List of All Articles with Tag 'europe'

An Israeli strike on a refugee camp in Gaza overnight drew condemnation across the Middle East and comes

Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine’s success in the battle for the Black Sea “will go down in history books”, as he rallied troops in his nightly video address. “Ukraine’s success in the battle for the Black Sea will go down in history books, although it’s not being discussed much today,” he added. Mr Zelensky also warned against expecting instant success in Ukraine’s counter-offensive campaign as Russian forces showed signs of amping up fresh attacks on different sections of the frontline. “We live in a world that gets used to success too quickly. When the full-scale invasion began, many people around the world did not believe that Ukraine would survive," the war-time president said in his nightly video address. He added: "Glory to all those who do not retreat, who do not burn out, who believe in Ukraine just as they did on February 24, and who have been fighting unwaveringly." The war frontline along Ukraine’s east and south has seen little along the 1,000 km span this year despite Kyiv’s counter-offensive push which Russia has resisted by mining vast swathes and throwing in battalions of men in the siege. Mr Zelensky lauded his troops for diminishing Russian military strength in the Black Sea, adding that if there’s greater support from Ukraine’s allies, they could inch closer to victory over Russian forces. "When we ensure even more security to the Black Sea, Russia will lose any ability to dominate in this area and expand its malign influence to other countries," Mr Zelensky said. The full extent of the damage that Ukraine has done in recent months to the Russian Black Sea Fleet remains unclear. Even claims made by the Russian defence ministry of success in destroying the weapons comes with little evidence. The losses on both sides, of personnel and equipment, have been guarded as a state secret. On the battlefield front, signs of struggle have persisted. The Ukrainian president said his meeting with senior commanders considered sectors engulfed by the fiercest fighting in the east and northeast, including the key areas of Avdiivka and Kupiansk, where Russia has been on the offensive in recent weeks. Russia has concentrated its military might on Avdiivka, an eastern Ukrainian town in Donetsk, which officials said is bracing for a new wave of attacks after witnessing steady assaults since mid-October. "The enemy is bringing in forces and equipment. Our boys are preparing for a new wave," Vitaliy Barabash, head of the military administration in Avdiivka, told national television. The town with its vast coking plant was briefly captured in 2014 when Russian-backed separatists seized chunks of land in the east, but Ukrainian forces have since put up fortifications. Ukraine’s ground forces said on Tuesday that Russian forces were also focused on Kupiansk - a city in the northeast overrun by Russia in the early days of the invasion, but recaptured by Ukrainian forces last year. Alongside, Russia claimed that its forces had conducted successful attacks near the town of Bakhmut - a largely destroyed town captured by Russian forces in May. Read More If Putin dies, this is what would happen in Russia Ukrainian troops advance as Putin air defences ‘struck in Crimea’ - latest Hungary bans teenagers from visiting World Press Photo exhibition over display of LGBTQ+ images AI Safety Summit: Five key questions More than 40% of Ukrainians need humanitarian help under horrendous war conditions, UN says Watch: Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin testify on Biden’s $106 billion request

French prime minister Elisabeth Borne on Tuesday vowed a “merciless fight” against surging antisemitism after residents of the French capital discovered anti-Jewish graffiti on buildings in several districts. The discovery comes weeks into the Israel-Hamas war in which thousands of Palestinians and Israelis have been killed and hundreds of Israelis have been taken hostage by the militants in Gaza. “The situation in the Middle East does not justify antisemitism,” Ms Borne told the National Assembly during a regular questioning session. “Nothing ever excuses antisemitism ... my government is determined to wage a merciless fight against it." Since the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel, French authorities have registered 857 antisemitic acts, interior minister Gerald Darmanin said on Tuesday. “That's as many acts of antisemitism in three weeks as there have been so far this year,” he said. Mr Darmanin said police and judicial authorities have opened several investigations into the anti-Jewish graffiti around the capital and vowed to Jewish communities around France that “we will protect you, absolutely, completely, day and night.” The graffiti included a blue Star of David stamped on several buildings around the capital. “I am crying because I am going to again feel the hatred that was there when we were children,” a tearful resident of a graffiti-tagged building who gave only her first name, Marie, told BFM-TV. Carine Petit, the mayor of Paris's 14th district, reminded residents that such tags trigger painful memories. "This act of marking (buildings) is reminiscent of the acts in the (19)30s and the Second World War, which led to the extermination of millions of Jews,” Petit said in a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter. Read More Bolivia severs diplomatic ties with Israel over ‘disproportionate’ attack in Gaza Orsted scraps 2 offshore wind power projects in New Jersey, citing supply chain issues The Day of the Dead in Mexico is a celebration for the 5 senses

Prada SpA’s sales slowed as the Italian fashion company experiences a cutback in luxury demand that other competitors

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to head back to Israel after dozens were reported killed

Oil advanced after slumping in the first two days of the week, as a still-contained Israel-Hamas war caused

Australian inflation is being driven by climate change, geopolitical shocks and government policies — factors typically beyond the

By Ankika Biswas and Bansari Mayur Kamdar (Reuters) -European shares climbed on Tuesday, with investors drawing comfort from a slew

The acclaimed fashion designer Phoebe Philo, the former creative director of Celine, has returned with a much-anticipated collection of her own.

By Tim Hepher PARIS Europe's top space official said on Tuesday there was "light at the end of

Police in Paris fired eight shots at a woman threating to blow up a train into the capital this morning, local authorities have said, sparking chaos in the city as metro stations were evacuated. This latest security incident in France come as they face a heightened anti-terror alert following a fatal stabbing at a school blamed on an Islamic extremist. Police said officers opened fire on Tuesday after the woman didn’t respond to their warnings. The Paris prosecutors later confirmed that two police officers together fired eight shots, seriously injuring the woman. It said she was hospitalised for emergency treatment. It wasn’t clear what threats the woman was allegedly making but government spokesman Olivier Veran said the woman “made remarks of a rather Islamist nature” that worried other passengers. Phrases she reportedly used included “You're all going to get it”, “Allahu akbar” and “Boom”, said Paris police chief Laurent Nunez. Allahu akbar is “God is great” in Arabic. A police investigation has been opened into the exact nature of threats the woman allegedly made while riding the RER C suburban train into Paris, and witness testimony will be gathered, the prosecutor's office said. It said she is facing potential charges of making death threats, of defending terrorism and of intimidating behaviour directed at police. The woman was dressed in a long robe, known as an abaya, the prosecutor's office said. Abayas are mainly worn by Muslims. A search of the woman found that she wasn't carrying explosives, the police chief said. Police were verifying the identity of the woman, who was not carrying ID papers, but she is thought to have been arrested previously for threatening behaviour in 2021 and then hospitalised for apparent mental health problems, he said. A Metro and suburban train station that serves the Francois-Mitterrand national library in eastern Paris were evacuated after the incident. Earlier this month, a knifeman shouting “Allahu Akbar” at Gambetta High School in the city of Arras left one teacher dead and several other people injured as former Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal called for a Day of Jihad. In the 13 October school attack, French-language teacher Dominique Bernard was stabbed to death and three other people were wounded. The alleged attacker had been under police surveillance on suspicion of Islamic radicalization. French anti-terror investigators said the suspect declared allegiance to the Islamic State group before the assault in the northern French town of Arras. Local police spokesperson Axel Ronde said the officers who shot the woman this morning had “made the right decision”. He said: “The person was extremely determined to take action and given the determination, my colleagues had no other choice, to avoid being hit by an explosion, than to neutralise her by shooting her with a firearm. “The police officers made the right decision.” Read More UN chief visits tallest mountains in Nepal and expresses alarm over their melting glaciers India-led alliance set to fund solar projects in Africa in a boost to the energy transition Paris police open fire on a woman who allegedly made threats in the latest security incident In early 2029, Earth will likely lock into breaching key warming threshold, scientists calculate Londoner says dressing up as bedbug for Halloween was ‘very obvious’ thing to do French government says 9 people detained after violent attack on Lyon soccer team buses

Volodymyr Zelensky said an antisemitic rally in Russia’s Dagestan this week and an earlier military coup by Vladimir Putin’s former ally Yevgeny Prigozhin were clear signs the Russian president was “losing control”. The Ukrainian president on Monday said the invasion of his country by Mr Putin has only led to inadvertent effects for Moscow. “They have mobilised all their forces to try not to lose what they seized in Ukraine, but in doing so, they have contaminated their own territory with such a level of hatred and degradation that, for the second time this year, Russia is losing control over events,” said the war-time president. “We see that mutineers are heading to Moscow, and no one is stopping them,” he said, referring to now-deceased Prigozhin’s coup earlier this year. “We see that the power vertical in Dagestan is evaporating, leading to a real upheaval. “These are all signals that Russia can, for now, sustain military operations and increase pressure on the frontlines in some places, but is unable to withstand this confrontation strategically,” said the Ukrainian leader. The comments came as Kyiv’s military officials said Russia bulked up its forces around the devastated city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine and tweaked the manner of its operations. “In the Bakhmut area, the enemy has significantly strengthened its grouping and switched from defence to active actions,” general Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s commander of ground forces, wrote on Telegram. Kyiv’s officials also said Ukraine has been preparing to repel these attacks. Russian forces had been preparing since early this month to retake positions around Bakhmut that were lost in the months-long Ukrainian counteroffensive, according to Volodymyr Fityo, head of communications for Ukraine’s ground forces command. “We saw this, the intelligence reported everything. We had been preparing, strengthening our defensive positions, engineering fortifications and pulling up reserves,” Mr Fityo said. “This does not come as a surprise for us.” Both Mr Syrskyi and Mr Fityo said Russian forces were particularly active near the Ukrainian-held town of Kupiansk in the northeast. Mr Fityo said Russia had numerical superiority. Bakhmut was captured by Russia in May with help from private military company Wagner after witnessing some of the bloodiest fighting in the now 20-month-old war. But Ukraine has amped up military operations to retake Bakhmut in the counteroffensive that was launched in June and that aims to retake occupied land in the country’s south and east. Read More Russia accuses Ukraine of damaging a nuclear waste warehouse as the battle for Avdiivika grinds on UK ministers continue to resist calls for ceasefire in Middle East Russian drones likely targeted Khmelnytskyi nuclear power station, Zelensky says Zelensky vows to keep up pressure on Crimea: ‘This is historic achievement’ Timeline: Rishi Sunak’s first year in office Timeline: Rishi Sunak’s first year in office