Vadim Shysimarin accused of killing civilian on 28 February while fighting in Sumy region in north-east Ukraine
The first war crime trial since Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine has opened in Kyiv in a watershed moment.
Vadim Shysimarin, a 21-year-old Russian commander of the Kantemirovskaya tank division, allegedly killed a civilian on 28 February in the village of Chupakhivka while fighting in the Sumy region in north-east Ukraine.
Continue reading...Dutch prosecutors say 64-year-old man accused of role in massacres arrested after extradition request
A Rwandan man has been arrested in the Netherlands based on an extradition request from Rwanda on suspicion that he was involved in the central African country’s 1994 genocide, Dutch prosecutors have said.
The 65-year-old man, who was not identified, has been living in the Netherlands since he was granted asylum there in 1999. He was arrested on Wednesday in the town of Ermelo, 44 miles east of Amsterdam.
Continue reading...Former Brexit minister says UK ‘cannot be defeated’ by Brussels in provocative Telegraph column
The former Brexit minister David Frost has said the UK should not fear a trade war with the EU.
In a provocative newspaper column, he said the UK “cannot be defeated” by Brussels and needed to “make sure it is ready” for the consequences of a unilateral move to scrap parts of the Northern Ireland protocol.
Continue reading...Grenoble mayor wants swimmers to dress ‘how they like’, including topless or in full-body suits
The burkini, or full-body swimsuit, is once again at the centre of a political row in France as Grenoble’s town council prepares to debate loosening rules on swimwear at open-air pools.
Rules on swimwear are strict at most French public pools, with men, for example, having to wear tight-fitting racing trunks and not longer board-shorts. Currently, in Grenoble municipal pools, UV-protective tops are banned, except short-sleeved tops for children under 10, or for adults who present a medical note from their doctor.
Continue reading...Refusal to nominate speaker will derail legislature and raise stakes in London’s dispute with Brussels
The Democratic Unionist party has vowed to paralyse the Stormont assembly and block the formation of an executive in a dramatic escalation of its campaign against the Northern Ireland protocol.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP leader, said his party would refuse to nominate a speaker when the assembly meets for its inaugural session on Friday afternoon, a move that will derail the legislature and raise the stakes in a dispute over the protocol between London and Brussels.
Continue reading...Hundreds of thousands of Russians opposed to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and alienated by pro-war sentiment are establishing a new life abroad
In the days after Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine in late February, Vladimir Shurupov, a cardiologist from the Siberian city of Tomsk, felt he could not breathe properly. “I was having panic attacks, I could not eat or sleep. I just knew I had to remove myself from this place, from this atmosphere,” he said.
Shurupov, 40, had been a quiet critic of Putin’s government for years, but he had never attended a protest of any kind, fearful of unwanted attention or arrest. When the war began, disgust with the regime combined with a fear he would be sent to the front. “If there was mobilisation, I would have been called up as a military doctor, and this is not a war I would be willing to fight in,” he said.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Influential delegation likely to underline Biden’s commitment to defend Good Friday agreement
A delegation of influential US congressmen will fly to London within days amid growing concern in the White House about spiralling tensions over the Northern Ireland protocol, the Guardian can reveal.
With the UK government poised to table legislation next week which could revoke parts of the protocol, arrangements are being made for at least half a dozen representatives from the US Congress to fly to Europe for a series of meetings in Brussels, Dublin, London and Belfast.
Continue reading...Troops are saying no to officers, knowing that punishment is light while Russia is not technically at war
When the soldiers of an elite Russian army brigade were told in early April to prepare for a second deployment to Ukraine, fear broke out among the ranks.
The unit, stationed in Russia’s far east during peacetime, first entered Ukraine from Belarus when the war started at the end of February and saw bitter combat with Ukrainian forces.
Continue reading...Winning bid for Rawlings ball more than three times its estimate, with portion of proceeds going to Ukrainians displaced by war
A baseball signed by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has sold at auction for more than $50,000, with a portion of the proceeds going to Ukrainians displaced by the Russian invasion.
A Boston auctioneer, RR Auction, said the winning bid for the Rawlings Major League baseball was more than three times its estimate. The company will donate its $15,000 cut from the sale. The seller, Randy Kaplan, will donate an undisclosed portion of his proceeds to the global non-profit Americares.
Continue reading...Cécile Kohler and her husband held after holiday, while threat to kill scientist seen as reprisal for Swedish war crimes trial
Iranian authorities have arrested a French teaching union official and her husband and threatened to execute a Swedish-Iranian man who has been held in jail for six years by 21 May, in fresh moves against foreign and dual nationals.
The threat to execute Ahmadreza Djalali, a scientist, is widely seen as a reprisal for Sweden starting the trial in Stockholm of Hamid Nouri, who is accused of war crimes and murder committed during and after the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.
Continue reading...Lawyers reject Liz Truss’s claim that UK is able to dump parts of treaty with EU without its agreement
Claims that the UK government has discovered a legal justification for tearing up large parts of Brexit arrangements in Northern Ireland have been greeted with scorn by expert lawyers.
The attorney general, Suella Braverman, has reportedly approved overriding the Northern Ireland protocol on the grounds that it is being unfairly enforced by the EU. Her submission, understood to be based on external advice, claims the EU’s “disproportionate and unreasonable” implementation is undermining the Good Friday agreement (GFA), according to the Times.
Continue reading...UN verifies nearly 100 child killings but says figure likely higher; Ukraine’s EU application to be assessed in June, says France
The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has reiterated his government’s position that there can be no renormalisation of relationships with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Reuters reports that asked on LBC radio whether Putin could be welcomed back on the global stage if he were to repent, Johnson said: “The short answer is no. No renormalisation and the UK is very clear about that.”
Overnight the Ukrainian defence ministry published photos of what it said were destroyed Russian tanks and other equipment in the village of Bilohorivka, that had been struck when the Russians were attempting to construct a pontoon-bridge over the Siverskyi Donets river. The general staff of the Ukraine armed forces published the pictures again this morning on Facebook.
Continue reading...Foreign minister will meet Maroš Šefčovič as attorney general said to approve overriding Brexit deal
The foreign secretary, Liz Truss, is to hold talks with the vice-president of the European Commission, Maroš Šefčovič, in the first meeting since the UK threatened to remove parts of the Northern Ireland Brexit protocol.
The attorney general for England and Wales, Suella Braverman, is said to have approved the scrapping of large parts of the Northern Ireland Brexit deal, according to reports.
Continue reading...Pablo González, who has joint Spanish and Russian nationality, alleged to have worked for GRU military intelligence
A freelance journalist from Spain is spending his 10th week in Polish custody while prosecutors there investigate what they claim is a case of espionage linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In a case that raises red flags about press freedom in Europe at a time of war, prosecutors are expected next week to ask a judge for a further three-month extension to the detention of Pablo González, who has freelanced for media including Spain’s La Sexta TV channel, Spanish state news agency EFE and the US-government funded Voice of America.
Continue reading...Nato allies expect Finland and Sweden to be granted membership quickly, a move Putin has warned would have ‘serious military consequences’
Finland is expected to announce its intention to join Nato on Thursday with Sweden likely to follow soon after, diplomats and officials have said, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reshapes European security and the Atlantic military alliance.
Nato allies expect Finland and Sweden to be granted membership quickly, five diplomats and officials told Reuters, paving the way for increased troop presence in the Nordic region during the one-year ratification period.
Continue reading...Russian-controlled administration in Kherson plans to request annexation; Ukraine claims it has recaptured Pytomnyk, north of Kharkiv
Continue reading...UK signs security assurance declarations with Sweden and Finland; Ukraine leader says discovery of atrocities makes peace negotiations harder
Two points of note from the operational update of the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces this morning. They claimed:
In the Donetsk and Luhansk oblast, defenders of Ukraine repulsed 12 enemy attacks, destroyed 12 tanks, four artillery systems, 19 units of armoured combat vehicles, seven cars and two units of special engineering equipment of the enemy.
Continue reading...Latest updates: Conservative Lee Anderson says people just need to be shown how to cook nutritious meals that cost less
Michelle O’Neill, Sinn Féin’s leader in Northern Ireland, has criticised the DUP for refusing to commit to backing the election of a speaker for the Northern Ireland assembly. (See 11.25am.) She said:
What we need to see is the positions filled - first minister, deputy first minister, all the ministerial positions filled, and let’s get down to doing business.
I don’t think it is good enough. It is not good enough for the people here that the DUP is holding society to ransom, punishing society, preventing the establishment of a speaker and an executive to actually respond to the things people are worried about.
Continue reading...Unclear if Kremlin will agree to annex captured Ukrainian territory or use threat to put pressure on Kyiv
The Russian-controlled administration in the Ukrainian city of Kherson has said it plans to request annexation by Moscow, a move that would confirm the Kremlin’s permanent occupation of Ukrainian territory captured since February.
If Russia attempts to annex the Kherson region it would make a peace agreement more unlikely, as Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said that Russia’s withdrawal to prewar positions was a precondition for any successful negotiation.
Continue reading...Twenty women have accused Patrick Poivre d’Arvor, also known as PPDA, of sexual harassment and abuse
Twenty women have come forward to openly accuse one of France’s best-known television news presenters of sexual harassment and abuse – including rape – following an investigation by French journalists.
Patrick Poivre d’Arvor – known as PPDA – has faced a number of accusations that emerged after a writer first went to police to accuse him of rape, in February last year. The investigation was later dropped.
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