List of All Articles with Tag 'europe'

Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives unexpectedly held onto Boris Johnson’s old parliamentary seat in a special election, a major boost

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak suffered a political upset as his ruling Conservative Party lost a key parliamentary election

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It comes months after young British men were urged not to hold bachelor parties in the Dutch capital.

Asian stocks are set for a weak open after US equities and Treasuries fell following disappointing tech earnings

Ukraine’s ambassador in London has caused deep consternation in Kyiv after publicly criticising Volodymyr Zelensky’s conduct in a row with British defence secretary Ben Wallace, according to diplomatic sources. Vadym Prystaiko, who has been a key point of contact for the British government during the Ukraine war, accused Mr Zelensky of “unhealthy sarcasm” in his response to Mr Wallace saying Kyiv should not view the UK and Western allies as an “Amazon” delivery service. The Independent has been told that there were subsequently “very strong” telephone conversations between Mr Prystaiko and the government in Kyiv. There are also reports his remarks have been picked up by Russian media and presented, with words twisted, to show major splits between Ukraine and its Western allies at a time Mr Zelensky’s government is carrying out a major counteroffensive to reclaim occupied territory. Speaking at the Nato summit in Vilnius, the British defence secretary had said people expected Ukraine to show more gratitude for the huge help being given by allies. In a mocking response, Mr Zelensky said: “How else can we show our gratitude? We can wake up in the morning and thank the minister. Let him write to me and tell me how to thank him.” Mr Prystaiko responded on Sky News: “President Zelensky saying ‘each and every morning we’ll wake up and call Ben Wallace to thank him’ – I don’t think that kind of sarcasm is healthy. I don’t think we need to show the Russians there is something between us. We’re working together, Ben can call me and tell me anything he wants to.” It remains unclear what disciplinary measures Mr Prystaiko would face from his government. The decision is likely to be made by foreign minister Dmitry Kuleba, who was said to be in New York meeting UN officials earlier this week. Some senior Ukrainian officials accept that the ambassador – a veteran diplomat who had served in the past as his country’s foreign minister – was trying to soothe relations with the UK, but also point out that Moscow was always going to exploit such remarks. Ukrainian officials are regularly targeted by Russian trolls, with Mr Prystaiko himself having been a victim in the past. He gave an interview to Newsweek earlier this year in which he talked about heavy civilian losses due to Russian shelling, which was turned by a Russian website into “colossal losses by the Ukrainian army” with the invented phrase “people were dying in the interest of the West”. It is not just in Ukraine that the “Amazon” controversy lingers on. Some allies of Mr Wallace, who is due to step down from his post and leave politics altogether in the next election, feel that Rishi Sunak should have stood up more for the defence secretary. Asked about Mr Wallace’s remarks, the prime minister said that President Zelensky “had expressed his gratitude for what we’ve done on a number of occasions”. He added: “People across Ukraine are also fighting for their lives and freedom every single day and they’re paying a terrible price for it so I completely understand Volodymyr’s desire to do everything he can to protect his people and to stop this war.” Mr Wallace was not, however, the only Western official to raise the issue of Ukrainian gratitude at the Nato summit. The US’s national security advisor held that “the American people do deserve a degree of gratitude” after being questioned about US resolve. Ukrainian foreign minister Mr Kuleba, in his own response to Wallace’s comments, said: “I apologise, but we are at war. “Colleagues, ministers and foreign journalists often ask me if we are getting enough weapons. I tell them that as long as we are on the way to victory, we will not have enough weapons. When we win, we will say: Thank you, we had enough weapons. But as long as the struggle continues, we will not have enough”. The UK has been involved in training the Ukrainian military since the separatist wars seven years ago. Since Vladimir Putin’s invasion, Kyiv has been supplied with NLAW, Brimstone and Starstreak missiles as well as Challenger tanks. Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary Varadkar pledges unwavering solidarity with Ukraine on day-long visit to Kyiv Leo Varadkar meets Ukrainian actor in Kyiv after Dublin assault Varadkar to stress morale boost EU accession could offer to Ukraine’s soldiers

By Fedja Grulovic ATHENS (Reuters) -Wildfires across Greece slowly abated on Thursday after razing swathes of forest and dozens of

Russian prosecutors asked a court to sentence imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny to 20 years in prison on extremism charges, his ally Ivan Zhdanov said Thursday. According to Zhdanov, the trial against Navalny, which went on behind closed doors in the prison where the politician is serving another lengthy sentence, is scheduled to conclude with a verdict on Aug. 4. In his closing statement released Thursday by his team, Navalny bashed Russian authorities as being governed by “bargaining, power, bribery, deception, treachery ... and not law.” Navalny said: “Anyone in Russia knows that a person who seeks justice in a court of law is completely vulnerable. The case of that person is hopeless." Navalny, 47, is President Vladimir Putin's fiercest foe who exposed official corruption and organized major anti-Kremlin protests. He was arrested in January 2021 upon returning to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin. The authorities sentenced him to 2 1/2 years in prison for parole violations and then to another nine years on charges of fraud and contempt of court. The politician is currently serving his sentence in a maximum-security prison east of Moscow. He has spent months in a tiny one-person cell, also called a “punishment cell,” for purported disciplinary violations such as an alleged failure to properly button his prison clothes, properly introduce himself to a guard or to wash his face at a specified time. Navalny's allies have accused prison authorities of failing to provide him with proper medical assistance and voiced concern about his health. The new charges relate to the activities of Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation and statements by his top associates. His allies said the charges retroactively criminalize all the foundation's activities since its creation in 2011. Navalny has rejected all the charges against him as politically motivated and has accused the Kremlin of seeking to keep him behind bars for life. One of his associates — Daniel Kholodny — was relocated from a different prison to face trial alongside him. The prosecution has asked to sentence Kholodny to 10 years in prison. The trial against the two began a month ago and went along swiftly by Russian standards, where people often spend months, if not years, awaiting for their verdict. It was unusually shielded from public attention and Navalny's lawyers haven't offered any comments on the proceedings. Navalny, in his sardonic social media posts, occasionally offered a glimpse of what was going on with his case. In one such post, the politician revealed that a song by a popular Russian rapper praising him was listed as evidence in the case files, and claimed that he made the judge and bailiffs laugh out loud as the song was played during a court hearing. In another, he said that the case files linked him to U.S. mogul Warren Buffet. In his closing statement, Navalny referred to the recent short-lived armed rebellion by the fighters of Russia's private military company Wagner, after which their chief and the leader of the mutiny, Yevgeny Prigozhin, walked free, even though a number of Russian soldiers were killed by his troops. “Those who were declared traitors to their Motherland and betrayers, in the morning killed several Russian army officers as the entire Russia watched in astonishment, and by lunch agreed on something with someone and went home,” Navalny said. “Thus, law and justice in Russia were once again put in their place. And that place is not prestigious. One sure can't find them in court," the politician said. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Jailed Alexei Navalny ‘forced to listen to Putin speech for 100 days in a row’ Who is Yevgeny Prigozhin? Russia restricts movement of British diplomats over Ukraine support - live news

Watch a live view of Mandra, Greece, where wildfires continue to rage amid a record-breaking summer heatwave in Europe. Smoke continues to rise across the sky on Thursday 20 July, while sizzling temperatures have swept across the continent in recent days and the hot weather has taken hold across many popular holiday hotspots in the Mediterranean. Much of southern Europe has been in the high 30s, while some parts of southern Italy and areas in Greece have been in the low-to-mid 40s, which is eight to 12 degrees above the seasonal average for the region. Notably, firefighters battled a blaze in Rhodes, threatening to stoke tinderbox conditions across the country. The Greek meteorological service had warned of a heightened risk of fires from Thursday. Elsewhere, thousands have also been evacuated in the Canary Islands and Switzerland in recent days, as southern Europe is gripped by ongoing wildfires and extreme heat caused by the fossil-fuel-driven climate crisis. Read More European heatwave - latest updates as record temperatures continue What is driving the record-breaking global heatwaves across three continents? Families unable to cancel summer holidays despite extreme heat warnings and wildfires

European natural gas advanced as traders weighed potential upticks in demand against recovering supplies from Norway. Benchmark Dutch

Ukraine said any ships heading to Russian ports may be military targets, in a tit-for-tat response to a