The Daily Star - Europe



Key wildlife meet eyes to toughen trade rules

Amid growing alarm over accelerating extinctions, a major international conference opened in Geneva yesterday aiming to tighten rules on trade in elephant ivory and other endangered animal and plant species.

Ukraine hotel fire kills nine

Nine people were killed in a hotel fire in Ukraine’s port city of Odessa yesterday, leading authorities to launch a country-wide inspection of safety regulations in holiday resorts and hotels.

Moscow says US backed opposition protests

Moscow yesterday summoned a representative of the US embassy over what it said were calls to take part in opposition protests, despite US warnings to stay away from the rallies.

Trump lashes out at French president

President Donald Trump on Thursday accused his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron of getting in the way of US policy and sending “mixed signals” to Iran.

Damascus rejects plan

Damascus said yesterday it strongly rejects a proposed US-Turkish buffer zone for northern Syria, blaming the “aggressive” project on Syria’s Kurds, who gave the proposal a guarded welcome.

Venezuela accuses US of ‘economic terrorism’

Venezuela’s government yesterday accused the United States of trying to derail political crisis resolution talks with the opposition after

Venezuela rivals in Barbados talks

The government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and the opposition are continuing to hold talks in Barbados in an effort to find

Dutch ban on burqas takes effect

The Netherlands banned the wearing of a face-covering veil, such as a burqa or niqab, in public buildings and on transport from

Macron, Rouhani hold talks amid tensions

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday spoke with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani and reiterated his call for a de-escalation of tensions between Iran and the United States, the Elysee said. Paris has engaged in intense diplomacy seeking to solve the

Earth’s 2019 resources ‘budget’ spent by July 29

Mankind will have used up its allowance of natural resources such as water, soil and clean air for all of 2019 by yesterday, a report said.

EU court rules sites must warn about FB ‘like’ button

Europe’s top court ruled yesterday that online retailers must warn web users that they send personal data to Facebook through the “like” button. According to the European Court of Justice ruling, a site that embeds the Facebook “like” icon and link on its pages also sends

Navalny ‘poisoned’, sent back to jail

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was “poisoned” by an unidentified toxic substance and doctors have sent him back to jail despite his condition, his lawyer and personal physician said yesterday.

Western intel hacked ‘Russia’s Google’ Yandex

Hackers working for Western intelligence agencies broke into Russian internet search company Yandex in late 2018, deploying a rare type of malware in an attempt to spy on user accounts, four people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Turkey ‘will turn elsewhere’ for jets

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday Turkey would turn elsewhere for fighter jets if the United States will not sell it the F-35 jets, adding that a US decision to cut Ankara from the programme would not deter it from meeting its needs.

Hard Brexit can lead to united Ireland

A no-deal Brexit could lead to a united Ireland as more people in Northern Ireland would “come to question the union” with Britain, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has said.

Top cop fired over slow response

Romania’s police chief and two county officials were fired late on Friday after authorities took 19 hours to respond to emergency calls from a kidnapped 15-year-old girl who died at the hands of her captor in the interim.

Swedish politicians slam Trump for ‘interference’

Swedish politicians yesterday fired back at US President Donald Trump, after he rowed with Prime Minister Stefan Lofven over Sweden’s move to press assault charges against American rapper A$AP Rocky.

France to unveil new space defence strategy

France was yesterday set to outline a new strategy for defence in space after President Emmanuel Macron announced the creation of a French space force command to deal with emerging threats to its interests in orbit. Defence Minister Florence Parly was due to give more

Navalny arrested in Russia ahead of protest

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said he was arrested yesterday, in an apparent move by the authorities to prevent a major

UK plans Europe-led force

Britain called for a European-led naval mission to ensure safe shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, days after Iran seized a British-flagged tanker in what London described as an act of “state piracy” in the strategic waterway.