The special tribunal that Western nations intend to establish to prosecute the crime of aggression against Ukraine will not try Vladimir Putin in absentia as long as he remains president of the Russian Federation.

The same provision will apply to the Russian prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin, and the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, according to two European officials with knowledge of the process who spoke with Euronews.

The prosecution of these high-level officials will be allowed only if the defendants are physically present in the room - unlikely given Russia does not recognise the invasion of Ukraine as criminal and is firmly opposed to cooperating with the West.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.10-162944/https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/04/10/germany-s-merz-unveils-his-coalition-deal-on-illegal-immigration-taxes-and-bureaucracy_6740072_4.html

(…) Bitterly negotiated by parties with opposing positions, the coalition agreement presented Wednesday ultimately contains few surprises. It consists of a combination of measures restricting illegal immigration, some tax cuts and a reduction in "bureaucracy," a term that appears about 50 times in the document.

In reality, the most significant reform of Merz's term has already been voted on: On March 18, a nearly €1 trillion spending package to finance defense efforts and modernize the country was approved. This already stands as the future coalition's main achievement and the one most likely to transform the German model being challenged from all sides.

On the politically sensitive issue of immigration – strategic for the conservatives – the two parties reached a compromise that allows each to claim victory. Merz, who had promised drastic measures "from day one" of his mandate, asserted that the document would "largely end" ilegal immigration and that asylum seekers would be turned away at the border "in consultation with European partners" – a somewhat vague phrase already employed in the wake of the elections. Klingbeil, for his part, maintained that it had "always been clear that the fundamental right to asylum remains intangible." "Germany remains a country of immigration," he stressed.

The CDU secured the repeal of expedited regularization procedures introduced by the previous government but, in return, gave up its push to revoke dual nationality from offenders – a measure advocated by Merz. Family reunification will also be restricted for some refugees, and the Bürgergeld (a welfare benefit for people with few resources) will be transformed into unemployment benefits with stricter conditions.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.10-162722/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/french-audit-office-says-keeping-pension-system-unchanged-is-impossible-2025-04-10/

PARIS, April 10 (Reuters) - France cannot afford not to reform its pension system and it should look at how to get people working for longer and make changes to how pensions are indexed to inflation, the independent audit office said on Thursday.

Prime Minister Francois Bayrou has tasked the Cour des Comptes with analysing how the pension system weighs on the competitiveness of the euro zone's second-biggest economy.

He commissioned the report to shape a debate underway among employers' federations and unions on how to revise an unpopular 2023 reform that gradually raises the pension age to 64 from 62.

State pensions are an explosive issue in France and audit office head Pierre Moscovici was careful not to make explicit recommendations, although he highlighted that working longer and tweaking the pension link to inflation would yield results.

"The status quo for the financing of the retirement system is impossible, or at least is insufficient to keep the system sustainable in the medium and long-term," he told journalists.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.10-161854/https://www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/article/2025/04/10/the-uk-s-labour-government-is-at-odds-with-its-left-wing_6740071_23.html

Is the British Labour Party still a left-wing party? This question has taken on new weight after Keir Starmer's government announced a series of highly controversial measures, including cuts to support the most vulnerable to fund defense efforts and adhere to budgetary rules that seem outdated in the face of rising geopolitical threats and the global trade war initiated by Donald Trump.

On March 18, the prime minister, whose party ended 14 years of Conservative rule in July 2024, confirmed a £5 billion (over €5.8 billion) cut in aid to people with disabilities or long-term illnesses. The eligibility criteria for the Personal Independence Payment (PIP), an allowance granted to people with health issues affecting their daily lives or ability to work, will be tightened.

Indeed, the current situation appears untenable: As of January 31, nearly 3.7 million people were receiving PIP, according to the Ministry of Labor – almost 60% more than in 2020, before the pandemic. "One in 10 people of working age now claiming a sickness or disability benefit. Almost one million young people not in education, employment or training – that's one in eight of all our young people," highlighted Minister of Labor Liz Kendall. Without reforms, the cost of health and disability aid will rise from £65 billion to £100 billion by

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.10-130244/https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/italys-prada-agrees-buy-fashion-rival-versace-2025-04-10/

MILAN, April 10 (Reuters) - Prada (1913.F), opens new tab struck a deal on Thursday to buy smaller rival Versace from Capri Holdings (CPRI.N), opens new tab for $1.375 billion, which includes its debt, in a move that unites two of the biggest names in Italian fashion.

Prada is seeking to expand, having defied a slowdown in luxury demand, while Versace has been operating at a loss. The merger strengthens Italy's hand in a luxury industry led by French conglomerates.

The deal follows the announcement on March 13 that Donatella Versace was stepping down as the chief creative officer of the brand founded by her late brother Gianni.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.09-163541/https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/ukraine-war-trumps-wariness-can-only-get-russia-so-far.html

It hardly seemed like good news for Ukraine when Donald Trump won in November, but the reality has been worse than most expected. While pursuing a thus-far illusory Russia/Ukraine cease-fire, Trump labeled Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator,” embraced Vladimir Putin’s version of the war’s history, demanded that Ukraine hand over much of its mineral wealth, and castigated Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. Yet as the U.S. pulls back from its role as Ukraine’s central backer and Europe struggles to fill that void, the actual battlefield in Ukraine has not changed very much. Given the international headwinds, can this equilibrium last much longer? To get a picture of the military and political reality in Ukraine and what the rest of 2025 may bring, I called Michael Kofman, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment, whom I have spoken with several times since Russia launched its full-scale invasion three years

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.10-120225/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/permit-free-entry-eu-ukrainian-cargo-extended-till-year-end-kyiv-says-2025-04-10/

April 10 (Reuters) - A freight liberalisation agreement allowing Ukrainian cargo to enter the EU without a transport permit has been extended until the end of the year, Ukrainian officials said on Thursday.

The agreement, signed in 2022, cancels the requirement for Ukrainian carriers to obtain permits for bilateral and transit transport to the EU and avoids exports of Ukrainian products having to stop at road checkpoints.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.10-113411/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-pauses-countermeasures-against-us-tariffs-von-der-leyen-says-2025-04-10/

PARIS, April 10 (Reuters) - The European Union will put on hold for 90 days its first countermeasures against U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement on X.

"We took note of the announcement by President Trump. We want to give negotiations a chance. While finalising the adoption of the EU countermeasures that saw strong support from our member states, we will put them on hold for 90 days," she said.

Archive: https://archive.is/wgkWW

Poland’s opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party has condemned a court ruling overturning the granting of a terrestrial broadcasting licence to two conservative TV news stations. Its leader, Jarosław Kaczyński, says that the decision is further proof of how the government is “destroying democracy”.

However, he provided no evidence of government influence on the court’s decision. The ruling is also almost certain to be appealed, meaning the case could drag on for years, during which time the stations can continue using the licences they were granted.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.10-035217/https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/04/10/polish-nationalists-striking-contradictions-over-trump-s-policies_6740048_4.html

(…) As international political expert Witold Jurasz from the site Onet pointed out, "In terms of values, the PiS is as anti-Western as it is anti-Russian. The fact that the United States distances itself from Western values doesn't bother them, as long as they can keep American power on their side." According to Jurasz, the PiS's attitude is explained above all by its dogmatism: "They think that a Republican president in the White House cannot harm us and a Democratic president cannot do us any good. That's the logic."

In the eyes of public opinion, this attitude does not wash. The "Trump effect," which was supposed to bolster the PiS candidate, did not occur, and the party is still significantly trailing in the polls behind its liberal rival Rafal Trzaskowski. An editorial in the daily Gazeta Prawna aptly summed up this sentiment: "The far right is closing its eyes, continuing to sleep and afraid of waking up to this new reality. The cult of an American leader who might bring the Russians closer to the Polish border can hardly be defended."

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.10-003553/https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/04/10/in-pokrovsk-ukraine-the-underground-war_6740043_4.html

Photographer Adrien Vautier accompanied combat units for Le Monde on the front line surrounding Pokrovsk. The city is a major logistical hub for the entire Donbas region. The battle, which began nine months ago, has been violent; Russian assaults have intensified and Ukrainian counterattacks are swift and fierce.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.09-181952/https://www.ft.com/content/bfa01f8a-c1f5-4b90-a73e-8b4c530828c0

(…) Speaking to journalists in the presidential office on Wednesday, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian intelligence had identified 155 Chinese nationals who had signed contracts with Russia’s armed forces to fight in Ukraine. 

The president said he believed “the real number is much higher”.

Beijing’s foreign ministry said earlier on Wednesday that China always asked its nationals to “avoid any form of involvement in armed conflict” and that Ukrainian claims that many of them were fighting alongside Russian forces had “no basis in facts”.

But Zelenskyy insisted the Chinese leadership was aware of Russia’s recruitment of its citizens and had done nothing to stop it. “China’s top leaders are aware,” he said. “They know.”

Leafing through Russian military documents that he said were obtained by Ukrainian intelligence, the president said Chinese recruits were offered large salaries and given migration documents and payment cards. They underwent four days of medical examinations and received up to two months of military training, he added.

The Chinese troops range in age from 19 to 56 years old, according to the documents, which Zelenskyy shared with the Financial Times and other media outlets. The documents list 168 names, including some recruits not yet deployed. (…)

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.09-095416/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/germanys-far-right-afd-tops-poll-first-time-blow-chancellor-in-waiting-merz-2025-04-09/

BERLIN, April 9 - Germany's far-right AfD party topped a major poll for the first time on Wednesday in a sign of growing dissatisfaction with mainstream parties as chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz seeks to seal a coalition government deal.

Support for Merz's conservative CDU/CSU bloc, which won the February 23 election, fell by five percentage points to 24% while the Alternative for Germany (AfD) gained three points to land on 25%, according to the Ipsos institute's poll.

The AfD came second in the election, the best performance by a far-right party since World War Two.

Conservative and centre-left parties in Germany have reached a deal to form a new government after weeks of negotiations, paving the way for new leadership in Europe's biggest economy after months of political drift.

Friedrich Merz, the leader of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), is expected to become Germany's next chancellor under the agreement, replacing the outgoing Olaf Scholz. 

The parties involved in the coalition have said they will hold a press conference on the deal at 3 pm CET. 

Merz's two-party Union bloc emerged as the strongest force from Germany's February federal elections. 

Merz turned to the Social Democrats, Scholz's centre-left party, to put together a coalition with a parliamentary majority.

This is a developing story and our journalists are working on further updates.

Archive: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_fire-bellied_toad

The European fire-bellied toad (Bombina bombina) is a species of fire-bellied toad native to eastern parts of mainland Europe, where it can be found near waterbodies such as ponds and marshes.[2][3] It is known for its red colored belly used to ward off predators, an example of aposematism, and its distinctive "whoop" call.[4][5]

It is Wednesday my dudes, dudettes and people of other dudeist identity.

"The Albanian mafia would call me and say: 'We want to send 500kg of drugs.' If you don't accept, they kill you."

César (not his real name) is a member of the Latin Kings, a criminal drug gang in Ecuador. He was recruited by a corrupt counternarcotics police officer to work for the Albanian mafia, one of Europe's most prolific cocaine trafficking networks.

The Albanian mafia has expanded its presence in Ecuador in recent years, drawn by key trafficking routes through the country, and it now controls much of the cocaine flow from South America to Europe.

Despite Ecuador not producing the drug, 70% of the world's cocaine now flows through its ports, Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa says.

It is smuggled into the country from neighbouring Colombia and Peru – the world's two largest producers of cocaine.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.09-043933/https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/04/09/tariffs-european-union-finally-deploys-its-first-set-of-countermeasures_6739989_4.html

And so it begins. After revising their schedule twice, the 27 member states are finally expected to approve, on Wednesday, April 9, the first retaliatory measures against the tariff hikes imposed by Donald Trump's US since March 12. They are responding to the 25% surcharges decided by Washington on European steel and aluminum imports, valued at 26 billion euros per year.

The community retaliations target a wide range of American products – poultry, orange juice, rice, tobacco, soybeans, aluminum and steel, luxury yachts, motorcycles, diamonds, makeup products and clothing − but they remain slightly below the new US tariffs.

While the levy rate is also 25%, the base of the affected goods (22 billion euros per year) is, in fact, narrower. As they seek to "minimize the consequences for their economies," as reiterated by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Europeans struggle to agree on a response proportionate to the aggression they are facing. Fearing that the American president might execute his threats to tax European alcohol at "200%," France, Italy, and Ireland have thus ensured that Kentucky bourbon is exempt from Brussels' counter-offensive.

Moreover, while the US struck all at once, the European Union (EU) staggered its response. The first wave of new tariffs will take effect on April 15. A second – the most significant – will occur on May 16. The 27 have indeed been keen to respect the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which provide for consultation periods, while the US has not bothered with such subtleties.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.09-043630/https://www.lemonde.fr/en/economy/article/2025/04/08/in-salzburg-the-porsche-family-s-private-tunnel-project-faces-unexpected-resistance_6739981_19.html

Is the peaceful and prosperous Salzburg losing its reputation as a haven of tranquility for Austria's upper bourgeoisie? Wolfgang Porsche's project to construct a private tunnel has indeed caused an unusual political stir in Mozart's birthplace, also known for its highly exclusive classical music festival.

At 81, Wolfgang Porsche, who remains the chairman of the supervisory board of Porsche AG, wants to build a tunnel and an underground garage beneath the Kapuzinerberg, one of the lovely green hills overlooking the city center. The goal is to facilitate access to the Paschinger Schlössl, the grand manor he purchased in 2020 for €8.4 million.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.08-053057/https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-says-eu-must-buy-350b-of-us-energy-to-get-tariff-relief/

The European Union will have to commit to buying $350 billion of American energy to get a reprieve from Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs, the U.S. president said late Monday, dismissing Brussels' offer of "zero-for-zero" tariffson cars and industrial goods. 

Trump's comments at a White House press conference were in response to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen saying earlier Monday that the EU had offered to drop the bloc's tariffs to zero on cars and industrial goods imported from the U.S. if Trump reciprocated.

Edamaruku, founder of the Rationalist International, became known in his homeland for travelling around villages in an effort to prove that alleged miracles proclaimed by various holy men were actually scams.

In 2012, he was charged with blasphemy following complaints from Catholic organisations after he showed that an alleged miracle of water dripping from a crucifix in a Mumbai church was actually the result of a leak from a nearby sewage pipe.

Edamaruku has since 2020 been subject to an Interpol red notice, which seeks his detention and extradition back to India.

However, that warrant relates not to the blasphemy charge but to separate accusations – made by an Indian government employee, according to the Times of India – that Edamaruku cheated a woman out of money by making false promises that he could provide a Finnish visa.

On 28 March, the state-owned energy company Naftogaz reported a further Russian attack on Ukraine’s gas infrastructure. This was reportedly the eighteenth large-scale strike since the outbreak of the full-scale war and the eighth since the beginning of the year. No specific details of the damage were disclosed, apart from confirmation that the targets were facilities related to gas extraction – most likely, as in previous weeks, compressor and gas treatment stations. The damage was so severe that, in mid-February, Ukraine was forced to increase gas imports nearly tenfold to meet immediate demand.

The situation is further complicated by the fact that current gas reserves in underground storage facilities are at their lowest in at least a decade. This constrains daily extraction capacity and necessitates costly fuel imports. According to the head of OGTSU (the transmission system operator), Ukraine intends to purchase at least 4 billion cubic metres of gas between April and October 2025. A significant portion of this will be American LNG, delivered via EU terminals, including the Świnoujście LNG terminal.

The latest attacks indicate that Moscow is using ceasefire talks with the United States solely as a means to its own ends. It continues to systematically destroy Ukraine’s gas infrastructure, which the Kremlin has exempted from the moratorium on targeting energy facilities (see ‘Negotiations in Riyadh: unclear agreements, slim prospects for implementation’). The principal challenge for Kyiv will be preparing for the forthcoming heating season – most notably, securing sufficient imported gas reserves amid strained public finances.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.07-165531/https://www.wsj.com/world/russia-strike-ukraine-children-killed-kryviy-rih-e7ad20c3

Russia’s killing of nine children in a missile strike has shaken even Ukrainians who are hardened to such attacks after three years of war and brought into focus the failure of President Trump to fulfill his campaign pledge of a swift end to the war.

Families held funerals on Monday for children who perished in the Russian attack on the central Ukrainian city of Kryviy Rih on Friday, which also killed 11 adults. Mourners brought flowers and soft toys to the playground in the middle of a residential area that was struck by a ballistic missile.

The United Nations said it was the largest verified loss of children’s lives in a single incident since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

“We are not asking for pity,” Kryviy Rih’s top official, Oleksandr Vilkul, wrote on social media. “We are demanding the world’s outrage.”

One of Telegram’s most popular anonymous news channels mysteriously disappeared overnight. “VChK-OGPU” (short for “All-Russian Extraordinary Commission Joint State Political Directorate”) had more than 1.1 million subscribers before it was deleted in the early morning hours of April 7. The channel wrote extensively about Russia’s law enforcement and intelligence communities.

It’s unclear why the channel was shut down. Telegram’s press service told the outlet Mediazona that VChK-OGPU “was deleted by its owner, possibly as a result of unauthorized access,” though the channel’s founder told journalists at Dossier Center that Telegram administrators blocked the account he used to create the channel and then deleted the channel itself. The source argued that Telegram has apparently started enforcing government takedown orders, referring to the Russian authorities demanding last December that Telegram delete VChK-OGPU and several other popular channels.

Meanwhile, another source linked to VChK-OGPU told BBC Russia that there was no unauthorized access to the channel, though the SIM card used in the account that registered the channel is now apparently blocked. Another BBC source suggested that the deletion may be related to an attack on a journalist affiliated with the channel, Alexander Shvarev, whom Latvian national police summoned and warned several months ago of a possible attempt on his life by Russian intelligence.

A Belgian prince's attempt to claim social security benefits on top of his six-figure royal allowance has been rejected by a court.

Prince Laurent - the younger brother of King Philippe - received €388,000 (£295,850; $376,000) from state funds last year but said that his work entitles him and his family to social security.

He had argued that he was partly self-employed because of the duties he carries out as a royal, as well as running an animal welfare charity for the past decade.

Laurent, 61, said he was acting out of "principle" rather than for money. The court disagreed.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.06-143722/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/le-pen-evokes-spirit-martin-luther-king-jr-supporters-rally-paris-2025-04-06/

(…) A Paris court convicted Le Pen and two dozen National Rally (RN) party members of embezzling EU funds last week and imposed a sentence that will prevent her from standing in France's 2027 presidential election unless she can get the ruling overturned within 18 months.

"We will follow Martin Luther King as an example," Le Pen said in a video appearance for Italian Matteo Salvini's anti-immigration Lega party, which was holding a meeting in Florence.

"Our fight will be a peaceful fight, a democratic fight. We will follow Martin Luther King, who defended civil rights, as an example."

Le Pen supporters waved French flags and chanted "we will win" as they gathered in central Paris on Sunday afternoon for a peaceful protest, which could give an indication of how much popular backing there is for her accusations that prosecutors in the case sought her "political death".

(…)

An opinion poll by Elabe on Saturday showed Le Pen was still favourite to win the first round of the presidential vote with between 32% and 36% support, ahead of former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who was polled at between 20.5% and 24%.

But attacks by Le Pen and her allies over the "tyranny of judges" have not gained traction, even among some of her supporters, particularly after the lead judge in her case was put under police protection following death threats. (…)