The Guardian
46 minutes ago
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French police arrest more than 400 as PSG fans celebrate Champions League win over Arsenal
Interior minister says rioting took place in about 15 cities in France, with almost 300 people detained in ParisFrench police have detained more than 400 people involved in violent clashes in Paris and other French cities that erupted on Saturday night after Paris Saint-Germain defeated Arsenal to win the Champions League title.Seven officers were injured as football fans set off fires and vandalised shops, the interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, said, describing the violence as “absolutely unacceptable”. One small group even tried to storm a Paris police station. Continue reading...
The Guardian
2 hours ago
When will the EU punch its weight in a perilous world? That’s the question countries eager to join should be asking | Simon Tisdall
Twin threats from east and west have clearly made the bloc more appealing – but its rule-bound institutions need urgent attentionGiant butter mountains, wine lakes and an apocryphal EU ban on bendy bananas formed the mythological backdrop to Britain’s 2016 Brexit referendum debacle. Yet while many Vote Leave claims were exaggerated, inaccurate or blatantly untrue, the EU’s capacity for laying itself open to ridicule is undiminished 10 years on. Take the strange case of the whingeing EU commissioners, annoyed that their officially provided electric vehicles cannot manage the time-consuming 280-mile journey between Brussels and Strasbourg without stopping to recharge.This important issue, first reported by Politico, raises vital questions. Do these highly paid bureaucrats really need chauffeur-driven “company cars”? Surely they could catch a train, or fly, or cycle. EV use is mandatory for road trips. The vehicles are supplied in line with the EU’s Green Deal emissions-cutting policy, which commissioners might be expected to support, not carp about. So why is the commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, allowed a petrol engine? The biggest question of all is why make these tedious Brussels-Strasbourg journeys in the first place?Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator Continue reading...
The Guardian
6 hours ago
Germany’s embattled nightlife scene welcomes plan to reclassify clubs
There is hope that a change to building regulations could resurrect music clubs, which have been hit by rising rents, social shifts and noise disputesA move by the German government to reclassify nightclubs to distinguish them from amusement and adult entertainment facilities could give a much-needed boost to the country’s struggling nightlife, industry advocates say.Under a fundamental change to building regulations approved by Friedrich Merz’s cabinet last week, nightclubs will be formally recognised as providing cultural and artistic value, making it more difficult for developers to evict venue operators in favour of new construction. Continue reading...
The Guardian
7 hours ago
Ukraine war briefing: Kyiv denies its drone ‘deliberately’ hit Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
Russian atomic energy agency claim that drone strike damaged Europe’s largest nuclear plant just a ‘propaganda ploy’, Ukraine military says. What we know on day 1,558Russia’s state nuclear energy company Rosatom said on Saturday a Ukrainian drone had struck the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, but had not caused damage to key equipment. Rosatom’s head Alexei Likhachev called the incident “deliberate” and said it left a hole in the wall of a turbine hall. “This afternoon, a Ukrainian kamikaze combat drone struck the turbine hall building of Power Unit No. 6, resulting in a subsequent detonation,” Likhachev said in a statement.The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant was captured by Russia in March 2022 and remains close to the frontline in the south-eastern Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia region. Kyiv military have denied Russian claims as “yet another propaganda ploy”, saying its troops did not strike power unit No. 6 at the plant. “Ukrainian servicemen act strictly within the international humanitarian law and are fully aware of the consequences of any actions targeting nuclear facilities,” the military said in a statement. “At the relevant section of the frontline, there was no active fighting during the incident, and no weapons were used.”The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Saturday said it has been informed by the Zaporizhzhia plant that a drone had struck a turbine building at the site. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi expressed serious concern about the reported incident. “Attacking nuclear sites is like playing with fire,” he said. The IAEA’s team has requested access to examine the affected turbine building first-hand, the agency said in an X post.Ukrainian drone strikes caused fires at more Russian oil facilities overnight into Saturday, Russian officials said, in what appeared to be the latest attack on Moscow’s oil industry. Authorities in Russia’s Rostov region said falling drone debris sparked a fire that damaged an oil depot and tanker in the port of Taganrog, while officials in the neighbouring Krasnodar region reported a fire breaking out at an oil depot in Armavir for the same reason.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on X noted the Krasnodar attack and said: “We are rightfully bringing the war back to where it came from.”Ukrainian professional tennis player Oleksandra Oliynykova, an outspoken critic of Russia’s war against Ukraine, on Saturday criticised Russian tennis players at the French Open about their stance on the war, after her third-round exit at the French Open. Oliynykova lost in straight sets to Russia’s Diana Shnaider. The Ukrainian said players from Russia were allowed to participate in international tournaments even though they openly took part in events sponsored by Russian companies linked to the war effort or even after what she said was promoting the positions of Russia in relation to the war on social media. Continue reading...
The Guardian
10 hours ago
Kanye West concert in Italy cancelled over ‘public order and safety issues’
Reggio Emilia prefect stops gig after Jewish community ‘concerns’ over rapper’s previous antisemitic remarksA Kanye West concert in Italy has been cancelled over “public order and safety issues”.The 48-year-old rapper, who changed his name to Ye in 2021, was due to perform at the Pulse of Gaia festival at the RCF Arena in Reggio Emilia on 18 July, but the city’s prefect, Salvatore Angieri, stopped the gigs after “concerns” from the local Jewish community over previous antisemitic remarks by West. Continue reading...
The Guardian
16 hours ago
Three climbers die and one rescued after fall on Alaska’s Mount McKinley
Four were part of seven-person group that had traveled to US to ascend North America’s tallest mountainThree people have died after falling while climbing Alaska’s Mount McKinley, according to officials. A fourth climber has been rescued.The four were part of a seven-person group that had traveled to the United States to ascend Mount McKinley, also known as Denali, North America’s tallest mountain, according to information released by the Latvian Mountaineering Association. Continue reading...
The Guardian
18 hours ago
Anthropic’s alliance with pope on AI harms: all in good faith or ‘Vatican-washing?’
Experts say AI firm’s engagement with Vatican risks creating ‘feelgood’ discourse that lacks critical examinationWhy did Anthropic’s founder sit beside the pope during a warning about AI?In the first major written teaching of his papacy, Pope Leo XIV took artificial intelligence to task. The pontiff delineated the technology’s most concerning threats to humanity: replacing workers, accelerating war and exploiting the environment. At a ceremony honoring the holy teaching the day of its release at the Vatican, the pope was flanked by an unusual guest speaker: Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah, one of the people behind the AI boom so worrying Leo. Continue reading...
The Guardian
22 hours ago
Why $1bn in Balkans energy contracts are going to an obscure company connected to Donald Trump
Guardian investigation shows how US presidency blurs line between policy and enrichment of American ruling family and those around itOn a graffitied Sarajevo backstreet, a path leads past an overgrown patch of garden to a white door. Beyond is the registered office of a company that is on the brink of winning contracts worth more than $1bn.AAFS Infrastructure and Energy is close to securing a concession to build and operate a pipeline across the Balkans to allow fossil gas shipped from the US to replace supplies that come from Russia. “This could be the most important infrastructure project ever in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” says one of the country’s top officials, who, like others, asks to remain anonymous to discuss sensitive negotiations. Continue reading...
The Guardian
23 hours ago
Look at how Germany defeated the Red Army Faction. The lessons about how to fight terrorism are all there | Jason Burke
As Daniela Klette is jailed after three decades in hiding, it’s clear that good strategy, and principally democracy, beat the terror, bombs and gunsIn 1972, the great German novelist Heinrich Böll described the campaign of violence launched by the Red Army Faction (RAF) since its foundation two years earlier as a war of “six against 60 million”. The writer was vilified for the phrase, accused of sympathy for bombers and murderers. But Böll had highlighted the most important factor in the eventual defeat of the group, of whom one of the last surviving alleged members, a 67-year-old called Daniela Klette, was sentenced last week to 13 years in prison for armed robberies.At the time Böll was writing, the RAF’s bombings, abductions and shootings had brought about the most acute crisis of West German democracy since the second world war. Dozens were killed, more injured, wanted posters and police checkpoints went up all over the country, huge state resources were devoted to counter-terrorism. Sporty small BMW cars were so favoured by the group that they were dubbed Baader-Meinhof Wagen, a reference to the RAF’s most famous founder leaders, Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof.Jason Burke is the author of The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists who Hijacked the 1970s, and the Guardian’s international security correspondentDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
The Guardian
1 day ago
Could Nato be dragged into Ukraine-Russia war? – The Latest
Nato has vowed to ‘defend every inch’ of its territory after a Russian drone hit an apartment building in Romania. The strike prompted swift condemnation and threats of repercussion from European leaders. So is there a risk the war could expand beyond Ukraine? Lucy Hough speaks to senior international correspondent Peter Beaumont Continue reading...
The Guardian
1 day ago
Putin's cabal must be brought to trial for crimes in Ukraine. With this plan, the world can do that | Gordon Brown
A special tribunal akin to Nuremberg will not only force Russia to explain its culpability, it will show how vital it is to uphold international lawVladimir Putin should be worried. Not since the trials of the Nazis at Nuremberg and the Japanese war criminals in Tokyo have so many world leaders made common cause to bring to justice the perpetrators of crimes that have brought terror, death and misery to defenceless millions.The decision to prosecute Putin’s cabal for the crime of aggression, reached this month after an agreement between the Council of Europe and the European Union, is historic and offers hope in an age of chaos and fracture. This special tribunal is a mechanism of practical intent but, more than that, it is a statement: that there will never again be any hiding place for those guilty of war atrocities and the needless destruction of civilian life. Continue reading...
The Guardian
1 day ago
Weather tracker: deadly May heatwave shatters records across Europe
Temperatures across parts of continent around 10-15C above average for this time of year, while thunderstorms strike eastern AustraliaEurope has experienced an exceptional heatwave this week, with temperature records broken across multiple countries under a persistent area of high pressure, commonly referred to as a “heat dome.” The UK surpassed its May maximum temperature record on Tuesday, with 35.1C recorded at Kew Gardens, London.This broke the record set only the day before, with 34.8C recorded in London on Monday. Previously, the maximum May temperature record was 32.8C, recorded in 1922 and then matched in 1944. Ireland also broke its May maximum temperature, with 28.8C recorded at two weather stations – in Killarney in the south-west and Clonmel in the south. Continue reading...
The Guardian
2 days ago
Much of what Blair said in essay criticising Labour was wrong, says Starmer – as it happened
This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story herePat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, is introducing Alan Milburn.He says Milburn’s report is “really important and powerful”.I could see in the first few weeks after being appointed as the secretary of state what was happening, both in human and in financial terms, [in terms of youth unemployment].And I knew that we had to get properly under the bonnet of this problem, because there’s a lot more thing than one thing happening here … Continue reading...
The Guardian
2 days ago
New food exports deal signals end to Brexit ‘sausage wars’
First details of agreement published, heralding end to EU-UK checks on dairy products, eggs, fish and fresh red meatBusiness live – latest updatesThe EU and UK have signalled an end to Brexit “sausage wars” with the first details of a new food exports agreement being published by the British government.The deal will mean no more paperwork or physical checks on dairy, fish, cheese, eggs and fresh red meat from the summer of 2027 for both British exporters to the EU and EU exporters to the UK. Continue reading...
The Guardian
2 days ago
New Mandelson revelations cast doubt on claim vetting decision was borderline, Thornberry says – as it happened
This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story hereZack Polanski, the Green party leader, posted this on social media about Tony Blair’s latest intervention this morning.Tony Blair.What the billionaire class have paid for.Spot the difference between “Tony Blair says” and “Nigel Farage says” Continue reading...
The Guardian
3 days ago
Brexiters peddled ‘nationalistic pish’, said Reform UK’s Makerfield candidate
Robert Kenyon castigated Brexit as an economically self-harming project on rugby league forum in 2016Reform UK’s candidate for the Makerfield byelection has castigated Brexit as an economically self-harming project promoted by politicians who “peddled the nationalistic pish”, raising more doubts about his commitment to Nigel Farage’s signature achievement.The comments by Robert Kenyon, unearthed on a defunct rugby league forum and first reported by the Telegraph, follow the emergence of another post in which he said people would be wrong to assume he had voted for Brexit. Continue reading...
The Guardian
3 days ago
Turkish police fire water cannon at protesters after opposition leader ousted – video
Riot police in Turkey have fired a water cannon and teargas to break up a rally called by the ousted opposition leader Özgür Özel days after a court dismissed him from office. Özel called the lunchtime rally in İzmir as Turkey was poised to shut down for the four-day Eid al-Fitr holiday, which begins on Wednesday.On Sunday, riot police had battered their way into the main opposition CHP’s headquarters in the capital, Ankara, firing teargas and beating party members before throwing them out, Özel said. A shock court ruling last Thursday overturned a 2023 party primary that elected Özel. It was the latest in a string of moves against the CHP, Turkey’s oldest political party, which scored a win over Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling AKP in 2024 local elections and has been rising in the polls.Turkish police fire teargas to break up protest after opposition leader ousted Continue reading...
The Guardian
4 days ago
Russia strikes Kyiv with hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile – video
Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the surrounding region has been hit by a massive strike of Russian missiles and drones, including its powerful hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile. It is the third time the nuclear-capable missile has been used in the war in Ukraine. The strikes on Sunday killed at least four people and left dozens injured Continue reading...
The Guardian
6 days ago
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