Category Archives: Europe

Russian forces face shortage of tanks as counteroffensive creeps forward

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Ukraine forces slowly pushing back Putin’s troops, claims Kyiv, aided by western hardware

Russia’s forces are suffering a shortage of tanks, the country’s defence minister has admitted, as Ukraine’s offensive in the south and east continued to push back the frontline with the help of western hardware.

Sergei Shoigu, on a visit to a military factory in western Siberia, said that production of armoured vehicles needed to be increased as Kyiv talked up the heavy losses being inflicted on the occupying enemy.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: counteroffensive records ‘tactical successes’ as troops advance south – as it happened

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Ukrainian military officials say they are making gradual progress to push Russian forces out of southern sectors of the country

Russia’s defence minister has called for more tanks to be manufactured “to meet the needs of Russian forces” in Ukraine after Kyiv launched a counteroffensive with western arms.

Sergei Shoigu visited a military factory in western Siberia and stressed the need “to maintain the increased production of tanks”, the defence ministry said.

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Germany’s return of sacred Kogi masks to Colombia may have health risks

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Wooden artefacts dating from 15th century and bought from indigenous people were treated with pesticides while in museum

Germany has returned two wooden masks of the indigenous Kogi community to Colombia but conceded that wearing the sacred artefacts in ceremonies may come with a health risk because they were treated with toxic pesticides during their time in German museums.

The masks, which date back to the mid-15th century and have been held in ethnological collections in Berlin for over a century, were handed over to Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, by his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier at a ceremony in Berlin on Friday.

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‘Almost still shines’: 3,000-year-old sword unearthed in Germany

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Object from mid-bronze age, in ‘extraordinary’ state of preservation, was found in grave in Bavaria

A bronze sword more than 3,000 years old , which is so well-preserved that it “almost still shines”, has been unearthed in southern Germany, officials say.

The Bavarian state office for the preservation of historical monuments (BLfD) said the sword, which is believed to date back to the end of the 14th century BC — the middle of the bronze age — was found during excavations last week in Nördlingen, between Nuremberg and Stuttgart.

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French officials fight for possession of French Revolution-era letter

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Government blocks sale of Charlotte Corday’s 1793 manifesto justifying murder of Jean-Paul Marat

French officials are fighting for possession of a 1793 manifesto by a woman justifying her decision to stab a revolutionary leader to death, with local authorities saying they will take the case to court.

Charlotte Corday was a 24-year-old member of a moderate faction during the French Revolution, who became alarmed at the way it was being taken over by violent extremists.

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Greek coastguard denies claims refugee boat capsized after tow rope attached

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UN calls for urgent action to prevent further tragedies as police believe up to 500 people remain missing

Greek authorities have rejected claims that a fishing boat that sank in the Mediterranean this week with the loss of potentially hundreds of lives capsized after the coastguard attempted to tow it, as the UN called for urgent action to prevent further tragedies.

Authorities have confirmed 78 deaths and said 104 survivors – mostly from Syria, Egypt and Pakistan – had been brought ashore, but police believe as many as 500 are missing. Witnesses have reported that up to 100 children were in the ship’s hold.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Ukraine offensive moving towards Mariupol, minister says – as it happened

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Centre of fighting has moved as Ukrainian forces slowly push back Russians, says Hanna Maliar, a deputy defence minister

Kherson’s regional authority has said that 1,649 houses in 17 settlements on the right bank of the Dnipro remain flooded after the collapse of the Kakhovka dam. They also claim that 17 settlements remain flooded on the opposite bank, which is occupied by Russian forces.

Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, offers this news update on Telegram of events overnight. It reports:

At night, air defence forces destroyed two “Shahed” drones over the Mykolaiv region, the air force reported.

Also at night, the Russian army fired artillery at residential buildings in Novoberyslav in the Kherson region: a couple died, reported the regional .

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German police appeal for witnesses to attack on American tourists

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Investigators seek photos and videos of incident in which US man allegedly pushed two women down slope, killing one

Police in southern Germany are appealing for photos and videos taken by witnesses of an attack near Neuschwanstein Castle after an American man allegedly pushed two American women down a steep slope, killing one of them. A suspect was arrested following the attack.

The German news agency dpa quoted police on Friday as saying they had so far received about a dozen submissions on a specially created website, but assume many more images were taken by tourists present at the site.

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Huge landslide misses Swiss mountain village of Brienz ‘by a hair’

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Rockfall buries access road but stops just in front of hamlet, which had been evacuated in anticipation

A large rockfall has narrowly missed a Swiss mountain village whose inhabitants were evacuated last month over fears of a landslide.

The bulk of the rock, which geologists had warned was in danger of falling directly onto the village of Brienz, crashed to the ground on Thursday night, authorities in the Albula community in the canton of Graubünden said on Twitter.

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Greece shipwreck: hopes of finding survivors fade on final day of search

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Nine suspects expected to face court as search enters third day and initial response to disaster is criticised

Rescuers have launched the third and final day of their search for survivors of one of the Mediterranean’s worst boat disasters, as authorities detained nine suspected people-smugglers and criticism of Greece’s initial response mounted.

The Greek coastguard said on Friday a helicopter, a frigate and three smaller vessels were searching waters 50 miles (80 km) from the southern town of Pylos where the fishing boat, reportedly carrying between 400 and 750 people, sank on Wednesday.

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Death of Berlusconi turns spotlight on to fortune he left behind

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Billionaire had an estimated wealth of $7.4bn and left no indication of who would take over after his death

Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s longest-serving prime minister since the second world war, was a billionaire who had investments in everything from property and banking to the media and football. His death, at the age of 86, raises questions over the fate of an empire that was closely entwined with a political career that spanned almost three decades.

Berlusconi had an estimated fortune of $7.4bn (£5.8bn) as of April 2023, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. But he left no indication, at least not publicly, of who would take over his empire after his death.

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Tesco boss: food inflation has probably peaked but prices will stay high

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Ken Murphy says higher costs of grocery imports because of Brexit are partly to blame for rising prices

The chief executive of Tesco has said food inflation has probably peaked but warns that prices are likely to stay high.

Ken Murphy, the head of the UK’s biggest supermarket chain, said the price of milk, bread, cooking oil and some vegetables such as broccoli had come down this month but inflation continued in other essentials, including rice and potatoes, as aweather issues and locked-in increases in the price of labour and energy continued to bite.

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UN nuclear chief says situation at Zaporizhzhia plant is ‘serious’ but it can operate safely for ‘some time’

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Rafael Grossi visited the Russian-controlled plant amid concerns for water levels in cooling pools after dam breach

The head of the UN atomic energy agency has said the situation at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine is “serious” and that ensuring water for cooling was a priority of his visit, adding that the station could operate safely for “some time”.

Rafael Grossi, of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was inspecting the state of Europe’s largest nuclear plant following last week’s breach in the Kakhovka dam downstream on the Dnipro River. He said IAEA inspectors would remain at the site.

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‘Where are they?’ Hope fades among relatives of missing after Greek shipwreck

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As anguished family members arrive in Kalamata, search operation continues with negligible progress

Hope dies last and for Kassem Abo Zeed it was running out fast. Hope was the force that had led him to board a plane from Hamburg and fly to Greece after he heard that a boat carrying his wife had capsized off the country’s southern coast.

But by 2pm on Thursday, 36 hours after the blue fishing trawler packed with migrants and refugees had sunk in one of the worst maritime disasters in recent Greek history, hope was fading in a way he had prayed would never happen.

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Rammstein: sexual assault allegations against Till Lindemann to be investigated

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Berlin prosecutors say investigation against German singer is based on suspicion of abuse after concerts

Berlin state prosecutors have launched an investigation into sexual assault allegations against the lead singer of the German metal band Rammstein, Till Lindemann.

The prosecutors confirmed to German media that the investigation was based on the initial suspicion of sexual abuse as well as drug-related activity. The announcement follows allegations made by a number of women that they were picked out to have sex with Lindemann at concerts.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Ukrainian fighter pilots learning to fly F-16 jets as Kyiv claims progress in counteroffensive – as it happened

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Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg says Ukrainian personnel being trained so when planes are delivered, pilots are ready

Norway and Denmark have agreed to donate an additional 9,000 rounds of artillery to Ukraine.

Norway will send shells and Denmark fuses and propellant charges, the Norwegian government announced.

Ukraine has an urgent need for artillery ammunition. We have therefore decided to join forces with Denmark for a new donation, so that Ukraine receives the ammunition as quickly as possible.

It is important that we continue to stand together in demonstrating our support of Ukraine. Norway will continue to support Ukraine against the Russian invasion forces as long as it is needed.

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Greece shipwreck: up to 100 children were below deck, survivors say

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Women also said to have been in the hold, amid fears 78 so far confirmed dead could rise into the hundreds

Survivors from an overcrowded fishing boat that capsized and sank on Wednesday off the Greek coast in one of the worst disasters in the Mediterranean in recent years have told doctors and police that women and children were travelling in the hold of the vessel.

Seventy-eight people have been confirmed dead, but there are fears the number of victims could run into the hundreds.

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Beyoncé concert in Stockholm blamed for unexpectedly high Swedish inflation

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Start of superstar’s world tour ‘seems to have coloured inflation’, says economist, after tens of thousands of fans flocked to the capital for concerts

Swedish inflation fell below 10% in May, official statistics showed, but was still higher than expected with some analysts suggesting superstar Beyoncé had tipped the scales.

Consumer prices rose by 9.7% in May year-on-year, down from 10.5% in April, the first time inflation has come in under 10% in over six months.

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