List of All Articles with Tag 'europe'

After deadly flash floods in Sikkim, experts question why an early warning system was not in place.

The European Union said late Monday that it’s urgently reviewing the bloc’s assistance to the Palestinians after several

BlackRock Inc. Vice Chairman Philipp Hildebrand said the International Monetary Fund should frame discussions this week around the

Keir Starmer said his Labour Party is preparing for a UK general election as soon as May 2024,

Luxembourg’s Christian Social People’s Party won Sunday’s general election, giving the conservatives a chance to retake government after

Norway’s economy shrank in August for the first time in four months, largely in line with the central

Watch live as Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the Nato Parliamentary Assembly’s plenary session on Monday 9 October. Last month, Mr Zelensky said it was only a “matter of time” before Ukraine becomes an official Nato member as he met the defence bloc’s chief in Kyiv. The Ukrainian president has pushed to join the alliance despite threats from Russia, and Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg reiterated in September that the bloc would stand with Kyiv as long as it takes. Monday marks the final day of the parliamentary session in Denmark, where 31 Nato member states have addressed key topics on the Euro-Atlantic defence and security agenda and assessed the outcomes and key decisions taken at July’s summit in Vilnius. Mr Zelensky will be speaking to the assembly via video link. Ahead of his address, parliamentarians from Nato countries on Sunday discussed the impact of the war in Ukraine on the energy sector and the importance of helping Kyiv to rebuild even before the fighting stops. Read More

Ukrainian forces have made small gains over the weekend along multiple points of the frontline as “heavy rain” threatens to slow down Kyiv’s counteroffensive. Geolocated images showed Ukrainian infantry roughly 300 metres north of Novoprokopivka, south of Robotyne, which is the deepest they have been seen inside Russian-occupied territory as part of that attack. This line has emerged as Ukraine’s main axis of the counteroffensive in the past month, though progress slowed after the liberation of Robotyne at the end of August. The Ukrainian General Staff also claimed on Sunday that Ukrainian forces had achieved “partial success” near Bakhmut, though that remains unconfirmed. It comes as “heavy rain” was reported in both the Bakhmut and Zaporizhzhia, which is the region in which Robotyne is located. At the start of September, the-then top-ranking US military officer General Mark Milley said he believed Ukraine had about “30 to 45 days' worth of fighting weather left”. One Russian military blogger claimed that “weather conditions have deteriorated very much” in the past few weeks, adding that there were “no significant enemy movements … due to poor visibility”. Ukrainian eastern group of forces spokesperson Captain Ilya Yevlash admitted that the poor weather, and the subsequent low visibility, may affect drone and aviation but it will not halt the counteroffensive, according to comments published by the Institute for the Study of War. Read More Ukraine village reels after deadly missile strike: ‘Everything was burning’ Precision missile strike on cafe hosting soldier's wake decimates Ukrainian village Russia plans to reverse global nuclear test ban, announces envoy

The North Korea-Russia border is seeing a sharp increase in rail traffic in likely signs of Kim Jong-un helping Russian president Vladimir Putin by supplying munitions, a US think-tank claimed, citing recent satellite photos. Satellite images from 5 October showed a “dramatic and unprecedented level of freight railcar traffic” at the Tumangang Rail Facility, according to Beyond Parallel, a website run by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. Approximately 73 railcars were visible in the images from last week, whereas previous satellite pictures over the past five years showed about 20 railcars at this facility at the most. It was not immediately clear what the contents of the railway shipments were as the shipping crates were covered under tarpaulin. This was likely a follow-up action after the North Korean leader met with his Russian counterpart in Russia’s far east last month, according to Beyond Parallel. “Given that Kim and Putin discussed some military exchanges and cooperation at their recent summit, the dramatic increase in rail traffic likely indicates North Korea’s supply of arms and munitions to Russia,” it said on Friday. “However, the extensive use of tarps to cover the shipping crates/containers and equipment makes it impossible to conclusively identify what is seen at the Tumangang Rail Facility" on the border, it said. This comes at a time leaders and experts have warned against North Korea’s plan to assist Russia’s depleting munition reserves in its continuing invasion of Ukraine. As Mr Kim met Mr Putin in Russia and visited key military sites and discussed strategic cooperation on defence, leaders speculated that North Korea could aid Moscow. The North Korean leader could have sought sophisticated Russian weapons technologies to boost his nuclear programme in barter for the munition, foreign leaders said. Officials in the US and South Korea warned North and Russia of consequences if they went ahead with the speculated weapons transfer deal in violation of the UN Security Council resolutions that ban all weapons trade involving Pyongyang which is under heavy sanctions for its nuclear weapons programme. The White House has said Russia wants to buy "literally millions" of artillery shells and rockets from North Korea. The reports of North Korea aiding Russia in invading Ukraine emerged last year when the US said the hermit kingdom was sending ammunition, artillery shells and rockets to Russia, with many of them copies of Soviet-era munitions. Officials in South Korea said the weapons provided by the North have already been used in Ukraine. “While access to such stocks of North may help Russia prolong the conflict, it is unlikely going to change the outcome,” according to Joseph Dempsey, a defence researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “The size of these stores and its degradation over time is less clear, as is the scale of ongoing production, but these stockpiles could help replenish those severely depleted in Ukraine,” he said. Read More North Korea vows strong response to Pentagon report that calls it a 'persistent' threat North Korea's Kim sets forth steps to boost Russia ties as US and Seoul warn about weapons deals North Korea says Kim Jong Un is back home from Russia, where he deepened 'comradely' ties with Putin North Korean state media says Kim Jong Un discussed arms cooperation with Russian defense minister North Korean arms for Russia probably wouldn't make a big difference in the Ukraine war, Milley says

Ukrainian forces beat attacks on five points across the war frontline on Sunday as Russia’s troops resorted to using old weapons and equipment while shelling the frontline, military officials said in the latest update from the battlefield. At least two people were killed and a dozen more injured in Russia’s shelling of the southern Kherson region. The attacks were repelled in five areas of the eastern front – Kupiansk, Bakhmut, Lyman, Avdiivka, and Marinka – along the 1,000km-long (600mile) front, the general staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in its evening report. A total of 33 skirmishes were recorded during the day by Ukraine, the battlefield update added. Russian forces also mounted six air attacks and 20 strikes from multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS), inflicting casualties among military personnel and the civilian population, the general staff said, calling the situation difficult. Russia has scaled up its presence in the eastern hotspot of the conflict and deployed its reserves north of Bakhmut to stop Ukraine’s advancing counteroffensive in Donetsk oblast, the spokesperson for the Eastern Group of Forces Illia Yevlash said on Saturday. He confirmed a total of 774 Russian strikes on the Kupiansk and Lyman direction which had seen intense fighting in the past week. The eastern and southern parts of Ukraine have seen the majority of Russia’s offensive in the continuing invasion since February and have now become the two key theatres of Kyiv’s counteroffensive. In southern Ukraine, troops have been repelling Russian forces in an inch-by-inch fight by capturing clusters of villages as they pushed toward the Sea of Azov to cut Vladimir Putin’s access to a land bridge created by Russian forces controlling the areas of south and east. Russian troops have now started using older weaponry – howitzers and cannons – in an evidence that Ukrainian forces had been successful in knocking out enemy equipment, spokesperson for troops in the south Oleksandr Shtupun told national television. "Sadly, the Russians have plenty of equipment," he said. Top military officials said Russia was continuing to mass its reserves. "Our troops are performing their assignments with the aim of proceeding with our advance,” general Oleksandr Syrskyi, head of Ukraine’s ground forces, said. He had met troops and commanders engaged in offensive operations near Bakhmut which was taken by Russian forces in May after months of battles. Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin inflicts ‘terrible’ shelling as Kyiv warn of record drone attacks Days after deadly missile strike on Ukrainian cafe, grief and a search for answers ‘You can still smell the blood’: Inside the village where more than 50 were killed by a Russian missile Footage from inside Kharkiv apartment captures aftermath of deadly strike What are Russia’s Iskander missiles? The weapon which killed 52 following funeral near Kharkiv

The combined death toll from the Hamas attack on southern Israel has climbed to more than 1,100 as

Global financial markets already rattled by elevated interest rates now face a fresh dose of geopolitical uncertainty following