Category Archives: Europe

USSR sweatshirt and chicken kyiv: Russia dials up trolling before Alaska summit

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Foreign minister’s attire and inflight menu for Russian media are latest in series of provocations towards Ukraine

In a not-so-subtle act of trolling, Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, arrived in Alaska on the eve of the US–Russia summit wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with “USSR”.

Once seen in western capitals as a pragmatic and skilled diplomat, the 75-year-old has in recent years mirrored the Kremlin’s radicalised politics, adopting an increasingly combative tone and resorting to trolling and mockery.

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Putin hails ‘heroic’ North Korean troops fighting against Ukraine in letter to Kim Jong-un

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Letter marking the anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese rule a sign of increasingly close ties between Russia and North Korea

Russian president Vladimir Putin hailed North Korean troops sent to fight in Ukraine as “heroic” in a letter to Kim Jong-un, North Korean state media reported on Friday.

In a letter marking the anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese rule, Putin recalled how Soviet Red Army units and North Korean forces fought together to end Japan’s colonial occupation.

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‘What about our lives?’: emotions run high in frontline Ukrainian city over ceding land to Russia

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Trump’s talk of ‘land swaps’ as a simple transaction belies grim reality of what it would mean for people in Zaporizhzhia

The city of Zaporizhzhia, an industrial hub in south-east Ukraine, is as good a place as any to grasp the stakes of freezing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine along its current frontlines, or of implementing a “land swap for peace” deal as envisioned by Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

Since Russian troops began rolling into Ukraine in February 2022, Zaporizhzhia, with its broad avenues and Stalin-era apartment blocks, has been a 30-minute drive from the frontline. It has been under near-constant attack from missiles and drones. On Sunday, a Russian guided air bomb hit a bus station, wounding 24 people – just another day of suffering in a city that has known many of them.

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Dozens injured in Serbia as protesters clash with pro-government supporters

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Second night of street violence in several cities after months of anti-government demonstrations boil over

Clashes between rival groups of protesters in Serbia left dozens injured overnight, police said on Thursday, as months of anti-government demonstrations boiled over into street violence for a second night.

A wave of anti-corruption protests has gripped Serbia since November, when the collapse of the Novi Sad railway station roof killed 16 people, a tragedy widely blamed on entrenched corruption.

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Putin ready to make Ukraine deal, Trump says before Alaska summit

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US president’s comment that Russian and Ukrainian leaders may have to ‘divvy’ things up likely to raise alarm

Donald Trump has said he believes Vladimir Putin is ready to make a deal on the war in Ukraine as the two leaders prepare for their summit in Alaska on Friday, but his suggestion the Russian leader and Volodymyr Zelenskyy could “divvy things up” may alarm some in Kyiv.

The US president, who left the White House on Friday at 7.30am, implied there was a 75% chance of the Alaska meeting succeeding, and that the threat of economic sanctions may have made Putin more willing to seek an end to the war. “HIGH STAKES!!!” he posted on Truth Social as his motorcade idled outside the White House shortly after sunrise in Washington.

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‘No country is safe’: deadly Nordic heatwave supercharged by climate crisis, scientists say

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Historically cool nations saw hospitals overheating and surge in drownings, wildfires and toxic algal blooms

The prolonged Nordic heatwave in July was supercharged by the climate crisis and shows “no country is safe from climate change”, scientists say.

Norway, Sweden and Finland have historically cool climates but were hit by soaring temperatures, including a record run of 22 days above 30C (86C) in Finland. Sweden endured 10 straight days of “tropical nights”, when temperatures did not fall below 20C (68F).

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France acknowledges role in repression of Cameroon independence movements

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Emmanuel Macron writes to Cameroonian president with findings of joint commission on country’s colonial past

France has acknowledged its role in decades of violent repression of independence movements in Cameroon, the latest stage in a slow process of reckoning with its brutal colonial past.

In a letter to the Cameroonian president, Paul Biya, dated 30 July, Emmanuel Macron said it was “up to me today to assume the role and responsibility of France in these events”.

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At least 20 killed after boat capsizes off Italian island of Lampedusa, UN says

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UN refugee agency says more people could still be missing at sea, with between 70 and 80 believed to have survived

At least 20 people have died after a boat capsized off the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, a United Nations agency and local media reported on Wednesday.

Rescuers have recovered 20 bodies so far and operations were continuing, according to initial reports by Ansa news agency. Between 70 and 80 people were believed to have survived.

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Tighter US border rules are putting European visitors off, says Tui

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Holiday company boss says tourists are opting instead for destinations such as Canada, Africa and Asia

Tighter border rules are putting European tourists off holidaying in the US, according to Europe’s biggest package trip operator.

Tui’s chief executive, Sebastian Ebel, said there had been a “significant decline” in travel to the US, due to a multitude of factors including “the atmosphere, what you hear from border control”.

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Mould, vermin and ceiling leaks: German police say they work in ‘embarrassing’ conditions

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Union calls for increased spending to revamp vehicles and station houses that it says are an insult to officers’ dignity

Germany’s biggest police union has complained about the dilapidated state of hundreds of police stations across the country and a fleet of aged vehicles, saying conditions are a threat to officers’ health and an insult to their dignity.

“Decades-old toilet bowls, mould in the offices, vermin, broken heating units and holes in the ceiling that let the rain in,” said Hagen Husgen of the GdP union, citing just a few of the complaints his organisation had received from members.

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EU leaders defend Ukraine’s freedom to decide future ahead of Trump-Putin summit

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Statement on Ukrainian sovereignty signed by all EU leaders except for Viktor Orbán before call with Trump

European Union leaders made a rallying call to defend Ukraine’s freedom to decide its own future in advance of their virtual summit with Donald Trump – convened to discuss US strategy before the president’s talks with Vladimir Putin on Friday.

With the exception of Hungary, all EU leaders signed a joint statement, with Kaja Kallas, the EU foreign policy chief, also calling for the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to attend the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska on Friday.

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Thousands evacuated in Spain amid deadly wildfires and new heatwave

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Temperatures of 44C predicted as blazes rage across Europe

Almost 6,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in northern, central and southern Spain as wildfires continue to burn amid a heatwave that could bring temperatures of 44C to some parts of the country.

The deadly heat across large parts of Europe has created what scientists have called a “molotov cocktail” of climatic conditions that is fuelling vast wildfires.

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Migrants swim from Morocco to Ceuta as officials say enclave ‘overwhelmed’

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Seven children reach shore as dozens of people intercepted on risky route, which authorities say is now used more often

About 100 people, including several children, risked their lives by trying to swim from Morocco into Spain’s north African enclave of Ceuta early on Saturday morning, as the territory’s authorities warned that its overwhelmed reception system was close to collapse.

Recent weeks have seen a rise in the number of people trying to reach Ceuta, with more than 50 children swimming across from Morocco on 26 July alone.

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Finland charges tanker crew members with sabotage of undersea cables

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Captain and first and second officers of Eagle S, understood to be part of Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’, charged over incident

Finnish authorities have filed charges against members of the crew of an oil tanker suspected of damaging five undersea cables by dragging its anchor between Finland and Estonia.

Finland’s deputy prosecutor general’s office said on Monday it had filed charges of aggravated sabotage and aggravated interference with telecommunications against the captain and first and second officers of the Eagle S. The Cook Islands-registered tanker is understood to be part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” – comprising vessels that sail under foreign flags to evade sanctions.

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Wind generator Ørsted’s shares sink as it makes $9bn cash call

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Danish company blames Donald Trump for derailing its business model after market value drops by a third

Europe’s largest wind power company has blamed Donald Trump for derailing its business model, after it unveiled a $9bn (£6.7bn) fundraising and its market value plunged by almost a third.

The share price for Denmark’s Ørsted tumbled to an all-time low after it told investors on Monday that the “extraordinary situation” facing the industry meant it would need to tap shareholders to cover the costs of its plans.

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Ayahuasca and toad poison seized as police raid spiritual retreats in Spain

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Three arrested and San Pedro cactus plants also found at rural properties that hosted lucrative ‘astral journeys’

Police in eastern Spain have arrested three people and seized 11 litres of ayahuasca, 117 San Pedro cactus plants and several bottles of toad poison after raiding two rural properties that were used to host lucrative spiritual retreats promising “astral journeys”.

Officers from the Guardia Civil force began investigating the business in the Pedreguer municipality of Alicante province five months ago after receiving a complaint from a former customer. They discovered that the retreat, which advertised online and billed itself as an award-winning and internationally renowned spiritual centre, offered “traditional curative medicine” breaks that were especially popular among European visitors.

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Southern Europe swelters under deadly heatwave as temperatures pass 40C

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Four-year-old boy dies of heatstroke in Italy as scientists warn of ‘molotov cocktail’ of climatic conditions

Deadly heat of up to 44C is searing southern Europe, as scientists warn of a “molotov cocktail” of climatic conditions that is fuelling vast wildfires across the Mediterranean.

In Italy, where temperatures of 40C are expected in Florence later this week, a four-year-old boy died of heatstroke, and a red alert warning was issued for seven major cities, including Bologna and Florence.

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Swarm of jellyfish shuts nuclear power plant in France

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‘Massive and unpredictable’ swarm entered filter drums that pull in water, Gravelines operator EDF says

The Gravelines nuclear power plant in northern France has been shut down after a swarm of jellyfish entered the filter drums that pull in cooling water, according to its state-owned operator, EDF.

The plant in northern France is one of the largest in the country and cooled from a canal connected to the North Sea.

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Activists in Netherlands protest on roof of Microsoft site storing Israeli military data

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Demonstration follows revelation firm’s servers holding huge collection of intercepted Palestinian phone calls

Activists have staged a protest on the roof of a Microsoft datacentre in the Netherlands after revelations the Israeli military is storing large volumes of data in the country.

Images posted on social media showed some of the activists blocking access to the large Microsoft facility in the north-west of the country on Sunday, while others scaled the building’s roof and lit flares.

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Europe’s leaders raise pressure on Trump to involve Ukraine in Putin talks

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Move comes as Germany warns White House against any deal hatched ‘over heads of Europeans and Ukrainians’

Europe’s leaders have raised the pressure on Donald Trump to involve Ukraine in a planned summit with Vladimir Putin, as Germany warned the White House against any deal hatched “over the heads of Europeans and Ukrainians”.

Speaking before a bilateral meeting expected to take place between the US and Russian leaders on Friday in Alaska, the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said he hoped and assumed that Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, would also be involved.

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