Europe

The maximum sentence for organizing an extremist community is up to 10 years in prison. The court in Orenburg, 150 kilometers from the Kazakh border, said in a statement: "During the investigation it was established that the accused, being persons with non-traditional sexual orientation ... worked in the bar 'Pose' and ensured its functioning." After the court ruling late last year, law enforcement has conducted several raids on LGBTQ+-friendly bars, clubs and saunas across Russia, often with the support of local right-wing activists. The raid on "Pose" was first reported by a far-right organization. It released a video showing individuals,...

After more than two years of full-scale war, two things have become abundantly clear: that peace can\'t be achieved without a change of regime in Moscow; and that even Ukrainian victory on the battlefield is only one of many factors that could contribute to its downfall. For over the past two years, Vladimir Putin\'s Russia has become a formidably entrenched regime. The Russian army has fully adapted to warfare, albeit through a strategy of massive material and human losses, troops rotting in the same trenches for months on end, institutionalised brutality among the officer corps towards the men, and a...

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email A migrant was taken to hospital after being discovered with stab wounds on a small boat that crossed the English Channel. The boat was reportedly one of eight carrying around 400 migrants intercepted by Border Force officials on Wednesday. Authorities were made fully aware of the man’s injuries after he was taken to shore at the Port of Dover. He told police he was attacked on a beach near Calais. Around 60 other migrants on his boat were...

87.85 percent: a "crushing" victory claimed by Vladimir Putin the day after Russia’s latest presidential “election”. This was "despite protests around the world", as the Russian newspaper in exile Novaya Gazeta Europe reports. Running for re-election without a credible challenger - his main opponent Alexei Navalny having died a few weeks earlier - Putin will serve a fifth six-year term, with an official vote count even higher than the previous one in 2018. If he completes his term in 2030, "Putin will surpass Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in terms of longevity at the head of the Kremlin", continues Novaya Gazeta...

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Jimmy Kimmel put MAGA fans to the test to try and find out how much they know about the Constitution and see “just how patriotic these patriots are.” Kimmel’s crew took a trip over to a Donald Trump rally in South Carolina to quiz some of his supporters with questions you would find on a US citizenship test. “The fact of the matter is the people who support Trump and the MAGA agenda are under the...

Flora Steel, an art historian, purchased a silver brooch over thirty years ago at an antique fair in the English Midlands for around 20 pounds, equivalent to about $35 at that time. After wearing it on the lapel of one of her favorite coats for a few years, she stored it away in a closet, where it remained untouched for two decades. Last year, while scrolling through YouTube on her phone, Ms. Steel came across a 2011 BBC story about a brooch featured on the show "Antiques Roadshow." The presenter, Geoffrey Munn, displayed sketches of other brooches designed by the...

The EU has been urged by five EU countries to take action on Russian grain imports, including potentially stolen Ukrainian grain, citing a "moral obligation".The agriculture ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic, and the Baltic states have called on the European Commission to introduce legislation limiting the import of grain from Russia and Belarus to the EU. Last year, the EU imported 1.53 million tonnes of Russian grain, generating €437.5 million in income for Russia, which is believed to be funding the ongoing war against Ukraine. Russia has also seized fertile grain-producing land in Ukraine's Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions....

BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 20. Indonesia's election commission on Wednesday officially declared that Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto had garnered the highest number of votes in the recent presidential election, as reported by Trend. Prabowo, who ran for president three times, emerged victorious in the February 14 election with 59% of the votes, a decisive victory over his competitors Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo, who received approximately 25% and 16% of the votes respectively. These figures were confirmed by the official count of the election commission, aligning with the unofficial results released by independent pollsters last month. Source link

Generally, people around the world are experiencing more negative emotions than they did 15 years ago, with two regional exceptions: in Europe and East Asia. The most significant increases in happiness since the last report were observed in Central and Eastern European countries, specifically in the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Slovenia. Life evaluations have also risen considerably in former Soviet countries and East Asia. The countries at the bottom of the list were Lesotho, Lebanon and, in last place, Afghanistan. Analysts said levels of happiness are generally correlated with higher GDP per capita, social benefits, personal freedom, lack of loneliness...

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails An IT worker who poisoned a married couple with the opioid painkiller fentanyal and rewrote their will to take control of their shower mat company has been convicted of their murders. Luke D’Wit, 34, befriended Stephen and Carol Baxter, aged 61 and 64, while working for them and later told police that he was “like an adopted son to both of them”. Just one day after their deaths, he created a will on...