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.
Continue reading...From Ghent to Galway, Amsterdam to Edinburgh, everyone is tiring of rowdy drunkenness. Is this the end of the foreign stag weekend?
Name: The Great Stag Ban.
Age: Recent.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Russian strikes target military funeral in Kharkiv; Ukraine accuses Russia of planning ‘provocation’ at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Vladimir Putin addresses virtual summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation; Jens Stoltenberg to stay in post until October 2024
Oleksiy Danilov has described recent days of battle as “fruitful” for Ukraine in terms of destroying the resources of the Russian forces. In a post to social media, the secretary of Ukraine’s national security and defence council described Ukraine as acting “calmly” and “wisely’ in its counteroffensive. He posted:
At this stage of active hostilities, Ukraine’s defence forces are fulfilling the number one task – the maximum destruction of manpower, equipment, fuel depots, military vehicles, command posts, artillery and air defence forces of the Russian army.
The last few days have been particularly fruitful. Now the war of destruction is equal to the war of kilometres. More destroyed means more liberated. The more effective the former, the more the latter. We are acting calmly, wisely, step by step.
This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: The death of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk triggered five nights of riots in Paris and beyond – but they had been brewing for years
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Good morning. Apologies if this is the second time you are receiving this email – due to some technical gremlins some people received yesterday’s newsletter on Labour for a second time. Below is today’s First Edition on France.
After a tumultuous week in which the country was shaken by five nights of serious disorder, destruction and – at times – violence, the rioting has subsided and the streets are largely calm.
Palestinian territories | Israel has launched a major aerial and ground offensive into the West Bank city of Jenin, its biggest military operation in the Palestinian territory in years, in what it described as an “extensive counter-terrorism effort”. At least eight Palestinians were killed and 50 injured, 10 seriously, in the attack that began at about 1am on Monday.
Hong Kong | China has accused the UK of protecting fugitives after the British foreign secretary criticised Hong Kong’s decision to offer HK$1m bounties for the arrest of eight democracy activists based overseas. The Chinese embassy in London called on British politicians to stop using “anti-China Hong Kong disruptors to jeopardise China’s sovereignty and security”.
Fuel | The UK energy secretary has accused fuel retailers of using motorists as “cash cows”, after a consumer watchdog found that drivers were paying more for petrol and diesel than before the Covid pandemic because of “weakened” competition.
UK politics | Sue Gray was found to have apparently breached the civil service code by discussing a role with Keir Starmer without telling her Whitehall bosses, a Cabinet Office investigation has found.
D-day | Leon Gautier, the last surviving member of the French commando unit that waded ashore on D-day alongside allied troops to begin the liberation of France, died on Monday. He was 100 years old.
Continue reading...Ambassador Lynne Tracey was allowed to meet the journalist in a Moscow jail in her second such visit since his arrest in March
Russia has granted the US consular access to jailed Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich after a more than two-month gap, with the US ambassador reporting him in good health.
The state department said ambassador Lynne Tracey met Gershkovich at the Lefortovo prison in Moscow on Monday, only her second such meeting with him since he was arrested on 29 March during a reporting trip in the Urals.
Continue reading...Mikheil Saakashvili appears frail and emaciated on court video link, leading to concern about his treatment
Georgia’s former president Mikheil Saakashvili has appeared on television for the first time in months, looking frail and emaciated, fuelling concerns over the detained politician’s treatment.
The 55-year-old was almost unrecognisable and looked like a ghost of his former self when he appeared in a video link for a court hearing on Monday.
Continue reading...Gautier was one of 177 green berets in the Kieffer unit which stormed the Normandy beaches on 6 June 1944
Leon Gautier, the last surviving member of the French commando unit that waded ashore on D-day alongside allied troops to begin the liberation of France, died on Monday. He was 100 years old.
Gautier was one of 177 French green berets who stormed the Normandy beaches defended by Hitler’s forces in 1944.
Continue reading...European Commission head is seeking to curb Russian influence in central and eastern Europe
The EU has said it will be impossible to envisage a future for the bloc without Ukraine and Moldova as members, in part to reduce Russian influence in east and central Europe.
While other countries such as Romania and Bulgaria took 11 years to become members of the EU, joining in 2007, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, hinted the future of the new accession candidates will be swiftly decided.
Continue reading...Politicians on the left have criticised the collection, set up by a far-right activist, but GoFundMe has refused to take it down
A row has broken out over a collection for the family of the French police officer under investigation for shooting dead a 17-year-old that has topped more than €1m (£860,000) in donations.
A similar collection to help the family of the victim, Nahel M, killed a week ago in Nanterre outside Paris after being stopped by two motorcycle patrol officers, has collected less than €200,000.
Continue reading...Child among people injured in attack in Sumy; Lynne Tracy visits Wall Street Journal reporter in prison after court upholds FSB request to extend his detention
In her regular operational update, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar has re-stated that Ukraine is making incremental gains in both the east and the south, and said that 37.4 sq km (14.4 sq m) of territory had been reclaimed.
On the Telegram messaging app Maliar said Ukrainian forces were advancing in the Bakhmut direction, adding that Russian forces were attacking in the Lyman, Avdiivka and Mariinka directions in the Donetsk region.
Continue reading...People turn out across the country to support local government after arrests on Sunday fell to 49 from 719 on Saturday
Violent protests in France over the police shooting of teenager Nahel M appeared to ease after five nights of unrest as crowds gathered at town halls across the country to show solidarity with local governments targeted in the violence.
Police made 49 arrests nationwide on Sunday, French media reported, citing the interior ministry, down significantly from 719 arrests the day before, and 1,300 on Friday.
Continue reading...Author who had been working to document Russian war crimes since the invasion was hospitalised with skull fractures after Tuesday’s missile strike
An award-winning Ukrainian writer and war crimes researcher wounded in a Russian missile strike on a restaurant last week has died, the freedom of expression group PEN has said.
Victoria Amelina, 37, was wounded when a Russian missile destroyed the Ria Pizza restaurant in the eastern city of Kramatorsk on Tuesday, killing 12 people, including four children, and wounding dozens.
Continue reading...