List of All Articles with Tag 'europe'

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has suggested recent tweets by Elon Musk mocking Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky are “unhelpful”. The senior Cabinet minister made the comments at a Conservative Party conference fringe event in Manchester, hours after the billionaire entrepreneur used Twitter, now known as X, to take aim at Mr Zelensky’s repeated requests for Western support in the battle against Russia. Mr Shapps, an avid social media user himself, expressed reservations about the owner of X’s recent attitudes to the war. “I think it’s unhelpful, to be blunt,” he said. “I can’t speak for him or his motivations. He’s a free individual, we live in a free world. He can tweet or X what he likes.” “What Ukraine really needs is strong and steady friends who won’t waver,” he added. Mr Musk’s mockery has gone down badly in Ukraine, making it the latest controversial outburst by the high-profile businessman. Read More

The European Union (EU) promised Ukraine £4.3bn in military aid as part of its ongoing support in the war against Russia. The 27-nation bloc remained committed to help defeat a “brutal and inhumane” Moscow, said Josep Borrell, EU’s high representative for foreign affairs. It comes after the US Congress left Ukraine war aid out of its spending bill and a pro-Russian candidate won an election in Slovakia. Monday’s meeting in Kyiv was touted by Mr Borrell as a historic first for the EU but it comes at an awkward time for the Western countries backing Ukraine. With summer drawing to a close, Ukraine’s counteroffensive has failed to produce the victories that Kyiv’s allies had hoped to see before mud clogs the treads of donated tanks. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, quoted by his website, said he was sure "Ukraine and the entire free world are capable of winning this confrontation. But our victory depends directly on our cooperation with you". Mr Borrell told a news briefing with Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba that the EU remained united in its support for Ukraine. He had proposed an EU spending package for Kyiv of up to €5bn (£4.3bn) for 2024 which he hoped to have agreed by then. Mr Kuleba also brushed off concerns about faltering support on both sides of the Atlantic, amid the omission of Ukraine from the US spending bill. "We don’t feel that the US support has been shattered ... because the United States understands that what is at stake in Ukraine is much bigger than just Ukraine," he told reporters. Meanwhile, pro-Kyiv officials in the US are scrambling to find the best way to secure approval for further assistance on top of the $113bn (£93.6bn) in security, economic and humanitarian aid the US has provided since Russia invaded in February 2022. Leaders in the Senate, narrowly controlled by president Joe Biden’s fellow Democrats, promised to take up legislation in the coming weeks on continued support. But in the Republican-led House of Representatives, speaker Kevin McCarthy said he wanted more information from the Biden administration. White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre urged Congress to act quickly. As for the election victory of pro-Russian Slovak former prime minister Robert Fico, Mr Kuleba said a new leader would still have to form a coalition and it was "too early to judge" the impact on politics there. German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock sought help to prepare Ukraine for winter, including air defence and energy supplies, after Russia bombed energy installations last year. "Last winter, we saw the brutal way in which the Russian president is waging this war," Ms Baerbock said. "We must prevent this together with everything we have, as far as possible." Moscow touted the congressional vote in the United States as a sign of increasing division in the West, although the Kremlin said it expected Washington to continue its support for Kyiv. The omission of aid for Ukraine was "temporary", Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. "But we have repeatedly said before that according to our forecasts fatigue from this conflict, fatigue from the completely absurd sponsorship of the Kyiv regime, will grow in various countries, including the United States," he said. Additional reporting from the wires Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin’s prized Black Sea fleet ‘struggling’ with threats on southern front Ukraine to build its first underground school in Kharkiv, official says Congress didn't include funds for Ukraine in its spending bill. How will that affect the war?

European shares extended losses on Tuesday as a surge in U.S. Treasury yields and the dollar mounted pressure

A group of women in Greenland are seeking compensation from the Danish government over an involuntary birth control campaign that was launched in the 1960s. At least 4,500 women, including teenagers, were fitted with intrauterine devices between 1966 and 1970s without their consent, under a programme aimed at curbing the Indigenous Inuit population. An official investigation by the governments of Greenland and its former colonial ruler Denmark are due in May 2025. But the group of 67 women were asking for compensation now as most women were in their 70s and 80s. The women are seeking 300,000 Danish Krone (£34,878) each, according to their lawyer Mads Pramming. "We don't want to wait for the results of the enquiry," psychologist Naja Lyberth, one of the women seeking compensation, told AFP. "We are getting older, the oldest of us, who had IUDs inserted in the 1960s, were born in the 1940s and are approaching 80," she said. Ms Lyberth was the first woman to reportedly break her silence six years ago to say that she was a teenager when she was fitted with a coil during a school medical examination without her knowledge or consent. “Our lawyers are very sure that our human rights and the law was broken,” she said, according to The Guardian. Ms Lyberth said she went on to have a child but other women were unable to conceive. “It was the same as sterilising the girls from the beginning.” She added that in some cases the devices were too big for the girls' bodies and caused serious health complications that left them with internal bleeding and abdominal infections. Some, she said, had to have their uterus removed or completely lost the ability to have children. According to reports, these women were unaware of the devices until they were discovered by gynecologists, some until recently. The scandal came to light when Danish broadcaster DR reported last year that records showed that 4,500 intrauterine devices were fitted into women and girls as young as 13, without their knowledge or consent. The Danish and Greenland governments commissioned a team of researchers to uncover the extent of the cases and the decision-making process that led to the campaign in the years between 1960 and 1991, when Greenland gained authority over its healthcare system. The claim was sent to prime minister Mette Frederiksen's office on behalf of the plaintiffs on Monday, the lawyer said. Ms Lyberth said they would take the matter to court if the Danish government refuses to accept the compensation request. Greenland was a Danish colony until 1953 but is now a semi-sovereign territory of Denmark, with a population of just 57,000. Allegations of misconduct by Danish authorities against the people of its former colony have emerged in recent years. Copenhagen publicly apologised last year to the victims of a 1950s experiment in which children from Greenland were taken to Denmark. Read More Vasectomy and British men in their twenties: ‘Young, none and done’ Why are millennials like me so stressed about having children? India’s healthcare workers struggle to promote birth control in rural districts with booming fertility rates How climate change could affect where and when people travel Musk mocked by Ukraine’s parliament over tweet taunting Zelensky Ukraine to build its first underground school in Kharkiv, official says

A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Ankur Banerjee Traders remain in vigilance mode over

Russia’s prized Black Sea Fleet is struggling to contend with threats to Ukraine’s southern flank, according to British military intelligence. In its morning briefing, the Ministry of Defence said: “In recent weeks, the Naval Aviation component of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has assumed a particularly important role in the Fleet’s operations as it struggles to deal with concurrent threats on the southern flank of the Ukraine war. “Naval Aviation is emphasising maritime air patrol operations, highly likely with a primary mission of the early identification of uncrewed surface vessels.” The MoD’s latest update comes after a person was killed and six injured, including two children, as Russian shelling continued to hammer Ukraine‘s southern region of Kherson overnight. On the Telegram messaging app the governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said Russian forces had launched 71 attacks in the past 24 hours, “aimed at the residential districts”, as well as shops and medical infrastructure, among other establishments. Twenty of the air and land attacks targeted the city of Kherson, the region’s administrative district, the governor added, while authorities promptly doused a fire sparked by shelling early on Monday. Read More Congress didn't include funds for Ukraine in its spending bill. How will that affect the war? Ukraine is increasing the pressure on Putin – it cannot afford support from the West to slip now Wagner succession: Yevgeny Prigozhin’s son ‘set to be next mercenary boss’ Elon Musk mocked by Ukraine’s parliament over tweet taunting Zelensky

Sovereign bonds and shares declined in Asia after hawkish signaling from the Federal Reserve stirred concerns the US

Oil fell for a fourth day as macroeconomic concerns overshadowed physical market tightness to cloud the demand outlook.

The owner of the fast-food brand says there are "no new updates" on its pledge to leave Russia.

Provides an overview of Armenia, including key events and facts about this country in the Caucasus.

Ukraine's parliament and its speaker have taunted billionaire Elon Musk after he posted a meme on his social media platform mocking President Volodymyr Zelensky's pleas for assistance against Vladimir Putin's forces from the West. Musk owns SpaceX, which provides Starlink satellite communication services that are vital for Ukraine's defence effort, but his statements have sometimes angered Kyiv since the full-scale invasion launched by Russia in February last year. Follow the latest in our live blog here Early on Monday, Musk posted a meme on his platform X, formerly known as Twitter, showing Zelensky and the caption: "When it's been 5 minutes and you haven't asked for a billion dollars in aid." The Ukrainian leader and his top lieutenants have appealed to their allies throughout the war to secure billions of pounds of military aid to weather and push back Russia's invasion. The speaker of Ukraine's parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, hit out at Musk's jibe with his own post on X. "The case when [Elon Musk] tried to conquer space, but something went wrong and in 5 minutes he was up to his eyeballs in s***," an apparent reference to SpaceX's failed rocket launch in April. Ukraine's parliament, on its official page on X, accused Musk of spreading Russian propaganda, posting its own version of the meme with a picture of Musk and the caption: "When it's been 5 minutes and you haven't spread Russian propaganda". A Ukrainian presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, who has criticised some of Musk's statements in the past, said in a post on X that being silent or ironic about Ukraine played into the hands of Russian propaganda. "Unfortunately, not everyone and not always, while being significant media figures, but being thousands of kilometres away from the war's epicentre, is able to realize what the daily bombardments and cries of children losing their parents are." Ukrainian officials criticised Musk earlier in the war for suggesting that they should consider giving up land for peace, a position that Kyiv has staunchly rejected. Zelensky visited the United States in September and met top officials in a bid to secure further aid. Over the weekend, aid for Ukraine was omitted from a stopgap funding measure passed by Congress in Washington to avert a US government shutdown. Washington has been the largest single donor to Ukraine since Russia's full invasion last year, giving tens of billions of dollars in military and financial aid. Although right-wing Republican supporters of former President Donald Trump have increasingly called for funding of Ukraine to be halted, President Joe Biden's administration says it expects the Republican-controlled House of Representatives to pass a measure to keep the aid flowing. On Sunday, Biden pressed congressional Republicans to back the aid, saying he was "sick and tired" of the political brinkmanship that had nearly closed the government down. Ukraine's foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said on Monday that Kyiv was still confident of US backing. "We don't feel that the US support has been shattered... because the United States understands that what is at stake in Ukraine is much bigger than just Ukraine," he said. He added that what happened in the US Congress at the weekend was just "an incident". "We have a very in-depth discussion with both parts of the Congress – Republicans and Democrats," he said. Reuters Read More Germany's government and Elon Musk spar on X over migrant rescue ships Elon Musk visits Texas border on X livestream ‘to see what is really going on’ Elon Musk’s visit to US border blighted by tech issues on his own platform X

John Burleigh became a social media sensation after leaping into a lake to celebrate Europe's win.