52 m. ago The Bank Hotel, Istanbul: An elegant stay steeped in history

Nicole Holcroft-Emmess falls for one of Europe’s most exciting cities after a stay at this chic design hotel

Politics

83 m. ago Joël Le Scouarnec: France braced for horror details in largest

A former surgeon accused of raping or sexual abusing 299 people, mostly children

Events

1 hour ago Five foot chunk of suspected SpaceX shuttle crashes down outside European city

It was reported locally that 'mysterious flashes' were seen over the country before a huge chunk of suspected SpaceX debris came crashing down near Poland's fifth largest city

Events

1 hour ago Is this the world's 'wokest' football club? Meet the German top

Located just outside Hamburg's notorious red-light district known as the Reeperbahn, FC St Pauli are not your average football club.

Politics

2 h. ago Gasperini claims offence unintended in calling Lookman ‘one of worst penalty takers’

Atalanta manager says: ‘I didn’t want to offend anyone’Striker called manager’s comments ‘deeply disrespectful’Atalanta manager Gian Piero Gasperini said he never intended to offend Ademola Lookman by saying the striker is “one of the worst penalty takers he has ever seen” after their home Champions League defeat by Club Brugge.Belgian side Club Brugge stunned Atalanta 3-1 in the second leg of their playoff tie to dump the Italian side out with a 5-2 aggregate win and reach the last 16. Lookman, Atalanta’s hero last season when they won the Europa League, pulled back one goal for the Italian side when they were 3-0 down. Continue reading...

Politics

3 h. ago Syrian suspect in Berlin Holocaust Memorial stabbing wanted to kill Jews, investigators say

Investigators say the suspect in a stabbing attack at Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial that left a Spanish tourist seriously injured is a Syrian refugee who apparently wanted to kill Jews

Events

3 h. ago ‘It’s blackmail’: Ukrainians react to Trump demand for $500bn share of minerals

Ukraine’s lithium deposits are among biggest in Europe and the US is looking for ‘payback’ for previous military assistanceDrawing in the snow with his finger, Mykola Hrechukha sketched out how Ukraine’s new lithium mine might look. It would have a deep central shaft, with a series of side tunnels, he said. “The lithium is good everywhere. The biggest concentration is at a depth of 200-500 metres,” he said. “We should be able to extract 4,300 tonnes a day. The potential is terrific.”For now, though, there is little sign of activity. The deposit is buried under a large sloping field, used in communist times to grow beetroot and wheat. The mine’s proposed entrance is in an abandoned former-Soviet village, Liodiane, today a scruffy grove of acacia and maple trees. The only inhabitant is a security guard, who lives on the 150-hectare site in an ancient Gaz-53 truck. Wild boar and even a wolf sometimes wander past. Continue reading...

Politics

4 h. ago Three Premier League referees at centre of controversy as player suffers broken nose

Chris Kavanagh was the man in the middle for Ajax's 2-1 Europa League defeat to Union Saint-Gilloise on Thursday night, although the Amsterdam giants reached the last 16 thanks to a 3-2 aggregate victory

Sport

4 h. ago Sepsis fears in pope’s pneumonia battle as Holy Year celebrations start

The Pope is ‘not out of danger’

Events

4 h. ago German election live updates: Final poll predicts large gains for AfD hours before voters cast ballots

Germany heads to the polls for the fourth snap election in its history

Politics

5 h. ago Needle drop! The world’s first sewing machine orchestra takes Munich

This weekend, a symphony of Singers (not that kind) will lead an experimental performance that stitches together feminism and fashion – and offers the audience free repairsStepping into the studio of the Brazilian-born artist and performer Lisa Simpson – no relation to the cartoon character – feels like entering a crossover between the Mad Hatter’s workshop and a postindustrial steampunk landscape with a colourful girl-power twist. The ground floor space in Berlin’s southern district of Neukölln is filled with shelves laden with old sewing machines and coat racks brimming with hats, bags and fabric scraps. Even more sewing machines propped on two tables might suggest that this is a tailor’s workshop, were it not for the tangle of cables and synthesisers connected to them. Toy sewing machines in candy colours have a purple phone receiver attached; colourful cables with knitted covers sneak out of household sewing machines and seam overlockers; pins and needles are connected to microp...

Politics

5 h. ago In photos: The first day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine captured in images

The day that changed Ukraine forever

Events

5 h. ago Russia and US could meet again within weeks to discuss Ukraine, Moscow says – Europe live

Moscow and Washington held their first talks on ending the nearly three-year war in Ukraine on TuesdayUkrainians who once lived in parts of the country now occupied by Russia hope they can claim some kind of compensation from the Russians in charge for the damage to their homes, Reuters reports.Maria Seryogova is one of those who have returned to snap photos of the rubble to back up their claims. Continue reading...

Politics

6 h. ago Ukraine frontline latest: Russia ‘captures another village in Eastern Ukraine’

Thousands of civilians have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them from Ukraine

Politics

6 h. ago Culture wars: Trump’s takeover of arts is straight from the dictator playbook

US president’s attempt to control or dismantle cultural institutions plays into a long history of authoritarians using arts to push their agendaIn 1937, leaders of Germany’s Third Reich hosted two simultaneous art exhibitions in Munich. One, titled the Great German Art Exhibition, featured art viewed by the regime as appropriate and aspirational for the ideal Aryan society – orderly and triumphant, with mostly blond people in heroic poses amid pastoral German landscapes. The other showcased what Adolf Hitler and his followers deemed “degenerate art” (“Entartete Kunst”). The works, chaotically displayed and saddled with commentary disparaging “the sick brains of those who wielded the brush or pencil”, were abstract, profane, modernist and produced by the proclaimed enemies of the Reich – Jewish people, communists or those suspected of being either.The Degenerate Art exhibition, which later toured the country, opened a day after Hitler declared “merciless war” on cultural disintegrati...

Politics

6 h. ago Unhinged Donald Trump's scathing three word verdict on Keir Starmer as row over Ukraine peace goes on

The US Commander in Chief has continued to rage against Europe in his latest interview, this time targeting nuclear leaders Sir Keir and President Emmanuel Macron

Politics

7 h. ago ‘Russia is not winning’: Ukraine frontline soldiers say ‘weak’ Moscow should be negotiating with its back to the wall

On the three year anniversary of Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine frontline soldiers tell World affairs editor Sam Kiley that it’s Russia that should be suing for peace

Events

7 h. ago Why after three years of Ukraine war the bloodiest battles may be still to come

The outcome of this war is still likely to be decided on the battlefield, Alexander Titov writes

Events

8 h. ago Berlin film festival 2025 roundup – a new boss, a flawless fairytale and Ethan Hawke’s finest hour

At a snowy Berlinale, against a backdrop of political divisions, this year’s standouts include Lucile Hadžihalilović’s The Ice Tower, Richard Linklater’s Broadway biopic of Lorenz Hart, and intensely sexual romance starring Jessica ChastainBerlin can be a touch inhospitable in February; this year was no exception, with visitors to the film festival enduring heavy snow, treacherous pavements and a two-day, city-wide transport strike. But the Berlinale itself is contending with a frosty climate. Traditionally a hub for film-makers of forthright, oppositional persuasions, it must now attempt to flourish in the face of Europe’s swing to the right, with Germany’s elections imminent and the troubling rise of the extremist AfD party.Every new festival head faces the challenge of reinventing the event they have inherited, and in the Berlinale’s 75th year, the bar was set especially high given the scrutiny the festival has received. Last year’s closing night brought controversy, with some Ge...

Society

8 h. ago Plans for direct trains from London St Pancras to Germany and Switzerland: Simon Calder explains all

Trains could soon go direct from St Pancras International in London to cities such as Milan, Frankfurt and Geneva in under six hours, as the station looks to expand its capacity for European travel with the help of different train operators.

Politics