Iwas standing in front of an imposing townhouse in the swish 16th arrondissement of Paris. Its classical lines, marble staircases and delicately wrought iron balustrades belied the fierce sense of purpose inside. The Musée de la Contrefaçon is an unusual kind of museum – it specialises in
Freshly re-elected Emmanuel Macron chose 9 May to come to dinner in Berlin. An auspicious date in EU circles. Nicknamed “Europe Day”, it commemorates the signing of the post World War Two Schuman declaration promoting peace between European nations. A very different vision of Europe to that of Vladimir Putin, the French president noted. Together, […]
Thailand’s army has boycotted online retailer Lazada over an advert that the government is probing for allegedly insulting the country’s royal family. The move will see 245,000 members of the Thai military banned from using the e-commerce giant’s websites for official purposes. Thailand has strict laws over defaming, insulting or threatening senior
A curfew is in force across Sri Lanka after mobs burned down homes belonging to the ruling Rajapaksa family amid mounting anger at the economic crisis. The overnight violence capped a day of unrest that saw PM Mahinda Rajapaksa quit, but this failed to bring calm. Crowds besieged his residence and tried to storm it […]
After a surge in the number of abductions in recent years, South Africa has one of the highest rates of kidnapping in the world, as Mpho Lakaje reports from Johannesburg. Lesego Tau did not panic at first when a stranger opened the back door of her grey Mercedes C-Class and climbed in. She had parked […]
More than 20 Palestinians and Israelis have been wounded in several incidents in and around Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque compound, two days after major violence at the flashpoint site. The clashes on Sunday take the number of wounded since Friday to more than 170, at a tense time when the Jewish Passover festival coincides with the […]
In a chilling message, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, urged leaders to stock up on antiradiation medicine and build air-raid shelters. The warning followed claims from Austrian leader Karl Nehammer that Putin believes he is winning the war in Ukraine. Chancellor Nehammer, who met the despot in Moscow last week, said he thinks the Russian president […]
Three Covid-19 fatalities have been reported in Shanghai, the first to be officially counted since the beginning of the city’s lockdown. The three people reported on Monday included two women aged 89 and 91, and a 91-year-old man, who also had underlying health conditions, and were reportedly unvaccinated. Shanghai municipal authorities said the three were […]
Environmental groups have raised concerns about a $500m (£380m) forest protection deal signed by Boris Johnson at Cop26, after a damning report into the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s “lawless” logging sector. Johnson signed the letter of intent on behalf of the Central African Forest Initiative (Cafi) for a 10-year agreement which includes objectives to protect
Volunteers will drive ambulance cars for some patients in need as part of a pilot scheme due to launch next month. It comes as new figures last week showed ambulance response times and A&E performance in England have dropped to their lowest levels on record while the backlog of patients waiting for care has continued to grow. […]