Category Archives: Europe

Ryanair forces South Africans to do Afrikaans test to prove nationality

Posted on by

Airline accused of discrimination after it introduces test due to ‘high prevalence of fraudulent passports’

Ryanair is facing accusations of racial discrimination after forcing South Africans to take a test in Afrikaans before boarding flights home from the UK and Europe.

The budget airline, which claimed the “simple questionnaire” was part of efforts to tackle fraudulent South African passport holders, is facing criticism for conducting the general knowledge test in a language that is the third most used in the country and had a controversial role in the oppression of black citizens during apartheid.

Continue reading...

Russia-Ukraine war: UN says war creating human trafficking crisis; Russian ships pushed back, Ukraine claims – live

Posted on by

‘Unprecedented’ displacement of millions of Ukrainians; Russian warships pushed back more than 100km, Ukraine says

Russian forces continue to storm the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk and fired missiles at the nearby cities of Sloviansk, Lysychansk and Orikhove, Ukraine’s military has said.

Russian troops fired at Ukrainian units defending Sievierodonetsk with mortars and artillery fire, damaging infrastructure in the towns of Metolkino, Borivske, Ustynivka and Toshkivka, according to the latest operational report released by Ukraine’s general staff of the armed forces.

Continue reading...

Zelenskiy visits Ukrainian troops on frontline as Russia pushes them back

Posted on by

President makes rare publicised visit outside Kyiv to Lysychansk

The Ukrainian president has visited the frontline close to the fiercest fighting between his country’s troops and Russian forces in the east, where a regional official said the situation had worsened for Ukraine.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited the beleaguered city of Lysychansk on Sunday, just a few kilometres south from Sievierodonetsk, the main battlefield in the east where Russia has concentrated its forces.

Continue reading...

‘Weakness’ of UK position shaped Northern Ireland protocol negotiations, David Frost says

Posted on by

Former Brexit negotiator criticises Irish government’s focus on ‘all-island’ economy

Boris Johnson’s former Brexit negotiator David Frost has said the “weakness” of the UK’s position shaped the negotiations for the Northern Ireland protocol but blamed a lack of pragmatism in the EU’s approach for the current difficulties.

Frost said the deal he negotiated while in Johnson’s government would have run smoothly only if it had never been fully applied by the EU.

Continue reading...

Putin warns that Moscow will hit new targets if the west supplies Ukraine with long-range missiles – as it happened

Posted on by

This live blog is now closed, you can find our latest coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war here

President Vladimir Putin said Russia would strike new targets if the United States started supplying Ukraine with longer-range missiles, the TASS news agency reported on Sunday.

The TASS news agency reports:

Putin said that if such missiles are supplied, that Russia will strike at those targets which we have not yet been hitting”, in an Rossiya-1 state television channel

Putin did not name the targets Russia planned to pursue if western countries began supplying Ukraine with longer-range missiles.

Continue reading...

Christo before Christo: Paris exhibition reveals artist’s earlier works

Posted on by

Exhibition to show items the artist experimented with before larger wrapped pieces that defined him

Long before scaling the heights of the Reichstag in Berlin or the Pont Neuf in Paris, the artist known as Christo started on a much smaller scale.

Having fled communist Bulgaria for Paris and working in a maid’s room, the impoverished refugee began creating his first wrapped sculptures using everyday objects such as cans, bottles and – when he found a bigger studio – old oil barrels.

Continue reading...

Newly released doctor’s letters show Adolf Hitler’s fear of illness

Posted on by

Carl Otto von Eicken, an ear, nose and throat specialist, treated Nazi dictator for 10 years from 1935

The Swiss descendent of one of Adolf Hitler’s doctors has released details of letters that show how he treated the Nazi dictator for voice problems, the newspaper NZZ am Sonntag reported on Sunday.

The letters show Hitler’s fear of serious illness. “If there is something bad, I absolutely have to know,” Hitler told the doctor after their first consultation in May 1935, according to the letters.

Continue reading...

Russia claims to have targeted western-supplied tanks in Kyiv airstrikes

Posted on by

Putin warns of more strikes if deliveries continue, as Ukrainian railways chief says ‘no such tanks’ were at targeted plant

Russia launched airstrikes on Kyiv for the first time in five weeks on Sunday, claiming it had targeted western-supplied tanks – while the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, warned more targets would be struck if weapons deliveries continued.

Several explosions were heard around the eastern Kyiv suburbs of Darnytskyi and Dniprovskyi early on Sunday morning, wounding one person. The strikes represented a change of tack on the part of the invading forces.

Continue reading...

Woman killed as storms cause chaos across France

Posted on by

Many more people injured as thunder and hail lead to flooding, power cuts and flight delays

One woman has been killed and 14 people injured in France as thunder and hailstorms hit the country, ravaging vineyards and delaying flights.

Residents of south-west France posted photos online of hail the size of tennis balls, and drivers in the Paris region shared images of flooded roads and daytime skies blackened by thunder clouds.

Continue reading...

Mercedes-Benz issues global recall of one million older cars

Posted on by

German carmaker says move due to a potential problem with the braking system

Mercedes-Benz has announced it is immediately recalling nearly one million older vehicles worldwide due to a potential problem with the braking system.

Germany’s federal transport authority (KBA) said that the recall affected cars built between 2004 and 2015 of the SUV series ML and GL, and the R-Class luxury minivan.

Continue reading...

Ukraine counterattack recaptures parts of Sievierodonetsk in Donbas

Posted on by

Russians ‘suffering huge losses’, region’s governor claims, amid heavy fighting

Ukraine has staged a counterattack on the frontline city of Sievierodonetsk and recaptured a fifth of the city it had previously lost to the Russian invaders, according to the head of the region.

Serhiy Haidai, governor of Luhansk, said Russian forces were giving up recent gains in the city, as reports also emerged of foreign fighters joining the battle for the easternmost city held by Kyiv in the fiercely contested Donbas.

Continue reading...

Residents evacuated as wildfire on outskirts of Athens threatens homes

Posted on by

Clouds of thick smoke build over Greek capital’s southern suburbs as more than 100 firefighters fight blaze

A wildfire on the outskirts of the Greek capital Athens is threatening homes and infrastructure, with some residents being evacuated by the authorities.

The blaze has spread across the slopes of Mount Hymettus, which overlooks Athens, sending clouds of thick smoke drifting over the city’s southern suburbs. Strong winds have helped fan the fire.

Continue reading...

Fury in France as Champions League final chaos tarnishes nation’s global image

Posted on by

As elections loom, public turns against interior minister Gérald Darmanin after he blames Liverpool fans for Paris fiasco

When Paris stepped in to host the Champions League final, the biggest match in international football after the World Cup final, the French authorities saw a chance to show that the nation was the ideal place to hold global sporting events.

This weekend, those hopes appear to be dashed as French opinion polls show widespread disapproval of the chaos that ensued, amid growing criticism of politicians and the police.

Continue reading...

Russia must not be humiliated in Ukraine, says Emmanuel Macron

Posted on by

French president says door must be left open to allow for improvement in diplomatic relations after war

Russia must not be humiliated in Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron has said, to allow an improvement in diplomatic relations between the west and Moscow whenever the war comes to an end.

The French president said his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, had made a “historic and fundamental” error in invading Ukraine, but that nevertheless a wider escalation in hostilities had to be avoided.

Continue reading...

US supports international inquiry into war crimes in Ukraine – as it happened

Posted on by

US embassy in Kyiv says ‘those responsible for war crimes must face justice’

Russian forces have combined airstrikes and massed artillery fires to bring its “overwhelming” firepower to bear in Donbas, the UK Ministry of Defence has said in its latest intelligence report released this morning.

This combined use of air and artillery strikes has been a key factor in Russia’s recent tactical successes in the region, the report reads.

Russian air activity remains high over contested ground in the Donbas with Russian aircraft conducting strikes using both guided and unguided munitions.

These strikes alone however have failed to have a meaningful impact on the conflict and Russian stocks of precision guided missiles are likely to have been significantly depleted as a result.

The combined use of air and artillery strikes has been a key factor in Russia’s recent tactical successes in the region. The increased use of unguided munitions has led to the widespread destruction of built-up areas in the Donbas and has almost certainly caused substantial collateral damage and civilian casualties.

Continue reading...

Alexander Litvinenko assassination suspect dies of Covid

Posted on by

Dmitry Kovtun was one of two Russian men accused over poisoning death of ex-spy in London in 2006

Dmitry Kovtun, one of the two Russian men accused of assassinating the former spy and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in London, died of Covid in a Moscow hospital on Saturday.

Litvinenko died in 2006, weeks after drinking tea laced with the radioactive isotope polonium 210 at a London hotel, where he met Kovtun and the other suspect, Andrei Lugovoi. The case has since weighed on relations between Britain and Russia.

Continue reading...

Ukraine fighting back in Sievierodonetsk, according to Luhansk governor

Posted on by

Serhiy Haidai says counterattack has recaptured a fifth of frontline city from Russian invaders

Ukraine has staged a counterattack on the frontline city of Sievierodonetsk and recaptured a fifth of the city it had previously lost to Russian invaders, according to the head of the region.

Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Luhansk oblast, told Ukrainian television that Russian forces were forfeiting recent gains in the city, the easternmost held by Kyiv in the Donbas region, where fighting has been concentrated.

Continue reading...

Antony Gormley to become German citizen due to ‘tragedy’ of Brexit

Posted on by

Acclaimed sculptor calls leaving the EU ‘a practical disaster’ and a ‘betrayal’ as major retrospective opens

The acclaimed British sculptor Antony Gormley is to become a German citizen because of the “tragedy” of Brexit.

Speaking at a major retrospective of his work at the Museum Voorlinden near The Hague, Gormley, who is half-German, said his strong feelings about Britain’s departure from Europe had prompted him to apply for German nationality.

Continue reading...

Woman dead and two children in hospital after car plunges into river in Cork

Posted on by

Gardaí confirm body of woman in her 40s has been found after search involving Irish naval service dive team

A woman in her 40s has died and two children are in hospital after a car plunged into a river in Ireland.

The incident happened at about 8.45pm on Friday, when the vehicle the three were travelling in entered the River Lee at Kennedy Quay in Cork city.

Continue reading...