~theguardian-world | Bookmarks (22)

Price rise for mass-market types expected as global production falls to lowest level in more than 10 yearsOlive oil prices are set to climb further this year – heading to more than £16 a litre for a bottle of extra virgin – amid a drop in global production to the lowest level in more than a decade.Lower production in Greece, Morocco and Turkey as...

Ahmed Alhashimi’s seven-year-old daughter Sara was crushed to death after group of men rushed on to dinghyThe father of a seven-year-old girl crushed to death on a small boat has said they tried to cross the Channel after being informed his young family would be deported to Iraq after spending years in Europe.Ahmed Alhashimi, 41, lost grasp of his daughter, Sara, on an inflatable...

Attempt to cross via overcrowded dinghy from Wimereux aborted after engine stalls and five people drownThey could have been on a school trip. Fifty teenagers from Vietnam, dressed for the biting cold in puffer jackets, smart trainers and woolly beanies, sat on the pavement by the bus shelter outside Gare Calais listening to music and watching videos on their smartphones.They were waiting for the...

French coastguard says small boat was carrying more than 100 people during failed crossing attemptFive people have died in an attempt to cross the Channel near the town of Wimereux, south of Calais, French police have said.A spokesperson for France’s national police told Reuters that five asylum seekers had died, while the French coastguard confirmed there was a failed attempt to cross the Channel...

The superstar arrives in Europe next month – and Swifties, tourist boards and venues are already preparingTim Brown, 44, and his wife, Marcella, 34, may not consider themselves bona fide “Swifties”, but when it was announced last June that Taylor Swift would be visiting their corner of the globe this summer they could not resist joining the scramble for a pair of tickets.A post-pandemic...

Prime ministers to examine plans to confiscate billions of euros in interest from frozen Russian assets and send the money to KyivEU leaders are to meet in Brussels to discuss ways to radically increase military and financial support for Ukraine amid calls for member states to put their economies “on a war footing”.Fuelled by what one diplomat said was a new “sense of urgency...

Families say they were promised details of relatives’ whereabouts after contacting people they thought were linked to NGO in SpainFamilies of people who disappeared on the perilous journey from Africa to Europe have said they were asked to pay hundreds of euros in exchange for information about what had happened to their loved ones.In interviews with the Guardian, three families recounted how, as part...

One site tweeted of monarch’s purported demise only to later concede: ‘Most likely, the information is fake’The news broke in the Russian media on Monday afternoon. King Charles III was dead. He was not, but no one really had time to check the details. The saga of the royal family finally had its latest twist: a viral Russian disinformation angle.The rumour went into overdrive...

Voters turn out at midday from the UK to Latvia and Turkey to Thailand in action Alexei Navalny endorsed before his deathThe queue to vote at the Russian embassy stretched for more than half a mile along Kensington Gardens on Sunday as hundreds of Russians arrived at midday as part of a worldwide act of protest to show their opposition to Vladimir Putin and...

Popular national figure given new role after being dismissed by Volodymyr Zelenskiy a month agoUkraine’s former commander in chief, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, is to become the country’s next ambassador to the UK, a month after he was fired by the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, from his job leading the military.The decision makes good on Zelenskiy’s promise to keep the popular former general “as part of the...

Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he will not give missiles that could strike at strategic Crimea bridge, as Russia seeks to exploit leakHow significant is Russia’s apparent interception of military talks on Ukraine?Britain has urged a reluctant Berlin to supply long-range Taurus missiles to Kyiv despite an embarrassing leak to Russian television of a top-secret call involving German air force officers who said UK troops...

Boat carrying 10 other children between seven and 13 years old, along with girl’s pregnant mother, father and three siblings, sankA seven-year-old girl has died in a canal close to Dunkirk after a makeshift boat carrying 16 people from northern France to the UK capsized, the prefecture in France’s Nord department said.The boat, which was carrying 10 other children between seven and 13 years...

Officials say 179 people trying to cross Channel were rescued after four French-led operationsOne person has died and two others are missing in the Channel after an incident involving a small boat, French rescue services have said.According to the Préfecture maritime Manche et mer du Nord, four French-led rescue operations took place in the Channel on Wednesday, coordinated by the regional operational surveillance and...

Leaders pay respects to former taoiseach of 1990s ‘rainbow coalition’ as he is laid to rest in DunboyneThe former Irish taoiseach John Bruton has been described as a “humbling and unassuming” man at his state funeral, attended by senior political figures including the president, Michael D Higgins, and the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar.Ministers, TDs and parliamentary ushers were among those who attended the service at...

Andrea Leadsom says businesses experiencing ‘some friction’ should ‘adapt’ to changes in trade rulesBusiness live – latest updatesBritish businesses experiencing “some friction” when trading with the European Union after Brexit is the “price you pay” for “being a sovereign state again”, a government minister has said.On the fourth anniversary of Britain officially leaving the European union, the health minister and Brexiter Andrea Leadsom said...

France and UK also agree to deploy more drones and sea barriers to stop small boats crossing ChannelUK security experts will help France to protect the Paris Olympics in a sign of closer cooperation, the Home Office has said.Both governments also plan to deploy more drones and sea barriers to prevent small boats carrying asylum seekers from crossing the Channel. Continue reading...

Missiles could be placed at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk in case of potential war between Nato and RussiaThe US is planning to station nuclear weapons in the UK for the first time in 15 years amid a growing threat from Russia, according to a report. Warheads three times as strong as the Hiroshima bomb would be located at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk under the...

Former journalist had lived in public eye for almost 30 years as prime suspect in 1996 murder of Sophie Toscan du PlantierIan Bailey, an English former journalist who was the prime suspect in one of Ireland’s most notorious murders, has died near his home in Bantry, County Cork, at the age of 66. He suffered a heart attack on Sunday.Bailey had lived in the...

Attitudes to climate, migration, global economic turmoil, Ukraine and Covid will dominate this year’s elections, research indicatesEurope’s voters are no longer divided into left or right, pro- or anti-EU camps, a survey suggests, but into five distinct tribes whose conflicting concerns are likely to dominate nearly 20 elections across the continent this year.The polling suggests 2024’s European parliament and national elections will be fought...

Rolling coverage of the opening day of the World Economic Forum in DavosGeopolitical tensions and AI dominate start of World Economic ForumUkraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has met business chiefs at a session for “CEOs for Ukraine”, here at the World Economic Forum, before his speech this afternoon.He was seated alongside Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission President, who will also address WEF today: Continue...

Lax employment law cited as motivation for ice-cold crossing in which five people died off WimereuxThe mayor of the French seaside resort where five people died off the coast trying to reach the UK has blamed the British immigration system for the crisis that engulfed the town at the weekend.“What’s happening today is their fault,” said Jean-Luc Dubaële, the mayor of Wimereux, claiming Britain...

Despite leading lavish lifestyles, some monarchs are influencing people to make greener choicesWhen Prince Frederik takes the throne on Sunday, the Danish crown will pass from his mother, Queen Margrethe II, a monarch who has cast doubt on the fact that human pollution is heating the planet, to one who feels bound by duty to call for stronger action on climate breakdown.“I think it’s...