Category Archives: Europe

China may be on brink of supplying arms to Russia, says Blinken

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US secretary of state meets with top Chinese diplomat, Wang Yi, and warns of ‘serious problem for us’ if Beijing supplies weaponry to Vladimir Putin

The US has said it believes China may be about to provide lethal aid to help Russia in the war in Ukraine, prompting a direct warning against doing so from the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, to China’s top diplomat.

Blinken made the warning to the Chinese state councillor Wang Yi on Saturday evening at a meeting on the sidelines of the Munich security conference during which he also rebuked China over the use of an alleged spy balloon over US soil.

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Brussels tries to form united front against Putin’s oligarchs

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The west has made it hard for Russia’s millionaires to retain assets – but not impossible. Now the EU wants to try harder

It has been a long year since Liz Truss launched a rolling programme of sanctions on Russia’s oligarchs. Speaking three days after the invasion of Ukraine, the foreign secretary, as she was then, signalled an end to the UK government’s no-questions-asked approach.

“We are targeting oligarchs’ private jets, we’ll be targeting their properties, we’ll be targeting other possessions that they have,” she told Sky TV. “There will be nowhere to hide.”

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Six charged over deaths of 18 Afghans who suffocated in truck in Bulgaria

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Bodies found in vehicle transporting 52 people, in deadliest incident linked to people-smuggling in country

Bulgarian prosecutors have charged six people over the deaths of 18 Afghans who suffocated in a truck abandoned near the capital, Sofia.

The bodies were found inside a vehicle on Friday, in the deadliest incident linked to people-smuggling in Bulgaria as the country struggles with a rise in illicit border crossings.

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Sunak urges Europe to use weapons stockpiles to help Ukraine war

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UK prime minister says Kyiv needs more ammunition, air defence, heavy armoury and longer range weapons

European countries should stop hoarding weapon stockpiles and give them to Ukraine to allow Kyiv to make a decisive assault, Rishi Sunak has told the Munich security conference.

The British prime minister said Ukraine needed more ammunition, air defence, heavy armoury and longer range weapons, amid frustration in London and Kyiv that some European powers are refusing to hand over arms on the basis they cannot afford to reduce their own defences.

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US reaction to balloon ‘absurd and hysterical’, says top Chinese diplomat

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Wang Yi also says China is preparing to outline position on Russian war against Ukraine

China’s most senior diplomat has described the shooting down of a balloon by the US as “absurd and hysterical”, as well as an abuse of the use of force.

Speaking on stage at the Munich security conference on Saturday, Wang Yi said: “It does not show the US is strong; on the contrary it shows it is weak”. The foreign affairs director said he believed the shooting down was part of an attempt to divert attention from the domestic problems of the Biden administration.

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Sunak urges allies to ‘double down’ on military support – as it happened

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In a speech to Munich security conference, UK prime minister says west must not ‘falter in its resolve’. This blog is now closed

The European Union wants to work with its defence industry to increase the supply of ammunition to both Ukraine and the armed forces of its member states, the bloc’s chief has said.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen suggested that the EU’s delivery of the Covid vaccine could serve as a model for how to up production.

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Climate crisis brings whiff of danger to French perfume capital

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In Grasse, droughts, heatwaves, and excessive rainfall have made growing flowers increasingly difficult

When heatwaves used to hit the French town of Grasse, the perfume capital of the world, townspeople didn’t water their flowers. Instead, they marched along the town’s cobblestone streets, in a procession towards the church.

“They were calling for rain from the spirits,” says Carole Biancalana, a fourth-generation perfume flower producer whose grandmother participated in the rain ceremonies. “But I don’t think this procession would cut it in today’s climate.”

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Rishi Sunak to call for new Nato charter to ensure ‘lasting peace’ for Ukraine

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UK PM expected to urge leaders at Munich Security Conference to ‘double down on our military support’ for Kyiv

Rishi Sunak will call on world leaders to ensure a “lasting peace” for Ukraine with the establishment of a new Nato charter to help the country defend itself “again and again” in the face of any future declarations of war by Russia.

Fresh from hosting the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in the UK last week, Sunak is expected to call for countries to “double down on our military support” and warn that “the security and sovereignty of every nation” is at stake.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Zelenskiy says it is ‘obvious’ Putin will not stop with Ukraine; Macron calls for more military support – as it happened

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Zelenskiy speaks at Munich security conference as Scholz, Macron and Kamala Harris are in Germany; French leader says Ukraine needs more support

Reuters has a quick snap that a Ukrainian official has said negotiations on extending the Black Sea corridor grain export deal will begin next week.

More details soon …

During the day, the Russian army shelled four communities of the Beryslav district. Residents’ residential buildings and outbuildings were damaged. Two people were killed in the village of Zmiivka, and one was injured in Tyahynka.

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At least 18 people found dead in truck near Sofia

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Interior ministry says abandoned truck appeared to be carrying about 40 people hidden under timber

At least 18 people have been found dead in an abandoned truck near Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.

The interior ministry said: “According to initial information, the truck was transporting illegal migrants – a total of about 40 people, who were hiding … under transported timber.”

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DUP leader keeps hopes of protocol deal on track as he declares ‘progress’ in talks

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Jeffrey Donaldson says ‘big moment’ looming in Rishi Sunak’s effort to cut a post-Brexit deal with EU

The Democratic Unionist party has kept on track Rishi Sunak’s attempt to change the Northern Ireland protocol, declaring “progress” in Downing Street’s talks with the EU.

Jeffrey Donaldson said on Friday a “big moment” was looming in the UK’s effort to cut a deal with Brussels over Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland. The DUP leader said his party would withhold judgment on any deal – which is expected next week – until it had seen the text.

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Thousands to protest in Madrid over ‘barbaric’ plan to fell over 1,000 trees

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Coalition of neighbourhood groups and NGO seek to halt park works that are part of extension of Spanish capital’s metro system

Thousands of people are due to gather in Madrid on Saturday to protest against “barbaric” plans to cut down more than 1,000 trees in two popular parks to make way for an extension of the city’s metro system.

Although the regional government of Madrid had originally planned to build two new stations on line 11 of the metro in streets south-west of the city centre, it has now decided that the stations will be located in the old Arganzuela section of the Madrid Río park and in the nearby Comillas park.

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Zelenskiy urges west to speed up arms support to head off Russia offensive

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Ukraine president tells world leaders in Munich to ‘hurry up’ before Putin gains military advantage

The west needs to speed up its support for Ukraine as Vladimir Putin will gain a military advantage unless arms deliveries arrive soon, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said in a video address to world leaders at a security conference in Munich.

“We need to hurry up. We need speed – speed of our agreements, speed of our delivery … speed of decisions to limit Russian potential,” the Ukrainian president said. “There is no alternative to speed because it is speed that life depends on.”

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How big a threat does the hard right pose to US support for Ukraine?

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A year after the conflict began, the consensus against Russian aggression has held but alarm bells are ringing in Congress

Vladimir Putin has proven adept at exploiting the US political divide, so the solid bipartisan consensus behind arming Ukraine over the past year may well have come as a surprise to him. The question one year into the war is: how long can that consensus last?

Two weeks before the first anniversary of the full-scale invasion on 24 February, a group of Trump-supporting Republicans led by Matt Gaetz introduced a “Ukraine fatigue” resolution that, if passed, would “express through the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States must end its military and financial aid to Ukraine, and urges all combatants to reach a peace agreement”.

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US ranking on abuse of power index hurt by inequality and violence

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Country came near median of 163 countries on Index of Impunity, higher than Hungary and Singapore

The US scores surprisingly badly in a new ranking system charting abuses of power by nation states, launched by a group co-chaired by former UK foreign secretary David Miliband.

The US comes close to the median of 163 countries ranked in the Index of Impunity, reflecting a poor record on discrimination, inequality and access to democracy. The country’s arms exports and record of violence are an even bigger negative factor.

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Rishi Sunak travels to Belfast in sign NI protocol deal is imminent

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Visit suggests announcement of UK-EU solution on Northern Ireland could come as early as Friday

Rishi Sunak arrived in Belfast on Thursday night, in a sign that a deal on the Northern Ireland protocol is imminent.

The foreign secretary, James Cleverly, will also travel to Brussels on Friday for talks with the European Commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič.

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Moldovan MPs approve pro-western PM amid tensions over Russia

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Dorin Recean takes office facing inflation at 30% and warnings of Russian plan for country’s ‘destruction’

Moldova’s parliament has approved the formation of a pro-western government led by the new prime minister, Dorin Recean, amid continuing economic turmoil and allegations of Russian meddling.

Recean, 48, was nominated by President Maia Sandu to replace Natalia Gavrilita, whose government resigned last week amid a series of crises in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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