Blink, and you might have missed it. In its 45-minute Friday night news bulletin, Russian TV devoted 28 seconds to the news about Alexei Navalny. His death was announced almost in passing. Just 28 seconds for the man who’d become Russia’s most prominent opposition figure and the country’s most famous prisoner. Alexei Navalny had, in…
While countries around the world have struggled to recover from the economic setbacks brought on by the pandemic, one has emerged particularly strong. With a fast-growing economy, a strong labour market and falling inflation, the US has outpaced its counterparts in Europe and elsewhere. In terms of GDP, it posted a 3.3% gain in the…
Speculation that Ukraine’s popular military chief, Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi, was on his way out has been swirling for months. That in itself has been damaging. Strain at the top does not bolster morale at home or abroad. Confirmation of General Zaluzhnyi’s removal will not immediately resolve the crises either. Ukraine is struggling on the battlefield,…
“I’m afraid that we will actually miss out on the future, because we’re taking too little risks.” Verena Pausder is a successful German entrepreneur who is clear about where she thinks the economy is going wrong. This week, it was confirmed that Europe’s biggest economy shrank by 0.3% last year. Whilst the country avoided recession…
Albania’s constitutional court has approved a controversial agreement to send asylum seekers in Italy to Albania. Under the agreement, the Italian government will build two centres in northern Albania to process36,000 people hoping to reach Italy each year. The deal will now have to be ratified by the Albanian parliament. However, it is likely to…
French farmers have begun moving hundreds of tractors in an effort to blockade key routes into the French capital, termed the “siege of Paris.” Farmers argue they are being hit by falling incomes, environmental regulations, rising red tape, and competition from imports. French authorities say 15,000 police have been mobilised to stop tractors entering the…
A painting by the Austrian artist Gustav Klimt, that was believed lost for 100 years, has been found in Vienna. “Portrait of Fraulein Lieser” once belonged to a Jewish family in Austria and was last seen in public in 1925. Its fate after that is unclear but the family of the current owners have had…
The Turkish parliament has ratified Sweden’s bid to join Nato by an big majority in a long-delayed vote. Sweden applied to join in 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But Turkey withheld its approval following disagreements over what it called Sweden’s support to Kurdish separatists. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is now expected to…
There was an “alarming” 30-fold increase in measles cases in Europe last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) says. Health chiefs are warning that cases are still rising and “urgent measures” are needed to prevent further spread. More than 30,000 people were infected in 2023, compared to 941 during the whole of 2022. The WHO…
A fire has destroyed almost the entire art collection of Abkhazia, the breakaway region of Georgia that is controlled by Russia. More than 4,000 paintings at the National Art Gallery in the capital Sukhumi were lost in the blaze. It spread quickly inside the early 20th Century building which had a wooden structure and was…