US president launches fresh criticism of Russian counterpart and suggests US sanctions could be increased
Donald Trump has warned Vladimir Putin that he is “playing with fire”, launching a fresh broadside at his Russian counterpart over stalled Ukraine peace efforts.
Trump’s latest comments came after he called the Kremlin leader “CRAZY” over the weekend following a mass Russian air attack on Kyiv, and warned that Moscow risked new sanctions.
Continue reading...Bill passed by lower house 305-199, backed by centrist MPs and leftwing parties while most on right opposed it
France’s parliament has voted in favour of a bill to legalise assisted dying, paving the way for caregivers to help patients end their lives under what campaigners say would still be some of the strictest conditions in Europe.
After a sometimes emotional session, deputies passed the first reading of the bill by a vote of 305 to 199. They also unanimously backed a less contentious law establishing a right to palliative care in specialist end-of-life institutions.
Continue reading...European Commission alleges age verification systems are ineffective in preventing under-18s from watching
The EU executive has launched an investigation into four pornographic websites over alleged failure to prevent children from seeing adult content.
After analysis of company policies, the European Commission accused Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos of failing to have effective age verification measures to stop minors accessing their content.
Continue reading...Fast-food chain’s plan on back of booming fried chicken market includes opening 500 new restaurants
KFC is to invest almost £1.5bn and create thousands of jobs in the UK and Ireland over the next five years, as the fast-food chain seeks to capitalise on the booming popularity of fried chicken.
The chain, which is celebrating its 60th year of operations in the UK, said it plans to invest £1.49bn to grow and upgrade its existing 1,000-outlet estate.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: As the US president becomes more disillusioned with Vladimir Putin, a look at how his stance towards the Russian leader is – and isn’t – shifting
Good morning. Nobody is more surprised than Donald Trump, but he is starting to think that Vladimir Putin is not a straight shooter. “I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him,” he wrote on Truth Social on Sunday. “He has gone absolutely CRAZY! I’ve always said that he wants ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that’s proving to be right, but if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia!”
As ever with Trump, a part of you admires the chutzpah: the idea that Trump has long been troubled by Putin’s imperial ambitions is, of course, an absolutely warped version of the real history. But – even if Trump also criticised Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, grumbling that “everything out of his mouth causes problems” – there does seem to be a sense that the US president is becoming more seriously disillusioned with Putin as a partner, and seeking ways to avoid blame for the consequences.
Israel-Gaza war | The UK must impose sanctions on the Israeli government and its ministers and also consider suspending it from the UN to meet its “fundamental international legal obligations”, more than 800 lawyers have said. Signatories to a letter to the prime minister include former supreme court justices, court of appeal judges and more than 70 KCs.
UK news | Liverpool FC’s Premier League victory parade descended into chaos on Monday evening after a car collided with pedestrians in the city centre, injuring nearly 50 people. A 53-year-old man was arrested at the scene of the incident, which is not being treated as terrorism.
The race report | Senior figures in British business have described a chilling effect on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, saying they are being “rebranded” to avoid attracting unwanted political attention.
Cost of living | Food inflation in the UK has risen for the fourth month in a row, figures show, driven by increases in the cost of fresh produce, including steak. The annual rate of food price rises hit 2.8% this month, after a 2.6% rise in April.
Gender guidance | Formal guidance on how organisations should implement the supreme court ruling on gender may not be fully signed off for months, officials and MPs have said. The warnings come amid increasing worries about the capability of the government’s equalities watchdog following criticisms of its chair, Kishwer Falkner.
Continue reading...Documents suggest campaign to discredit revelation that tests contaminated many more people than acknowledged
France’s Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) has spent tens of thousands of euros in an effort to counter research revealing that Paris has consistently underestimated the devastating impact of its nuclear tests in French Polynesia in the 1960s and 1970s.
Days before a parliamentary inquiry presents its report on the tests, documents obtained by the investigative outlet Disclose, and seen by Le Monde and the Guardian, suggest the CEA ran a concerted campaign to discredit the revelations.
Continue reading...Braunschweig court gives two former executives prison sentences for roles in emissions test-cheating scandal
A German court has convicted four former Volkswagen managers of fraud and given two of them prison sentences for their part in the “dieselgate” emissions test-cheating scandal that erupted almost a decade ago.
The former head of development Heinz-Jakob Neusser received a suspended jail term of one year and three months from the court in the city of Braunschweig, according to the news agency Bloomberg.
Continue reading...Removal of restrictions, which is backed by UK, France and US, improves Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against Russia
The German chancellor has said that Germany, along with Ukraine’s other main western supporters, will remove range restrictions on weapons delivered to Kyiv for the first time, to enable it to defend itself against Russia.
Friedrich Merz said Germany, Britain, France and the US had lifted the restrictions to enable Ukraine to be better able to hit military targets on Russian territory.
Continue reading...European leaders call for ‘lowest possible’ border taxes after levies postponed from 1 June to 9 July
EU leaders have expressed hopes for a quick deal to resolve the trade war with the US after Donald Trump announced he was delaying his threatened 50% tariffs for the bloc until 9 July.
The US president said on Sunday he would pause the border tax due to be imposed on 1 June, which he had announced two days earlier, after what he called a “very nice call” with Ursula von der Leyen.
Continue reading...A man 43,000 years ago dipped a finger in red pigment and made a nose on a face-like pebble in Spain, scientists say
One day around 43,000 years ago, a Neanderthal man in what is now central Spain came across a large granite pebble whose pleasing contours and indentations snagged his eye.
Something in the shape of that quartz-rich stone – perhaps its odd resemblance to an elongated face – may have compelled him to pick it up, study it and, eventually, to dip one of his fingers in red pigment and press it against the pebble’s edge, exactly where the nose on that face would have been.
Continue reading...French president denies quarrelling with Brigitte Macron after footage is seized on by Russia and far-right accounts
Emmanuel Macron has denied he and his wife, Brigitte, had an altercation after a viral video promoted by Russian state media and French far-right accounts appeared to show her pushing him in the face as they prepared to get off a plane in Vietnam.
The video, shot by an Associated Press camera operator, shows the French president appearing in the doorway of the plane at the start of a visit to Hanoi. His wife’s hand appears to shove him, causing him to step back before recovering and waving.
Continue reading...EU Staff for Peace letter accuses institution bosses of failing to exert influence to help Palestinians
A group of EU officials has written to the leaders of the European institutions criticising the bloc for “little or no meaningful action” in response to the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The group EU Staff for Peace said that more than 2,000 officials working for the European Commission, European parliament and EU agencies had signed a letter drafted in May 2024 which accused the EU of apathy to the plight of Palestinians.
Continue reading...Country at top of education charts aims to equip students and teachers with ‘world-class artificial intelligence skills’
While many schools in England have banned smartphones, in Estonia – regarded as the new European education powerhouse – students are regularly asked to use their devices in class, and from September they will be given their own AI accounts.
The small Baltic country – population 1.4 million – has quietly become Europe’s top performer in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s programme for international student assessment (Pisa), overtaking its near neighbour Finland.
Continue reading...The German-French documentarian, who fled the Nazis twice as a child, spent his career exploring wartime atrocities and conflicts around the world
Marcel Ophuls, the Oscar-winning French film-maker whose documentary The Sorrow and the Pity uncovered the truth of the Vichy government’s collaboration with Nazi Germany during the second world war, has died aged 97.
Ophuls “died peacefully” on Saturday, his grandson Andreas-Benjamin Seyfert confirmed on Monday.
Continue reading...Enactment of 50% tariffs postponed until July so both sides can ‘reach a good deal’ after pressure from European leaders
Donald Trump has announced that he will pause his threatened 50% tariffs on the European Union until 9 July, after a “very nice call” with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen.
The European Commission president announced in a social media post that she had spoken with Trump and secured the delay to give the two sides more time to negotiate.
Continue reading...At least 12 people killed in strikes involving nearly 300 drones and almost 70 missiles
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged international leaders to increase their pressure on Russia, after Moscow’s forces intensified strikes on Ukraine overnight.
The Ukrainian leader said rescuers are working in over 30 Ukrainian cities and villages after nearly 300 attack drones and almost 70 missiles, including ballistic ones, were launched by Russia overnight.
Each such terrorist Russian strike is a sufficient reason for new sanctions against Russia.
Russia is dragging out this war and continues to kill every day. The world may go on a weekend break, but the war continues, regardless of weekends and weekdays. This cannot be ignored. Silence of America, silence of others around the world only encourage Putin.
Continue reading...Believed to have originated as an insult by Israel supporters, neologism is now used to campaign against war in Gaza
The term was coined to disparage Ireland’s solidarity with Palestine but has been adopted as a badge of honour that now adorns T-shirts, hoodies, pins and social media bios: welcome to Paddystine, home of the Paddystinians.
Irish activists have embraced the neologism as a galvanising term to campaign against Israel’s war in Gaza and to pressure the Irish government to do more to end the conflict.
Continue reading...Maroš Šefčovič’s remarks come after pace of talks prompted Trump to propose 50% tariff on goods from bloc
The European Union’s trade chief has struck a defiant tone after Donald Trump threatened to place a 50% tariff on all goods from the bloc, saying any potential trade deal between Brussels and Washington must be based on “respect not threats”.
The US president made his announcement after voicing frustration with the pace of progress on a trade agreement with the EU. The new rates would come into effect from 1 June.
Continue reading...Attack occurs hours after Russia and Ukraine begin prisoner exchange in deal seen as first step towards ceasefire
Russia has launched a large-scale drone and missile attack on Kyiv, injuring 15 people in one of the biggest assaults on the Ukrainian capital since the beginning of the war more than three years ago.
The attack came in waves, with Russia launching 14 ballistic missiles and 250 drones in the early hours of Saturday, although Ukrainian forces shot down six missiles and stopped most of the drones before they reached Kyiv.
Continue reading...Frustration is growing amid increasing signs US could wash its hands of Ukraine, but some observers counsel patience
Gen Keith Kellogg, Donald Trump’s somewhat estranged special envoy on Ukraine, is said by some US diplomats to like to joke that the president did indeed say he would solve the Ukraine crisis in 24 hours, he just never specified which 24 hours.
Dark humour may be all that is left to Europeans as they absorb not just Trump’s refusal to impose the promised “bone-crushing sanctions” over Russia’s rejection of a 30-day ceasefire but also the increasing signs that the administration will wash its hands of Ukraine and instead focus on forging a new economic partnership with Russia.
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