Category Archives: Europe

China and North Korea aid to Russia poses security risk in Indo-Pacific region, says top US commander

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Beijing and Pyongyang are aiding Russia in its war against Ukraine, and Moscow in turn is assisting their militaries

The top US commander in the Pacific has warned senators that the military support that China and North Korea are giving Russia in its war on Ukraine is a security risk in his region as Moscow provides critical military assistance to both in return.

Adm Samuel Paparo, head of US Indo-Pacific Command, told the Senate armed services committee that China has provided 70% of the machine tools and 90% of the legacy chips to Russia to help Moscow “rebuild its war machine”.

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Will Trump’s tariff chaos be China’s gain in global trade wars?

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As China retaliates against tariffs, it is also making strategic manoeuvres on EU and Asia to maximise opportunities

On the basis of Napoleon’s dictum “never interrupt your enemy while they are making a mistake”, there was a large incentive for China to do precisely nothing as Donald Trump displayed his determination to lose friends and induce market panic. Indeed, the Chinese advocates of passivity cited a social media meme attributed to President Xi Jinping: “Do nothing. Win.”

Initially it was tempting for China to sit back and watch the US’s former allies recoil at Trump’s disruptive war on globalisation and let them realise that, by comparison, China represented an oasis of stability, modernity and predictability.

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Couple who ran Swedish eco-resort say 158 barrels of human waste left behind was ‘very normal’

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Flemming Hansen and Mette Helbæk reject criticism of how they abandoned resort and fled to Guatemala

A Danish couple who fled their “forest resort” in Sweden for Guatemala and left behind a large tax debt and 158 barrels of human waste have hit back at criticism and claimed that their handling of the compost toilets was “very normal”.

Flemming Hansen and Mette Helbæk, both chefs, abandoned their purportedly eco-friendly retreat, Stedsans, in Halland, southern Sweden, last year. They owed large sums to Swedish and Danish tax authorities. They have since set up a business in Guatemala.

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Italy investigates possible mistaken-identity killing of scientist in Colombia

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Rome prosecutors expected to send team to Santa Marta where body of Alessandro Coatti was found dismembered

Prosecutors in Rome have opened an investigation into the murder of an Italian scientist in Colombia, with one theory being that he could have been killed by warring criminal clans in a case of mistaken identity.

Alessandro Coatti, who until late last year worked at the Royal Society of Biology (RSB) in London, was last seen leaving a hostel in Santa Marta, a port city on the Caribbean coast, on 3 April.

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King Charles and Queen Camilla pay recovering Pope Francis surprise visit

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British royals wish pontiff well in recovery from pneumonia during their state visit to Italy

King Charles and Queen Camilla paid a surprise private visit to a convalescing Pope Francis on Wednesday afternoon during their four-day state visit to Italy.

The royal couple visited Francis, 88, at his home in Casa Santa Marta in Vatican City, where he is recovering from a serious bout of pneumonia in both lungs. An official audience had previously been removed from the royals’ schedule due to the pontiff’s ill health.

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Conservative CDU/CSU and SPD form coalition government in Germany

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Two of the country’s biggest parties freeze out rightwing AfD and prepare for impact of Trump’s new tariffs

Germany’s biggest mainstream parties have sealed an agreement to form a government keeping the far right out of power, as Europe’s top economy struggles to reverse a downturn and gird itself for the potentially catastrophic impact of new US tariffs.

The prospective chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative CDU/CSU announced the breakthrough deal with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), which had led the ruling coalition since 2021.

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Sexual violence and harassment ‘endemic’ in French entertainment industry, report finds

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Attitudes in France ‘barely evolving’ amid ‘collective denial’ years after the #MeToo movement began, according to parliamentary commission

Sexual violence and sexual harassment are “endemic” in France’s entertainment industry, a damning report by French politicians has found, concluding that women and children are still being routinely preyed on, despite the country’s #MeToo movement.

The Green MP Sandrine Rousseau and the centrist Erwan Balanant found that sexual violence, harassment and bullying were “systemic, endemic and persistent” in all sectors of the French culture and entertainment industry, from TV and cinema to theatre, radio, comedy, advertising, rock and classical music.

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EU to impose retaliatory 25% tariffs on US goods from almonds to yachts

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Bloc says it ‘considers US tariffs unjustified and damaging, causing economic harm to both sides’

The EU has agreed to impose retaliatory tariffs on €21bn (£18bn) of US goods, targeting farm produce and products from Republican states, in Europe’s first act of retaliation against Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The EU plans to introduce 25% tariffs on scores of goods from almonds to yachts, with the first duties being collected from 15 April, while the bulk apply from 15 May and the remainder from 1 December.

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EU to build AI gigafactories in €20bn push to catch up with US and China

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Up to five sites with power-hungry supercomputers and datacentres planned to drive AI ‘moonshots’

The EU has revealed details of a €20bn (£17bn) plan to create new sites equipped with vast supercomputers in Europe to develop the next generation of artificial intelligence models, while opening the door to amending its landmark law that regulates the technology.

Publishing a strategy to turn Europe into an “AI continent”, the European Commission vice-president Henna Virkkunen said the technology was at the heart of making Europe more competitive, secure and technologically sovereign, adding: “The global race for AI is far from over.”

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UK must improve trade relations with Europe amid US tariff wars, warns Reeves

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Chancellor rules out rejoining customs union but says Britain must bolster post-Brexit trade with partners

Donald Trump’s unfolding trade war makes it even more “imperative” for the UK to improve its post-Brexit trading relations with the European Union, Rachel Reeves has said.

The government has ruled out rejoining the EU customs union, but the chancellor has insisted the UK wants to improve its trade relationship with “partners in Europe”, given the difficulties British firms have found in exporting their products around Europe.

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They fled Putin’s Russia for the US. After Ice detention, they’re choosing to leave again

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Sergei and Marina were building a new life in California after protesting the Ukraine war. But Sergei was arrested during a routine check-in – and everything has changed

Sergei and Marina escaped Russia three years ago under threat of arrest after protesting against the Ukraine war, seeking asylum in the US. Now their best chance of remaining together, as a family, is to flee again.

In a whirlwind three weeks, the couple’s plans to rebuild their lives in the US were abruptly upended.

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Mackerel stocks near breaking point because of overfishing, say experts

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North-east Atlantic mackerel in decline and Good Fish Guide says shoppers should look for other options

Mackerel stocks are nearing a “breaking point”, experts have said as the fish is downgraded as a sustainable option.

People should be eating herring instead, the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) said, because mackerel continues to be overfished by countries including Norway and the UK.

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EU drug companies warn of exodus to US as Trump threatens import tariffs

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Von der Leyen urged to take ‘rapid and radical action’ as president says tariffs on pharmaceuticals coming ‘shortly’

Pharmaceutical companies in the EU have warned of a “risk of exodus” to the US as stocks in the sector slid around the world on the back of Donald Trump’s renewed threat to impose tariffs on US drugs imports.

Drugmakers’ shares across Europe and India, another foreign drugs hub, slipped on Wednesday after Trump indicated further carnage was on the way in addition to the 20% “reciprocal tariffs” on imports that kicked in overnight.

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Two Chinese nationals caught fighting for Russia in Ukraine, Zelenskyy says

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Ukrainian president says men’s capture shows Moscow is trying to involve Beijing in the war ‘directly or indirectly’

Ukrainian forces have captured two Chinese nationals fighting with the Russian army in the eastern Donetsk region, according to Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The Ukrainian president said they were two of many more Chinese members of the Russian armed forces, and he accused the Kremlin of trying to involve Beijing in the conflict “directly or indirectly”.

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San Sebastián locals write to Fifa saying they don’t want to host 2030 World Cup

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  • Six neighbourhood associations join forces in letter
  • Fears it would add to ‘touristification’ of city

Six neighbourhood associations in the Basque city of San Sebastián have asked Fifa to withdraw it as a venue for the 2030 men’s World Cup. The letter – which was criticised by the city’s mayor on Tuesday – comes three months after the city was named as one of 11 Spanish venues for the tournament taking place in Spain, Morocco and Portugal.

Signed by associations representing several areas around the San Sebastián’s historic centre as well as a platform of residents pushing for “tourism degrowth,” the letter said: “Hosting the Fifa World Cup will only worsen living conditions in our city,” adding that it would “further exacerbate the touristification” of the city.

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Main ticket seller and six tour companies fined £17m for Colosseum price-fixing

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Illegal practices included use of bots to hoard tickets for attraction in Rome for resale at inflated prices

An Italian ticketing company and six tour operators have been fined almost €20m (£17m) for illegal practices that made it difficult for regular visitors to access Rome’s Colosseum at the standard cost.

Italy’s antitrust authority, AGCM, said the practices, including using software bots to hoard tickets and resell them at higher prices, made it “essentially impossible” to buy tickets online for site.

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Bank ‘should cut UK interest rates to at least 4% in May amid tariff turmoil’

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Ex-Bank of England deputy governor Charlie Bean says cut of 0.5 points needed because of ‘crazy situation’ in US

The Bank of England should use its meeting next month to cut interest rates by at least half a percentage point to 4% in response to the financial turmoil created by Donald Trump’s trade tariffs, the former deputy governor Charlie Bean has said.

He believes an aggressive strategy is needed to combat the fallout from Trump’s tariff war, which has knocked trillions of pounds off global stock markets, undermining business and consumer confidence.

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Northern Ireland faces court case over £300m north-south power pylon plan

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Campaigners claim NI is being used as a ‘whipping boy’ to feed Irish republic’s energy-hungry datacentres

An ambitious €350m (£300m) plan to connect electricity grids across the island of Ireland is heading for the high court after a challenge brought by campaigners claiming Northern Ireland was being used as a “whipping boy” to feed the republic’s energy-hungry datacentres.

An estimated 150 landowners representing 6,500 residents have called on the Northern Ireland minister for infrastructure, Liz Kimmins, to suspend the construction of more than 100 towering pylons in Armagh and Tyrone until a judicial review, due to start on 9 April, has been completed.

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Belgian prince loses legal battle to receive social security benefits on top of royal allowance

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Prince Laurent had argued that his work entitled him to the same benefits as independent entrepreneurs but a court in Brussels disagreed

A Belgian prince has lost a legal battle to claim social security benefits on top of his royal allowance, with a court ruling his claim – the first of its kind in the country’s nearly 200-year history – “unfounded”.

Prince Laurent, the youngest of three children of the former king and queen, had argued that his work entitled him to the coverage granted to independent entrepreneurs – and that he was acting out of “principle” rather than for money.

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Couple who ran Swedish eco-retreat fled leaving behind barrels of human waste

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Flemming Hansen and Mette Helbæk, now in Guatemala, had racked up large tax debt at Stedsans forest retreat

A Danish chef couple who attracted international acclaim with a “forest resort” in Sweden have been tracked down to Guatemala after apparently going on the run from tax authorities, leaving behind 158 barrels of human waste.

Flemming Hansen and Mette Helbæk founded their purportedly eco-friendly retreat, Stedsans, in Halland, southern Sweden, after claiming to have “felt the call of the wild” in Copenhagen, where they ran a popular rooftop restaurant.

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