Category Archives: Europe

Russian forces appear to tighten grip on strategic city of Pokrovsk

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Military analysts say situation in Pokrovsk has deteriorated, while Kremlin says it plans to explore resumption of nuclear testing

Moscow’s forces appear to be tightening their grip on Pokrovsk, with street fighting raging across the ruined city in eastern Ukraine, as the Kremlin announced plans to explore the resumption of nuclear testing.

Ukraine’s general staff on Wednesday denied Russian claims that its troops had been encircled, saying efforts were under way to reinforce the flanks around Pokrovsk and the nearby town of Myrnohrad.

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Danish authorities in rush to close security loophole in Chinese electric buses

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Investigation launched after discovery that Chinese supplier had remote access to vehicles’ control systems

Authorities in Denmark are urgently studying how to close an apparent security loophole in hundreds of Chinese-made electric buses that enables them to be remotely deactivated.

The investigation comes after transport authorities in Norway, where the Yutong buses are also in service, found that the Chinese supplier had remote access for software updates and diagnostics to the vehicles’ control systems – which could be exploited to affect buses while in transit.

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Five injured after man ‘deliberately’ drives car into people on French island

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At least two people in intensive care and suspect arrested after pedestrians and cyclists hit on Île d’Oléron

Five people have been injured, two of them seriously, after a driver rammed into pedestrians and cyclists on Île d’Oléron, a popular tourist destination off France’s Atlantic coast, authorities have said.

The driver has been arrested and an investigation opened into attempted murder, the La Rochelle public prosecutor, Arnaud Laraize, said on Wednesday. France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office said it was observing the case but was not so far involved.

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Global stock markets fall sharply over AI bubble fears

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Drop in US, Asia and Europe follows warning from bank bosses that market correction could lie ahead

Global stock markets have fallen sharply amid concerns that a boom in valuations of artificial intelligence (AI) companies could be rapidly cooling.

Markets in the US, Asia and Europe have fallen after bank bosses warned a serious stock market correction could lie ahead, after a run of record stock market highs led some companies to appear overvalued.

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Facebook’s job ads algorithm is sexist, French equality watchdog rules

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Regulator found ads for mechanics skewed towards men while those for preschool teachers targeted women

The French equalities regulator has ruled that Facebook’s algorithm for placing job adverts is sexist, after an investigation found that adverts for mechanic roles skewed towards men while those for preschool teachers were targeted at women.

The Défenseur des Droits watchdog said the Facebook system for targeted job ads treated users differently based on their sex, and constituted indirect discrimination. The regulator recommended that Facebook and its parent company, Meta, took measures to ensure adverts were non-discriminatory, giving the company three months to inform the French body of the measures.

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Munich’s surfers left stunned after famed river wave vanishes

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Eisbach wave in the Bavarian city had been a surfing magnet for decades but disappeared after a cleanup

A standing wave in a Munich stream that has been a surfing magnet for more than four decades has vanished, leaving urban surfers high and dry.

Water levels in the Eisbach (“ice brook”) dropped last week for annual cleanup work along the streambed.

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Friedrich Merz says Syrians no longer have reason for asylum in Germany

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Chancellor suggests deportations could begin ‘in the near future’ as government seeks to counter rise of AfD

Syrians no longer have reason to be granted asylum in Germany after the end of their country’s civil war, according to Friedrich Merz, who said they will instead be encouraged to return to help with the reconstruction of their homeland.

During Syria’s 14-year civil war, Germany took in more refugees than any other country in the EU, but the chancellor and others in his coalition cabinet argue that the situation has changed since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government 11 months ago.

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Spain grants citizenship to descendants of civil war’s International Brigades

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About 32,000 volunteered to fight Franco dictatorship, including 2,500 men and women from Britain and Ireland

The Spanish government has granted citizenship to 170 descendants of volunteers in the International Brigades in recognition of their fight against fascism during the Franco dictatorship that followed the civil war.

An estimated 32,000 volunteers from around the world joined the anti-fascist brigades during the civil war, including approximately 2,500 men and women from Britain and Ireland, of whom 530 were killed.

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Manslaughter inquiry opened after death of worker in Rome tower collapse

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Contractor was trapped for 11 hours under fallen masonry at medieval landmark near the Colosseum

Prosecutors have opened a manslaughter investigation over the death of a worker trapped when a medieval monument in central Rome partly collapsed.

Octav Stroici, 66, was rescued on Monday night after 11 hours under fallen masonry but died of his injuries at the city’s Umberto I hospital. Romanian foreign affairs officials, who said he came from their country, thanked rescuers for their efforts to save him during a long, complex and delicate operation.

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French taxi driver cleared of stealing from David Lammy after fare dispute

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Nassim Mimun, who left with Lammy’s and his wife’s bags after ‘tone escalated’, acquitted owing to lack of evidence

A French taxi driver accused of stealing money and luggage from David Lammy has been acquitted due to lack of evidence, a prosecutor said.

Nassim Mimun, 40, drove the deputy prime minister and his wife, Nicola Green, more than 600km (370 miles) from Forli, near Bologna in northern Italy, to the ski resort of Flaine in the French Alps on 11 April.

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UN resolution on international stabilisation force for Gaza could be ready within two weeks

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Resolution may be delayed without agreement over the force’s mandate and a timetable for Israeli withdrawal

A UN security council resolution mandating the introduction of an international stabilisation force into Gaza is likely to be ready within two weeks, but may be delayed if disputes cannot be resolved over the force’s mandate, including the question of US military leadership, its relationship with the Palestinian civil police force and a timetable for Israeli military withdrawal.

At a meeting in Istanbul of Muslim countries considering offering troops on Monday, the Turkish foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, said: “The countries will shape their decisions based on the mission and authority of the International Stabilization Force. I believe that if the mission conflicts with the principles and policies of the countries that will send troops, it will be difficult for these countries to send troops.”

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Outrage in Paris as Shein prepares to open its first permanent store

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Fast-fashion retailer faces political anger, fury from workers and warnings it will damage city’s progressive image

The online fast-fashion retailer Shein will open its first permanent bricks-and-mortar store in the world in Paris this week amid political outrage, fury from workers and warnings from city hall that it will damage the French capital’s progressive image.

The Singapore-based clothing company, which was founded in China, has built a massive online business despite criticism over its factory working conditions and the environmental impact of low-cost, throwaway fashion.

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Rome: worker trapped and one injured after part of medieval tower collapses

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Three others rescued at the Torre dei Conti, which was undergoing restoration works

A medieval tower in central Rome has partly collapsed twice during renovations, injuring one worker and trapping another.

Falling debris from the initial collapse of the Torre dei Conti, just after 11.30am (0930 GMT), close to the Roman Forum ruins, hit a 64-year-old worker, the Ansa news agency reported. He was taken to San Giovanni hospital in a critical condition although Francesco Rocca, Lazio’s regional president, said his injuries were not life threatening.

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Valencia president Carlos Mazón resigns over botched handling of deadly floods

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Leader of Spanish region’s People’s party had clung to power despite calls for him to stand down over 2024 disaster

‘Mud on our hands; blood on his’: fury lingers one year after deadly floods

Carlos Mazón, the embattled president of the eastern Spanish region of Valencia, has bowed to public fury and political pressure by resigning over his botched handling of the deadly floods that killed 229 people in the area just over a year ago.

Mazón, a member of the conservative People’s party (PP), had hung on despite calls for him to stand down after it emerged that he spent more than three hours having lunch with a journalist as the floods hit and people were drowning in their homes, garages and cars.

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Rare white Iberian lynx captured on film in Spain by amateur photographer

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Researchers to investigate whether environmental factors may have affected female animal’s pigmentation

An amateur photographer in southern Spain has captured unprecedented images of a white Iberian lynx, prompting researchers to investigate whether environmental factors could be at play as wildlife watchers revelled in the rare sighting.

Ángel Hidalgo published the images on social media, describing the singular animal as the “white ghost of the Mediterranean forest”.

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Louvre jewel heist by petty criminals, not organised professionals, says Paris prosecutor

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Laure Beccuau said ‘upper echelons of organised crime’ unlikely to be involved as one perpetrator remains at large

The brazen daytime heist at the Louvre was carried out by petty criminals rather than professionals from the world of organised crime, the Paris prosecutor has said, describing two of the suspects as a couple with children.

The assertion comes two weeks after thieves parked a stolen truck outside the world’s most-visited museum, used a furniture lift to reach the first floor, then smashed their way into one of the museum’s most ornate rooms. Less than seven minutes later, they escaped on scooters with crown jewels worth an estimated €88m (£76m).

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Pregnant British teen accused of drug-smuggling moved to baby unit in Georgian prison

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Mother of Bella May Culley, 19, awaiting sentencing on Monday, says conditions have improved after transfer to new jail

A pregnant British teenager accused of drug-smuggling has been moved to a mother and baby unit in a Georgian prison, her mother said.

Bella May Culley, 19, who is reported to be eight months pregnant, was arrested at Tbilisi airport in May.

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Five German climbers die in Italian Alps after being swept away by avalanche

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Bodies of missing man and 17-year-old daughter who had fallen 200 metres found on Sunday morning in South Tyrol

Five German climbers, including a 17-year-old girl, have died after being swept away by an avalanche in the Italian Alps, rescuers have said.

Italian media said three groups of climbers – believed to have been travelling independently of one another – had been caught in the torrent of snow as it pulsed down a mountain near the Swiss border in the north-eastern region of South Tyrol on Saturday.

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Ukraine deploys special forces to Pokrovsk in effort to hold key city

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Escalating battle for city comes as overnight Russian drone and missile strikes kill six people, including two children

Ukraine has deployed special forces to the embattled eastern city of Pokrovsk in an attempt to push back an intense Russian assault involving thousands of troops, Kyiv’s top commander has said.

The escalating battle in the strategically important city comes as an overnight wave of Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine killed six people, including two children, and cut power to tens of thousands, officials said on Sunday.

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Veteran actor Tchéky Karyo, star of Nikita and The Missing, dies aged 72

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French-Turkish actor appeared in a string of high-profile films, as well as hit BBC series The Missing

Tchéky Karyo, who appeared in some of director Luc Besson’s biggest hits and a string of international films, died on Friday at the age of 72, his family have announced.

A statement from his wife and children sent to AFP said he had “succumbed to cancer”.

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