Europe
Europe
Brazilian ex-model Thalita do Valle who joined Ukrainian forces as a sniper three weeks ago killed in a Russian missile strike in Kharkiv, had previously fought alongside Peshmerga against the IS terrorists in Iraq
Britain's Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid resign from their ministerial roles shortly after Boris Johnson's apology for appointing MP Chris Pincher despite being aware of him being accused of sexual misconduct, both former ministers harshly criticize Johnson
101-year-old sentenced to five years in prison for 3,518 counts of accessory to murder due to serving at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp between 1942 and 1945 appeals the conviction, not immediately clear when the appeal might be considered
Several killed in shooting at crowded Copenhagen shopping center during Sunday evening, police say a 22-year-old Danish man has been arrested and that terrorism can not be ruled out as motive
Stop the Islamization of Norway leader Lars Thorsen rammed off the highway outside Oslo after Quran burning, five people injured after the SUV overturned, two people arrested
Two dead and ten seriously injured after shooting at gay bar in central Oslo around 1:00 AM Saturday, 42-year-old Iranian man with Norwegian citizenship arrested within a few minutes after the first reports, police investigate the event as a terrorist attack, all events linked to Saturday's Oslo Pride cancelled following police recommendations
One dead and 14 injured of which several with life-threatening injuries after car driven into crowd near Kurfürstendamm in Berlin during Wednesday morning, 29-year-old German-Armenian detained, investigation regarding motive ongoing where some sources say a confession letter was found in the suspect's car
UK employment tribunal judge rules calling a man bald can now be classed as sexual harassment, says baldness is more prevalent in men than women and thus related to a protected characteristic of sex in the same way as a woman's breast size
Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia to hold referendum on joining Russia on July 17, leader Anatoly Bibilov's statement cites his people's historic aspiration to join Russia
Five stabbed and injured on train in German Aachen in suspected Islamic terror attack, Iraqi-born man arrested after a police officer together with two passengers overpowered the suspect who was already known to authorities
Utrecht announces plan to start harassing randomly selected men walking around in public spaces, the harassment is expected to lead to less harassment as those harassed will understand that being harassed is both uncomfortable and in some cases threatening
39-year-old German woman found guilty of sexual assault and handed a six-month suspended sentence for purposefully damaging condoms without informing her partner, Judge Astrid Salewski comments that legal history has been written
Several places in the Netherlands commemorate Pim Fortuyn on the 20th anniversary of his murder, two-thirds of Netherlands residents positive about Fortuyn and his ideas and 72% agree that he was important to the country, Fortuyn is often characterized as far-right but about half of leftist voters are positive to him, is referred to as having pulled problems out of the taboo
Russian police arrest more than 1,391 people in 51 cities at anti-war protests, Russia has toughened protest laws in recent years and authorities warned during Thursday of legal repercussions for joining unsanctioned protests related to the tense foreign political situation
Russian forces seize the Chernobyl nuclear plant after brief but fierce fighting with Ukrainian troops, presidential adviser Myhailo Podolyak says Ukrainian officials do not know the current condition of the power plant, but Russian shelling reportedly hit a radioactive waste repository and an increase in radiation levels was reported
Vladimir Putin recognizes the independence of eastern Ukrainian separatist regions Donetsk and Luhansk in an hour-long TV address and asks the upper house to support the decision, signs mutual aid agreements with pro-Russian rebel leaders and demands that Ukraine immediately ends military operations against them, says modern Ukraine was entirely and completely created by Russia
Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte says the Dutch need to learn how to live together again as restrictions are lifted, says it is unfortunate that two years of his polarizing politics and rhetoric has lead to a polarized society, urges the people whose lives have been destroyed by him and other politicians to think about how they can be kind and act nicely, as they are graciously allowed back into society
Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte says the Dutch need to learn how to live together again as restrictions are lifted, says it is unfortunate that two years of his polarizing politics and rhetoric has lead to a polarized society, urges the people whose lives have been destroyed by him and other politicians to think about how they can be kind and act nicely, as they are graciously allowed back into society
16-year-old Nikita Uvarov sentenced to five years in a penal colony on charges of "training for terrorist activities" for allegedly planning to blow up an FSB security service building in Minecraft, also accused of building and testing bombs and was thought to prepare to destroy the real building as well, two other defendants cleared of criminal charges and handed suspended sentences due to cooperating with investigators
French president Emmanuel Macron says up to 14 new nuclear reactors will be built in the country and make it carbon neutral by 2050, will also seek to extend the lives of all existing French nuclear plants where it is safe to do so
Belgian police arrest 13 suspected Islamist terrorists in Antwerp in raid involving around 100 police officers at 13 different addresses, spokesperson for Belgium's federal public prosecutor says the arrested are suspected of belonging to a Salafist movement which means it is an open case for terrorism and that the investigation has been ongoing for several months
23-year-old British teaching assistant Hannah Harris convicted of engaging in sexual activity with a child for having sex with a 14-year-old boy and tricking his parents into believing he was seeing a teenage girl by pretending to be her mother, was caught out in January 2020 by the boy's older brother
France introduces new body Forum of Islam as part of efforts to help guide the country's five million Muslims away from extremism, all members are to be handpicked by the government and at least one in four will be a woman, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin says they are restarting relations between the state and the faith based on a new form of dialogue that will be more open, more inclusive and more representative of Islam's diversity in France
Austria's upper house of parliament approves the planned Covid-19 vaccine mandate for adults with a 47 to 12 vote, the mandate is now to be sent to President Alexander Van der Bellen for signing, Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein comments that the country now is not simply reacting but taking a forward-looking and active step
Dutch gynaecologist Jan Beek conceived at least 21 children and possibly dozens more by using his own sperm for fertility treatment during his 25 years at the Elisabethziekenhuis hospital in Leiderdorp, the case came to light when biological parents tracing organisation Fiom found DNA matches for 21 children whose mothers had received fertility treatment in Beek's clinic
German air travel increases 27.3% during 2021 to 73.6 million passengers taking off and landing at the country's airports, down 67.6% since the record high of 226.7 million passengers in 2019
Norway's district court rejects Anders Breivik parole application in unanimous verdict, Breivik's lawyer said his client should be released to prove he is reformed and no longer a threat to society, which is not possible to prove while he is in total isolation
Two police officers shot dead during routine traffic stop on a rural road in the Kusel, Germany in the early hours of Monday morning, manhunt underway
King crabs invade the waters of northeastern Britain, were planted in Russia by scientists in the 1960s and then headed to Norway before finding their way to Britain, Henderson Seafood's Shaun Henderson says he is excited to sell the crabs at a price similar to lobster but that he is worried that the crabs eat scallops and could outcompete the native brown crabs
European Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly accuses the European Commission of maladministration and a lack of transparency after a request for access to text messages between Commmission President Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla was denied as the Commission does not keep such records as texts are temporary and contain no important information
The University of Groningen suspends an associate professor's lectures on critical thinking, university newspaper UKrant says students felt unsafe disagreeing with his ideas about the dominance of Jews and theories about the 9/11 attacks
World's largest sea sluice opened at IJmuiden by King Willem-Alexander, the 500 metres long, 70 metres wide and 18 metres deep connects Amsterdam with the North Sea and replaces the Noordersluis which was built in 1929, the project was plagued by mishaps causing a three year delay and rising costs
Germany creates task force to investigate individuals suspected of using Telegram to commit crimes, Federal Criminal Police Office Chief Holger Münch says that Covid-19 in particular has contributed to people becoming radicalized and that the app is being used to target politicians, scientists and doctors for their role in tackling the pandemic
Berlin classifies yellow stars at Covid-19 related protests as a fundamental disturbance of public peace, instructs police to confiscate such badges and also take action against other "secondary antisemitism" analogies that trivialise the Holocaust
Poland starts building 5.5-metre-high wall that will run along 186km of the Belarus border, the EUR 353 million wall is to be completed in June
Dutch police finds unidentified man alive in the nose wheel section of a cargo plane at Schiphol airport, the man is believed to have climbed aboard the plane before it left Johannesburg
Senior French surgeon Emmanuel Masmejean at the Georges Pompidou public hospital in southwest Paris faces legal action and a possible disciplinary charge after attempting to sell NFT digital images showing an X-ray of a concert-goer who was shot during the 2015 attack on the Bataclan music hall in Paris
Silvio Berlusconi drops plans to run in Italy's presidential race, says he had enough support but did not want to seek the job, wishes for the right-wing coalition to propose another candidate
70 people detained in Brussels at demonstration with 50,000 people against Covid-19 vaccination mandates and other government restrictions, three officers and 12 demonstrators required hospital treatment after clashes where riot police used water cannons and tear gas against protesters who ignored instructions to disperse, EU building vandalized
German navy chief Kay-Achim Schönbach resigns after publicly saying that Crimea is lost to Ukraine and that Vladimir Putin deserves respect, the remarks are reported as directly contradicting the official view held by the EU and the US
Austria and Luxembourg say they eye legal steps to fight the EU Commission taxonomy plans of classifying nuclear power as an environmentally sustainable energy source, Spain, Denmark and Germany also critical of adding nuclear power to the taxonomy while France supports the notion
Ireland lifts Covid certification pass requirements for entry to hospitality, entertainment and leisure outlets, allows full capacity audiences and lifts restrictions on pubs and restaurants, keeps requiring masks in settings such as in shops, schools and on public transport, self-isolation rules and Covid passes for international travel
German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach says a fourth vaccine dose might not be necessary if three vaccination mandate is introduced
Germany's Christian Democratic Union elects 66-year-old Friedrich Merz as new leader, Merz who is a commercial lawyer, Catholic and father of three has in contradictions of his earlier positions recently repeatedly stated his clear rejection of any cooperation with right-wing AfD and has spoken out in favour of changing legislation to allow LGBTQ couples to adopt children
Austria announces vaccine mandate starting February 1 and at least 10 days national lockdown for unvaccinated, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg says that the measures are unfortunately necessary due to people not getting vaccinated in spite of months of persuasion
Teachers calls police on nine-year-old Donnan in Manchester for selling air fresheners, bought packet of four from pound shop then sold them for GBP 1 each outside Tesco petrol station, Sacred Heart Primary School say they contacted authorities over concerns of the boy, while Tesco spokesman said they were touched he raise money to buy little sister a Christmas present and made sure he was safe
British Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries says BBC licence fee will be scrapped after 2027 and freezes annual GBP 159 fee for the next two years in her last licence fee announcement, adding that the days of elderly being threatened with prison sentences and bailiffs knocking on doors are over
Some 560,000 French people lose their Covid pass due to the government changing the requirement to three jabs, outdoor mask mandate abolished after court ruling it an infringement of personal freedom
Marks and Spencer rebrands retro sweets Midget Gems as Mini Gems to please dwarf lobbyist Dr Erin Pritchard who says the word midget is a form of hate speech and contributes to the prejudice that people with dwarfism experience on a daily basis
Marine Le Pen protests against Emmanuel Macron replacing national flag with that of the EU on the Arc de Triomphe for Paris's presidency of the bloc, calls it an attack on the nation's identity because monument honours its military victories and houses the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Josef Fritzl undergoes psychological tests to determine whether he can be freed from prison in 2024 after serving 15 years for keeping his daughter locked in a dungeon from 1984-2008, raping her thousands of times and fathering seven children with her, it is deemed highly unlikely he will pass the tests or that a judge would grant his freedom
EU drafting law allowing Brussels to seize private property during pandemic emergency, the Single Market Emergency Instrument to have a toolbox which will include controls on exports and powers to obtain information from companies on production, stockpiles and their supply chains as EU will not allow corporate interests to interfere with the greater interest of the European people
European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič says relationship with Switzerland could collapse as the country resists attempts to force it to yield trading sovereignty to Brussels under new draft trade deal as the bloc wants Switzerland to align its laws with EU law, economic ties currently governed by more than 100 bilateral agreements stretching back to 1972
Germany is trying to turn EU into a German Fourth Reich and if Poles agree they will be degraded in different ways, says one of Poland's deputy prime ministers Jarosław Kaczyński, adding that EU's Court of Justice is being used as an instrument for federalist ideas while former German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Poland must fully and completely implement EU law
Judge orders Dutch lawmaker Thierry Baudet (FvD) to take down four tweets where he drew comparisons between Covid-19 lockdown measures and the Holocaust, says the comparison goes beyond what can can be justified in the interests of robust public debate, Baudet calls the judgment insane and will appeal
33-year-old Argentinian striker Sergio Agüero retires from football after five games in FC Barcelona due to heart issue, was taken to hospital with chest pains after a match in October
Police Scotland will record rape offender with a penis as a woman if attacker identifies as a female as response to SNP's new Gender Recognition Act which will remove medical checks for those seeking a gender recognition certificate and shorten time people must live as their new gender before it is legally recognised
Finland buys 64 F-35A Block 4 multi-purpose fighters and air-to-air missiles in 8.4 billion EUR deal, the first training aircraft will be deployed in 2025 and the current F/A-18 fleet is to be phased out by 2030, the deal makes Finland the third Nordic country after Norway and Denmark to buy the F-35
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says EU must consider mandatory Covid jabs and rapidly deploy booster shots in response to the Omicron Covid variant, so far a total of 59 identified Omicron cases in the EU all of which have involved mild symptoms or been asymptomatic
Ukrainian government to be toppled within days in Russian-backed plot, president Volodymyr Zelensky claims, says officials have received audio recordings in which representatives of Russia and Ukrainian officials discuss a coup d’état to take place on December 1-2 allegedly funded by Ukraine’s richest oligarch Rinat Akhmetov
Germany's euthanasia association makes proof of vaccination or recovery from Covid-19 mandatory for anyone wishing to be euthanized
An Austrian Interior Ministry expert group suggests a complete ban on the annual gathering in Bleiburg in southern Austria which commemorates tens of thousands of Ustasa troops and civilians who were killed by the Yugoslav Partisans in 1945, in 2016 the Croatian parliament decided to reintroduce state sponsorship of the Bleiburg event after it was withdrawn in 2012, the event has been described as one of the greatest gatherings of ultranationalist and fascist groups in Europe
France sends about 50 members of elite tactical forces to overseas territory Guadeloupe after rioting and looting amid protests against Covid-19 measures, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin says the first message is that the state will stand firm
Austria makes Covid-19 vaccination mandatory from February 2022 and enters nationwide lockdown for a maximum of 20 days from next Monday after record number of Covid-19 cases, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg says it was consensus that a vaccine mandate was not necessary but that they have to face reality
Clashes between around 200 anti-lockdown protesters and riot police with water cannons in The Hague during Friday, the Netherlands re-impose partial lockdown for three weeks due to highest ever number of Covid infection cases, Covid deaths in the country remain low
Belarusian military arms migrants with tear gas, destroy border fences and blind Polish troops with lights and lasers in migration crisis escalation, about 100 migrants crossed the border Saturday morning where they used the tear gas to attack Polish forces
"It's OK to be white" posters in three places spark hate crime investigation in Basingstoke in southern England, resident Priya Brown says the posters constitute divisive tactics used by neo-Nazi and white supremacy groups and have no place in today's society, police spokesman says they are liaising with local community groups as part of the investigation
Three injured of which two seriously after knife attack on the ICE high-speed train between Regensburg and Nuremberg in Germany on Saturday morning, 27-year-old Arab man with a history of psychological problems arrested, investigators rule out a terrorist motive
Turkey probes 30 for tweets suggesting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had died, 67-year-old Erdoğan faces increased speculation about his health after recent videos showing him unstable on his feet and slurring
French prime minister Jean Castex says Britain must be punished for Brexit to show other EU states that leaving is more damaging than staying, in letter to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in attempt to get backing for new hard-line stance against the UK
Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro says no EU court fines will be paid as the country cannot bow to lawlessness, Poland was fined EUR 500,000 per day in September for refusing to shut down the Turów coal mine and recently EUR 1 million per day for keeping its Supreme Court disciplinary chamber
German police stop more than 50 vigilantes from patrolling along the Polish border, the group is said to have answered a call by far-right party The Third Way to stop illegal immigration from mainly Iraq and Syria, nearby town Guben's Christian Democrat mayor Fred Mahro says he rejects any form of vigilantism
Vladimir Putin slams cancel culture and likens it to reverse racism, says the emphasizing of the racial topic divides people and that teaching children about gender fluidity verges on being a crime against humanity, says that others are in their right to keep deleting their history and discriminate against the majority but that Russia stands for maintaining its spiritual values and historical traditions
Spain returns 1.1 million fines meted out for breaking virus lockdown rules during the first state of emergency between March 14 and June 21 last year, the move follows a top court ruling declaring the restrictions as unconstitutional
France offers EUR 100 hand-out to households earning less than EUR 2,000 per month to soften the impact of rising energy prices, 38 million people expected to be included in the payout, Prime Minister Jean Castex says the increase in prices is likely temporary but that they can't risk hobbling the economic recovery
Poland doubles the amount of troops at its border with Belarus to 6,000 in response to a surge in migration mainly from the Middle East with 612 attempts on Monday alone, Germany offers to send officers to work on Polish territory under Polish command to boost the common border protection interest
47-year-old civil engineer Kristian Dimitrievski sentenced to three years in prison for corporate espionage for Russia, regularly met a Russian diplomat between 2016 and 2019 and handed over copied secret information from Scania, was acquitted of handing over Volvo data as it could not be proven that the information could damage Sweden's security
England ditches vaccine passport plans, Health Secretary Sajid Javid says they looked at the evidence properly and "shouldn't be doing things for the sake of it"
Five people injured including a child slashed in the throat in stabbing spree in Rimini after a Somali man was asked for his bus ticket, police arrested the man after he failed to hijack a car
Scottish government says children aged four can change gender at school without parents' consent, tells teachers not to question a child's request to choose a new name or use a different toilet and schools to have transgender books on their curriculum
Russian woman takes McDonald’s to court claiming it made her break her fast during Lent when a billboard enticed her to buy a cheeseburger, demanding moral compensation of USD 13.5, a source from the Russian Orthodox Church’s Moscow Patriarchate advises her to go to confession instead
Poland’s justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro indicates his government could consider leaving EU amid dispute over proposed judicial reforms, saying government will not succumb to the illegal blackmail of the bloc carried out by the Court of Justice
Emmanuel Macron sues billboard owner for depicting him as Adolf Hitler in poster as a statement against the compulsory vaccinations, the poster shows Macron in Nazi uniform with a toothbrush moustache and swastika replaced by his party's abbreviation LREM, next to the slogan "Obey: Get Vaccinated"
UK government to launch surveillance app to track people’s routines and to award those who buy fruit and vegetables or increase their daily exercise, enabeling them to exchange points received through the tracking app for event tickets, discounts and other bonuses, in scheme to manage obesity levels in Britain