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Republican lawmakers have tied any agreement over aid to the situation at the US border, which both parties and the White House have described as a crisisThe death toll from Russian missile strikes on Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv has risen to 11, officials said on Friday.In one of the largest waves of aerial bombardments in weeks, more than 100 people were injured and at...

French government set to respond after being surprised by scale and fury of grassroots demonstrations in agriculture sectorPierre Bretagne woke at 4am to feed the cows on his organic farm near the coastal town of Pornic in western France, then did something he had never dared to before.He made a cardboard protest banner about the nightmare of French bureaucracy and went to cheer on...

Exclusive: EU states accuse TfL of huge data breach over clean air zone penalties, with many given to compliant vehiclesEU motorist’s £11,000 run-in with London Ulez rulesHow Belgian MP turned sleuth to solve Ulez fine mysteryHundreds of thousands of EU citizens were wrongly fined for driving in London’s Ulez clean air zone, according to European governments, in what has been described as “possibly one...

Bloc plans to bulk-buy key drugs for all 27 countries, potentially leaving Britain ‘behind in the queue’The EU is to stockpile key medicines that will worsen the record drug shortages in the UK, with experts warning that the country could be left “behind in the queue”.The EU is seeking to safeguard its supplies by switching to a system in which its 27 members work...

European Commission president says policymakers have to find a way forward to find lasting solutions for farmersHere are photos from France this morning, where farmers are continuing to block roads.Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission’s president, said today there was a “sense of urgency” that things had to improve for Europe’s agriculture sector.I think we all sense that there is an increasing division...

Russia has accused Kyiv of deliberately shooting down the Il-76 military transport which Moscow claims was carrying Ukrainian prisoners of warUkraine’s largest oil and gas company, Naftogaz, has reported that it is suffering “a large-scale cyber-attack” on one of its datacentres. It reports via its Telegram channel that “the website and call centre are currently down.”Reuters is also carrying some quotes about the apparent...

Decision paves way for release to a nursing home 15 years after conviction for rape and imprisonment of his daughterJosef Fritzl, the Austrian who raped and incarcerated his daughter in a purpose-built prison beneath his home for 24 years, will be transferred to a regular prison from a prison psychiatric unit, his lawyer has said – paving the way for his release to a...

In first such admission, previously secret document says Danish aircraft participated in attacks linked to civilian deathsDenmark’s defence ministry said it would launch a review after evidence emerged showing its air force participated in airstrikes on Libya that killed 14 civilians in 2011, the first time any of the 10 countries involved in the Nato bombing campaign has acknowledged a possible link to non-combatant...

Moscow says aircraft that went down in border region of Belgorod was carrying prisoners who were to be swappedRussia has accused Kyiv of downing a large military transport plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war to an exchange on Wednesday, after a crash in the Belgorod region that killed everyone onboard.Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied that it hit the plane but said Moscow had...

Arrest at president’s residence of Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik, of Law and Justice party, had sparked bitter political rowPoland’s president, Andrzej Duda, said he had pardoned two jailed politicians from the opposition populist Law and Justice (PiS) party, which lost its majority in October elections, and called for their immediate release.The former interior minister Mariusz Kamiński and his ex-deputy, Maciej Wąsik, were imprisoned...

Impetus for change was US supreme court overturning Roe v Wade, while Germany passes law banning harassment of women at abortion clinicsThe French parliament has begun debating moves for France to become the first country in the world to enshrine abortion as a constitutional right, guaranteeing women access to the means to end a pregnancy voluntarily.The justice minister, Éric Dupond-Moretti, told the lower house...

Rights of lone minors were not protected, with some deported and others left homeless for monthsSpain, Greece and Hungary have been rebuked by courts for failing to protect the rights of children.It adds to a string of recent rulings that have reprimanded countries across Europe over the treatment of lone minors who are seeking asylum. Continue reading...

France, Poland and Austria among nine countries where radical rightwing parties predicted to finish firstPopulist “anti-European” parties are heading for big gains in June’s European elections that could shift the parliament’s balance sharply to the right and jeopardise key pillars of the EU’s agenda including climate action, polling suggests.Polling in all 27 EU member states, combined with modelling of how national parties performed in...

At least 130 people also injured, says president, with Kharkiv apartment block and Kyiv sports club among buildings hitRussia-Ukraine war – latest news updatesRussia has carried out a wave of attacks on Ukraine, killing 18 people and injuring more than 130, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said, with a sports club in central Kyiv one of several civilian buildings damaged.Making his nightly video address on Tuesday,...

Three people questioned on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter after collision in Pamiers, south of Toulouse A woman and her teenage daughter have died in southern France after a car hit a roadblock where they were standing. The blockade had been set up by farmers taking part in growing anti-government protests.The 35-year-old woman and her 14-year-old daughter were killed at 5.45am when a car went...

Vote leaves Hungary as only country still to ratify application made in response to Russian invasion of UkraineEurope live – latest updatesThe Turkish parliament has given its long-awaited approval to Sweden’s membership of Nato, bringing the Nordic country significantly closer to joining the western military alliance after months in limbo.Three months after Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish president, submitted a bill on approving membership...

UN agency calls for ‘urgent vaccination efforts’ in region to prevent further spread of diseaseThe World Health Organization has issued an urgent warning over measles after an “alarming” 30-fold rise in cases across Europe.The UN agency reported an enormous increase in numbers affected by the disease, which it said had accelerated in recent months. More than 30,000 cases were reported between January and October...

Turkey’s parliament to debate Sweden’s Nato bid; US Senate works on compromise for Ukraine aid but Maga Republicans refuse supportThe Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, said he had invited Sweden’s prime minister to visit and negotiate his country joining the Nato military alliance, a process that Hungary and Turkey have delayed.On X, Orban said:Today I sent an invitation letter to prime minister Ulf Kristersson...

Opposition leader says prisoners forced to listen to ‘I am Russian’ by Shaman as part of 5am regimeJailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has complained of being poisoned, assaulted and deprived of proper medical care, but this week he disclosed he faced a new challenge: being forced to listen to a pro-Putin pop singer at 5am every morning.Navalny, 47, a former lawyer who rose to...

Films include a sci-fi about a man who rents out his dead wife’s body and a documentary about a hippo owned by Pablo EscobarColombian cocaine hippos, a Star Wars parody set in northern France and an unlikely father-daughter pairing of Stephen Fry and Lena Dunham all feature in an eclectic lineup at this year’s Berlin film festival, which was unveiled on Monday.The 74th edition...

Draft legislation allowing for confiscation of valuables has been backed by main political parties Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updatesA bill to confiscate property and valuables from Ukraine war critics convicted of, among other crimes, “discrediting the Russian army” or calling for foreign sanctions has been drawn up by the Kremlin.The draft legislation to the criminal code was registered in Russia’s State Duma on...

‘Looking for a solution in the Middle East doesn’t mean that we are not continuing supporting Ukraine,’ says Josep BorrellIn an update this morning, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said that during the day yesterday, there were “68 combat engagements.”“The enemy launched a total of four missile strikes and 102 airstrikes, as well as 80 MLRS attacks at the positions of Ukrainian...

In today’s newsletter: Politicians from Germany’s rightwing AfD party have been exposed for plotting with extremists – but will they be banned, or could it see support rise?• Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning. The far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party now polls above 20% in Germany – and it is showing no signs of going away. Earlier this month,...

Belgium already takes a cut from Netflix and Disney and new income will support local TV productionCute cat videos, fried chicken clips and viral dances could soon help to finance Belgian TV, with the Flanders government on the verge of passing laws to force TikTok and YouTube to share revenues with local television producers.“Politically speaking, it is important in audiovisual and media services that...