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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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Weather tracker: heatwave grips parts of Asia and heavy snow hits Scandinavia

Record heat in Thailand and Laos is forecast to ease this week as snow sweeps Norway and Sweden

A prolonged heatwave that has been affecting many parts of Asia this month continued to batter the region last week. Much of the south-east, including Thailand and Laos, has been experiencing record heat: in Tak, north-west Thailand, the temperature soared to 45.4C (113.7F) on 15 April, while in Luang Prabang, Laos, it reached 42.7C.

Temperatures in Thailand continued to exceed 40C into the weekend, prompting the authorities to issue warnings for extreme heat and advise residents in many parts of the country, including the capital, Bangkok, to stay indoors.

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Journalists who have worked in Moscow call for release of Evan Gershkovich

More than 300 journalists write to Russia that arrest sends ‘dangerous signal’ about attitude to journalism

More than 300 foreign correspondents who have worked in Moscow have written to the Russian government to call for the immediate release of Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter being held on espionage charges, saying his arrest sends a “disturbing and dangerous signal” about the country’s attitude to independent media.

Gershkovich, who was detained in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg last month on spying charges that carry a possible 20-year prison sentence, is the first US journalist detained on such charges since the end of the cold war. Both the Wall Street Journal and the US government has denied that he was involved in espionage.

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Russia switching to defensive positions in all areas of combat except Bakhmut, claims Ukraine intelligence – as it happened

Head of intelligence in Ukraine says Bakhmut is the only frontline area in which Russian troops are making any attempt to advance. This live blog is closed

Recent remarks by China’s ambassador to France questioning the sovereignty of former Soviet states such as Ukraine are totally unacceptable, the Czech Republic’s foreign minister Jan Lipavský said before a meeting with EU colleagues in Luxembourg on Monday.

“It is totally unacceptable”, Lipavský said. “I hope bosses of this ambassador will make these things straight.”

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Credit Suisse says £55bn left bank in lead-up to rescue by UBS

Results reported for what is likely to be the last time as lender’s takeover by Swiss rival nears completion

Credit Suisse said customers pulled more than 61bn Swiss francs (£55bn) worth of assets from the bank at the start of the year, laying bare the scale of the panic that contributed to its failure and emergency takeover by its rival UBS last month.

The Swiss lender said the “significant withdrawals” were partly to blame for its poor financial performance in the first quarter, with its adjusted pre-tax loss ballooning to 1.3bn Swiss francs for the first three months of the year. That compares with a profit of 300m Swiss francs during the same period in 2022.

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Europe ‘failing its children’ on air pollution, EEA says

Dirty air causes premature death of at least 1,200 children across Europe every year, says European Environment Agency

Europe is failing its children when it comes to air pollution, exposing nearly all children across the continent to air that falls below healthy standards and delaying the clean-up of the sources of pollution, research has found.

Breathing dirty air causes the premature death of at least 1,200 children across Europe each year, and many thousands more are afflicted with physical and mental health problems that could have lifelong impacts, according to the latest assessment of air pollution by the European Environment Agency.

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Defence spending in western and central Europe tops last year of cold war

Stockholm International Peace Institute’s annual report finds UK was region’s biggest spender in 2022 at $68.5bn

Defence spending in western and central Europe has surpassed that of the last year of the cold war, an annual report has found, as military expenditure across the world hit an all-time high of $2.24tn (£1.8tn) last year.

The outbreak of war in Ukraine has triggered the steepest increase in military expenditure in Europe in three decades, according to the Stockholm International Peace Institute (Sipri).

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Russia-Ukraine war live: Ukraine reportedly sets up positions on eastern Dnipro river in attempt to dislodge Russian troops

Constant attacks from Russian troops have made it impossible for Kherson residents to return to their normal lives

Ukraine’s military have set up positions on the eastern side of Dnipro river near Kherson city. Infiltrating the area could be a first step towards trying to dislodge Russians from positions they are using to shell and shoot at Kherson.

France and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania expressed dismay that China’s ambassador in Paris questioned whether Crimea is part of Ukraine. France stated its “full solidarity” on Sunday, with all the allied countries affected, which it said had acquired their independence “after decades of oppression”.

Russia is advising citizens to avoid travel to Canada. Russia cited what it calls numerous cases of discrimination against its citizens, including physical violence, its foreign ministry has said.

Russia appeals for “real men” in new military recruitment drive. Russia’s defence ministry has launched a major drive for volunteer recruits, pitching to their masculine pride and appealing for “real men” amid a limited pool of fighting-age men in Russia, the UK Ministry of Defence says.

Evacuations in Russian city of Belgorod after bomb scare. More than 3,000 people in the Russian city of Belgorod were returning to their homes on Saturday after being evacuated while an explosive was disposed of, the local governor said.

At least five Russian missiles hit the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and surrounding districts late on Saturday night, damaging civilian buildings, local officials said. One missile hit a house in the village of Kotliary, just to the south of Kharkiv, while another caused a fire in the city itself, said the regional governor, Oleh Sinegubov.

Russia’s defence ministry claimed it had captured another three districts in the western part of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. Troops who have continued into the heavily contested city are thought to be part of the Wagner group of mercenaries.

Russia confirmed it would expel 20 German diplomats in retaliation for its own diplomats being sent home from Berlin, the Tass news agency said, citing Russia’s foreign ministry.

Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has again refused to take sides in the war in Ukraine, calling for a “negotiated political solution” between Kyiv and Moscow. “We urgently need a group of countries to sit round a table with both Ukraine and Russia,” he said after a meeting with the Portuguese president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in Lisbon.

The former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday that if the G7 moved to ban exports to Russia, Moscow would respond by terminating the Black Sea Grain deal that enables vital exports of grain from Ukraine, Reuters reports.

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New Ukraine positions near Kherson could signal spring offensive – report

Thinktank says infiltration into area east of Dnipro River could be first step toward trying to dislodge Russian forces

Ukraine’s military has set up positions on the eastern side of the Dnipro River near Kherson city, the Institute for the Study of War cites Russian military bloggers as saying.

Infiltrating the area could be a first step towards trying to dislodge Russian forces from positions they are using to shell and shoot at Kherson. The constant attacks have made it impossible for residents to return to normal life months after Ukrainian troops liberated the city from occupation.

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Baltic states condemn China envoy’s remarks over sovereignty of ex-Soviet nations

Lu Shaye’s comments raise fresh questions over China’s role in brokering peace in Ukraine

France, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have expressed dismay after China’s ambassador in Paris questioned the sovereignty not only of Ukraine, but all the former Soviet Republics including the Baltic states.

Lu Shaye’s remarks in a TV interview late on Friday raise fresh questions about the faith the French president, Emmanuel Macron, has placed in China to act as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine.

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Furious French raid kitchen cupboards to send Macron a noisy message

The tradition of bashing pots and pans in protest has been revived, with ministers facing a cookware cacophony across the country

The French have turned protesting into an art form. A country synonymous with revolution has given the world the “manure protest”, where tonnes of muck were dumped outside parliament; the “vegetable protest”, with carrots and rotten tomatoes spread on the steps of public buildings; and the “dairy protest”, in which gallons of milk were spilled. Earlier this month, opponents of Emmanuel Macron’s bill to raise the state pension age to 64 dumped gas and electricity meters outside Marseilles city hall.

For the past week, furious French people have revived a much older form of protest: the casserolade, or “pots and pans protest”, after Macron pushed through the unpopular law.

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