Police launch murder inquiry after Alexandra Fröhlich is found dead on her boat on the Elbe
A murder inquiry has been launched after a bestselling German novelist was found dead on a houseboat in Hamburg having been violently attacked, police have said.
Alexandra Fröhlich, 58, whose novels have had prominence on Germany’s bestseller lists, was found on Tuesday morning, investigating authorities said.
Continue reading...Finland, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania cite rising threats from Russia to justify once again using one of world’s most indiscriminate weapons
Rights groups have expressed alarm and warned of a slippery slope of again embracing one of the world’s most treacherous weapons, after five European countries said they intend to withdraw from the international treaty banning antipersonnel landmines.
In announcing their plans earlier this year, Finland, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania all pointed to the escalating military threat from Russia. In mid-April, Latvia’s parliament became the first to formally back the idea, after lawmakers voted to pull out of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which bans the use, production and stockpiling of landmines designed for use against humans.
Continue reading...US president admits to concern Russian counterpart does not want to ‘stop the war’ and ponders new approach to Moscow
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy have sat down for a face-to-face talk in the opulent halls of a Vatican basilica to discuss a possible ceasefire, after which the US president accused his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, of not wanting to “stop the war”.
The White House described Trump’s meeting with the Ukrainian leader before Pope Francis’s funeral as “very productive”, while Zelenskyy said on X that the talk with the US president was symbolic and had the “potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results”.
Continue reading...Pope Francis is remembered as a ‘pope among the people with an open heart towards everyone’, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re says
At least 130 foreign delegations, including about “50 heads of state and 10 reigning monarchs”, would attend Pope Francis’s funeral on Saturday, the Vatican said on Thursday.
Heads of state and government who have confirmed their attendance at the funeral include Emmanuel Macron, Donald Trump, Keir Starmer and Javier Milei, the president of Pope Francis’s native Argentina. Francis had a delicate relationship with politics in his home country, but Milei hailed his “goodness and wisdom”.
We will be present at the pope’s funeral, as is only right.
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At least 130 foreign delegations, including about “50 heads of state and 10 reigning monarchs”, would attend Pope Francis’s funeral on Saturday, the Vatican said on Thursday.
Heads of state and government who have confirmed their attendance at the funeral include Emmanuel Macron, Donald Trump, Keir Starmer and Javier Milei, the president of Pope Francis’s native Argentina. Francis had a delicate relationship with politics in his home country, but Milei hailed his “goodness and wisdom”.
We will be present at the pope’s funeral, as is only right.
Continue reading...Italian PM and pontiff could not have been further apart on issues such as migration, climate crisis and economy
It is an awkward weekend for Giorgia Meloni. The Italian leader will host a gathering of world leaders to say goodbye to a much-revered pope whose public views – from the treatment of people fleeing war to the climate crisis – were diametrically opposed to hers.
While Pope Francis was a staunch advocate for asylum seekers, and blessed the vessels that saved refugees at sea, Meloni once said Italy should “repatriate migrants back to their countries and then sink the boats that rescued them”.
Continue reading...Michael Alexander Gloss, 21, who died on 4 April 2024, was the son of top-ranking US spy Juliane Gallina
An American man identified as the son of a deputy director of the CIA was killed in eastern Ukraine in 2024 while fighting under contract for the Russian military, according to an investigation by independent Russian media.
Michael Alexander Gloss, 21, died on 4 April 2024 in “Eastern Europe”, according to an obituary published by his family. He was the son of Juliane Gallina, who was appointed the deputy director for digital innovation at the Central Intelligence Agency in February 2024.
Continue reading...Michael Alexander Gloss, 21, who died on 4 April 2024, was the son of top-ranking US spy Juliane Gallina
An American man identified as the son of a deputy director of the CIA was killed in eastern Ukraine in 2024 while fighting under contract for the Russian military, according to an investigation by independent Russian media.
Michael Alexander Gloss, 21, died on 4 April 2024 in “Eastern Europe”, according to an obituary published by his family. He was the son of Juliane Gallina, who was appointed the deputy director for digital innovation at the Central Intelligence Agency in February 2024.
Continue reading...Redolent of old great power thinking, Trump’s Crimea giveaway could usher a return to international lawlessness
“Crimea will stay with Russia,” Donald Trump told Time magazine in a largely sympathetic profile on Friday. And with that statement, the US president made clear that he wanted to carve up another country, Ukraine, and so legitimise the forcible seizure of land made by Moscow 11 years ago.
From reading the transcript of the interview, Trump’s thinking is hardly coherent. Crimea, he says, wouldn’t have been seized if he had been president in 2014, but “it was handed to them by Barack Hussein Obama” and now Crimea has “been with them [Russia] for a long time” – so it is time to accept the seizure.
Continue reading...Russian official calls talks with Steve Witkoff ‘quite useful’ as investigation launched into suspected Ukrainian bombing
Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff has met Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin for high-stakes peace talks, hours after a senior Russian military official was killed in a car explosion near Moscow.
Trump has played up Witkoff’s visit – his fourth to Russia in recent months – claiming a deal on ending the war in Ukraine was within reach. “The next few days are going to be very important. Meetings are taking place right now,” Trump told reporters on Thursday. “I think we’re going to make a deal … I think we’re getting very close.”
Continue reading...Officer suspended after shooting 21-year-old man from behind in Oldenburg in north-west Germany
Civil rights activists in Germany have demanded an independent inquiry into alleged police racism after an officer shot a 21-year-old black man from behind, killing him after an altercation outside a nightclub.
The 27-year-old officer was suspended from duty over the shooting early on Sunday morning in the city of Oldenburg in north-west Germany pending a murder investigation, said state prosecutors. Fatal police shootings are relatively rare in Germany and prosecutors were quoted in local media as saying the suspension and investigation were “routine”.
Continue reading...Polling predicts victory for party in Greater Lincolnshire and Hull/East Yorkshire with the Greens possibly taking West of England
There are six mayoral elections next week. Two of them are for single-authority mayors (Doncaster and North Tyneside), but the others are for combined-authority mayors (or regional mayors – like metro mayors, but not just covering city regions). Today YouGov has released polling covering all four of these contests and it suggests Reform UK is on course to win two of them easily. And the Green party is narrowly ahead in a third, the poll suggests.
Here are the polling figures.
In theory the Tories should be winning in Lincolnshire as they hold most of the parliamentary seats in the area and have dominated local politics forever. But it’s also the most Reform-friendly part of the country. It contains Richard Tice’s constituency and numerous seats in which they came second. Plus their candidate is a former Tory MP – Andrea Jenkyns, famous for her Boris Johnson obsession and making a middle finger gesture at a crowd outside Downing Street. She is, by all accounts, quite a few sandwiches short of a picnic but, nevertheless, is strong favourite to win. Large chunks of local Conservative parties, including several councillors, have already defected.
Continue reading...Experts hope vessel’s old timbers and nails will help shed light on how boats were built during medieval period
Archaeologists excavating the site of a former fish market in Barcelona have uncovered the remains of a large medieval boat that was swallowed by the waters off the Catalan capital 500 or 600 years ago.
The area, which is being dug up in order to build a new centre dedicated to biomedicine and biodiversity, has already yielded finds ranging from a Spanish civil war air-raid shelter to traces of the old market and of the city’s 18th-century history.
Continue reading...Authorities warn of mudslides during intense rainfall, as Kenya is hit by deadly flash flooding
After Storm Hans battered northern Italy in the runup to Easter, severe weather continued to lash much of the country this week. Since Tuesday, the conditions have triggered potent showers and thunderstorms, and yellow and orange weather warnings have been issued.
With winds generally remaining light this week, the greatest concerns surround the risks from intense rainfall, as slow-moving heavy showers can deliver a prolonged downpour to a fairly localised area. The authorities have warned people to avoid high-risk areas such as roads with steep embankments amid a threat of flash flooding and mudslides.
Continue reading...Tens of thousands of mourners have queued for hours to pay their last respects to pontiff, whose coffin will be closed on Friday evening
The Vatican will make final preparations on Friday for Pope Francis’s funeral as the last of the huge crowds of mourners file through St Peter’s Basilica to view his open coffin.
Many of the 50 heads of state and 10 monarchs attending Saturday’s ceremony in St Peter’s Square, who include US president Donald Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are expected to arrive in Rome on Friday.
Continue reading...Exclusive: EU Transparency Register shows law firms also among lobbyists working for fossil fuel companies
A handful of “small but dirty” public affairs and law firms in Europe are enabling pollution by lobbying extensively for big oil, an analysis has found, with most major companies in the industry working for at least one fossil fuel client.
Several of the top spenders on activities to influence EU policymaking are on the payroll of oil and gas companies, according to an analysis of the EU Transparency Register by the Good Lobby nonprofit, but fossil fuel clients represent just 1% of the industry’s revenue.
Continue reading...Two Bayeux scholars at loggerheads over whether dangling shape depicts dagger or the embroidery’s 94th phallus
In a historical spat that could be subtitled “1066 with knobs on”, two medieval experts are engaged in a battle over how many male genitalia are embroidered into the Bayeux tapestry.
The Oxford professor George Garnett drew worldwide interest six years ago when he announced he had totted up 93 penises stitched into the embroidered account of the Norman conquest of England.
Continue reading...Allegation against Rinaldo Nazzaro, founder of the Base, could shed new meaning on group’s efforts inside Ukraine
Alleged former members of an international neo-Nazi terrorist organization are claiming its Russia-based and American leader is a Kremlin spy, according to online records reviewed by the Guardian.
The allegation that Rinaldo Nazzaro, a former Pentagon contractor and founder of the Base, listed as a designated terrorist organization all over the world, is an alleged Russian intelligence asset could bring new meaning to his group’s latest effort: sabotage and assassination missions inside Ukraine to weaken the government of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Continue reading...Fifteen-year-old student arrested after incident at Notre-Dame-de-Toutes-Aides school near Nantes
A student at a French high school has stabbed four other students, killing at least one and injuring three others before being arrested, police said.
The circumstances of the attack were not immediately clear.
Continue reading...Coalition allies of Pedro Sánchez said the purchase of millions of bullets jeopardised country’s efforts to hold Israel to account over war in Gaza
Spain has scrapped a €6.6m (£5.7m) order for millions of bullets from an Israeli company after the junior partners in its coalition government denounced it as a “flagrant breach” of the alliance agreement that jeopardised the country’s sustained efforts to hold Israel accountable for its actions in Gaza.
The country’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has been one of the most outspoken critics of Israel’s conduct during the war in Gaza, questioning whether it is following international humanitarian law and calling the number of Palestinian deaths “truly unbearable”.
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