Category Archives: Europe

Four people charged over Qatar’s alleged bribing of EU officials

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Charges come after Belgian police made six arrests and seized phones, computers and €600,000 in cash

Belgian prosecutors investigating allegations that Qatar has sought to influence EU policy by bribing European parliament officials have charged four people with money laundering, corruption and participating in a criminal organisation.

The charges, which were announced on Sunday, came two days after police arrested four people and seized computers, mobile phones and €600,000 (£515,000) in cash during searches at 16 properties across Brussels.

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First refugees arrive in tiny Catalan villages under repopulation plan

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Orwa Skafe, who fled Syria seven years ago, is among those given jobs and a home in attempt to revive rural areas

It’s been a long journey since Orwa Skafe fled the war in Syria seven years ago but thanks to an innovative resettlement scheme he’s found peace in a tiny village 900 metres (3,000ft) up in the Pyrenees. He is one of the first to benefit from a Catalan government programme to relocate refugees in depopulated villages.

The programme, called Operation 500 because it involves villages with fewer than 500 inhabitants, is being run jointly by the regional employment agency, the equality commission and the Association of Micro-villages.

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Italian trapped in UAE embassy pleads with Giorgia Meloni to get him home

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Andrea Costantino says he has been in tiny room since release from prison on ‘totally unfounded’ charges of funding terrorism

An Italian man trapped for six months in his country’s embassy in the UAE has claimed he is the victim of a diplomatic spat between the two states and pleaded with Giorgia Meloni’s government to bring him home.

Andrea Costantino, 49, said he had been living a “Groundhog day-like” existence in a tiny room at the Italian embassy in Abu Dhabi since being released in late May from the emirate’s notorious maximum-security prison, Al Wathba, where he spent more than a year on charges of funding terrorism in war-torn Yemen after shipping a cargo of diesel to a client there.

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Neo-Nazi Russian militia appeals for intelligence on Nato member states

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Move by Task Force Rusich raises fears of rogue paramilitary attacks on Baltic nations of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia

A neo-Nazi paramilitary group linked to the Kremlin has asked its members to submit intelligence on border and military activity in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, raising concerns over whether far-right Russian groups are planning an attack on Nato countries.

The official Telegram channel for “Task Force Rusich” – currently fighting in Ukraine on behalf of the Kremlin and linked to the notorious Wagner Group – last week requested members to forward details relating to border posts and military movements in the three Baltic states, which were formerly part of the Soviet Union.

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At least three killed and a dozen missing after Jersey flats explosion

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Police say there could be more fatalities after 4am collapse of three-storey building on Channel Island

At least three people have died and about 12 people are believed to be missing after an explosion in a block of flats in St Helier, Jersey police have said.

The blast at Haut du Mont, Pier Road, in the capital, occurred at about 4am on Saturday, less than eight hours after firefighters had been called to the site after concerns from residents, it was confirmed.

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Russia-Ukraine war – as it happened: Moscow has turned entire city of Bakhmut to ‘burnt ruins’, says Zelenskiy

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Ukraine’s president says Russian shelling has ‘actually destroyed’ the city

Russian forces have “destroyed” the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, while Ukraine’s military reported missile, rocket and airstrikes in multiple parts of the country.

The latest battles of Russia’s nine-and-a-half-month war in Ukraine have centred on four provinces that Russian president Vladimir Putin illegally claimed to have annexed in late September, the Associated Press reported.

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Kosovo Serbs block road to main border crossings in volatile north

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Trucks and agricultural machines used as roadblocks, heightening recent tensions in the region

Hundreds of ethnic Serbs erected barricades on a road in northern Kosovo on Saturday, blocking the traffic over the two main border crossings towards Serbia, police said.

Trucks, ambulance cars and agricultural machines were used as roadblocks, heightening recent tensions which included explosions, shootings and an armed attack on a police patrol which saw one ethnic Albanian police officer wounded.

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Suspect died during Dresden hostage operation, German police confirm

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Two apparently uninjured people safe after incident in which shots were reportedly fired

German police said on Saturday that a man suspected of killing his mother and later taking two people hostage in the eastern city of Dresden has died.

Authorities had urged people to avoid an area in the city centre and ordered Dresden’s Christmas market to remain closed while the police operation to free the hostages was under way.

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Odesa almost out of power after Russian drone attacks, say officials

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Russian drones hit energy facilities in Ukraine port city, leaving all non-critical infrastructure without power

All non-critical infrastructure in Ukraine’s southern port city of Odesa was without power after Russia used drones to hit energy facilities, local officials said on Saturday, with much of the surrounding region also affected.

“Due to the scale of the damage all users in Odesa except critical infrastructure have been disconnected from electricity,” Odesa’s mayor, Gennadiy Trukhanov, wrote on Facebook.

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In the ‘Bakhmut meat grinder’, deadlocked enemy forces slog it out

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Ukrainians have the technical advantage but Russians persist in sacrificing troops to take an area with no strategic value

In a smothering fog cloaking the woods of the Donbas, the sound of artillery takes on a spooky, disconnected quality.

Guns crack nearby, invisible among the skeletal branches. Shells whicker in the gloom towards the Russian lines around the key city of Bakhmut, distant thuds marking when they hit their targets. When the Russian guns fire back, it’s with a different sound, the crump of incoming fire.

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Greece passes intelligence bill banning the sale of spyware

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Vote comes as government tries to mitigate impact of a phone-tapping scandal involving Pasok party leader

Greece’s parliament has passed a bill overhauling the country’s intelligence service (EYP) and banning the sale of spyware, as the government tries to mitigate the impact of a phone-tapping scandal still under investigation.

The case has turned up the heat on the conservative government, which faces elections in 2023. It emerged in August when Nikos Androulakis, the leader of the socialist Pasok party, Greece’s third-largest, claimed the EYP listened to his conversations in 2021.

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Celebrity chef among suspects in Germany rightwing coup plot

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Ex-police officer once tasked with protecting Jewish communities also linked to foiled Reichsbürger plan

A celebrity gourmet chef whose daughter is the girlfriend of the Real Madrid footballer David Alaba and an ex-police officer once tasked with protecting Jewish communities from terror attacks are among the latest figures to have been linked to the foiled Reichsbürger coup plan in Germany, with further arrests expected as investigations continue.

Details emerging after the biggest ever national police operation against rightwing extremism indicate that suspects may have been informed in advance of the raids, in which 3,000 police officers targeted more than 150 addresses across Germany, and in Austria and Italy, making 25 arrests.

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Notre Dame’s uncovered tombs start to reveal their secrets

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Two sarcophaguses unearthed in reconstruction work after 2019 fire identified as elite canon of cathedral and young cavalier

Two lead sarcophaguses discovered buried under the nave at Notre Dame Cathedral in what was described as an “extraordinary and emotional” find have begun giving up their secrets, French scientists announced on Friday.

The first contains the remains of a high priest who died in 1710 after what experts say appeared to be a sedentary life. The occupant of the second has not yet been identified – and may never be – but is believed to be a young, wealthy and privileged noble who could have lived as far back as the 14th century.

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Brittney Griner arrives in US after prisoner exchange with Russia

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Basketball star lands at Texas airbase after being swapped for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout

The American basketball star Brittney Griner returned to the US early on Friday after being freed in a high-profile prisoner exchange from nearly 10 months in detention in Russia.

The deal, in which she was swapped for the Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, secured the release of the most prominent American detained abroad and achieved a top goal for Joe Biden. But Washington failed to win freedom for another US citizen, Paul Whelan, who has been jailed for nearly four years.

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Russian opposition figure Ilya Yashin jailed for denouncing Ukraine war

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Politician sentenced to eight and a half years over series of posts about atrocities in Bucha

A Russian court has sentenced the opposition politician Ilya Yashin to eight and a half years in prison, in the most high-profile case to date of a Russian dissident being jailed for opposing the invasion of Ukraine.

Yashin was tried on charges of spreading false information meant to discredit the Russian army, under a law introduced after Russia launched its invasion, due to a series of posts in May about the murder and torture of Ukrainian civilians by Russian troops in the town of Bucha.

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Search resumes for three fishers off Jersey

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Fishing boat believed to be resting on seabed after collision with Condor Ferries freight vessel

The search for three fishers whose boat sank in the Channel after a collision with a freight vessel has resumed off the coast of Jersey.

Lifeboats and a search aircraft were launched at first light to continue to scour the area to the west and north-west of the island.

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UK to develop next-generation fighter jets with Italy and Japan

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Rishi Sunak says defence deal for Tempest means ‘outpacing those who seek to do us harm’

Britain will work to develop next-generation fighter jets with Italy and Japan, Rishi Sunak has announced.

The prime minister said the defence partnership will ensure the UK and allies are “outpacing and outmanoeuvring those who seek to do us harm”.

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Macron announces free condoms for 18- to 25-year-olds in France

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President hails ‘revolution for contraception’ as government seeks to curb STIs and unwanted pregnancies

The French president has said condoms will be made available for free in pharmacies for 18- to 25-year-olds in an attempt to reduce unwanted pregnancies among young people.

“It’s a small revolution for contraception,” Emmanuel Macron announced during a health debate with young people in Fontaine-le-Comte, a suburb of Poitiers in western France.

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Putin suggests possibility of settlement to end war in Ukraine

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Russian president still claims ‘special military operation’ going to plan during Kyrgyzstan press conference

Vladimir Putin mentioned a potential settlement to end his war in Ukraine on Friday while still claiming that his “special military operation” was going to plan.

“The settlement process as a whole, yes, it will probably be difficult and will take some time. But one way or another, all participants in this process will have to agree with the realities that are taking shape on the ground,” the Russia president said during remarks at a press-conference in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

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