Bernard Squarcini and 10 others await magistrates’ decision on hearing charges including influence peddling and forgery
French prosecutors have called for the former head of the country’s internal intelligence agency to stand trial on charges of influence peddling and forgery.
Bernard Squarcini, who was head of the DCRI agency – the French equivalent of MI5 – until 2012, is also accused of complicity in breaches of professional and judicial secrecy.
Continue reading...Ukrainian shelling that killed 89 recruits aided by mobiles switched on near frontlines, claims Russia defence ministry
Russia’s defence ministry on Wednesday blamed the use of mobile phones by its soldiers for a deadly Ukrainian missile strike that killed dozens of conscripts, sparking anger among relatives of the soldiers.
Commenting on the deadliest single incident Moscow has acknowledged since the start of the war that it said killed 89 servicemen, Lt Gen Sergei Sevryukov said in a video statement that a commission was working to investigate the circumstances of what had happened.
Continue reading...Alidoosti was arrested for support of women’s movement in Iran, including posing on Instagram without hijab
The celebrated Iranian actor Taraneh Alidoosti has been released from prison by the authorities after her friends and family provided bail. Pictures of her outside jail with campaigners holding flowers and without a hijab were shown on Iranian social media.
She had been arrested for issuing statements of support for the women’s movement in Iran, including by posing on Instagram without a hijab, the compulsory hair covering in the country.
Continue reading...Bloc recommends negative coronavirus tests from all arrivals despite warnings from Beijing of retaliation
The European Union wants all travellers from China to take pre-departure Covid tests, in response to surging levels of the virus after Beijing hastily abandoned strict controls.
EU officials meeting on Wednesday in the “integrated political crisis response” format said there should be a requirement for a negative Covid test from all travellers from China, despite warnings from Beijing of retaliation.
Continue reading...Kyrylo Budanov says he expects fighting to be ‘hottest’ in March, with a Ukraine counter attack in the spring. This blog is now closed
The city administration in Kyiv has said that 160 million passengers used the city’s subway in 2022, compared with 319 million passengers the previous year. It also said that about 5.200 people used the network for shelter on New Year’s Eve. In a statement posted to Telegram, the city authority said:
On new year’s eve, during the air raid, about 5,200 people, including almost 400 children, used underground stations as shelter. The subway infrastructure operates 24/7 as a shelter and provides the most necessary conditions: drinking water, sanitary facilities and the possibility of recharging gadgets.
Continue reading...Gaelic origins of Icelandic words and landmarks challenge orthodox view of Viking heritage, says author
According to folklore, a Gaelic-speaking warrior queen called Aud was among Iceland’s earliest settlers. Her story is central to an emerging theory that Scottish and Irish Celts played a far bigger role in Iceland’s history than realised.
A book by Thorvaldur Fridriksson, an Icelandic archaeologist and journalist, argues that Gaelic-speaking Celtic settlers from Ireland and western Scotland had a profound impact on the Icelandic language, landscape and early literature.
Continue reading...Burial place has fallen into severe disrepair, to dismay of families of those laid to rest there
Wild vegetation smothers the crumbling tombs, most of them dating back to the 1800s, that line the square beneath the imposing Chiesa Madre, or Mother Church, at Poggioreale monumental cemetery in the southern Italian city of Naples.
In the middle of the square, a makeshift storage area has been installed for coffins containing retrieved skeletal remains of the dead that were flung out of burial niches after a series of collapses at multistorey marble columbariums last year.
Continue reading...About 200 people laid roses and wreaths in a central square in the city of Samara, where some vowed to ‘avenge’ the victims
Mourners have voiced grief and anger at a rare public commemoration in Russia for the scores of soldiers killed on New Year’s Eve.
Admitting its worst military losses from a single Ukrainian attack, Russia on Tuesday said 89 servicemen were killed when a temporary deployment point was struck in Makiivka, a town in the eastern region of Donetsk partially held by separatists since 2014.
Continue reading...Berlin insists all financial claims have been settled as Warsaw seeks £1.2tn for war losses
Germany has rebuffed the latest push by Poland’s nationalist government for vast reparations over the second world war, saying in response to a diplomatic note that the issue was closed, according to the foreign ministry in Warsaw.
Poland estimates its losses in the second world war caused by Germany at 6.2tn złotys (£1.2tn) and has demanded reparations, but Berlin has repeatedly said all financial claims related to the war have been settled.
Continue reading...Protracted campaign of Iranian drones to ‘exhaust’ Ukraine, says president. This live blog is now closed
Nato countries will discuss their defence spending targets in the coming months as some of them call for turning a 2% target into a minimum figure, Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg told the German news agency DPA, according to a Reuters report.
Some allies are strongly in favour of turning the current 2% target into a minimum,” DPA quoted Stoltenberg as saying in an interview published on Tuesday.
We will meet, we will have ministerial meetings, we will have talks in capitals,” he said.
The parties discussed expected results of the next Ukraine-EU summit to be held on 3 February in Kyiv and agreed to intensify preparatory work,” the statement read.
Continue reading...Ruling is part of a package of measures designed to reduce waste and increase recycling
Tobacco companies are to be forced to foot the bill for cleaning up the millions of cigarette ends that smokers discard every year under new environmental regulations in Spain.
The ruling, which comes into force this Friday, is part of a package of measures designed to reduce waste and increase recycling. It includes a ban on single-use plastic cutlery and plates, cotton buds, expanded polystyrene cups and plastic straws, as well as cutting back on plastic food packaging.
Continue reading...Irish PM says he understands unionists’ concerns and he will be ‘flexible and reasonable’ on matter
The Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar, has said mistakes were made on all sides in the handling of Brexit, vowing to be “flexible and reasonable” when attempting to solve issues with the Northern Ireland protocol.
“One thing I have said in the past is that, when we designed the protocol, when it was originally negotiated, perhaps it was a little bit too strict,” the taoiseach said, speaking in Dublin.
Continue reading...Spain’s poor western region is welcoming back heirs of those who once left it – especially from troubled Argentina
Galicia has long been one of Spain’s poorest regions and since the mid-19th century Galicians have emigrated in their tens of thousands to seek a brighter future in the Americas. But now they’re coming back.
The Galician regional government says that returnees – the majority are Argentinians – are settling in the area at a rate of three a day. After more than 150 years of steady depopulation, in 2019 more people arrived than left, while, for the first time in its history, the reverse was true for Argentina.
Continue reading...Recently mobilised Russian troops said to have been killed; Ukraine reports 20 ‘aerial targets’ shot down above Kyiv
A New Year’s Day attack on a complex in the Russian-controlled city of Makiivka killed scores of recently mobilised troops sent by Moscow, according to reports on both sides, in what could be one of the deadliest known incidents involving Russian conscripts so far.
Without claiming the strike, Ukraine’s military command said up to 400 Russian soldiers were killed in the incident in Makiivka, a city in the Moscow-controlled parts of the Donetsk region.
Continue reading...At least eight countries experience record high temperatures of ‘almost unheard of’ heat, say meteorologists
Weather records have been falling across Europe at a disconcerting rate in the last few days, say meteorologists.
The warmest January day ever was recorded in at least eight European countries including Poland, Denmark, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Belarus, Lithuania and Latvia, according to data collated by Maximiliano Herrera, a climatologist who tracks extreme temperatures.
Continue reading...Spanish foreign minister says he does not want ‘no deal’ relationship, but EU is prepared for hard Brexit for territory
Spain and the EU are prepared for all possibilities – including a hard Brexit – when it comes to the bloc’s relationship with Gibraltar, Spain’s foreign minister has said, adding that the ball was now in London’s court after 11 rounds of negotiations.
“Spain doesn’t want a ‘no deal’ scenario,” the Spanish foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, told Europa Press. “The government of Spain and the EU, which is ultimately the signatory on the agreement with the UK, are ready for any scenario.”
Continue reading...Hunters allowed to kill 75 wolves from an already endangered population of 460 amid ‘political pressure’ from hunting lobby
The biggest wolf cull in modern times has begun in Sweden as nature organisations warn it could drastically harm the population.
On Monday, the Guardian accompanied 200 hunters as they went to kill wolves in the frost-covered forests between Gävleborg and Dalarna, hunting from midnight until the sun set at 3pm. Groups will be going out across Sweden all month as they attempt to take down the large predators.
Continue reading...Moscow says 63 of its soldiers died in attack on school building used as barracks amid claims death toll could be higher
A New Year’s Day attack on a complex in the Russian-controlled Ukrainian city of Makiivka has killed scores of recently mobilised troops sent by Moscow, in one of deadliest single strikes against Russia’s forces since the war began.
Russia’s defence ministry, in a rare admission on Monday, said 63 Russian soldiers died when Ukraine hit “a temporary deployment facility” with four US-supplied Himars missiles.
Continue reading...Chancellor condemns incidents on New Year’s Eve in which firefighters and police officers were targeted
German police and firefighters’ unions have called for a ban on personal fireworks on New Year’s Eve, as the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, condemned incidents of rescue services being targeted with firecrackers and rockets.
Groups of inebriated individuals setting off their own firework displays are a familiar sight on German streets at Silvester (New Year’s Eve), with shops allowed to sell not only sparklers but also small rockets, fountains and firecrackers during the last three days of the year.
Continue reading...There has been little movement in the frontlines for weeks, and there are signs Russia lacks offensive combat power
Russia’s war on Ukraine enters its second calendar year at a delicate point. It is six weeks after the liberation of Kherson and there has been little movement in the frontlines either way since. There is not yet any sign of a full, renewed counteroffensive by the Ukrainians, not helped by the weather which has been above freezing, leaving muddy ground not conducive to military manoeuvre.
“The situation is just stuck,” Ukraine’s head of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, told the BBC last week, which, if an accurate assessment, is not helpful to Kyiv, badly needing to retain momentum in the run-up to spring. But the political leadership of both countries clearly signalled a desire to try to break the deadlock with new goals for the new year.
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