with their attack on Ukraine, summarily executing more than 70 of them, the UN human rights office said on Tuesday.

It interviewed hundreds of victims and witnesses for a report detailing more than 900 cases of civilians, including children and elderly people, being arbitrarily detained in the conflict, most of them by Russia. The vast majority of those interviewed said they were tortured and in some cases subjected to sexual violence during detention by Russian forces, the head of the UN human rights office in Ukraine said.

Continue reading...

Vladimir Putin says enemies wanted Russia to ‘choke on civil strife’

Posted on by

Russian president attacks ‘organisers of rebellion’ after Yevgeny Prigozhin also makes first public appearance since incident

Vladimir Putin has claimed that Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s uprising was “doomed to fail” and said the country showed “unity” in the face of a “treacherous” rebellion.

In an unscheduled late night televised address late on Monday, a visibly angry Putin said: “Any blackmail or way to bring confusion to Russia is doomed to failure … I made steps to avoid large-scale bloodshed.”

Continue reading...