Wave of assaults ‘declaration of war’ by drug gangs after crackdown on bosses operating from jail, French media say
Emmanuel Macron has warned that those behind a wave of apparently coordinated attacks on French prisons and staff will be “found, tried and punished”.
The president’s comments came after at least a dozen assaults on French jails in the past three days. In one attack, gunmen using automatic weapons fired at the entrance to Toulon prison in the south of France.
Continue reading...Visiting delegation find ‘hostile atmosphere’ for LGBTQ+ people and say country heading in ‘wrong direction’
A delegation of EU lawmakers visiting Hungary has called on Europe’s top court to suspend a new law banning Budapest Pride, as they criticised a “very hostile atmosphere” for LGBTQ+ people in the country and urged a return to “real democracy”.
Tineke Strik, a Dutch Green politician who led a cross-party group of MEPs to investigate democratic standards in Hungary, said developments were going “rapidly in the wrong direction”.
Continue reading...Authorities say suspect had a ‘lust’ for killing and used drugs to paralyse the respiratory muscles of victims
Prosecutors have charged a Berlin palliative care doctor with the murder of 15 patients, alleging he acted out of a “lust” for killing.
The 40-year-old suspect is accused of killing 12 women and three men between September 2021 and July 2024 using a deadly cocktail of sedatives. German press reports identified the suspect as Johannes M, but prosecutors have not released a name.
Continue reading...Human rights groups say drop is partly due to EU policies that turn blind eye to rights abuses in countries such as Libya and Tunisia
Irregular crossings at Europe’s borders have fallen by 30% in the first quarter of the year compared with the same period last year, in a decrease that rights groups partly attributed to EU policies that have emphasised deterrence while seemingly turning a blind eye to the risk of rights abuses.
The decline was seen across all the major migratory routes into Europe, the EU’s border agency Frontex said in a statement, amounting to nearly 33,600 fewer arrivals in the first three months of the year.
Continue reading...Consumption and production falls in almost every market as industry fears a ‘generational’ change in drinking habits
Worldwide consumption of wine fell in 2024 to its lowest level in more than 60 years, the main trade body has said, raising concerns about new risks from US tariffs.
The International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) said on Tuesday that 2024 sales fell 3.3% from the previous year to 214.2m hectolitres.
Continue reading...US secretary of state Marco Rubio also spoke with foreign minister about strengthening countries’ ties
The United States has removed sanctions on a close aide of the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, the state department said, adding that the punitive measures had been “inconsistent with US foreign policy interests”.
Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, spoke on Tuesday with his Hungarian counterpart, the foreign minister Péter Szijjártó, and informed him of the move, state department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement.
Continue reading...Court hands out sentences of over five years for extremism, accusing journalists of working for the late politician’s Anti-Corruption Foundation
A Russian court has convicted four journalists of extremism for working for an anti-corruption group founded by the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny and sentenced them to five and a half years in prison each.
Antonina Favorskaya, Konstantin Gabov, Sergey Karelin and Artyom Kriger were found guilty of involvement with a group that had been labelled as extremist. All four had maintained their innocence, arguing they were being prosecuted for doing their jobs as journalists.
Continue reading...Move follows Algiers’ expulsion of diplomats, after France’s arrest of man linked to abduction of influencer Amir DZ
France has expelled 12 Algerian consular and diplomatic officials and recalled its ambassador in Algiers, the French presidency said on Tuesday, in a retaliatory measure as a spat escalates between the two countries.
“The Algerian authorities are responsible for the sudden degradation of our bilateral relations,” President Emmanuel Macron’s office said.
Continue reading...Slow TV is attracting viewers with hits such as a knitting marathon, burning firewood and swimming salmon
Most of the time, nothing much happens. A wide Nordic river, melting snow still lining its banks, meanders peacefully through a pristine forest of spruce and pine. But this spring, as every spring for the past six years, a lot of people will be glued to it.
When Den stora älgvandringen – variously translated as The Great Moose Migration or The Great Elk Trek – first aired on the public broadcaster SVT’s on-demand platform in 2019, nearly a million people tuned in. Last year, it was 9 million.
Continue reading...Terrorism office launches investigation into assaults including gunmen opening fire on entrance to Toulon jail
France’s national terrorism office has launched an investigation into a wave of apparently coordinated attacks at multiple prisons across the country believed to be linked to a government clampdown on drug traffickers.
Gunmen with automatic weapons opened fire on the entrance to Toulon prison in southern France in the early hours of Tuesday, while in recent days cars have been set alight outside four other jails, and in Marseille a residential building housing prison guards was attacked.
Continue reading...European Commission may reportedly let companies declare force majeure as part of strategy to rid bloc of Russian fossil fuels by 2027
The European Commission is considering plans that would allow European companies to break long-term Russian gas contracts without paying penalties to Moscow, it has been reported.
Citing three officials with knowledge of the plan, the Financial Times reported that the commission was studying the possibility of allowing companies to declare force majeure, which would absolve importers of their obligations to pay penalty fees for ending contracts.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: In describing the bombing of the city of Sumy as a “mistake” and sidelining dissenting voices, the White House’s passivity towards Russia questions its commitment to peace
Good morning. Russia claimed that its ballistic missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Sumy was aimed at Ukrainian army commanders. But the truth is that the attack’s brutal toll was exacted against ordinary people.
The deaths of at least 34 people made it the worst single attack on civilians in Ukraine this year. But the most Donald Trump would say was that he had been told it was a “mistake”. It appears unlikely he will take up Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s invitation, issued yesterday, to visit Ukraine and see the consequences of the invasion for himself.
British Steel | Senior Labour figures have urged the government to review Chinese investment in UK infrastructure in the wake of the British Steel crisis. Downing Street and the Treasury said they believed the row to be an isolated commercial dispute, even though the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, has not ruled out deliberate Chinese sabotage of the Scunthorpe plant.
Sudan | Sudan is suffering from the largest humanitarian crisis globally and its civilians are continuing to pay the price for inaction by the international community, NGOs and the UN have said, as the country’s civil war enters its third year. The UK is hosting ministers from 20 countries in London on Tuesday in an attempt to restart stalled peace talks.
Politics | The former Conservative MP Craig Williams is among 15 people, including several other senior Tories, charged by the Gambling Commission for alleged cheating connected to bets based on the date of the 2024 UK general election.
UK news | Bin workers have “overwhelmingly” rejected a deal that would have ended an all-out strike in Birmingham, during which bin bags have piled up in the streets and the city has faced an influx of rats.
Space | Six women safely completed a trip to the edge of outer space on a rocket belonging to Jeff Bezos, the Amazon co-founder. The crew included Bezos’s fiancee, Lauren Sánchez, and the pop star Katy Perry, who said on landing that she was “really feeling that divine feminine right now”.
Continue reading...French justice officials have launched an investigation after Mathieu van der Poel had a plastic bottle hurled at his face during his triumphant ride to a third consecutive Paris-Roubaix victory on Sunday.
“An investigation was opened into the charge of violence with a weapon in order to identify and arrest the perpetrator,” said the Lille prosecutor Carole Etienne on X. The Dutch Alpecin-Deceuninck rider was struck while powering solo over a cobbled section with 33km remaining in the prestigious one-day classic, often called “The Hell of the North”.
Continue reading...NGOs warn of ‘some difficult years’ ahead as increasing humanitarian needs meet shrinking finances
The dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has captured headlines, but “very regrettable” reductions in European aid budgets are also contributing to a void in support for some of the poorest people in the world’s most fragile states, according to MEPs and NGOs.
Isabella Lövin, a deputy chair of the European parliament’s development committee, said USAID cuts would have “very dramatic consequences around the world”. But she also criticised recent decisions by EU member states to reduce their aid budgets as “very regrettable” and “wrong”. It would be impossible for the EU to fill the gap, she added.
Continue reading...European State of the Climate report ‘lays bare’ impact of fossil fuels on continent during its hottest 12 months on record
The home-wrecking storms and floods that swept Europe last year affected 413,000 people, a report has found, as fossil fuel pollution forced the continent to suffer through its hottest year on record.
Dramatic scenes of cars piled up on inundated streets and bridges being ripped away by raging torrents were seen around the continent in 2024, with “high” floods on 30% of the European river network and 12% crossing the “severe” flood threshold, according to the European State of the Climate report.
Continue reading...Two students traveling on spring break were arrested and charged with assault in Copenhagen, police say
Two American college students traveling for spring break were arrested in Copenhagen, charged with assault, and held in a Danish prison for two weeks following an alleged dispute with an Uber driver, Danish police said.
The family of Owen Ray, a 19-year-old studying at Miami University in Ohio, said he and an unnamed friend have been forced to forfeit their passports and remain in the country.
Continue reading...Pope Francis recognises the ‘heroic virtues’ of the creator of Barcelona’s Sagrada Família basilica in first step of process
He’s long been nicknamed “God’s architect” by those who point to his piety and the religious imagery woven through his soaring spires, colourful ceramics and undulating lines.
Now it seems the Vatican may be ready to make it official. It said on Monday that Antoni Gaudí, the Catalan architect behind Barcelona’s Sagrada Família basilica, had been put on the path to sainthood.
Continue reading...Ukrainian president calls on US counterpart to visit country as Trump appears to downplay Russia’s latest strike by calling it ‘mistake’
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged Donald Trump to visit Ukraine to see the devastation caused by Russia’s invasion, while the US president appeared to play down Moscow’s latest deadly attack, the worst on civilians this year, calling it “a mistake”.
International leaders condemned Russia’s strike on the centre of the Ukrainian city of Sumy on Sunday, which killed 34 people, including two children. Two ballistic missiles hit as people made their way to church for Palm Sunday.
Continue reading...Move by Algiers follows arrest of Algerian consular official in Paris over alleged involvement in kidnap of influencer
France is considering its response after Algeria ordered the expulsion of 12 embassy staff over the arrest of an Algerian consulate official in Paris over alleged involvement in the kidnap of a TikTok influencer.
Algiers has given the French representatives 48 hours to leave the country in a move that has stretched already strained relations between the two countries to breaking point. The French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, has warned that if the expulsions go ahead Paris would be forced to respond immediately.
Continue reading...Turin and Genoa likely to be among worst hit, while central and eastern Europe could get early taste of summer
North-west Italy is braced for heavy rainfall and thunderstorms across the southern side of the Alps, particularly in Piedmont and Liguria.
Turin and Genoa are expected to be among the worst affected, with snowfall also likely on higher ground. The region has been forecast to receive 140-160mm of rainfall between Sunday and Friday this week.
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