Romanian citizen arrested after blood-painted swastikas reported on cars, mailboxes in German town
Police in Germany said they detained a 31-year-old man suspected of painting swastikas with his own blood on dozens of cars, some mailboxes and building facades in the central town of Hanau, AP reported.
Police spokesman Thomas Leipold said officers were alerted Wednesday night when a man reported that he noticed the shape of a swastika applied in a reddish liquid on the hood of a parked car. Police said that almost 50 cars had been defaced in a similar way.
A special test quickly revealed that the substance was human blood. The display of Nazi emblems, including the swastika, is illegal in Germany, AP noted.
On Thursday afternoon, police said, the man, a Romanian citizen whose name was not given in line with German privacy rules, was arrested at his home in Hanau, after they were tipped off by a witness.
“He was still under the strong influence of alcohol and his motive appears to be highly personal and job-related – he just snapped,” Leipold said. He added that the man had injuries that appeared to be self-inflicted.
On Thursday morning, before the suspect was apprehended, the city’s mayor Claus Kaminsky expressed shock, AP reported.
The agency reminded that Hanau was in the headlines five years ago when a German attacker shot and killed nine people with immigrant roots in a rampage at a hookah bar in the town, in one of the worst cases of domestic terrorism since World War II.
“Especially in our city, which was deeply affected by the racist attack on 19 February 2020, such an act causes deep consternation,” he said, adding that the city had filed a criminal complaint, German news agency dpa reported.
Key events
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New Czech parliament speaker takes Ukrainian flag off lower chamber’s building
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Czech Republic’s Fiala resigns, stays in as interim prime minister pending formation of Babiš’s government
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Romanian citizen arrested after blood-painted swastikas reported on cars, mailboxes in German town
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Missing 1.5C climate target is a moral failure, Guterres tells Cop30 summit
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Ukraine faces ‘forever war’ unless Europe steps up pressure on Russia, says ex-Nato chief
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Belgium’s de Wever confirms 50 day extension for budget talks
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Belgian budget deadline extended until Christmas – reports
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Norwegian police close probe into suspected drone sightings over Oslo airport
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Italian journalist sacked after question drawing comparison between Russia and Israel
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Outgoing Czech government set to formally resign today
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Belgium to strengthen air security centre, consider anti-drone measures in response to airspace disruptions
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European Commission takes concerns about Shein ‘extremely seriously,’ spokesperson says
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European Commission pays tribute to ex Guardian journalist David Gow
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Dutch court throws out bid to ban arms to Israel over Gaza
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Oleron attacker suspected of ‘self-radicalisation,’ but still not clear if attack was religiously motivated, French minister says
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Poland starts ‘largest defence training in history’ with plans to train 400,000 volunteers in 2026
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Louvre heist a ‘deafening wake-up call’ on security, auditor says
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France urges EU to take action against Chinese online retailer Shein
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Belgian interior minister expects proposals on drones after security council meeting
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China willing to explore trade, investment deals with EU, minister says
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Belgium to discuss response to drones
New Czech parliament speaker takes Ukrainian flag off lower chamber’s building
… and to give you a taster on what’s to come under the new Czech administration …
In one of the first acts in his role, the newly elected far-right speaker of the lower house of the Czech parliament, Tomio Okamura, has ordered to take down the Ukrainian flag flying over the building since the 2022 full-scale Russian invasion.
The SPD party leader, a signatory to a coalition agreement underpinning Babiš’s incoming government, told reporters from iDnes.cz that the change had a symbolic meaning, making good on his longstanding call to take Ukrainian flags off all public buildings.
In an accompanying video, he said: “Czech Republic first!”
Okamura’s SPD is a political ally of the German far-right Alternative für Deutschland party, with the two sitting together in the European parliament.
Czech Republic’s Fiala resigns, stays in as interim prime minister pending formation of Babiš’s government
As expected (12:51), Czech prime minister Petr Fiala has just submitted his formal resignation from the post to the country’s president, Petr Pavel, paving the way for the new government, led by populist billionnaire Andrej Babiš, to be formed in the next few weeks.
Thanking him for his service, Pavel paid tribute to the work Fiala’s government, stressing it faced major challenges domestically and internationally, with the Russian invasion on Ukraine triggering a migration and energy crises, iDnes.cz and Lidové noviny reported.
“I am convinced that the government has dealt with these risks very well,” he said.
Fiala will continue in post until the new government is appointed.
Romanian citizen arrested after blood-painted swastikas reported on cars, mailboxes in German town
Police in Germany said they detained a 31-year-old man suspected of painting swastikas with his own blood on dozens of cars, some mailboxes and building facades in the central town of Hanau, AP reported.
Police spokesman Thomas Leipold said officers were alerted Wednesday night when a man reported that he noticed the shape of a swastika applied in a reddish liquid on the hood of a parked car. Police said that almost 50 cars had been defaced in a similar way.
A special test quickly revealed that the substance was human blood. The display of Nazi emblems, including the swastika, is illegal in Germany, AP noted.
On Thursday afternoon, police said, the man, a Romanian citizen whose name was not given in line with German privacy rules, was arrested at his home in Hanau, after they were tipped off by a witness.
“He was still under the strong influence of alcohol and his motive appears to be highly personal and job-related – he just snapped,” Leipold said. He added that the man had injuries that appeared to be self-inflicted.
On Thursday morning, before the suspect was apprehended, the city’s mayor Claus Kaminsky expressed shock, AP reported.
The agency reminded that Hanau was in the headlines five years ago when a German attacker shot and killed nine people with immigrant roots in a rampage at a hookah bar in the town, in one of the worst cases of domestic terrorism since World War II.
“Especially in our city, which was deeply affected by the racist attack on 19 February 2020, such an act causes deep consternation,” he said, adding that the city had filed a criminal complaint, German news agency dpa reported.
Missing 1.5C climate target is a moral failure, Guterres tells Cop30 summit
Jonathan Watts and Fiona Harvey in Belém
The failure to limit global heating to 1.5C is a “moral failure and deadly negligence”, the UN secretary general has said at the opening session of the Cop30 climate summit in the Brazilian city of Belém.
António Guterres said even a temporary overshoot could “unleash far greater destruction and costs for every nation. It could push ecosystems past catastrophic and irreversible tipping points, expose billions to unliveable conditions, and amplify threats to peace and security”.
He said efforts to stabilise the climate were being held back by fossil fuel companies who were “deceiving the public and obstructing progress”.
Speaking to heads of state from more than 30 nations, Guterres called the target of limiting global heating to 1.5C above preindustrial levels a “red line” for a habitable planet and urged his audience to bring about a “fundamental paradigm shift” so that the effects of the overshoot could be minimised.
“Every fraction of a degree higher means more hunger, more displacement, more economic hardship and more lives and ecosystems lost. Each year above 1.5C will hammer economies, deepen inequalities and inflict irreversible damage – with developing countries that did least to cause it hit hardest. That is not solidarity. It is moral failure – and deadly negligence,” he said.
On Thursday the World Meteorological Organization confirmed that greenhouse gas emissions, which are heating the planet, had risen to a record high. It said 2025 was on track to be the second or third warmest year ever recorded. All of the 10 hottest years in measured history have been in the past decade.
Guterres said there had been some progress but it was not fast enough. Many nations had put forward more ambitious plans to cut emissions. If they were fully implemented, he said, the world would be on a pathway to about 2.3C of global warming.
This forecast leaves the planet in dangerous territory but is considerably better than seemed possible 20 years ago. This is largely thanks to international support for the 2015 Paris agreement and a clean energy revolution that is gathering pace. But several powerful nations are stepping away from climate action as far-right nationalism takes hold, particularly the United States.
Ukraine faces ‘forever war’ unless Europe steps up pressure on Russia, says ex-Nato chief
Patrick Wintour
Diplomatic editor
Ukraine is facing a “forever war” and a slow erosion of territory unless Europe dramatically increases pressure on Russia, including by deploying troops and establishing a missile and drone shield on Nato territory to protect Ukraine from Russian attacks on its infrastructure, a former Nato secretary general has said.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who held the Nato post from 2009 to 2014 and was the prime minister of Denmark from 2001 to 2009, said in an interview with the Guardian that if countries such as Poland agreed to host such air defences, Russia would understand that an attack on then would be an attack on the whole of the Nato alliance.
He said: “We have to help the Ukrainian [people] protect themselves against Russian missiles and drones by building an air shield helping the Ukrainians shoot down Russian missiles and drones. Nato countries neighbouring Ukraine can be the location for a Nato-based air defence and missile system.”
Rasmussen also called for the deployment of a European protection force for Ukraine in advance of a ceasefire agreement. He said the “coalition of the willing” hoping to assemble such a force for when fighting ends had been reduced to a coalition of the waiting.
“If we do not carry out major changes in strategy we will look into a forever war,” he said. “Putin has no incentive to engage in peace negotiations so long as he thinks he can win on the battlefield. Changes in speed and mindset are needed.”
Belgium’s de Wever confirms 50 day extension for budget talks
de Wever confirms to lawmakers that he has asked for 50 days to complete the budget negotiations – that’s 26 December – and says this deadline will not be extended.
“No more procrastination. We cannot allow ourselves to be paralyzed. We must persevere. We must show this country its resilience,” he stressed.
Belgian budget deadline extended until Christmas – reports
The Belgian government has agreed on a new deadline for passing the budget before Christmas, De Standaard reported.
The country’s prime minister, Bart de Wever, relayed the plan to King Philippe during an audience at the Royal Palace, telling him about “continuing disagreements” within the government, according to the readout.
Back from the Palace, De Wever is now briefing the parliament on the latest in the talks, so we should get the official confirmation shortly.
Norwegian police close probe into suspected drone sightings over Oslo airport
Norwegian police said they had closed an investigation into suspected drone sightings that caused a shutdown of Oslo’s airport in September, citing insufficient evidence that drones had been present, Reuters reported.
Both Oslo and Copenhagen airports shut for several hours on 22-23 September after the airspace over the two hubs was closed due to reported drone sightings.
Drones have caused major disruption across Europe in recent months, forcing temporary closures of airports in several countries. Some officials have blamed the incidents on “hybrid warfare” by Russia. Moscow has denied any connection with the incidents, Reuters noted.
Norwegian police said they had interviewed airport personnel and reviewed surveillance video as part of a probe, but that the investigation “has been unable to confirm or deny whether drones were actually observed on the night of 23 September.”
The Danish investigation into the drone sightings at Copenhagen airport is also still ongoing, Danish police told Reuters.
Italian journalist sacked after question drawing comparison between Russia and Israel
Angela Giuffrida
in Rome
An Italian journalist was sacked from his job for asking a question about Israel during a press conference in Brussels.
Addressing the European Commission spokesperson Paula Pinho during the event on 13 October, Gabriele Nunziati, a journalist with the Rome-based news agency, Nova, said:
“You have been repeating several times that Russia should repay for the reconstruction of Ukraine. Do you believe Israel should repay for the reconstruction of Gaza, since they destroyed almost all the Strip and civilian infrastructure?”
Pinho replied: “It’s definitely an interesting question on which I would not have any comment at this stage.”
Two weeks later, Nunziati was fired after a couple of “tense calls” with his bosses, he told the Italian news outlet, Fanpage.
In a response to Fanpage, Nova didn’t deny sending the journalist a termination letter, arguing that his question was “completely out of place and technically incorrect” because Russia invaded a country while Israel “suffered armed aggression”.
Amid an outcry in Italy, the European Commission’s deputy chief spokesperson, Olof Gill, “categorically confirmed” on Thursday that it did not ask Nova to take action against the journalist.
“The European Commission attaches the utmost importance to freedom of the press,” he said during a media briefing when asked about the case.
“We demonstrate that commitment on a daily basis here in this press room, here at our midday press briefing. In relation to the case in question, the commission has not been in contact with the media concerned. Questions on this specific decision should be addressed to that media.”
The Italian journalists’ guild expressed its “dismay” over the case, saying “you cannot be fired for asking a question”.
Sandro Ruotolo, an MEP for the centre-left Democratic party, said: “Firing a journalist for asking a question, no matter how uncomfortable or controversial, is a very serious matter that should alarm anyone who cares about press freedom.”
Nicola Fratoianni, who leads the Green-Left Alliance, said Nunziati’s dismissal was a “disconcerting and serious matter for which we will hold parliament accountable”. Fratoianni urged Nova to reconsider its decision.
Outgoing Czech government set to formally resign today
We are also getting an important process update from the Czech Republic, as the outgoing prime minister Petr Fiala and his ministers are moving to formally resign from the government later today.
After this morning’s government meeting, Fiala said he would personally hand in his resignation to the country’s president, Petr Pavel, this afternoon.
The outgoing cabinet will remain in office until the next coalition government, led by controversial populist billionaire Andrej Babiš, gets appointed in the coming weeks.
Babiš is hoping to form the new administration by the end of November, as outstanding issues – including on his personal conflict of interests – are getting resolved.
He is expected to visit president Pavel at the Hrad next week – on 12 January – to discuss the next steps in the government formation process.
Belgium to strengthen air security centre, consider anti-drone measures in response to airspace disruptions
Back to Belgium, the country’s defence minister Theo Francken said the National Air Security Centre in Beauvechain will be strengthened and made operational in the coming months in response to the latest drone incident that affected Brussels airport.
In comments after the national security council meeting, he also said there was a discussion on counter-drone measures, with more details to be worked out in the coming days.
He also said that the guidance to authorities is clear that if possible: any drones disrupting Belgian airspace should be shot down, VRT reported.
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