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Mariupol was besieged by the Russian army in May 2022, when the last soldiers defending the city’s Azovstal steelworks were evacuated. The Russian Defense Ministry also announced that 25 Russian servicemen had been returned from Ukraine and were being sent first to Belarus, where they will receive psychological and medical care and contact their families. In early January, Ukrainian ombudsman Dmitro Lubinets reported the existence of a preliminary agreement with the Russians for a systematic exchange of prisoners in 2025. Lubinets said the two countries will prioritize the return of captives who are seriously ill and wounded. “We will see…

Safety fears The alleged attack on a parliamentary worker is likely to renew debate over the safety of Westminster’s bars, which have been repeatedly criticized over an unhealthy drinking culture. A group of Labour MPs recently called for restrictions on the sale of alcohol on the parliamentary estate as part of a drive to modernize the working culture of the House of Commons.  The Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme — the U.K. parliament’s official complaints system — has described the “culture of drinking in Westminster” as a “frequent factor” in conduct-breaching incidents in the parliamentary bars. Jawad Raza from the FDA…

“Fico’s trip to Moscow was a disgrace for Slovakia,” Fico’s biggest political rival, Progressive Slovakia party leader Michal Šimečka, said in an interview with POLITICO. “But it’s part of a bigger story about a prime minister who doesn’t seem … interested in dealing with real problems that trouble people in Slovakia. Instead, he’s flying around the world meeting dictators.” Šimečka said the entire opposition wants Slovakia firmly anchored in the EU and NATO, and that the meeting between Fico and Putin had finally convinced them to act. “Slovakia is not just Robert Fico,” he added. “There is an enormous number…

Faced with accusations he’s putting the brakes on further aid to Ukraine, Scholz said tough conversations need to be had if the military support package — the largest yet from any ally — can be confirmed over the coming days. “I had suggested expanding [military aid] at some point,” Scholz said of Ukraine aid on the campaign trail this week. “But if you do that, you also have to say where the money is coming from.” Scholz, whose Social Democratic Party (SPD) is in third place in the polls with 15 percent support, said he’s against cutting pensions, local government finance…

Poland aims to spend 4.7 percent of GDP on defense this year, the highest in NATO. “The new Washington administration, once it sees how serious we are about this, will adopt a different approach, a more optimistic approach towards Ukraine,” Tusk predicted, adding: “If all the members of Europe and NATO spent as much as Poland for their defense we would be spending 10 times more than Russia.” He said the best security guarantees for Ukraine would be for the country to join NATO, although he acknowledged this would be “controversial.” Washington and key NATO members like Germany have balked…

BERLIN — Friedrich Merz, qui pourrait devenir le prochain chancelier allemand, s’est engagé à restaurer la compétitivité industrielle du pays en reléguant les politiques climatiques au second plan. Les politiques économiques de l’Allemagne ont été “presque exclusivement axées sur la protection du climat” sous le gouvernement d’Olaf Scholz, a déclaré Merz lors d’un discours de campagne prononcé lundi dans la ville industrielle de Bochum, à l’ouest du pays. “Je veux le dire clairement comme je le pense : nous allons et nous devons changer cela.” Le gouvernement de coalition de gauche, qui s’est effondré en novembre en raison de divergences…

Updated: 15/01/2025 – 18:00 GMT+1 Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond – latest news, breaking news, World, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Culture, Travel. … More Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond – latest news, breaking news, World, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Culture, Travel.

“One member, for example, has got 30 or so drivers at [the border control post] Sevington waiting to turn around but can’t get the certification that lets them do that,” Challenger added. “They’ve managed to get one sorted but still 30 to go. The government implied that drivers should be able to do a U-turn and go home but it’s not as easy as that.” “Then, on the flipside, you’ve also got products that were delivered earlier in the week or last week which are now in storage and they are unsure about what to do next because it’s unclear…

While the Greek presidency is a largely ceremonial role, opposition parties say the nomination of a political conservative represents a missed opportunity to build consensus. Greece’s conservative government has nominated Constantine Tasoulas, the speaker of the Greek parliament, to become the country’s next president. The 65-year-old lawyer and member of the governing centre-right New Democracy party served as culture minister between 2014 and 2015. The country’s current president, Katerina Sakellaropoulou — who is the first woman to serve as head of the Greek state — was not nominated for a second term. Greek presidents hold a largely ceremonial role, to…

Georgescu told Jones that the EU wants to “take control” of NATO before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20. “When they control via [Secretary-General Mark] Rutte — the chief of NATO — they try to impose their rules and to push as much as possible for the Third World War in the region, via in particular Romania,” he said. According to Georgescu, the “real door” to start “the Third World War in Ukraine” is Romania. “Without Romania, they cannot control this war,” Georgescu said. Russian leader Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, touching…