China and Russia are stepping up sabotage operations targeting undersea cables and the UK is unprepared to meet the mounting threat, according to new analysis. A report by the China Strategic Risks Institute (CSRI) analysed 12 incidents where national authorities had investigated alleged undersea cable sabotage between January 2021 and April 2025. Of the 10 cases in which a suspect vessel was identified, eight were directly linked to China or Russia through flag-state registration or company ownership. The involvement of “shadow fleet” commercial vessels in these incidents is consistent with…
Tag: Europe
Weather tracker: Europe and China in midst of record-breaking heat
Temperature records for early June are being broken across large parts of Europe, with the mercury reaching 40.5C (104.9F) in Mértola, Portugal, on Sunday. On the same day, several weather stations in Spain recorded temperatures in excess of 42C, with dozens of sites at record levels for early summer. Across the Balkans, temperatures reached 37C. On Monday, 37.6C was recorded in Tirana, Albania, while in Greece night-time minimum temperatures have stayed mostly over 30C for much of this week. Hot conditions are to intensify across central and western Europe over…
Weather tracker: Fierce thunderstorms and big hailstones hit parts of Europe
This week, large parts of Europe have been affected by a series of intense thunderstorms, bringing torrential rain, damaging winds and large hail. Central France was particularly badly affected by the severe weather, as powerful storm systems swept south-westward across the country. The departments of Loire and Puy-de-Dôme were among the hardest hit, experiencing significant damage from a particularly violent supercell thunderstorm that produced hailstones measuring up to 6cm in diameter – larger than ping-pong balls. The storm system also generated flash flooding, strong wind gusts, and reports of a…
Europe and Asia should form ‘positive new alliance’, says Macron in Singapore
European and Asian countries should form a “positive new alliance” based on shared principles, security, defence and trade, away from the battling superpowers of the US and China, Emmanuel Macron has said. Addressing the Shangri-La security dialogue in Singapore on Friday, the French president said the division between the US and China was the biggest threat in the world right now, but he also warned of the threat from Russia and North Korea. He said it was crucial that allied nations act together to maintain credibility against aggressors. “We are…
Trump accuses EU of dragging its heels on a tariff deal with the US
Donald Trump said the EU had been dragging its heels “to put it mildly” on sealing a tariff deal with the US, repeating his assessment that his threat of a 50% tariff on imports from the bloc was an “extremely” satisfactory move. He commended the EU for calling to “quickly establish meeting dates” but reignited fears of a trade war with the region by adding criticism of the EU to his statement on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday. “I was extremely satisfied with the 50% tariff allotment on the…
World’s seven wealthiest countries agree to counter China’s trade practices
Top finance officials from the world’s seven wealthiest democracies set aside stark differences on US tariffs and agreed to counter global “economic imbalances”, a swipe at China’s trade practices. In a communique issued on Thursday, the Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank governors, meeting in the Canadian Rockies, left out their traditional defense of free trade and toned down their references to Russia’s war in Ukraine compared with last year. But they did agree that further sanctions on Russia could be imposed if the two countries do not…
TikTok breached EU advertising transparency laws, commission says
The European Commission has said TikTok is in breach of EU digital laws that require transparency over who pays for advertising. The commission reached a preliminary verdict on the Chinese-owned short video platform’s advertising policy, having launched an investigation in February 2024. The company could face a fine of 6% of global annual turnover, if the commission upholds this view. The commission said a separate EU inquiry into TikTok’s suspected failure to guarantee election integrity in Romania, which was launched last December, was ongoing and was a priority. The commission’s…
Trump risks driving Europe into China’s embrace. Xi Jinping will be delighted | Orville Schell
How does Xi Jinping view the circus Donald Trump is ring-mastering in Washington? There is no denying that the new president has created an opportunity for Xi to drive a wedge into the flank of the battered transatlantic alliance. China’s special representative to the EU optimistically described Trump’s treatment of Europeans as so “appalling” that it was likely to make them more willing to recognise Beijing’s approach to “peace, friendship, goodwill and win-win cooperation”. It was only a few months ago that Xi deserved his reputation as the world’s disruptor-in-chief.…
Chinese troops march with Russian forces as Xi joins Putin for Victory Day parade
Russian troops fighting in Ukraine marched together with Chinese forces on Moscow’s Red Square to mark the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s defeat, in a Victory Day celebration marked by greater spectacle than in recent years. After several scaled-back Victory Days – with reduced military displays and few foreign guests – Vladimir Putin on Friday addressed the largest parade since his 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. “The Soviet Union took upon itself the most ferocious, merciless blows of the enemy,” the Russian president said of the victory over Nazi Germany,…
Xi hails ‘confident’ China-Russia ties as Putin welcomes ‘dear friend’ to Kremlin
Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin exchanged warm words in the Kremlin on Thursday during a grand ceremony welcoming the Chinese leader for his 11th visit to Russia. Xi said the Sino-Russian relationship was “confident, stable and resilient” in the new era and that China was willing to work with Russia to promote a multipolar world. Putin described his Chinese counterpart as a “dear friend”, while Xi described Putin as his “old friend”. Xi said: “History and reality have fully proven that the continued development and deepening of China-Russia relations is…