Category Archives: Europe

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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Russia-Ukraine war: Zelenskiy rules out giving up any territory to Putin in potential peace deal – as it happened

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

A poll has revealed that one year after Russia began its war of aggression against Ukraine, 61% of Europeans believe Ukraine will be successful.

PA reports:

One year into the war in Ukraine, 61% of Europeans believe that the country will prevail. Germans, however, are not quite so optimistic, although a 55% majority believes in a Ukrainian victory. These are the findings of the EU-wide survey conducted by eupinions. It is published in cooperation with the Belgian King Baudouin Foundation.

Europeans are not only betting on victory, 68% also see the war of aggression as a matter affecting them all, because it is an attack on the whole of Europe. Most EU citizens polled also see Ukraine in a battle to defend a set of common values that are shared by all European states.

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Wagner mercenary group will ‘decrease’ as prisoner recruitment ends, says boss

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Kremlin is said to be pushing back against private army and curbing influence of Yevgeny Prighozin

The Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has admitted that his mercenary group is facing difficulties in Ukraine and will soon decrease in size, amid growing evidence that his political influence in the Kremlin is waning.

“The number of Wagner units will decrease, and we will also not be able to carry out the scope of tasks that we would like to,” Prigozhin told a group of pro-war bloggers and state journalists gathered at an army barracks in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday.

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French prosecutors close rape investigation into model agency boss

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Case on alleged crimes by Gérald Marie in 1980s and 90s closed due to statute of limitations

French prosecutors have closed an investigation into possible rape and sexual assault by the model agency boss Gérald Marie, who was accused of a string of offences.

The Paris prosecutors’ office concluded that the alleged crimes in the 1980s and 1990s took place too long ago to be prosecuted under French law which sets time limits for offences to be tried in court.

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Ukraine ‘inflicting very serious losses’ on Russian troops in the east, says Ukrainian official – as it happened

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Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar says Russian attacks are constant

Nato countries should spend a minimum of 2% of their GDP on defence, said the German defence minister, Boris Pistorius, on Wednesday as Nato defence ministers gathered in Brussels.

“Just spending two percent will not be enough. It must be the basis for everything that follows. The German government is debating that right now and will soon reach an agreement,” Pistorius told the media, Reuters reports.

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Brussels contacts Sweden over plans to deport British woman with Alzheimer’s

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Kathleen Poole, who lives in a care home, faces removal for not having post-Brexit paperwork in order

The European Commission has contacted the Swedish authorities after it emerged they were planning to deport a 74-year-old British woman with severe Alzheimer’s because she did not have her post-Brexit paperwork in order.

At the same time, the office of the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, is trying to ascertain the exact circumstances that have led to the removal threat faced by Kathleen Poole, who cannot speak, walk or feed herself and is bedbound in a care home.

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Russian army has lost up to half of key battle tanks, analysts estimate

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Experts say Moscow has large number of cold-war era models in storage so can continue war in Ukraine for some time

Russia’s army is estimated to have lost nearly 40% of its prewar fleet of tanks after nine months of fighting in Ukraine, according to a count by the specialist thinktank the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS).

That rises to as much as 50% for some of the key tanks used in combat, forcing Russia to reach into its still sizeable cold war-era stocks. Ukraine’s tank numbers are estimated to have increased because of the number it has captured and supplies of Soviet-era tanks from its western allies.

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European Commission takes Poland to court over ‘legal Polexit’

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‘Bombshell’ step in response to rulings by Polish judges that breach principle of the supremacy of EU law

The European Commission is taking Poland to court over rulings from Polish judges considered by experts as a “legal Polexit” that fundamentally undermine the EU’s legal order.

The decision to refer Poland to the European court of justice on Wednesday – described by one expert as a bombshell – comes as Poland’s rightwing nationalist government battles to secure €35.4bn (£31.4bn) in EU Covid recovery funds that have been frozen over concerns about government-influenced courts.

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Lufthansa IT failure leaves thousands of passengers stranded

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Outage causes flight delays and cancellations after cables damaged during construction work

Thousands of passengers worldwide have been stranded after an IT fault at Germany’s flagship carrier Lufthansa caused flight delays and disruption at airlines across the group.

The company said the problem was caused by damage to several of Deutsche Telekom’s glass-fibre cables during construction work in Frankfurt. Repairs would take until Wednesday afternoon, Lufthansa said.

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Glencore shareholders to receive almost £6bn after record profits

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Mining and commodities firm’s pre-tax profit climbed 60% to £28.2bn last year, up £10.6bn on 2021

Glencore will give almost £6bn to shareholders after the mining and commodities company reported record pre-tax profits of more than £28bn in 2022, boosted by rocketing oil and coal prices.

The Switzerland-based group, whose market capitalisation makes it one of the largest FTSE 100 companies, announced a payout of £5.9bn ($7.1bn) to shareholders, including dividends and a new £1.2bn share buyback programme.

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Deal on Northern Ireland protocol ‘could be struck next week’

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Negotiations are in crucial final phase with Rishi Sunak preparing to hold calls with EU leaders

Negotiations over the Northern Ireland protocol are in the crucial final phase with a deal possible as early as next week, according to multiple sources.

Rishi Sunak is expected to spend the latter half of the parliamentary recess this week looking at the shape of the deal, with calls pencilled in with EU leaders. However, UK sources stressed that talks were at a delicate phase and there was no guarantee of a final agreement.

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