Game of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham also on Freedom Flotilla voyage to deliver aid to devastated territory
The climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and 11 other activists have set sail for Gaza on a ship aimed at “breaking Israel’s siege” of the devastated territory, organisers have said.
The sailing boat Madleen – operated by the activist group Freedom Flotilla Coalition – departed from the port of Catania in Sicily, southern Italy, on Sunday.
Continue reading...Police on the Champs-Élysées use teargas and pepper spray to keep order after huge crowds had gathered for game
At least 81 people have been arrested after violent clashes in Paris after huge crowds of fans gathered to watch PSG’s victory over Inter Milan in the Champions League final.
The club’s Parc des Princes stadium was transformed into a fan zone for the night to screen the match, which took place in Munich, with about 48,000 attending.
Continue reading...Rescuers discover Aziz Ziriat’s body buried in snow at foot of the southern face of the Carè Alto mountain
The body of a British hiker missing in the Dolomites in northern Italy since New Year’s Day has been found, local rescuers said on Saturday.
Aziz Ziriat, 36, from London, was discovered buried in snow by rescuers from the Trentino Alpine and speleological rescue team, the organisation said.
Continue reading...Low respect for international law and human rights set worrying precedent, international development minister says
Israel is setting a dangerous precedent for international human rights law violations in Gaza that is making the whole world more dangerous, Norway’s international development minister has warned.
Norway has played a historical role in the region, including by facilitating the Oslo peace accords between Israel and the Palestinians that led to a celebrated breakthrough deal in 1993. Last year it recognised the Palestinian state, one of a minority of European countries to do so.
Continue reading...More than 200 settlements in Sumy region under evacuation orders after Russia take control of two villages
Ukrainian officials issued evacuation orders on Saturday for 11 more villages in the northern Sumy region after continued Russian gains led to fears that Moscow could be gearing up for a fresh ground offensive.
Russia advanced deeper into Ukrainian territory on Saturday, taking control of two more villages in Sumy and killing two people in a missile and drone barrage. More than 200 settlements in the region were already under evacuation orders.
Continue reading...Biometrics app not ready, meaning travellers through Port of Dover will have to exit vehicles to have identity verified
British citizens who travel frequently to the EU face having their fingerprints individually checked each time they cross the border into the Schengen area because of delays in developing an app to verify biometrics digitally, it has emerged.
It will be “business as usual” this summer but “a big change” in travel will be phased in from November, Doug Bannister, the chief executive of the Port of Dover has said.
Continue reading...Austria and Slovenia are exceptions in continent where just a third of militaries even know their carbon footprint
Revealed: Nato rearmament could increase emissions by 200m tonnes a year
Carbon footprint of Israel’s war on Gaza exceeds that of many entire countries
Just two of 30 European countries have set a date to stop their militaries from emitting planet-heating emissions, a Guardian analysis has found, raising concerns about the carbon cost of Europe’s coming rearmament wave.
Austria and Slovenia are the only countries whose defence ministries have committed to reaching net zero military emissions, according to an analysis of 30 European countries, with only about one-third having worked out the size of their carbon footprint.
Continue reading...Sprat fishing has disrupted the food chain and diverted humpback, minke and fin whales as well as dolphins
A whale-watching company has abandoned tours off Ireland’s southern Atlantic coast and declared the waters an empty, lifeless sea.
Colin Barnes, who ran Cork Whale Watch, announced he was closing the company because overfishing of sprat has disrupted the marine food chain and diverted humpback, minke and fin whales as well as dolphins.
Continue reading...CEO of Europe’s largest industrial group says he has been in direct talks with Donald Trump’s administration
Volkswagen, Europe’s largest industrial group, has said it will make a “massive” investment in the US. The group, which includes Porsche, revealed it has been in direct talks with Donald Trump’s administration as it faces damaging tariffs.
Oliver Blume, who heads the group, said the talks were “constructive” and “fair”, in an interview that suggests the company, whose market capital is £44bn, is not willing to leave tariff negotiations to Brussels alone.
Continue reading...Image on street incorporates shadow of a bollard alongside words ‘I want to be what you saw in me’
Banksy has posted an image of a new artwork that appears to be in Marseille, in southern France, though its exact location has not been confirmed.
The characteristic image, posted on the artist’s Instagram account, transforms the shadow of a street bollard into the form of a lighthouse. Stencilled across it are the words “I want to be what you saw in me”.
Continue reading...Former Sinn Féin leader sued broadcaster over allegation in documentary that he sanctioned murder of MI5 informant
Gerry Adams has won a defamation action against the BBC over a documentary that carried a claim he sanctioned the murder of an MI5 informant in 2006.
A jury at Dublin’s high court on Friday found that the BBC had not acted in good faith or in a fair and reasonable way and awarded the former Sinn Féin leader €100,000 (£84,000) in damages
Continue reading...Close-run race between pro-EU and nationalist candidates pits liberal vision against a radical-right, EU-critical stance
Poland’s presidential election runoff could have far-reaching implications for its place in Europe – either cementing the country’s hard-won seat at the EU’s top table, or heralding a return to altogether trickier times.
The mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, faces off against the historian Karol Nawrocki on Sunday in a neck-and-neck race, pitting a liberal vision of Poland at the heart of European policymaking against a nationalist, radical-right, EU-critical stance.
Continue reading...Caroline Darian tells Hay festival that pornography websites are ‘part of the system’ of misogyny and violence
There is “no way” that Gisèle Pelicot would have been raped more than 200 times without the existence of pornography websites, her daughter has said.
Speaking at the Hay festival in Powys on Thursday, Caroline Darian said there were “so many social problems like online porn” that can lead to instances of abuse.
Continue reading...Sean McGovern, wanted on charges of murder and directing organised crime, flown to Ireland in military aircraft
A leader of the notorious Kinahan organised crime group has been flown from the United Arab Emirates to Ireland in the first extradition of its kind.
An Irish military aircraft carrying Sean McGovern – who is wanted on charges of murder and directing organised crime – was due to land in Dublin amid heavy security on Thursday afternoon.
Continue reading...Court decision in favour of Alice Bouilliez reignites push for bilateral treaty on electoral enfranchisement
A French court has ordered electoral officials to restore a British woman’s pre-Brexit right to vote in European elections, triggering calls for a renewed push for a bilateral treaty on electoral enfranchisement in each other’s countries.
Alice Bouilliez, a former British civil servant who has lived in France for 38 years, said she was “extremely surprised” but delighted that the court in Auch in south-west France had ordered that the authorities put her name back on the electoral register for the EU elections.
Continue reading...Party takes second place in election after overseas votes counted, overturning decades of bipartisan politics
The far-right Chega party has overturned decades of bipartisan politics in Portugal by squeaking into second place in the country’s third snap election in three years, edging out the socialists to become the biggest opposition party in parliament.
The centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD), led by the prime minister, Luís Montenegro, finished first in the election 10 days ago, but once again fell well short of a majority, taking 31.2% of the vote and winning 91 seats in Portugal’s 230-seat assembly. But the race for second place was a closely fought contest between the Socialist party (PS) and Chega.
Continue reading...Rescue service said movement of estimated 150 people onboard caused boat to tip as it approached port
Four women and three girls have died after a boat carrying dozens of migrants capsized as it approached a port on one of Spain’s Canary Islands.
Spain’s maritime rescue service said the boat, believed to be carrying about 150 people, was spotted 6 miles off La Restinga harbour on the island of El Hierro on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Berlin agrees to help finance construction in Ukraine of weapons that can strike targets inside Russia
Ukraine and Germany have agreed to future military cooperation in which Berlin will help finance long-range weapons production on Ukrainian soil.
The deal came as Zelenskyy warned that Russia had amassed 50,000 troops in the Sumy region bordering Russia, where Vladimir Putin has declared an intention to establish a buffer zone.
Continue reading...Wall Street up in early trading after US president commends bloc for calling to ‘quickly establish meeting dates’
Donald Trump has indicated there has been progress in US trade talks with the EU, helping send share prices rising on Wall Street, after he commended the bloc for calling to “quickly establish meeting dates”.
“I have just been informed that the EU has called to quickly establish meeting dates. This is a positive event, and I hope that they will,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, saying the EU would be “very happy and successful” if it agreed a deal.
Continue reading...The German chancellor’s desire to lift restrictions on longer range weapons for Ukraine has been frustrated by his SPD and Social Democrat partners
The German chancellor’s drive to keep a campaign pledge of more robust backing for Ukraine is running into blocks within his own government as he prepares to welcome Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Berlin.
Friedrich Merz made a full-throated declaration on Monday, hours before Zelenskyy’s one-day visit was announced, that Germany was for the first time lifting previous range restrictions on weapons supplied to Kyiv, along with Ukraine’s other main western supporters.
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