Hundreds rally after three people allegedly shot by man awaiting trial for refugee camp attack
Protesters have clashed with police as they call for justice over the killing of three people in a Kurdish neighbourhood in Paris.
Several hundred representatives of France’s Kurdish community gathered at Republic Square on Saturday to demand answers over the killings, which they say have left the community afraid.
Continue reading...Sobhraj arrives in Paris on commercial flight after release from Nepalese prison on health grounds
Charles Sobhraj, a convicted killer known as “the Serpent” who police believe targeted western backpackers on the hippie trail in the 1970s, has returned to France after nearly two decades behind bars in Nepal, BFM TV reported.
Nepal’s supreme court ordered the release of Sobhraj on Wednesday, citing his advanced age and health.
Continue reading...Blaze in Siberian city guts second floor of building housing illegal home for older people
Twenty-two people have been killed in a fire at an illegal care home in the Siberian city of Kemerovo, Russia’s emergencies ministry said.
The fire broke out early on Saturday morning in the two-storey wooden building in the industrial city more than 2,000 miles east of Moscow. Initial reports say it may have been caused by a faulty boiler.
Continue reading...Putin orders defence chiefs to quickly get military all it needs; Russian forces accused of cover-up in demolishing Mariupol theatre after deadly airstrike
Continue reading...French media say a 69-year-old opened fire on group of people, and government says incident seemed to have been racially motivated
Clashes have erupted in Paris after three people were killed in a shooting at a Kurdish cultural centre that the French government said appeared to have been racially motivated.
French media reported that a 69-year-old man opened fire on a group of people at the Ahmet-Kaya centre on Rue d’Enghien in the 10th arrondissement on Friday morning. Shots were also fired at a hairdresser’s and a restaurant in the street. Three people have been wounded, one critically.
Continue reading...Michael James Pratt, given life sentence in US for sexual assault and producing child sexual abuse images, was staying in Madrid
Spanish police have arrested one of the FBI’s 10 most wanted fugitives, who was staying at a hotel in Madrid under a false identity.
Michael James Pratt, a New Zealand citizen, had been sentenced to life in prison in the US for sexual exploitation and sexual assault, and producing child sexual abuse images.
Continue reading...People taking refuge are grateful to their hosts but rue spending the festive season far from their families
Like many Ukrainian refugees, Yuliia Kashperenko will spend Christmas away from home this year.
She feels upset at the thought of being away from her family and friends in Ukraine, but comforted to know she will spend the holiday with her host and their children in south London.
Continue reading...French national suspected of murdering western backpackers on the hippie trail in 1970s and 80s
Charles Sobhraj, the French serial killer known as “the serpent” who targeted western backpackers on the hippie trail in the 1970s, has walked free from a jail in Nepal after he was given early release.
Sobhraj, 78, had been serving a life sentence after he was convicted in 2004 for the murder of an American tourist, Connie Jo Bronzich, in 1975. In 2014, Sobhraj was also convicted of killing her Canadian companion, Laurent Carrière.
Continue reading...This live blog has now closed, you can read our latest coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war here
In early 2022, the Ukrainian photojournalist Evgeny Maloletka was covering violence in Kazakhstan when his attention turned back home: there were several reports signalling that Russia was preparing an invasion.
He didn’t have to think twice: he knew he had to be back in his home country. By mid-January, he was already working on assignment for the Associated Press in the city of Kharkiv and the Donbas region, in eastern Ukraine, where there was a growing tension among Russian proxies.
Continue reading...US announces fresh sanctions; North Korea denies supplying weapons to Russia; Moscow-installed official in Kherson reportedly killed in car blast
Continue reading...Kaili is one of four charged with corruption and money laundering in relation to Qatar and will go on trial in Belgium
Eva Kaili, the Greek member of the European parliament at the centre of a cash for influence scandal implicating Qatar, will remain in jail pending trial, a Belgian court has decided.
“In its order this morning, the pre-council chamber extended the pre-trial detention of EK by one month,” said a statement from the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office. If Kaili chooses to appeal against the decision within 24 hours, she will appear before a chamber at the Brussels court of appeal within 15 days.
Continue reading...Unemployed mother of two is among winners as world’s biggest lottery hands out prizes of up to €325,000
A Gambian man who crossed from the Mediterranean by boat and an unemployed mother of two were among those rejoicing after the world’s biggest lottery sprayed money across Spain.
On Thursday, the country celebrated the Christmas lottery known as El Gordo, or the Fat One, which dished out €2.5bn (£2.2bn) in prize money.
Continue reading...US intelligence official tells Reuters news agency Russian mercenary group received arms shipment from North Korea
A Christmas tree at Sofia Square in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 21 December.
In homes and schools around Bosnia, young people this December have been preparing gift boxes they hope will put a smile on the faces of their peers living through war in Ukraine – as such presents did for many of their parents a generation ago.
Responding to an appeal launched by a small Sarajevo museum, hundreds of Bosnian children have been filling small boxes with warm clothes, toys, candies and other simple gifts to be delivered to the children of Ukraine in time for the New Year.
For parents and educators who are helping them select what to send, the experience has awakened rare happy memories from the time when they were on the receiving end of the kindness of strangers while growing up in constant fear of death.
Continue reading...Federal intelligence service says man is suspected of treason for sharing state secrets this year
Germany arrested a foreign intelligence service agent on Wednesday on suspicion of sharing state secrets with Russia this year, raiding his home and workplace as well as that of another person.
“The accused is suspected of state treason,” the federal prosecutors’ office said in a statement. “In 2022, he shared information that he came by in the course of his work with a Russian intelligence agency. The content is considered a state secret.”
Continue reading...Scottish secretary hints that Westminster may use rare power to block new law which removes need for diagnosis of gender dysphoria for gender recognition certificate
At the Scottish parliament Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, is taking questions. Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, asks about the gender recognition reform (Scotland) bill and amendments rejected by the Scottish government. He says the bill would allow a man standing trial for raping a woman to force his victim to refer to him as a woman, not a man, and he asks Sturgeon why she voted against an amendment that would have prevented this.
In response, Sturgeon says many amendments have been rejected in the past days. She says where amendments were rejected, it was often because there were alternative ways to add safeguards to the bill. These new safeguards covered sex offenders, she says.
Health and care is under huge strain in the run-up to Christmas. These figures suggest there is absolutely no slack in the system, which is dangerously close to overheating completely.
A key part of the problem is that the vast majority of hospital beds are full – around 95% – including with thousands of patients fit to be discharged. The lack of community and social care means they’ll be spending this Christmas in hospital.
Continue reading...Volodymyr Zelenskiy addresses US Congress on first foreign visit since war began; the White House pledges new $1.58bn aid package to Ukraine
Continue reading...Russian president dismisses weapon as ‘outdated’ as he implies Kyiv will have to cede territory for peace
The Kremlin says US supplies of Patriot missiles to Ukraine, agreed upon during Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s trip to Washington, will not stop it achieving its military goals.
Vladimir Putin dismissed the weapon as old and said Russia’s missile systems would be able to shoot it down. “The Patriot air defence is outdated. An antidote will always be found … Russia will knock down the Patriot system,” he declared on Thursday.
Continue reading...Thirty-nine people imprisoned for forcing a procession in Sicily to pay homage to crime boss Francesco La Rocca in 2016
A judge in Sicily has handed down jail sentences totalling 80 years to 39 people for diverting a Good Friday religious procession to the house of a mafia family and paying homage to an imprisoned crime boss.
People were carrying a statue of Jesus Christ through the Sicilian village of San Michele Di Ganzaria at Easter in 2016 when a group stopped the cortege, moved it away from the agreed itinerary and forced it to pass in front of the house of the mafia godfather Francesco La Rocca.
Continue reading...Zelenskiy to speak at US Congress in person ahead of vote on bill for billions in US aid to Ukraine
If you’re just joining us, we’re waiting to hear from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in his first foreign visit since Russia’s devastating war on Ukraine started in March.
My name is Helen Sullivan, and I’ll be bringing you the latest. You can find me on Twitter here – ask a question and I’ll do my best to answer it.
Continue reading...British Chamber of Commerce present government with urgent recommendations as members report struggling to sell into EU
More than three-quarters of firms say the government’s post-Brexit trade deal with the EU has not helped them to expand their business in the last two years despite promises that it was an “oven-ready” deal.
A survey by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has prompted the business lobby group to present the government with five urgent recommendations for enhancing the agreement, which has left many exporters struggling to sell into the EU under the current terms.
Continue reading...