Category Archives: Europe

Xi-Zelenskiy call may have been prompted by ambassador’s undiplomatic comments

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The Chinese leader’s surprise contact with his Ukrainian counterpart is suspected to be a corrective move

A long-awaited phone call between Xi Jinping and Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been cautiously welcomed, but China analysts say the timing suggests it could be partly an act of damage control after controversial comments by China’s ambassador to France.

Ambassador Lu Shaye, one of China’s “wolf warrior” diplomats with a history of fiery remarks, caused outrage across Europe this week when he denied the sovereignty of former Soviet states, saying they “did not have effective status”. The comments were roundly condemned, with several European nations summoning Chinese envoys for rebuke, and politicians suggesting it demonstrated China’s untrustworthiness as a neutral party in the Ukraine war.

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Trinity College Dublin to ‘dename’ George Berkeley library over slavery links

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University said 18th-century philosopher and bishop bought enslaved people to work on his Rhode Island estate

Trinity College Dublin is to remove George Berkeley’s name from its biggest library because of the Irish philosopher’s links with slavery in the 18th century.

The university said on Wednesday it would “dename” the Berkeley library and review an academic award that carries his name, as well as portraits of the scholar.

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UK and Europe are falling behind US and China in biotech, says AstraZeneca boss

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Pascal Soriot says decline in startups across Europe differs markedly from ‘explosion’ of firms and clinical trials in China

The boss of Britain’s biggest drugmaker has said that the UK and the rest of Europe are falling behind China and the US in the creation of biotech firms and clinical trials of new medicines.

Pascal Soriot, chief executive of AstraZeneca, said that while China had seen an “explosion of biotech companies”, and a “rapid expansion of clinical trials” that puts it ahead of the US, the UK and EU had posted declines.

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UK company set up in name of top Putin official in Ukraine

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Volodymyr Saldo, a Kremlin puppet in the Russian-occupied territories, listed as firm’s owner, despite being under sanctions

A UK company has been set up in the name of one of Vladimir Putin’s top officials in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine despite him being under sanctions.

Volodymyr Saldo, a notorious puppet of the Kremlin in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, is listed as the owner of a UK company registered in November, five months after his name was added to the sanctions list.

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Europe’s ‘carbon bomb’ petrochemical plant: can it be stopped? – podcast

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The environmental law charity ClientEarth and 13 other groups headed into a Flemish court this week in an effort to stop Ineos building a petrochemical plant that would be the biggest project of its kind in Europe for 30 years. Madeleine Finlay hears from correspondent Sandra Laville about how plastics are made, the environmental and health impacts of the process and what needs to be done to get a handle on plastic pollution

Clips: CBS, PBS

Read Sandra Laville’s reporting on this story here

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Ukrainian journalist killed by Russian snipers in ambush near Kherson

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Bogdan Bitik was working as a fixer for Corrado Zunino, Italian correspondent for La Repubblica, who was wounded

A Ukrainian journalist working with reporters for La Repubblica has been shot dead by Russian snipers in southern Ukraine, while his Italian colleague was injured, the Italian newspaper said on Wednesday.

“Today, our correspondent Corrado Zunino and his fixer Bogdan Bitik were victims of an ambush near the bridge in Kherson by Russian snipers on the outskirts of Kherson, in southern Ukraine,” La Repubblica said.

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Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny says he faces life in jail over terror charges

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Allies of opposition leader already serving 11 years say charges may be linked to death of pro-war blogger

The jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny says he is facing potential life imprisonment on fresh charges of terrorism amid an ongoing campaign to silence the prominent Kremlin critic more than a year into the invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking over video link at a hearing before a separate trial for “extremism”, Navalny, 46, said investigators had told him he would also be tried by a military court for terrorist attacks he had allegedly committed while behind bars.

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Nude landlord no excuse for holding back rent, rules German court

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Frankfurt judges said people would have to lean far out of window to see naked sunbathing in courtyard

A German court has said that a landlord sunbathing naked in the courtyard of his building was not a reason for his tenants to reduce their rental payments.

The case involved a building in an upmarket residential district of Frankfurt, which included an office floor rented by a human resources company. The company withheld rent because it objected, among other things, to the landlord’s naked sunbathing. In response, the landlord sued.

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Heathrow remains loss-making despite rise in passenger numbers

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Airport says people will be able to ‘travel as normal’ in peak period around coronation despite strike

Heathrow airport has warned that it is still loss-making, even as it continues to be Europe’s busiest airport, welcoming almost 17 million passengers in the first three months of the year.

The airport also said that passengers would be able to “travel as normal” during the peak getaway period around the coronation of King Charles III, taking place on 6 May, despite a fresh planned strike by security staff.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Xi and Zelenskiy hold talks; Russian aircraft ‘intercepted in international airspace’ – as it happened

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This live blog has now closed, you can read more of our Ukraine war coverage here

Here are the images shared by the German air force of the Russian aircraft intercepted over the Baltic Sea.

They are reported to be two SU-27 flankers and one IL-20 aircraft.

Everybody fears that they won’t allow Belarusians to keep watching the war from a distance for too long.

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EU environmental watchdog criticises calls to stall pesticides cut

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European Environment Agency says Ukraine crisis cannot be used to justify delay

The EU’s environmental watchdog has hit back at calls to stall a 50% cut in the use and risks of synthetic pesticides and a 20% cut in fertiliser use by 2030, arguing that the Ukraine crisis provides scant justification for delay.

EU states with the backing of powerful farm unions and centre-right parties have blocked the proposed pesticide reform unless the European Commission completes a second impact study by 28 June to assuage food security fears.

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Portugal should apologise for role in slave trade, says its president

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Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa makes rare acknowledgement of centuries of forced transportation of millions of Africans

Portugal’s president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has said his country should apologise and take responsibility for its role in the transatlantic slave trade, the first time a leader of the southern European nation has suggested such a national apology.

From the 15th to the 19th century, 6 million Africans were kidnapped and forcibly transported across the Atlantic by Portuguese vessels and sold into slavery, primarily to Brazil.

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Norway irked over Sweden’s silence on rocket that crashed on its shores

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Research rocket launched from Kiruna, northern Sweden, had plunged into mountainside in Norway’s far north

The Norwegian foreign ministry has expressed irritation with Sweden for not immediately informing it of a research rocket that crashed in Norway, in a rare spat between the two neighbours.

The rocket, which was launched early Monday from the Esrange Space Centre in Kiruna, northern Sweden, plunged into a mountainside in the Målselv municipality in Norway’s far north, about 10km (six miles) from the closest inhabited area.

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‘Unprepared’ Twitter among tech firms to face tough new EU digital rules

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Designation as ‘very large online platform’ along with 16 other major names means big penalties for breaches

Twitter is among the tech firms that will face the toughest level of scrutiny under a new European Union regulatory regime for monitoring digital platforms, after warnings from Brussels that the Elon Musk-owned platform is unprepared for the new rules.

The company, which Musk bought in October 2022, has been designated a “very large online platform” under the bloc’s Digital Services Act, which means complying with measures such as publishing an independent audit of its compliance with the legislation.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Kyiv admits it was behind Sevastopol drone attack – as it happened

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This blog is now closed. You can read all our coverage of the conflict here:

Russia’s foreign ministry has summoned the Moldovan ambassador in Moscow over the expulsion last week of a Russian diplomat in Moldova, state-owned news agency RIA reported.

Last week, Moldovan government press secretary Daniel Voda told reporters the decision to expel a Russian diplomat was connected to the actions of embassy staff towards Moldovan border guards at Chisinau airport.

Kupyansk, city centre, local history museum. The terrorist country is doing everything to destroy us completely. Our history, our culture, our people. Killing Ukrainians with absolutely barbaric methods. We have no right to forget about it for a single second. We must and will respond!

So far, it is known about a dead employee of the museum, and 10 wounded. There are still people under the rubble. Elimination of the consequences of shelling continues. All necessary services are involved.

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Indian ministers rebuke Der Spiegel for ‘racist’ cartoon mocking population size

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German magazine accused of putting down India with caricature depicting population overtaking China

A cartoon in the German magazine Der Spiegel poking fun at India as it becomes more populous than China has been castigated as “racist” by Indian ministers.

The cartoon shows a rickety old Indian train packed with people and swarms of passengers atop it. On a parallel track, a sleek Chinese bullet train is seen with just two drivers, looking surprised at the sight of the Indian train.

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EU firms accused of ‘abhorrent’ export of banned pesticides to Brazil

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BASF among firms selling chemicals to sugar industry despite links to human health risks

Pesticides banned in the EU because of their links to human health risks are being exported and used on farms in Brazil supplying Nestlé, an investigation has revealed.

Europe is home to some of the world’s biggest and most profitable chemical companies, including the Swiss-based Syngenta and the German multinationals BASF and Bayer.

This article was amended on 25 April 2023. Although fipronil and triflumuron have been banned in the EU they have not been identified as potential carcinogens.

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French electricity workers may pull plug on Cannes film festival over pension law

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Monaco Grand Prix and French Open may also be interrupted after new legislation to raise retirement age

France’s electricity workers are threatening to pull the plug at the Cannes film festival as part of ongoing protests over pension changes.

Members of the National Federation of Mines and Energy – a branch of the powerful CGT union – have announced “100 days of action and anger” that is expected to hit the movie industry’s annual event as well as other sports and cultural meetings.

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Kremlin spokesperson’s son claims to have fought in Ukraine

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Nikolai Peskov, 33, says he sought father’s help to serve anonymously in mercenary group for six months

The son of the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has claimed he served as an artilleryman with the Wagner mercenary group in Ukraine for nearly six months.

In an interview with the pro-Kremlin daily Komsomolskaya Pravda, Nikolai Peskov, 33, said: “It was my duty … I couldn’t sit to one side watching as friends and others went off there.”

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Russian forces ‘forcibly evacuating’ civilians in Kherson, says Ukraine

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Apparent move in occupied areas comes as Ukrainian military sets up positions on eastern side of Dnipro River

Ukrainian authorities say Russian forces are “forcibly evacuating” civilians in the area of the Kherson region that they still occupy, a day after it was claimed Ukrainian forces had established a bridgehead on the east bank of the Dnipro River.

“I have information that the evacuation starts today [Sunday] with an excuse of protecting civilians from the consequences of heavy fighting in the area,” Oleksandr Samoylenko, the Ukrainian head of Kherson’s regional council, said. Russian troops were “trying to steal as much as they can” as they withdrew, he added.

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