Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to a year of house arrest after illegally financing his campaign for re-election in 2012. A court in Paris said Sarkozy will be made to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet. The 66-year-old, France’s president from 2007 to 2012, has vigorously denied wrongdoing and will appeal against the
World
At least 116 people have been killed and 80 injured during a battle between gangs in a jail in what has been described as the worst prison massacre in Ecuador’s history. President Guillermo Lasso decreed a state of emergency in the country’s prison system, allowing the government to deploy the police and soldiers to jails.
People on the Spanish island of La Palma have been urged to stay indoors due to toxic gas fears after lava from an erupting volcano reached the Atlantic Ocean. Scientists have warned of breathing difficulties and irritation to eyes and skin due to the chemical reaction caused by the lava from the Cumbre Vieja volcano
North Korea has claimed it has developed a new hypersonic missile following a test flight on Tuesday. If true it would represent a significant step forward in Pyongyang’s military technology. The North’s announcement came a day after the South Korean and Japanese militaries said they detected North Korea firing a ballistic missile into sea. Hypersonic
Twenty-one World Health Organisation (WHO) staff members were allegedly involved in sexual abuse during the agency’s response to the Ebola crisis in central Africa, according to an official report. The allegations, which include nine of rape, were identified by a special panel commissioned by WHO to look into claims involving the UN’s health agency in
Le Palma’s donation centre is a place for evacuated residents to find clothes and food, and also a place for them to console each other. I met Rosy outside, she was picking up a box of tins and fruit for her family. Her town was one of the first to be evacuated on the island.
Germany’s Social Democrats (SDP) will seek to start the process of trying to form a three-way alliance and lead the government for the first time in 16 years after Sunday’s tight election results. The SDP narrowly beat Angela Merkel’s Union bloc and the party’s leader, Olaf Scholz, hopes to strike a coalition deal before Christmas.
Preliminary results in the German election show the centre-left social democrats have beaten outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel’s centre-right bloc. SPD won 25.8% to the CDU/CSU’s 24.1%, according to figures from German broadcaster ARD and Reuters. The greens were next with 14.6%, followed by the FDP on 11.5%. The two parties have signalled they are willing
An exit poll in Germany suggests the two main rivals are tied in an election that will determine who will succeed Angela Merkel. No single party has ever won a total majority in the country’s Bundestag (lower house of parliament), meaning politicians will likely be plunged into negotiations in the coming days. One exit poll
The world of 2005 feels a long way away. We had president George W Bush and prime minister Tony Blair; Prince Charles married Camilla Parker Bowles. Bombs in London and a hurricane battering New Orleans. Lance Armstrong winning the Tour de France yet again, despite those rumours; London winning the right to host the Olympic
Authorities have closed La Palma’s airport as a new vent opened in an erupting volcano, spreading more ash across the island. Flights to and from the Spanish island have been cancelled as a result of the volcanic eruption that has lasted nearly a week. Rivers of lava poured down the slopes of the volcano and
The Hofbrauhaus in the heart of Munich is a huge building dedicated to the art of beer. It’s been welcoming drinkers for 432 years, during which time Bavaria has been ruled variously by princes, emperors, kings, dukes, dictators and, latterly, a load of democrats. The walls here have heard every grumble and every political aspiration.
Three more towns have been evacuated on the island of La Palma in the Canaries amid “intensifying volcanic activity”, emergency services say. Authorities ordered the evacuation of the towns of Tajuya, Tacande de Abajo and the part of Tacande de Arriba thathad not already been evacuated due to a volcanic eruption, emergency services said. Residents
The advance of lava from a volcanic eruption in Spain’s Canary Islands has slowed, rising in some places up to 50 feet as it thickens. One giant river of lava on the island of La Palma slowed to 13 feet (4m) per hour on Wednesday – on Monday, a day after the eruption, it was
Swathes of La Palma are swimming in volcanic ash. It’s everywhere, on the roads, covering cars and buildings and in your clothes, and probably lungs. The roar of the volcano can be heard for miles. It is thunderous and menacing. The lava is spewing from the crater, burning everything in its path, utterly consuming anything
Authorities have warned people on the island of La Palma of fresh dangers after a new volcanic vent blew open and rivers of unstoppable lava flowed towards more densely populated areas and the sea. Residents were cautioned on Tuesday about earthquakes, toxic gases, volcanic ash and acid rain after several small earthquakes shook the Spanish