Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said a peace agreement to end the war with Russia is “90% ready”, in a New Year address that largely focused on resistance to Moscow’s full-scale invasion. Zelensky said the remaining 10% of the agreement to end nearly four years of conflict would “determine the fate of peace, the fate […]
Continue ReadingOsmond Chia,Business reporterand Yan Chen,BBC News Chinese Getty Images Chinese people will pay a 13% sales tax on contraceptives from 1 January, while childcare services will be exempt, as the world’s second-largest economy tries to boost birth rates. An overhaul of the tax system announced late last year removes many exemptions that were in place […]
Continue ReadingBulgaria – the poorest country in the European Union – has become the 21st member of the eurozone – leapfrogging more obvious and prosperous candidates like Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. For mostly urban, young and entrepreneurial Bulgarians, it’s an optimistic and potentially lucrative leap – the final move in a game which has […]
Continue ReadingFinnish police have detained a vessel suspected of damaging an undersea telecoms cable running from Helsinki to Estonia across the Gulf of Finland. The cargo vessel, the Fitburg, was sailing from St Petersburg to the port of Haifa in Israel, under the flag of St Vincent and Grenadines. All 14 crew members were arrested after […]
Continue ReadingReuters A passenger has described “chaos” after two trains collided head-on near Peru’s most popular tourist attraction, Machu Picchu. Niels Honkoop, 33, told the BBC he had switched seats part-way through the journey from the middle of the train to the back, before it crashed, injuring many of those sitting near the front. “I saw […]
Continue ReadingGetty Images Armed police carrying assault rifles patrol outside the Sydney Opera House Thousands of heavily armed police officers are patrolling the streets of Sydney as people mark the new year – a rare and stark sight in Australia, following the Bondi Beach mass shooting. Some officers were authorised to carry high-grade weapons as part […]
Continue ReadingMali and Burkina Faso say they will bar US citizens from entering their countries in response to a similar move by the Trump administration. The two West African states were recently placed under full entry restrictions under US President Donald Trump’s expanded travel ban. In separate statements, they said they would apply the same measures […]
Continue ReadingEPA People’s New Year’s Eve plans thrown into disarray after Eurostar cancellations. Eurostar passengers are braced for more possible disruption, after a power outage in the Channel Tunnel caused travel chaos for thousands of people on Tuesday. As people scrambled to get to New Year’s Eve celebrations, some travellers said they spent more than six […]
Continue ReadingPaul KirbyEurope digital editor Joe Raedle/Getty Images Unlike Trump, Zelensky says he does not trust Russia’s Putin on peace talks Russia, the US and Ukraine agree that a deal on ending almost four years of full-scale war is edging closer but, in the words of President Donald Trump, “one or two very thorny, very tough […]
Continue ReadingThieves used a large drill to break into a safe at a high street bank branch in western Germany and steal an estimated €30m (£26m; $35m) in cash and valuables, police have said. A police spokesman likened the break-in to the Hollywood heist film Ocean’s Eleven, telling AFP news agency it was “very professionally executed”. […]
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