Category Archives: Europe

Czechs begin voting in election that could return populist to power

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Billionaire Andrej Babiš hands out doughnuts on first day of voting as polls predict his ANO party will win

Czechs have begun voting in an election likely to oust their centre-right government, with polls favouring the populist billionaire Andrej Babiš to return to power on pledges to raise wages and improve growth while reducing aid for Ukraine.

The change would boost Europe’s populist anti-immigration camp and could complicate consensus on climate policies in a country where no sitting government has won a second term since 1996.

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Final boat of 42-strong pro-Palestinian flotilla intercepted by Israel

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Protest vessel intercepted in the early hours of Friday morning 42.5 nautical miles from the coast of Gaza

The last boat of the 42 vessels in the Gaza humanitarian flotillathat sought to breach Israel’s 16-year maritime blockade has been intercepted by Israeli forces.

A live stream from the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) had late on Thursday evening shown the Polish-flagged sailing boat Marinette still “sailing strong towards Gaza” after the Israeli government claimed to have halted the flotilla carrying about 500 parliamentarians, lawyers and activists including Greta Thunberg.

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Munich airport reopens after halting flights because of drone sightings

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Travel was disrupted for thousands on eve of national holiday in latest drone incident to hit European aviation

Munich airport has reopened after drone sightings over the facility on Thursday evening forced air traffic control to suspend operations, leading to the cancellation of 17 flights and disrupting travel for nearly 3,000 passengers in the German city on the eve of a national holiday.

Another 15 arriving flights were diverted to Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Vienna and Frankfurt, the airport said in a statement, marking the latest drone disruption to European aviation after sightings temporarily shut airports in Denmark and Norway last week.

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Russia persistently targeting British satellites, UK Space Command chief says

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Maj Gen Paul Tedman says Moscow trying to disrupt UK’s military activities on ‘weekly’ basis and closely monitoring space assets

Russia is attempting to jam UK military satellites on a regular basis, according to the head of the UK Space Command.

Speaking to the BBC, Maj Gen Paul Tedman said Russian forces were actively trying to disrupt UK-based military activities “weekly” and were closely monitoring the country’s space assets.

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Captain of oil tanker linked to Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ to face trial in France

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Vladimir Putin denounces seizing of the vessel as an act of ‘piracy’ and warned it could provoke confrontation

The captain of an oil tanker that authorities in France have detained off the country’s Atlantic coast and that President Emmanuel Macron has linked to Russia will go on trial in February over the crew’s alleged refusal to cooperate, a French prosecutor has said.

Macron has alleged that the tanker belongs to Russia’s “shadow fleet” of ageing tankers of uncertain ownership that are avoiding western sanctions over Moscow’s war in Ukraine. He also did not rule out that it could have been involved in drone flights over Denmark as it was sailing last week off the coast of the Nordic country.

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Treasure hunters discover $1m in silver and gold coins off Florida coast

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Valuables were being transported in 1715 from American colonies when a hurricane wrecked a Spanish fleet

Hidden beneath the turquoise waters off a stretch of Florida known as the “treasure coast”, a team of divers from a shipwreck salvage company have uncovered exactly that – a load of long-lost Spanish treasure they estimate is worth $1m.

More than 1,000 silver and gold coins thought to be minted in the Spanish colonies where Bolivia, Mexico and Peru now sit were uncovered this summer off Florida’s Atlantic coast, 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels LLC announced this week.

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Putin dismisses fears that Moscow plans to attack Nato as ‘nonsense’

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During speech in Sochi, Russian president also strikes conciliatory note towards Donald Trump

Vladimir Putin has vowed to quickly retaliate against Europe’s “escalating militarisation”, while dismissing as “nonsense” western fears that Moscow plans to attack Nato.

During a wide-ranging speech in Sochi on Thursday, the Russian president said: “We are closely monitoring the escalating militarisation of Europe … We simply cannot ignore what is happening. We have no right to do so for reasons of our own security.”

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UK and EU poised to strike deal sparing British business from carbon border tax

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Exclusive: Temporary deal to shield UK exporters from levy’s impact is now viewed by both sides as likely

The EU and Britain are poised to agree a deal sparing British businesses from a carbon border tax being introduced in 2026, with officials targeting late spring for the next EU-UK summit.

The EU is introducing a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) on 1 January targeting imports produced using carbon-intensive methods, such as steel, glass and fertiliser.

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Israeli naval forces board pro-Palestinian flotilla 75 miles from Gaza

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Greta Thunberg arrested and taken into custody after six of the flotilla’s boats were boarded

A number of boats from a pro-Palestinian flotilla have been boarded by Israeli forces roughly 75 miles off the coast of Gaza, as the vessels attempted to breach the maritime blockade of the war-torn territory and bring aid.

The raid began with the flotilla’s leading vessel, Alma, whose crew were detained by Israeli soldiers on Wednesday. A video from the Israeli foreign ministry showed the most prominent of the flotilla’s passengers, Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, sitting on a deck surrounded by soldiers.

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Russia accused of sabotaging last power line into Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

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Satellite images of damaged area show no sign of shelling that Moscow says prevents repair

Russia has been accused of deliberately sabotaging the last remaining power line into the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, after satellite imagery of the damaged area showed no sign of Ukrainian shelling that Moscow says is preventing a repair.

Outside power, normally used for cooling, has now been down for a record eight days, forcing the Russian operators of the plant in occupied Ukraine to rely on back-up diesel generators to avoid a meltdown of its six reactor cores.

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Munich Oktoberfest reopens after man’s deadly arson attack and bomb threat

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Beer festival had closed after 57-year-old man shot parents, set house on fire, and left note mentioning event

A German man went on a deadly gun, explosives and arson rampage against his family and then killed himself on Wednesday, prompting security fears in Munich that closed the world-famous Oktoberfest for seven hours.

Authorities decided to close the event temporarily after finding a note the man had dropped in a nearby letterbox that included a vague threat to the Bavarian city’s beer festival.

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French military detain two after boarding Russia-linked oil tanker suspected of launching drones

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Tanker, named on list of ‘shadow fleet’ vessels, may have been launchpad for drones that closed Denmark airports

French military personnel have boarded an oil tanker named on a list of Russia’s “shadow fleet” vessels and suspected of being a launchpad for mystery drone flights that forced the closure of airports in Denmark last week.

Stéphane Kellenberger, the public prosector in Brest, told Agence France-Presse that two crew members – who presented themselves as the ship’s captain and his first mate – had been taken into custody.

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Row erupts after Venice opera house hires conductor linked to Meloni government

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Musicians and staff at the theatre say Beatrice Venezi is not experienced enough for the role and should be replaced

Venice’s prestigious La Fenice opera house is embroiled in controversy over the hiring of a conductor with close ties to Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government.

The theatre’s orchestra musicians and staff are calling for Beatrice Venezi’s appointment as music director to be revoked, claiming she does not have enough experience for the high-profile role and was picked only because of her government connections.

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Slovakia marks ‘dark day’ as LGBTQ+ rights rolled back in parliament

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Amendment to constitution stipulates that male and female are the only recognised sexes and makes adoption nearly impossible for same-sex couples

Recent changes to Slovakia’s constitution mark a “dark day” for the country, LGBTQ+ campaigners have warned, describing measures such as the recognition of only two sexes as part of a wider rollback of human rights and rule of law in the central European country.

On Friday, Slovakia’s parliament passed an amendment that included measures targeting LGBTQ+ rights in the country, from stipulating that male and female are the only recognised sexes to making it nearly impossible for same-sex couples to adopt children.

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Taiwan now biggest importer of Russian naphtha despite being Ukraine ally

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Island imported $1.3bn of crude oil product in first half of 2025 despite joining sanctions against Moscow, report finds

Taiwan has become the world’s biggest importer of Russian naphtha, a petroleum derivative used to make chemicals needed for the semiconductor industry, despite the fact that it has joined other sanctions against Russia and considers itself an ally of Ukraine.

In the first half of 2025, Taiwan imported $1.3bn worth of Russian naphtha, and average monthly imports reached a level nearly six times higher than the 2022 average, according to a report published on Wednesday. Compared to the first half of 2024, Taiwan’s naphtha imports this year increased by 44%.

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Zelenskyy sounds alarm over unprecedented power outage at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

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Ukrainian president says Russian shelling is preventing work to restore links to grid and that one of the plant’s diesel generators has failed

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday said the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has been off the grid for seven straight days, warning of the potential threat of a “critical” situation.

It is the longest outage at Zaporizhzhia since Russia invaded and seized the nuclear plant, Europe’s largest.

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AfD politician’s former aide convicted of spying for China

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Jian Guo jailed for five years after acting as agent for Chinese intelligence while working for Maximilian Krah

A former aide to a member of parliament for the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party has been sentenced to almost five years in prison for spying on behalf of China.

Jian Guo was convicted on Tuesday of acting as an agent for the Chinese intelligence service while working for Maximilian Krah, a former member of the European parliament who now sits for the AfD in Germany’s Bundestag.

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Germany seeks to extradite Ukrainian over 2022 Nord Stream gas pipeline attack

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Man held in Poland on suspicion of causing explosions that damaged undersea pipelines between Russia and Germany

Germany is seeking to extradite a Ukrainian man arrested in Poland on suspicion of diving down to the Baltic sea bed to plant explosives in the 2022 Nord Stream gas pipeline attack.

The man, identified in Polish media reports as Volodymyr Z and by Germany as Vladimir Z, is described as a trained diver and is sought by investigators in Germany, who believe he was part of a group that sabotaged the pipeline, consisting of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines.

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Men in wet clothes claiming to be Camino pilgrims arrested over alleged ‘narco-sub’ plot

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Three men had fled in taxi after allegedly piloting vessel carrying 3.65 tonnes of cocaine to Galicia, Spanish police say

Police in Spain have arrested three men thought to have piloted a “narco-submarine” carrying more than 3.6 tonnes of cocaine from South America to the north-western region of Galicia, after the trio’s wet clothes and claims to be pilgrims walking the Camino de Santiago raised suspicions.

The investigation, which has led to a total of 14 arrests, began in August after Policía Nacional officers, working with the US Drug Enforcement Agency, detected an alleged drug-smuggling gang based in the Galician town of Outes that was said to be concealing its activities by posing as a company selling and repairing nautical equipment.

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Eleven arrested for placing pigs’ heads near French mosques and other hate crimes

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Serbian nationals also accused by Serbian police of defacing Jewish sites, as French officials investigate foreign interference

Serbian police have arrested 11 people, accusing them of “inciting hatred” in France and Germany, and linking them to acts that include placing pigs’ heads near mosques and defacing Jewish sites.

The arrests came days after French prosecutors said foreign interference was probably to blame for a spate of provocative acts that had targeted Jewish and Muslim sites in France in recent years, as tensions run high over the war in Gaza. French officials have previously said they were investigating Russia’s role in destabilising operations that have stoked social tensions and sown division in France.

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