Germany summons Chinese language ambassador over use of laser focusing on German plane
Deborah Cole
In the meantime, the German international ministry has summoned the Chinese language ambassador in Berlin, reporting that the Chinese language army used a laser to focus on a German plane collaborating within the EU operation Aspides, which helps shield transport within the Crimson Sea.
Brand of the EUNAVFOR ASPIDES mission. {Photograph}: EUNAVFOR ASPIDES/AFP/Getty Photos
“The endangerment of German personnel and disruption of the operation are utterly unacceptable,” the ministry stated on X, saying the summons.
The international ministry, the Chinese language embassy and the Aspides mission didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
European officers have repeatedly expressed concern about Chinese language affect on important infrastructure together with key transport routes.
The EU established Aspides, from Historic Greek which means “shields”, as a defensive maritime safety operation to safeguard navigation through the Crimson Sea disaster.
Since Israel’s conflict in Gaza towards the Palestinian militant group Hamas started in October 2023, Iran-backed Houthi militants have been attacking Israel and vessels within the Crimson Sea in what they are saying are acts of solidarity with the Palestinians.
The German army has been collaborating within the Aspides operation since February 2024. Its parliamentary mandate units a most deployment of 700 army personnel.
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Trump’s provide to EU is ‘actually dangerous,’ Swedish finance minister warns
Lisa O’Carroll
Talking of commerce, the Swedish finance minister has stated the tariff deal being provided to the EU by Donald Trump’s is “actually dangerous”.
Swedish finance minister Elisabeth Svantesson pictured at a convention final 12 months. {Photograph}: Mike Segar/Reuters
Elisabeth Svantesson’s remarks on her approach right into a summit of finance ministers in Brussels underlines divisions within the bloc over strategy negotiations through the three-week extension interval granted final evening by Washington.
Requested what she considered the US provide, which is believed to incorporate some concessions on vehicles, wines and spirits exports, she was blunt.
“Provide isn’t a phrase I’d use to explain this,” stated Svantesson.
On the similar time she appeared resigned to having to just accept a primary 10% tariff – 5 occasions greater than the pre Trump common on EU exports – when the brand new negotiating interval expires on 1 August.
“It’s the Fee that’s driving this, however now I believe we simply have to arrange ourselves for no less than 10 % being what we may have. Do I believe that’s good? No, it’s actually dangerous. However now we have to know what applies.”
She stated the uncertainty was holding again the Swedish economic system saying that was one purpose to have a fast deal, as demanded by the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz.
However she insisted the EU shouldn’t settle for a nasty deal. Some consider a proposal by the US to cut back tariffs to these automotive manufactures who’ve vegetation within the US will consequence within the deindustrialisation of Europe, with enormous job losses in a key sector.
“We assist taking a troublesome stance towards the US. We can not stand with our hats in our palms and thank them for an ‘provide’ of a ten % tariff.”
The European Fee stated on Monday it was engaged on “all cylinders” to attempt to discover a resolution by tomorrow, the unique deadline for talks.
“Precisely how we’ll reply collectively is one thing we’ll resolve collectively. However I would like the Fee to be more durable and extra easy as a result of that’s what is required. We can not drag this out indefinitely,” stated Svantesson in Brussels.
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Europe ‘falling behind’ rivals and want to cut back burdens to innovate, Danish PM says
Turning to “a aggressive and inexperienced Europe,” Frederiksen warns Europe is “falling behind” rivals and requires renewed urgency in “lowering burdens on companies, residents and public authorities.”
“We have to increase our potential to innovate, develop and produce the applied sciences of tomorrow, and we have to do it with urgency and ambition,” she provides.
However she argues this should not come at the price of long-term local weather insurance policies.
She mentions excessive temperatures affecting the continent in current days, saying Europe nonetheless “must maintain pushing for an bold international inexperienced transition.”
Shifting on to commerce, in a thinly veiled swipe at Trump, she says:
“We will use our commerce coverage to diversify and make provide chains extra sturdy. And whereas others construct tariff partitions, we must always kind new commerce partnerships.”
She ends with a direct enchantment to EU lawmakers, saying:
Let’s construct a stronger Europe collectively.
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Migration points are ‘difficult Europe,’ Danish PM says, as she requires reforms
Danish prime minister Frederiksen additionally warns about migration “difficult Europe, affecting folks’s lives, and the cohesion of our societies.”
Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen delivers her speech in Strasbourg. {Photograph}: Pascal Bastien/AP
She says Europe must “strengthen our exterior borders” as she says “European residents have a proper to really feel protected in their very own nations.”
She requires a reform of EU guidelines to “make the method of returns simpler and … extra environment friendly.”
She additionally instantly accuses Russia of “utilizing migration as a weapon at our japanese border.”
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Slicing Europe’s defence spending in previous 30 years was an enormous mistake, Danish PM says
Boiling it down to 2 overriding priorities of the Danish EU presidency, Frederiksen says Denmark’s focus shall be on “a safe Europe” and “a aggressive and inexperienced Europe.”
“Initially, we should take accountability for our personal safety.
Slicing our defence spending prior to now 30 years was an enormous mistake, [that] we will by no means repeat.
We can not take calmly the menace from the East. Russia’s army rearming signifies that they might, inside two to 5 years, pose a reputable army menace to Europe and Nato.
And Russia is now not working alone. We see it in Ukraine. North Korea offering troopers and ammunition missiles from Iran and army know-how from China.
We should act now to answer this menace.”
She additionally says Europe be able to defend itself from 2030, and study from Ukraine on develop “a powerful defence business”.
She additionally makes it clear that Europe “has to proceed our assist for Ukraine in each approach we will, as Europeans, for so long as it takes.”
Danish PM provides:
“Our donations are usually not a present and they aren’t charity. They’re a direct defence of Europe, our life and our freedom.”
She requires “the hardest attainable sanctions” on Russia, and requires assist to enlarge the EU with Ukraine, Moldova and western Balkan nations.
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In a powerful paragraph outlining her mental imaginative and prescient for Europe, Denmark’s Frederiksen says:
“Europe is at the start an thought.
It’s the approach we predict.
Our basic values, freedom, democracy, the rule of regulation, our agency perception in progress, science and customary sense, that we at all times search to maneuver make tomorrow higher than at this time, our social mannequin, that we’re free to suppose as we wish, consider what we wish, and converse as we see match.
These are the basic concepts on which our continent is constructed, they usually run within the blood of all Europeans.
Europe is cooperation, discussions and troublesome compromises.
However above all, Europe is a powerful, wealthy and various continent that has managed to rise many times and in a time the place basic values are being questioned, the response from our aspect must be agency and to be clear, we should in each approach attainable, be keen to guard our democracies, our freedom and rights and our prosperity.”
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‘Europe is going through best challenges since Nineteen Forties,’ Denmark’s Frederiksen
Jakub Krupa
Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen is now giving a serious speech within the European parliament, outlining Denmark’s priorities for the EU because it takes the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Opening, she warns that “Europe is going through the best challenges for the reason that Nineteen Forties,” as she lists a rising lists of pressing points, with Russia’s aggression on Ukraine, migration, the Center East, commerce, and terrorism.
She says:
“The threats could also be many, and they’re certainly severe, however I’ve belief in Europe.
Belief that we will transfer our continent ahead, construct a safer Europe, a greener and extra aggressive Europe, a brand new Europe of tomorrow with potentialities and welfare for our residents, however provided that we keep in mind what we’re able to, what our societies are constructed upon, and who we actually are as Europeans.”
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Up to date at 05.08 EDT
Germany summons Chinese language ambassador over use of laser focusing on German plane
Deborah Cole
In the meantime, the German international ministry has summoned the Chinese language ambassador in Berlin, reporting that the Chinese language army used a laser to focus on a German plane collaborating within the EU operation Aspides, which helps shield transport within the Crimson Sea.
Brand of the EUNAVFOR ASPIDES mission. {Photograph}: EUNAVFOR ASPIDES/AFP/Getty Photos
“The endangerment of German personnel and disruption of the operation are utterly unacceptable,” the ministry stated on X, saying the summons.
The international ministry, the Chinese language embassy and the Aspides mission didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
European officers have repeatedly expressed concern about Chinese language affect on important infrastructure together with key transport routes.
The EU established Aspides, from Historic Greek which means “shields”, as a defensive maritime safety operation to safeguard navigation through the Crimson Sea disaster.
Since Israel’s conflict in Gaza towards the Palestinian militant group Hamas started in October 2023, Iran-backed Houthi militants have been attacking Israel and vessels within the Crimson Sea in what they are saying are acts of solidarity with the Palestinians.
The German army has been collaborating within the Aspides operation since February 2024. Its parliamentary mandate units a most deployment of 700 army personnel.
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Trial begins after tried homicide of Slovak prime minister
Over in Slovakia, a 72-year-old man who shot and wounded Slovak prime minister, Robert Fico final 12 months has gone on trial in Banská Bystrica.
Police escort Juraj Cintula (R), a 72-year-old man on trial for final 12 months’s tried assassination of Slovakia’s prime minister Robert Fico, into the courtroom in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia. {Photograph}: Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Photos
Through the assault in Might final 12 months, Fico, a divisive determine in Slovak politics, was shot within the stomach and needed to endure two main surgical procedures within the first days after the assault. He has since recovered.
The attacker, Juraj Cintula, was arrested instantly after the incident and charged with tried homicide, later transformed into terror costs. If convicted, he faces life imprisonment, Reuters famous.
“Lengthy dwell democracy, lengthy dwell free tradition,” he shouted as he arrived on the court docket. In keeping with studies in Slovak media, he didn’t enter a plea and refused to testify in court docket.
Fico isn’t current in court docket.
The case continues.
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Up to date at 04.48 EDT
EU nonetheless hopes to conclude cope with US on tariffs
Lisa O’Carroll
The EU nonetheless hopes to conclude an settlement in precept this week with Donald Trump over tariffs, after it was granted an extension of three weeks for talks.
Aerial view of transport containers stacked in Hamburg Port in Hamburg, Germany. {Photograph}: Sean Gallup/Getty Photos
Eire’s deputy prime minister Simon Harris revealed the bloc had been given till 1 August to conclude talks or face tariffs on imports of as much as 50%.
In alternate for an acceptance of a ten% baseline tariff, the EU is searching for a collection of concessions.
This consists of a decreased tariff quota for automotive imports and metal, at present attracting import duties of 27.5% and 50% respectively.
This addresses Germany’s important demand for concessions for its beleaguered automotive business. The compromise would centre on producers with vegetation within the US together with main German manufacturers Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Volkswagen.
And the EU is searching for concessions on medical units and wine and spirits, which at present entice a ten% tariff
The EU additionally desires the tariff reduction to kick in instantly after an settlement is signed, and never have to attend weeks, because the UK did, for formal textual content to be registered by the White Home.
Uncertainty stays over Trump’s threatened tariffs on pharma, Harris stated. “That is clearly an space of great concern to Eire,” he stated.
In an announcement issued final evening he added:
“My understanding is that we will now anticipate an extension of the present established order till 1 August to offer additional time for the EU and the US to achieve an settlement in precept on a mutually useful settlement that works for either side.
Nonetheless, it stays the place of the EU and the Irish authorities that we wish to conclude discussions on a commerce settlement earlier than 1 August. I stay cautiously optimistic about reaching settlement in precept on a Framework Settlement.
I need to be clear that whereas it’s probably there shall be some type of tariffs going ahead, their imposition even at a decrease fee is dangerous for shoppers, jobs, financial progress and funding.”
Individually, The Irish Occasions’s view of the three-week extension for EU talks with the US is that it gives little consolation to EU capitals.
It notes that Eire is scared of tariffs on prescription drugs, one in every of its greatest multinational sectors and employers, nevertheless it additionally factors out that if the results of talks is a ten% baseline tariff, then Trump has gained.
Its morning publication opined:
“A three-week pause on the deadline to a 90-day pause on tariff hikes – won’t be met with sighs of reduction in Dublin, or every other European capital.
The bottom expectation has been for a while that tariffs are a part of the image when coping with Trump’s second administration, one thing which Tánaiste and Minister for Commerce Simon Harris has persistently articulated.
However somewhat than coping with the results of a punishing new commerce regime, which refuses to crystallise, Eire and the remainder of the world is caught in a form of purgatory – counting the price of uncertainty whereas attempting to navigate the ambiguities of world commerce underneath Trump.”
ShareJakub Krupa
Now, let’s get an replace on the EU-US commerce talks, from Lisa O’Carroll.
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EU’s von der Leyen derides right-wing conspiracies as she fights towards movement of censure towards her fee
Jennifer Rankin
As we look forward to extra reactions from Ukraine, let’s begin with a quick atone for final evening’s European parliament debate on Ursula von der Leyen and her management of the European Fee.
Practically one 12 months in the past von der Leyen was returned as European Fee president by the European parliament with a much bigger majority than the primary time round in 2019. The identical forces that propelled her again to workplace with a snug degree of assist in 2024 at the moment are holding her safely in submit.
European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen provides a speech throughout a plenary session on the European parliament, the place a movement of censure towards the European Fee is debated, in Strasbourg. {Photograph}: Jean-Christophe Verhaegen/AFP/Getty Photos
Chatting with MEPs on Monday, von der Leyen dismissed as “debunked conspiracy theories” the central claims of a movement of censure designed to unseat her, framing the political transfer from a right-wing nationalist MEP as a part of “an age of battle between democracy and illiberalism”.
The European parliament will vote on Thursday on a movement tabled by Romanian nationalist anti-vaxxer MEP Gheorghe Piperea, ostensibly over von der Leyen’s refusal to launch textual content messages linked to the negotiation of vaccine contracts through the pandemic. In principle, the vote might set off the downfall of von der Leyen and her commissioners.
However even its writer doesn’t anticipate it to get the required majority.
Addressing MEPS in Strasbourg on Monday, von der Leyen derided Piperea’s world of conspiracies and alleged sinister plots by “what he calls Brussels”, happening to level to wider threats to democracy from extremist events,
“There is no such thing as a proof that they’ve any solutions, however there’s ample proof that many are supported by our enemies and by their puppet masters in Russia or elsewhere.”
Unsurprisingly she was strongly supported by her personal European Individuals’s Celebration group. Equally anticipated, have been the unenthusiastic declarations of assist from the socialists, centrists and greens, who voted for her in 2019, and can vote towards the upcoming movement of censure. They’ve grievances, however none need to hand a present to the anti-EU far-right, by bringing down the fee at such a turbulent second for worldwide politics.
Iratxe García Pérez, chief of the Socialist group, criticised the EPP over the events it had voted with the far proper, in addition to the centre-right group’s stance on the EU’s 2040 local weather targets and opposition to an EU ethics physique. She accused von der Leyen of wanting the opposite approach on these points.
Valérie Heyer, a French member of the centrist Renew group, chided von der Leyen for a similar causes, concluding: “Don’t take something with no consideration. Please put your personal political home so as.”
Whereas the far-right – Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán’s Patriots for Europe and the extra excessive Europe of Sovereign Nations – will vote for the movement, the opposite right-wing group, the European Conservatives and Reformists, is break up.
Piperea, an ECR member, was answerable for the movement, however the group is dominated by the occasion of the Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni, who has no want to carry down the extra right-leaning fee – which features a vice presidency submit for her ally, Raffaele Fitto. They are going to have a free vote, the place two-thirds of their 79 MEPs are anticipated to vote towards the movement.
For her half, von der Leyen provided a modest olive department to her supporters, saying she was at all times able to work for compromise. Itemizing EU-US commerce talks, Ukraine, China, she dropped a not very delicate trace on the stakes: “Europe should present energy… This energy solely comes by means of unity.”
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Up to date at 03.51 EDT
We’re but to listen to Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s response to Trump’s announcement in a single day, however his most senior aide Andriy Yermak responded to the Pentagon assertion with a not-so-cryptic submit on social media displaying the flags of Ukraine and the US with a handshake emoji.
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UK imposes sanctions on head, deputy of Russia’s principal chemical weapons unit
Dan Sabbagh
Defence and safety editor
The UK has sanctioned the pinnacle and a deputy of Russia’s principal chemical weapons unit over the unlawful use of CS teargas in Ukraine ahed of a gathering of the chief council of the Organisation of Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
Rescue employees extinguish a fireplace at a non-public enterprise broken in a Russian drone strike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. {Photograph}: International Photos Ukraine/Getty Photos
Aleksey Rtishchev, the chief of Russia’s Radiological, Chemical and Organic Defence unit (referred to as RKhBZ) and Andrei Marchenko, a deputy will now each be topic to sanctions following OPCW studies that gasoline was used on the battlefield.
Although CS gasoline is used as a crowd management agent in a number of nations, its use in conflict is prohibited by the chemical weapons conference. Final November the OPCW confirmed there was proof of using teargas on the frontline, at Ilinka, close to the city of Nikopol.
The UK has already sanctioned the RKHBZ unit in addition to its former chief Igor Kirillov, although he was assassinated by Ukraine final December by a bomb hidden in a scooter, after Kyiv accused Russia of deploying chemical weapons lots of of occasions.
Britain additionally sanctioned The Joint Inventory Firm Federal Manufacturing Centre Scientific Analysis Institute of Utilized Chemistry for transferring gasoline grenades to the Russian army.
Stephen Doughty, the sanctions minister, stated “Barbaric chemical weapons are imagined to be consigned to historical past, and but Russia continues to deploy them on the battlefield in Ukraine.”
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Morning opening: US agrees to ship ‘defensive’ army support to Ukraine
Jakub Krupa
The large information in a single day is that US president Donald Trump stated the US will ship further weapons to Ukraine to assist it defend itself towards ongoing assaults by Russia.
US president Donald Trump speaks throughout a dinner with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (not pictured) within the Blue Room of the White Home in Washington, DC. {Photograph}: Al Drago/EPA
Speaking to journalists on the White Home, Trump stated “they’re getting hit very, very exhausting,” including he was “not pleased” with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
They’ve to have the ability to defend themselves.
A Pentagon assertion shortly afterwards confirmed that
“at president Trump’s path, the Division of Protection is sending further defensive weapons to Ukraine to make sure the Ukrainians can defend themselves whereas we work to safe an enduring peace and make sure the killing stops.”
The transfer comes per week after a complicated halt in army deliveries for Ukraine regardless of persevering with assaults by Russia, which prompted Kyiv and a number of other European capitals to induce the US to rethink its place.
The difficulty was additionally mentioned throughout final week’s direct name between Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Regardless of the announcement in a single day, Russia continued assaults on Ukraine, with explosions reported within the southern Ukrainian metropolis of Mykolaiv, amongst others.
Elsewhere, we shall be the newest within the EU-US commerce talks, the start of French president Emmanuel Macron’s state go to to Britain, key votes within the European parliament, and the start of the trial of a person who shot and wounded Slovak prime minister Robert Fico final 12 months.
It’s Tuesday, 8 July 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa right here, and that is Europe Stay.
Good morning.
ShareRescue employees extinguish a fireplace after a Russian drone strike on July 7, 2025 in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. {Photograph}: International Photos Ukraine/Getty ImagesShare
Up to date at 03.54 EDT
