Category Archives: Europe

Rishi Sunak to meet UK troops in Estonia and attend Baltic summit

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UK prime minister joins Nordic and Baltic leaders at summit on countering Russian aggression

Rishi Sunak will meet UK troops in Estonia and Nordic and Baltic leaders at a summit on countering Russian aggression, where he will say leaders must sustain or exceed their lethal aid support to Ukraine and their political backing.

Monday’s meeting will come after the UK prime minister was reported to have unnerved some in Whitehall by asking for a “Goldman Sachs dashboard” on the progress of the war and how UK military supplies are used, according to the BBC.

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‘You can’t begrudge Messi’: Parisians react as France lose World Cup final

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Patrons of French capital’s bars go through gamut of emotions as Argentina eventually win out on penalties

It was a rollercoaster. By the end they were standing on the tables outside, roars of “allez les Bleus” and “liberté, égalité, Mbappé” rising hoarsely into the freezing early evening air, hugging each other fiercely, cheering on their heroes.

It was standing room only in le Napoléon and le Mondial cafes, facing each other across the Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis in Paris’s 10th arrondissement – both rammed to the rafters inside with flag-waving, face-painted, red-white-and-blue bewigged fans.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: ‘fragile morale’ among Russian forces, says UK – as it happened

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British ministry of defence says Russian soldiers also troubled by lack of equipment and uncertainty over war’s objectives

The time is approaching for a negotiated peace in Ukraine to reduce the risk of another devastating world war, but dreams of breaking up Russia could unleash nuclear chaos, the veteran US diplomat Henry Kissinger said.

Kissinger, an architect of the cold war policy of detente towards the Soviet Union as secretary of state under Republican presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, has met Vladimir Putin multiple times since he first became president in 2000.

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Kyiv mayor says heating restored in capital after latest Russian strikes

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Moscow unveils plans to deploy musicians to frontline in bid to boost morale among Russian troops

Heating has been fully restored to Kyiv, the city’s mayor has said, after one of the most intense Russian bombardments of the capital last week robbed it of key civilian energy supplies and forced the national government to implement rolling blackouts.

Vitali Klitschko said on Sunday morning the capital was successfully “restoring all services after the latest shelling” and that “in particular, the capital’s heating supply system is fully restored. All sources of heat supply work normally.”

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‘Our weapons are computers’: Ukrainian coders aim to gain battlefield edge

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Delta software developed to help collect and disseminate information about enemy’s movements

In a nondescript office building on the outskirts of Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian soldiers have been honing what they believed will be a decisive weapon in their effort to repel the Russian invasion.

Inside, the weapon glows from a dozen computer screens – a constantly updated portrayal of the evolving battlefield to the south. With one click on a menu, the map is populated with hordes of orange diamonds, showing Russian deployments. They reveal where tanks and artillery have been hidden, and intimate details of the units and the soldiers in them, gleaned from social media. Choosing another option from the menu lights up red arrows across the southern Zaporizhzhia region, showing the progression of Russian columns. Zooming in shows satellite imagery of the terrain in sharp detail.

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French prosecutors investigate Lyon fire in which 10 people died

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Inquiry launched into ‘wilful damage leading to death’ after six adults and four children perished on Friday

French prosecutors have opened an investigation into “wilful damage leading to death” after a pre-dawn blaze killed 10 people in a rundown seven-storey block of flats outside Lyon.

The Lyon public prosecutor’s office said six adults and four children died in the fire on Friday in Vaulx-en-Velin and 24 people had been injured, four of whom remained in a serious condition in hospital. Initial reports said five adults and five children were killed.

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‘Life is ebbing away’: Egyptians face peril at sea in dangerous new exodus to Europe

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Poverty puts thousands into the grip of people smugglers plying a deadly trade in the Mediterranean

Youssef initially doesn’t want to remember the treacherous boat journey that took him from Egypt, then to Tobruk in Libya and finally to Italy, but he knows clearly why he left.

A young man in his 20s, Youssef is recently married and expecting a baby in a few months, and fears about the increasing cost of living in Egypt overwhelmed him. He gave in and contacted a people smuggler on the internet, using a Facebook group where those looking to migrate can post information about crossings.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Kyiv ‘preparing’ for Russia to invade from north, says commander – as it happened

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Military commander predicts ‘possible offensive from Belarus at the end of February’, as air raid sirens reported in several regions including Kyiv, Lviv, Mykolaiv and Volyn

Rockets launched by Ukrainian forces killed three civilians in the Russian-occupied town of Shchastia in Ukraine’s southern Luhansk province, according to pro-Moscow officials.

In a statement on Telegram, Russian-installed Luhansk officials claimed US-made Himars rockets had wounded five others, and destroyed four houses.

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German police recover 31 items stolen in 2019 Dresden jewel heist

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‘Considerable portion’ of priceless treasures from Green Vault museum recovered amid trial of suspects

German authorities said they have found a “considerable portion” of items stolen in a spectacular 2019 robbery of priceless 18th-century jewels from a state museum.

The authorities retrieved 31 individual items in the capital, Berlin, the police and prosecutors said.

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Digital Services Act: inside the EU’s ambitious bid to clean up social media

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The legislation aims to tackle problems as wide-ranging as misogyny, disinformation and consumer fraud

Nearly two decades after the birth of Facebook ushered in the social media era, the EU is introducing ambitious legislation designed to clean up the world’s biggest online forums.

Intended to tackle misogyny, protect children, stop consumer fraud, curb disinformation and protect democratic elections, the Digital Services Act (DSA) is wide-ranging. The UK is introducing its own statute, the online safety bill, but the EU’s rules are likely to have a bigger impact because they cover a bigger market, and the EU is more influential as a regulatory power.

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Leo Varadkar returns as Ireland’s taoiseach in rotation agreement

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Micheál Martin hands over to Fine Gael leader after two years at head of coalition government

Leo Varadkar has become Ireland’s taoiseach after swapping posts with Micheál Martin, who took over as tánaiste, or deputy prime minister.

The Dáil, the Irish parliament, approved Varadkar’s nomination in a vote on Saturday that drew a line under Martin’s two-year premiership and put Varadkar at the head of the coalition government for the rest of its term.

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France and Morocco resolve visa tensions after World Cup clash

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French foreign minister Catherine Colonna said the countries had returned to ‘full consular cooperation’ on visit to Rabat

France and Morocco have announced they were mending fences after months of tensions over visas, and said the French president, Emmanuel Macron, would visit the north African kingdom in early 2023.

Speaking in Rabat alongside her Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita, the French foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, said it was time to “write a new page together”.

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Twitter’s suspension of journalists sets ‘dangerous precedent’, UN warns

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Pressure grows on Elon Musk as EU says social media platform could face sanctions over suspensions

The United Nations is “very disturbed” by Twitter’s abrupt suspension of a group of US journalists, a spokesperson has said, warning that the move sets a “dangerous precedent” – as the EU said the social media platform could fall foul of forthcoming digital regulations.

Stéphane Dujarric said on Friday the UN was “very disturbed” by the barring of prominent tech reporters at news organisations including CNN, the Washington Post and the New York Times who have written about Musk and the tech company he owns.

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Police chief fired grenade launcher given as gift by Ukraine, Polish media reports

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Prosecutors investigating after Jarosław Szymczyk injured in blast at police headquarters in Warsaw

Polish prosecutors are investigating a “violent release of energy” at the national police headquarters amid media reports that the chief of police fired a grenade launcher in his office.

Poland’s interior ministry said on Thursday that Jarosław Szymczyk, the police commander in chief, was injured and taken to hospital when a present he received during a visit to Ukraine exploded at police headquarters in Warsaw.

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Huge cylindrical aquarium housing 1,500 exotic fish bursts in Berlin

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Two people injured by broken glass as 1m litres of water pour out of 14-metre-high tank

A freestanding cylindrical aquarium housing about 1,500 exotic fish burst in Berlin on Friday morning, causing a wave of devastation in and around the tourist attraction.

Glass, chairs, tables and other debris were swept out of the DomAquarée complex, which includes a Radisson hotel, a museum, shops and restaurants, as 1m litres of water poured out of the 14-metre-high (46ft) tank shortly before 6am.

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Kharkiv left without power, heating and water after new wave of Russian missile strikes across country – as it happened

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‘Colossal’ damage in Ukraine’s second largest city, mayor says, after Russian missile strikes lead to power emergency.

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“Do not ignore air raid alerts, remain in shelters,” Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of Ukraine’s president’s office wrote a few moments ago on Telegram messaging app.

Putin will visit Belarus on Monday, AFP is reporting, citing the Minsk presidential press service. Putin’s visit comes as the UK warns that Belarus is reportedly holding “readiness exercises”. Russia has also deployed extra units of mobilised reservists to Belarus.

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Nosferatu at 100: Berlin exhibition examines vampire classic’s enduring appeal

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Show takes a deep dive into story of 1922 film that spawned an entire genre – with free entry for blood donors

It was a nightmare born out of a pandemic: a silent killer that arrived from a faraway land, rapidly spreading a delirious fever across the domestic population and leaving its hosts in an anaemic stupor.

By channelling contemporary fears around infectious diseases in the wake of the 1918-20 influenza pandemic, the 1922 expressionist masterpiece Nosferatu founded an entire genre of vampire horror movies and inspired claw-fingered monsters that would spook generations to come, from Freddy Krueger to the Babadook.

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Russia carries out more mass strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure

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Power outages reported after barrage of rockets fired at several regions in second such attack in days

A second wave of mass strikes in days has been launched by Russia across Ukraine, with 76 rockets fired at several regions on Friday morning in what appeared to be a continuation of the Kremlin’s attempt to destroy Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

Ukraine’s state energy company Ukrenergo said energy consumption had fallen by 50% as a result of the attacks and that it would take longer to restore the electricity supply than after previous attacks. Russia had hit thermal power plants, hydroelectric plants and substations of main networks, Ukrenergo said.

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