Europe

    Russia and the West have entered a new Cold War that could lead to growing confrontations across the globe, as Vladimir Putin challenges American international hegemony. That is the consensus among military and foreign policy experts in Moscow, who have warned that Russia and the West are headed for a standoff as dangerous as the Cuban missile crisis. “If we talk about the last Cold War, we are currently somewhere between the erection of the Berlin Wall and the Cuban Missile crisis,” said Lt Gen Evgeny Buzhinsky, a former head of the Russian ministry of defence’s international treaties department and now head of the PIR centre, a Moscow think tank. “In other words, teetering on the brink of war, but without the mechanisms to manage the confrontation.” The Russian foreign m...

    The house in Austria where Adolf Hitler was born is to be torn down to stop it from becoming a neo-Nazi shrine, authorities said today after years of bitter legal wrangling. "The Hitler house will be torn down. The foundations can remain but a new building will be erected. It will be used by either a charity or the local authorities," Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka told Austrian newspaper Die Presse. He said the decision was based on the recommendations of an expert committee tasked with deciding what to do with the controversial building in the quaint northern town of Braunau am Inn. The huge yellow house has been empty since 2011 when the government became embroiled in a dispute with owner and local resident Gerlinde Pommer. For more than a century, her family has ow...

    The UK bank accounts of Russian TV broadcaster Russia Today have been shut down, its editor-in-chief has said, in a move that appears to have been sanctioned by the UK government. In a tweet in Russian Margarita Simonyan said that “all the accounts” had been frozen in the UK. She said the decision was final, adding sarcastically: “Long live freedom of speech!” Нам закрыли счета в Британии. Все счета. 'Решение пересмотру не подлежит'. Да здравствует свобода слова! — Маргарита Симоньян (@M_Simonyan) October 17, 2016"> It was unclear whether the British government was responsible. The foreign office referred inquiries to the Treasury. The move – if confirmed – casts into doubt the ability of the Kremlin-backed news channel to carry on broadcasting. The US and Britain said ...

    At least one person died and six people were injured on Monday by an explosion and subsequent fire at chemicals maker BASF's biggest production site in Germany, the company said at a news conference. In addition, six people are still missing, the Ludwigshafen site's chief, Uwe Liebelt, told journalists. The explosion occurred on a supply line connecting a harbour and a tank depot on the site at around 1130 local time (0930 GMT), BASF said, adding it could not yet say what caused the explosion. Smoke rises from the Chemical plant of the BASF site in Ludwigshafen, western Germany on October 17, 2016. A fire that broke out following the blast sent up plumes of smoke, prompting BASF, the world's biggest chemicals company, and the city of Ludwigshafen to urge residents in the s...

    European Union Ambassador to Bangladesh Pierre Mayaudon has said the EU-Bangladesh joint commission will discuss the formation of a new Election Commission in Bangladesh this December in Brussels. The EU envoy came up with the remark during talks with diplomatic correspondents at a Dhaka hotel this afternoon. The Sub-Committee on Democracy, Governance and Human Rights of the joint commission is scheduled to hold its meeting in Brussels on December 20. The current Election Commission will expire in February next year. The government is in a process to constitute a new commission through appointment of a new chief election commissioner and a set of election commissioners. In reply to a question, the EU ambassador and head of delegation of European Union to Bangladesh said th...

    Russia and the United States at their highest since the Cold War, there have been alarming signs coming out of Moscow that suggest the country is ready for war. Almost no one believes the Kremlin is actually preparing for a military conflict with the United States. Most analysts instead see it as a show, intended to boost support at home and to deter Western countries from intervening militarily in Syria. Russian TV Warns of Nuclear War Amid US Tensions What Do Russians Think of Donald Trump? There are some unsettling things Russia has done, however, to give the impression that war is looming: Beware the ‘Nuclear Dimensions' As the confrontation between the United and Russia has worsened over Syria, and amid speculation Washington might launch airstrikes against Syrian gov...

    The UK government has agreed to take in lone children with existing links to Britain. Hundreds of Syrian children from the refugee camp in Calais could be resettled in the UK in a matter of days as France prepares to demolish the so called Jungle. Aid agencies have been working with British and French officials to register all unaccompanied children who have links to the UK. The operation to register the children, and bring them safely to Britain, has become more urgent as the French government prepares to demolish the camp next week. The UK government has agreed to take in lone children with existing links to Britain and about 300 minors are expected to be brought into the country in the coming days. A Home Office spokesman said: “Work is continuing on both sides of the C...

    Russia have built what military chiefs are claiming is the world's first weapon to use microwave energy 'death-rays' to target military drones. According to Russia's United Instrument Manufacturing Company (OPK), the weapon has been tested and they have confirmed that the tests were successful. And there is said to be no other weapon like it in the world. The prototype was revealed during the Arms High-tech military exhibition in Armenia. Instead of using rounds of bullets or shells to destroy enemy targets, this new weapon will use directed microwave energy. A spokesman for the company said: "[We have] already established samples of such weapons, and they have proved their effectiveness. "This is a completely new type of weapon, which has no analogues is the country, and ...

    The EU Council chief says soft Brexit is not an option for Britain in the coming negotiations to secure a new deal with Europe. "Hard Brexit" is the only offer on the table, European Council president  has warned, unless the UK changes its mind and decides to stay in the EU. In a strongly-worded intervention, Mr Tusk insisted the UK would not be able to retain the benefits of European Union membership whilst also blocking free movement of people and ending contributions to the Brussels budget. Mr Tusk said it was "useless to speculate about soft Brexit", which would enable the UK to retain the closest possible ties to the bloc after leaving. He also told the European Policy Centre that the Leave campaign's demand to "take back control" would ultimately be "painful for Brit...

    According to the BBC, some of the other migrants present during the accident on Sunday then turned on the British driver of the car involved. Riot police were reportedly later deployed to control the situation. The Eritrean man, who was said to have been killed as dozens of migrants attempted to slow traffic entering the Channel Tunnel, is the 14th migrant to lose his life in the French port of Calais this year. Last month 15-year-old Afghan boy Raheemullah Oryakhel died after being struck by a car after falling off a lorry. The BBC quoted Calais officials as saying around 50 people had been placing obstacles on the road in an attempt to slows trucks so they could then climb on board. The accident reportedly happened when the driver swerved to avoid the obstacles. The deat...