Europe

Car ramming comes as migration at forefront of German elections5 days agoDamien McGuinnessReporting from BerlinJessica ParkerReporting from MunichGiven the profile of the man accused in the suspected car-ramming attack in Munich, the incident will undoubtedly have an impact on Germany’s parliamentary election in ten days.
Farhad N, 24, came to Germany in 2016 from Afghanistan to seek asylum, which was rejected but he was given temporary permission to stay in Germany.
For weeks now Germany’s upcoming election, brought by the collapse of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government, has been embroiled in a fevered debate about migration.
A number of violent incidents linked to migrants over the past year have led to increased support for the far-right AfD party.
After a car ploughed into a Christmas market in the city of Magdeburg killing six people and injuring at least 299 in December. The suspect was a 50-year-old Saudi asylum seeker who had been an outspoken critic of Islam…

Dozens injured in suspected car-ramming attack in Munich9 hours agoMaia DaviesBBC NewsAt least 30 people have been injured, some seriously, after a car was driven into a crowd in Munich, just a week before the country’s federal elections.
The driver was a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker, police said, and was identified in local media as Farhad N. He was arrested at the scene.
Police said counter-terrorism officers have taken over the investigation due to indications the suspect had an “extremist background”.
It comes after a series of deadly attacks in Germany – with some allegedly perpetrated by immigrants. Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the driver “must be punished and he must leave the country”.
It has also taken place on the eve of the Munich Security Conference – with world leaders, including Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and US Vice President JD Vance, due to arrive in the city.
The ramming occurred during a transport workers’ union rally at around 10:30 local time (09:30 ..

Drone footage shows plumes of smoke and molten lava spewing from Europe’s most active volcano.

Three guilty of plot to blackmail family of Michael Schumacher2 days agoEve WebsterBBC NewsThree men have been convicted by a German court of trying to blackmail the family of ex-Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher.
Yilmaz T, 53, was jailed for three years for threatening to upload 900 personal photos, almost 600 videos and confidential medical records to the dark web unless the Schumacher family paid €15m (£12m).
His 30-year-old son was given a six-month suspended sentence for aiding and abetting extortion. A former security guard at Schumacher’s home, who denied any involvement, received a two-year suspended sentence.
Schumacher has not been seen in public since a 2013 ski accident which resulted in serious brain injuries. His family have kept his medical condition private.
The father and son had admitted most of the charges and Yilmaz T, a nightclub bouncer in Constance in southern Germany, told the court that what he had done was “very, very disgusting”.
“I realised..

A look from the police cordon in Munich, after a car drove at a group of people, injuring at least 28.

What we know about suspected car attack in Munich4 days agoLucy Clarke-BillingsBBC NewsA 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker drove a car into a crowd in the German city of Munich on Thursday, injuring at least 30 people, police have said.
Officers said they were treating the incident as a suspected attack.
Here’s what we know about the attack so far.
Munich police said the car, a Mini Cooper, accelerated and ploughed into the back of a rally by the Verdi trade union during a strike by public sector workers. It happened in Munich’s city centre at the junction of Karlstrasse and Seidlstrasse at about 10:30 local time (11:30 GMT).
Employees of day-care centres, hospitals, sanitation facilities and public swimming pools had joined the strike, calling for higher pay and longer holidays.
At the time of the collision around 1,500 people were on their way to the rally’s final location a short distance away.
One shot was fired at the vehicle by police before the driver was detained at the scen..

Leaders set for key security meeting as ‘old’ world order at risk of crumbling5 days agoFrank GardnerSecurity CorrespondentReporting fromMunichThe US Vice President, JD Vance, Ukraine’s President Zelensky and up to 60 other world leaders and decision-makers are due to convene in Munich over the next three days for the annual Munich Security Conference (MSC).
For nearly two decades now I have been attending and covering this event for the BBC and I cannot think of a year when there has been so much at stake in terms of global security. A senior and highly experienced Western official said this week “this is the most dangerous and contested time I have ever known in my career”.
Why?
Put simply, the current world security order – the catchily named International Rules-based Order – is in danger of crumbling. Some would argue this is already happening.
Follow the latest updates from the Munich Security ConferenceWhen President Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine t..

Bowen: Zelensky forced to face tough new reality after Trump-Putin phone call2 days agoJeremy BowenInternational EditorReporting fromKyiv, UkraineAmerica is under new management. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is joining a growing list of US allies who are finding that the world according to Donald Trump is a colder, more uncertain and potentially more dangerous place for them.
It must have been bad enough for Zelensky to hear Trump’s abrupt announcement that he had welcomed Russia’s President Vladimir Putin back to international diplomacy with a 90-minute phone call, to be followed by a face-to-face meeting, perhaps in Saudi Arabia.
After Putin, the White House dialled up Zelensky’s number. Speaking to journalists in Ukraine the morning after, Zelensky accepted the fact that Putin received the first call, “although to be honest, it’s not very pleasant”.
What stung Zelensky more was that Trump, who rang him after he spoke to Putin, seemed to regard him, at best, as a junior adj..

Europe caught out by Trump’s Russia move 2 days agoPaul KirbyEurope digital editorArriving at Nato headquarters early on Thursday, Europe’s defence ministers had one common message – that there could be no negotiations about Ukraine without Ukraine and Europe at the table too.
The question is to what extent the US is listening.
After a frenetic 24 hours of US declarations, there is a tangible sense that Europe’s leaders have been caught by surprise; that they now fear being bypassed on any potential Ukraine deal and being deprived of a voice on the future of European security.
Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock spoke of Donald Trump’s call with Vladimir Putin as being “very much out of the blue”, even if the US president had made it clear for months that he was aiming to bring a quick end to the war.
“There can be no negotiation about Ukraine without Ukraine,” said the UK’s John Healey.
“The same is true for Europe,” warned Dutch Defence Secretary Ruben Brekelmans.
“Because..

Sicily’s gangsters complain they can’t get the staff 2 days agoPaul KirbyEurope digital editorWhen anti-mafia police swooped on the Sicilian mob on Tuesday, their main aim was to stop them regrouping and creating a new governing body or cupola.
But what has emerged from their wide-ranging investigation is an organised crime group having to adapt to modern realities and displaying a nostalgia for the loftier ambitions of the past.
They don’t produce mobsters like they used to, Giancarlo Romano told an associate in a wiretapped conversation before he was shot dead a year ago.
Despite its evident yearning for crimes of the past, the Mafia in Sicily is still a force to be reckoned with, warns anti-mafia prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia: “Cosa nostra is alive and present.”
Investigators have revealed that the new generation of gang bosses have taken to using encrypted mobile phones and thousands of short-life micro-sim cards smuggled into prisons.
This way they sought to avoid being eavesdropp..