Category Archives: Europe

Ukraine wants US to stay involved, says Zelenskyy after meeting western allies

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Ukrainian leader joined ‘coalition of the willing’ in London to discuss how to ramp up pressure on Russia

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine wants the US to stay involved in efforts to end the war after a meeting of western allies in London that took place without Donald Trump.

The Ukrainian leader chose not to overtly lobby for the supply of US Tomahawk cruise missiles at a meeting of more than 20 mainly European leaders from the “coalition of the willing” but instead emphasised the need for the west to work together.

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Surprise sanctions look to have ended Trump and Putin’s Groundhog Day | Pjotr Sauer

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His patience exhausted, the US president has taken action that could bite, but is unlikely to alter Moscow’s course in Ukraine

For once, a phone call with Vladimir Putin did not lead to a thaw.

By imposing sanctions on Russia this week, Donald Trump broke from his usual pattern of easing tensions with the Kremlin after conversations with the Russian leader, when threats of pressure often give way to talk of renewed dialogue.

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‘Sacred sanctuary’: North Korea starts building memorial to soldiers killed in Ukraine war

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At least 600 North Korean soldiers have been killed and thousands more wounded fighting in Russia’s war against Ukraine

North Korea has begun constructing a memorial for its soldiers killed fighting in Russia’s war on Ukraine, state media reported, as leader Kim Jong-un hailed a “historic peak” in ties with Moscow.

The so-called Memorial Museum of Combat Feats will be built in the capital, Pyongyang, where Kim and Russia’s ambassador to North Korea attended a groundbreaking ceremony, according to a reports by the Korean Central News Agency on Thursday.

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Louvre thieves’ slow-motion getaway using furniture lift was caught on video

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Footage showing two men appears to have been filmed from nearby window in museum

The slow-motion getaway of two thieves from the Louvre clutching €88m (£76m) of France’s crown jewels was captured on video, it has emerged – the latest dramatic twist to the country’s most spectacular heist in decades.

The 36-second clip, which Le Parisien newspaper said it had verified, shows two men dressed in black, one wearing a yellow hi-vis vest and the other a motorcycle helmet, slowly descending on a furniture lift from the museum’s Apollo gallery.

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Irish police brace for more unrest at Dublin hotel housing asylum seekers

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Gardaí deployed at Citywest facility as police issue statement urging people to stay away from violent standoff

Irish police are bracing for fresh disturbances outside a Dublin hotel that houses asylum seekers and has become a flashpoint for anti-immigration activists.

Gardaí deployed near the Citywest facility on Thursday in anticipation of another possible standoff with mobs that on Tuesday and Wednesday night threw fireworks and missiles and set a police vehicle on fire.

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Zelenskyy presses for EU decision on using frozen Russia assets to defend Ukraine

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Ukrainian president says ‘time to act is now’ as Belgium seeks guarantees from other member states over loan plan

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged EU leaders to use Russia’s frozen assets to fund Ukraine’s defence “as soon as possible”, as summit talks on the issue of a reparations loan get bogged down.

Speaking to EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday, Zelenskyy called for a decision to be made to use Russian assets fully to defend his country against Vladimir Putin’s aggression.

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Third night of unrest in Dublin as protesters target asylum hotel

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Officers pelted with stones and fireworks near Citywest facility after man charged over alleged assault on 10-year-old

Twenty-three people were arrested after an hours-long standoff with Irish police, whose members were directly struck with fireworks, stones and other debris on a third consecutive night of disorder in Dublin.

Two members of the Irish police service, An Garda Síochána, were taken to hospital with injuries sustained during clashes with protesters. One garda was struck on the head by a bottle while the other sustained a shoulder injury.

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US imposes sanctions on Russian oil over Putin’s ‘refusal’ to end war in Ukraine

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Trump administration hardens stance against the Kremlin day after cancelling a planned summit with Russian leader

The US has sanctioned Rosneft and Lukoil, Russia’s two largest oil companies, as the Trump administration increased pressure on the Kremlin to negotiate an end to its war against Ukraine.

The sanctions were the first against Russia since Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, and were targeted to cut key revenues from oil sales that finance the Russian war machine.

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US demands EU reverse new climate rules to allow surge in gas imports

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US and Qatar say new rules will hinder imports of LNG, posing ‘existential threat’ to European economies

The US has demanded that the European Union roll back its climate and human rights rules in order to allow greater imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), as the Trump administration approved a controversial gas export hub along the Gulf of Mexico coast.

A letter jointly sent by the US and Qatar, two of the three largest LNG exporters in the world, warned the EU that its new rules pose an “existential threat” to European economies as they would hinder imports of gas from countries such as theirs.

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Louvre director acknowledges ‘terrible failure’ after €88m jewel heist

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Laurence des Cars questioned by senators about daring daytime break-in at Paris museum

The director of the Louvre museum in Paris has acknowledged a “terrible failure” days after thieves took seven minutes to break in via a window and steal jewels worth €88m, admitting there was “highly insufficient” security camera coverage of the outside walls of the vast building.

Senators questioned Laurence des Cars about the spectacular heist in which four men used a truck with extendable ladder and furniture hoist to access a balcony, cut through a window and steal jewels from the ornate Apollo gallery during opening hours.

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Russia and Ukraine trade missile attacks after Putin-Trump talks shelved – Europe live

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Russian missile attack kills multiple people in Kyiv after Ukraine strikes a chemical plant making gunpowder, explosives and fuel in Bryansk

One of two Ukrainians detained for drug possession had shared photographs and coordinates of critical Polish army infrastructure with a Russian speaker, Polish prosecutors said on Wednesday, reports Reuters.

Poland says it has been targeted with tactics such as arson and cyber-attacks in a “hybrid war” waged by Russia to destabilise nations that support Kyiv in the Russian war in Ukraine. Moscow has denied such accusations.

Correspondence was revealed on a secured telephone belonging to Bohdan K, which shows that he had been providing a Russian-speaking person with photographs and geographical coordinates of critical infrastructure at the disposal of the armed forces of the Republic of Poland.

The suspect pleaded not guilty and expressed pro-Russian views and questioned Ukraine’s sovereignty.

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Children among six killed in Kyiv after Russian missile and drone attack

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Explosions heard across Ukrainian capital after ballistic missile strikes, with further blasts reported in other regions

Russian drones and missiles have pounded the Ukrainian capital and other cities, killing six people including a six-month-old baby, a 12-year-old girl and a woman, and damaging key energy facilities and several high-rise residential buildings.

The attacks lasted most of Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning as Kyiv was hit by at least four ballistic missiles. A series of loud explosions could be heard across the city.

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Eurostar to run doubledecker trains through Channel tunnel from 2031

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Operator signs €2bn deal with Alstom amid boom in international rail travel from UK

Eurostar is to start running doubledecker trains through the Channel tunnel to meet growing demand for international rail travel from the UK.

The rail operator announced it had signed a €2bn (£1.7bn) deal for at least 30 – and up to 50 – new trains from the manufacturer Alstom.

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Kosovo offers to become first country to accept Britain’s refused asylum seekers

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Kosovo is an outlier in the region, whose other leaders say ‘looking for places to dump immigrants’ is evidence the UK is in ‘a very dark place’

Kosovo has become the first country to indicate it will accept Britain’s refused asylum seekers as part of government plans to set up “return hubs” in third countries.

Albin Kurti, the prime minister of Kosovo, said he “wants to help the UK” and confirmed discussions were taking place with officials from the UK, the Times reports. The plans would seek to send people whose asylum claims had been turned down to foreign detention centres once they had exhausted all avenues of appeal.

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Louvre heist losses put at almost €90m as museum’s head prepares to face MPs

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Police continue to search for the criminal gang behind the brazen robbery targeting France’s crown jewels

The financial loss from France’s most dramatic heist in decades has been put at nearly €90m as the head of the Louvre prepared to face difficult questions over how thieves were able to steal priceless jewellery in broad daylight.

As police continued to search for the criminal gang behind the brazen robbery on Sunday, the Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau told the broadcaster RTL that the museum’s curator had estimated the losses at about €88m (£76m).

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Nicolas Sarkozy enters prison to begin five-year sentence over criminal conspiracy

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Former president organised stage-managed departure from his Paris home before becoming first French postwar leader to be jailed

The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been jailed in Paris, after a court sentenced him to five years for criminal conspiracy over a scheme to obtain election campaign funds from the regime of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

France’s rightwing president between 2007 and 2012 is the first former head of an EU country to serve time in prison, and the first French postwar leader to go behind bars.

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What can Sarkozy expect in La Santé prison and what has he taken with him?

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Former French president will reportedly be held in isolation and has a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo for company

Perhaps France’s most fabled jail, La Santé – where the former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has begun a five-year term for criminal conspiracy to raise campaign funds from Libya – is the last remaining prison inside the Paris city limits.

Located in the southern Montparnasse district of the capital, it opened in 1867 and was the scene of at least 40 executions, the last in 1972. Partially closed for renovation in 2014, the prison reopened five years later and houses more than 1,100 inmates.

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Mosquitoes found in Iceland for first time as climate crisis warms country

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Three specimens discovered in what was previously one of the few places in the world without the insects

Mosquitoes have been found in Iceland for the first time as global heating makes the country more hospitable for insects.

The country was until this month one of the few places in the world that did not have a mosquito population. The other is Antarctica.

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EU criticised for pausing sanctions on Israel in response to Trump Gaza efforts

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Pause on move to freeze preferential trade pact comes amid scramble to shore up fragile ceasefire

The EU has been criticised for pausing sanctions against Israel’s government in response to Donald Trump’s peacemaking efforts in the Middle East, as the fragile ceasefire came under threat.

After meeting EU foreign ministers on Monday, the European foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, announced a pause on efforts to suspend preferential trade with Israel and sanctions against people responsible for fuelling the conflict on both sides.

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One dead after rare tornado topples construction cranes near Paris

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The tornado killed one construction worker on a building site, injured 10 others and left four in critical condition

A tornado tore through districts north of Paris on Monday, toppling three construction cranes that killed one person and left four others with critical injuries, authorities said.

The town of Ermont, about 20km (13 miles) north-east of Paris was worst hit by the sudden twister that caused damage across about 10 districts.

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