List of All Articles with Tag 'euro'

FRANKFURT Euro zone inflation held steady this month but underlying price growth fell as expected, a mixed picture

Microsoft will allow business customers in Europe to buy its video and chat app Teams separately from its Office software, it said Thursday, a month after the European Union opened an antitrust investigation into the company's bundling of the products.

Consumer prices in the 20 countries that use the euro rose 5.3% on average this month compared with a year ago, preliminary estimates by Europe's statistics office showed Thursday.

In a rare interview, she discusses new music and the "strange" experience of watching her 3D avatar.

The UK’s Ministry of Defence has said Russian president Vladimir Putin is flooding the frontline with “poorly trained troops”, noting “the reluctance of some elements to fight” in the war. In its daily intelligence briefing, the government highlighted that Russia is convicting nearly 100 soldiers a week for refusing to fight, adding there will be around 5,200 convictions this year. “The high rate of convictions demonstrates the poor state of morale in the Russian Army and the reluctance of some elements to fight,” the MoD added. “Although some soldiers have refused to fight and attrition rates remain high, Russia highly likely mitigates their loss by committing a mass of poorly trained soldiers to the frontline.” Meanwhile, an accident involving two Ukrainian helicopters killed six servicemen aboard the aircraft, Ukrainian media reported on Wednesday. The news site Ukrainska Pravda said the incident on Tuesday involved widely used Mi-8 military helicopters and occurred near the town of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region, near the front line, but gave no indication of how it occurred. Read More Ukraine launches ‘massive’ drone strikes on six regions of Russia – destroying war planes What next for the Wagner Group as leader presumed dead in plane crash? Putin jails Russian soldiers for refusing to return to Ukraine

The mother of suspended Spanish football president Luis Rubiales has been taken to hospital three days into a hunger strike after locking herself in a church. Angeles Bejar staged her protest to try to end what she dubbed an “inhumane witch-hunt” against her son after the Spanish Football Federation (Rfef) asked him to resign. Mr Rubiales was suspended by Fifa for kissing Women’s World Cup winner, Jenni Hermoso, on the lips in an act the footballer says she did not consent to. His mother had started her hunger strike on Monday in Montril, southern Spain, and vowed to continue despite her son’s pleas for her to stop. “I am willing to die for justice because my son is a decent person and it is not fair what they’re doing,” she told a Spanish television station. On Wednesday, a priest called Father Antonio said Ms Bejar had been taken to hospital after feeling tired and unwell. “We have called the son. He’s in touch with her and they have decided that she needed to go to the hospital,” he said. Fifa banned Mr Rubiales from all football-related activity for 90 days over his conduct and has launched an investigation into his behaviour, while Spanish police are now investigating the federation president for alleged sexual assault. The hospital would not confirm whether Ms Bejar was admitted. Earlier, she told MailOnline: “My son is very worried and has asked me not to continue, to stop, but I will be here until I drop and my body can continue. ”He is not here. He is away but he has told me to stop but I’ve said I will not. I will carry on.” Following his refusal to resign, the Spanish women’s national team signed a letter stating they will not play for their country until Rubiales is removed from his role and the coaching staff – except manager Jorge Vilda – have all walked out. The Spanish FA also requested that Uefa exclude national and club teams from all European competitions because of Spanish government intervention in the crisis – a request which Uefa has denied. Mr Rubiales’ cousin, Vanessa Ruiz, said his family was “suffering a lot for him, we don’t think that what’s happening is fair”. “He has been judged ahead of time. We don’t think this is normal and we want them to leave us alone. The statements speak for themselves. There are videos, there are audios,” she said. Read More Spain has condemned inappropriate World Cup kiss. Can it now reckon with sexism in soccer? Spanish soccer president faces general assembly amid reports he will resign for kissing a player Spain soccer coach faces scrutiny for touching a female assistant on the chest while celebrating Is the World Cup kiss Spain’s Me Too moment? Luis Rubiales crisis: How Spanish FA president fell from grace Luis Rubiales news LIVE: Spanish FA president’s mother opens up about ongoing hunger strike

Ukrainian drones have hit at least six regions deep inside Russia – including destroying war planes at an airfield – in one of the largest such strikes since the start of Moscow's invasion. Russian officials described attacks on targets in the Pskov, Bryansk, Kaluga, Orlov, Ryazan and Moscow regions, with the assault on the military airfield in Pskov the most significant. Situated more than 400 miles (600 kilometres) from Ukraine, it was where a number of elite paratroopers are stationed. The state-run Tass news agency reported at least four giant Il-76 transport planes were damaged, two of which had "burst into flames". the governor of Pskov posted video on the messaging app Telegram showing a huge fire with the sounds of sirens and an explosion at the air base. Other videos posted online showed anti-aircraft systems in action around the city, which is about 20 miles east of Russia's border with Nato-member Estonia. Kyiv confirmed the Russian planes had been destroyed in Pskov, without commenting on the nature of the incident. It generally does not claim strikes on Russian territory, but does say it has the right to hit military targets. "Yes, four IL-76 transport planes were destroyed in Pskov at an airfield, they are beyond repair. Also, several other of those [aircraft] are damaged, but the information is being checked," Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine's military intelligence agency. The number of drone strikes hitting Russia has increased in recent weeks, supporting a ground counteroffensive against Russian forces in Ukraine by destroying equipment and seeking to disrupt supply lines. Moscow typically describes all Ukrainian drone strikes as unsuccessful, regardless of the damage on the ground, but claimed that its own forces had attacked four Ukrainian attack boats in the Black Sea. In a sign of how disruptive the latest Ukrainian strikes were, Russia's Defence Ministry said they "would not go unpunished". Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said Russia was working out where the drones were launched from to try and prevent further strikes. President Vladimir Putin had been informed immediately, as would be the case in any such "massive attacks", Mr Peskov said. The increase in strikes inside Russia, including repeated drone strikes on central Moscow, have brought the war home to many Russians for the first time, even as Ukrainians have spent the past 18 months under threat of air strikes from long-range missiles and drones. The latest strikes inside Russia coincided with Moscow's largest barrage against Kyiv in months. Ukraine said its air defences had shot down 28 Russian missiles and 15 out of 16 drones fired overnight. "Kyiv has not experienced such a powerful attack since spring. The enemy launched a massive, combined attack using drones and missiles," Serhiy Popko, the head of the city's military administration, said on Telegram. Back in Moscow, the Kremlin said that it will not conduct an investigation into plane crash that killed the Wagner mercenary group founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, under international rules. "In this case there can be no talk of any international aspect," the Kremlin spokesman, Mr Peskov said, but he did suggest that "deliberate wrongdoing" is among the possible causes. The private Embraer jet on which Mr Prigozhin was travelling to St Petersburg from Moscow crashed north of Moscow killing all 10 people on board on 23 August, including two other top Wagner figures, Mr Prigozhin's four bodyguards and a crew of three. That was two months to the day since Mr Prigozhin began a mutiny against Russian President Vladimir, with his forces marching towards Moscow. The uprising ended 24 hours later after a deal was struck between the Wagner founder and the Kremlin – but a number of Western leaders have suggested that Mr Putin would not let that embarrassment stand. The Kremlin has claimed any suggestion the Russian leader was involving in the killing is an "absolute lie". Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary Former official under Belarus President Lukashenko to face Swiss trial over enforced disappearances Putin and Kim Jong-un are deepening their relationship, White House says White House says Putin and Kim Jong Un traded letters as Russia looks for munitions from North Korea

The death toll from Legionnaires’ disease in Poland has risen to 16 with another 140 people infected in the southeastern region close to the border with Ukraine, health authorities said Wednesday. The region of Rzeszow, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the border, is a key transit hub for international military support for Ukraine following Russia’s full-scale invasion last year. Some 10,000 U.S. troops are stationed in the area. Fatalities from the disease were among elderly people who also suffered from other health issues like cancer, authorities said. Laboratory tests have confirmed the presence of Legionnaires' disease germs in the city’s water pipeline system. Authorities are still looking for the source of the infections, the numbers of which were unprecedented in the region. The Internal Security Agency was also checking for any signs of malicious action. Experts say it could come from rarely used plumbing, where the germs could have spread in high temperatures during the recent heat wave. Chlorine was applied to Rzeszow’s water system over the weekend for disinfection. Legionnaires’ disease is a lung infection that comes from inhaling infected water spray. It's not spread through drinking water. It is usually caught in places like hotels, hospitals or offices where the bacteria have got into the water supply, for example in air conditioning systems or taps and showers that are not in frequent use. The germs multiply in temperatures of between 20 and 50 degrees Celsius (68-122 degrees Fahrenheit). The disease is treated with antibiotics. Read More Legionnaires' disease kills 7 people in a strategic Polish city on the Ukrainian border Government’s ‘small boats week’ ends in humiliation as barge evacuated over legionnaires’ disease fears

Some 15,000 people, including many tourists, pasted each other with tomatoes on Wednesday as Spain’s annual “Tomatina” street battle took place in the eastern town of Buñol. Workers on trucks tipped 120 tonnes of overripe tomatoes into the main street of the town for participants to throw. The street fight leaves both the street, its houses and participants drenched in red pulp. Tickets for the festival start at 12 euros ($13). The town hoses down the area and the revelers shower off within minutes of the hourlong noon battle finishing. The festival, held on the last Wednesday of August, was inspired by a food fight between local children in 1945 in the town, located in a tomato-producing region. Media attention in the 1980s turned it into a national and international event, drawing participants from every corner of the world. Participants use swimming goggles to protect their eyes and usually dress in T-shirts and shorts. The party is ranked by Spain as an international tourism attraction. Read More Revelers hurl tomatoes at each other and streets awash in red pulp in Spanish town's Tomatina party Rubiales crisis hangs over European soccer ahead of gala award ceremony in Monaco Alumni grieve for Jesuit-run university seized by Nicaraguan government that transformed their lives

Two Russian soldiers have been jailed for refusing to return to the frontline in Ukraine, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said. In an intelligence update posted on Twitter, the ministry said two Russian soldiers were sentenced to serve at least two years in a penal colony by a military court for refusing to obey orders to return to the front in Ukraine. It comes after Russian independent media outlet Mediazona reported that Russia was convicting close to 100 soldiers a week for refusing to fight. The defence ministry predicted “there will be approximately 5,200 convictions a year for refusing to fight” if the trend continues. The high rate of convictions demonstrates the “poor state of morale” and “reluctance” to fight in the Russian Army, the MoD said. The update continued: “Refusal to fight likely reflects the lack of training, motivation and high stress situations Russian forces face along the entire Ukrainian frontline.” However, the defence ministry said it is likely Russia mitigates losses in soldiers by “committing a mass of poorly trained soldiers to the frontline.” “Since Russia’s September 2022 partial mobilisation, Russia has adapted its approach to warfare by utilising sheer mass for offensive and defensive operations,” the update explained. In September 2022, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilisation of 300,000 military reservists for the war in Ukraine. The call-up prompted hundreds of thousands of men to flee the country. Outbound flights were full and neighbouring countries received large influxes. Soon afterwards, Mr Putin toughened up penalties for desertion and refusal to fight, making the offences punishable by up to 10 years in prison, or 15 years for voluntary surrender to enemy forces. But first-time offenders may be exempted from criminal liability “if he took measures for his release, returned to his unit or place of service and did not commit other crimes while in captivity”, according to the new law. Within weeks of the boost to Russian numbers, UK defence chiefs concluded many of the newly mobilised soldiers were poorly equipped, possibly with weapons in a “barely usable” condition. Earlier this year, the MoD suggested Russian troops were using shovels for hand-to-hand combat in Ukraine because of an ammunition shortage. In the latest development in Putins’s war in Ukraine, at least four of Russia’s military transport planes were damaged after Ukraine launched its biggest drone attack on Russian soil since the beginning of the invasion. The Il-76 transport aircraft were damaged after drones hit an airport in the western Pskov region, located 660km north of the Ukrainian frontier and near the borders of Estonia and Latvia. Read More Ukraine: Largest drone attack on Russian territory since invasion began as cargo planes destroyed Ukraine-Russia war live: Kyiv’s huge drone attack as Putin floods frontline with ‘poorly trained troops’ Russian hard-line nationalist ordered to stay in prison after accusing Putin of weakness The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

By Shashwat Chauhan European shares struggled for direction on Wednesday as losses in utilities, led by Denmark's Orsted,

At least four military transport planes were destroyed in a drone attack at the Pskov airport in western Russia, the regional governor has said. Moscow on Wednesday accused Ukraine of targeting six Russian regions in what appeared to be the biggest drone attack on Russian soil since the beginning of the invasion. The strike, which was first reported minutes before midnight, hit the airport and damaged four Il-76 transport aircraft, Russia’s state news agency Tass reported. All flight operations to and from the airport have been suspended to assess the damage. The strike comes a day after Ukraine said its armed forces have gained a foothold in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, where they are believed to be advancing towards Russia’s second line of defence. Kyiv’s General Staff said its forces had “achieved success ... within the re-captured frontiers” and were attacking detected enemy targets with artillery as well as carrying out counter-battery measures. Meanwhile, the Kremlin said Vladimir Putin had no plans to attend the funeral of Yevgeny Prigozhin, as the Wagner chief’s press service said a closed-door “farewell” service was held for him on Tuesday, with mourners welcome at a cemetery in his native St Petersburg. Read More 6 regions targeted in biggest drone attack on Russia since it sent troops to Ukraine, officials say Secretive funeral for Wagner chief as Putin stays away White House says Kremlin has ‘long history’ of killing its opponents following Prigozhin death