La cuisine italienne est désormais inscrite au patrimoine culturel immatériel de l’Unesco depuis mercredi 10 décembre. Une première mondiale, accueillie avec enthousiasme par le gouvernement de Giorgia Meloni, très attaché aux emblèmes identitaires du pays. Si cette reconnaissance pourrait apporter des retombées économiques, elle suscite aussi des craintes, dans un pays dont plusieurs villes souffrent déjà du surtourisme.

As 27 European countries urge changes to laws forged after second world war, human rights chief says politicians are playing into hands of populists

The battle had been brewing for months. But this week it came to a head in a flurry of meetings, calls and one heady statement. Twenty-seven European countries urged a rethink of the human rights laws forged after the second world war, describing them as an impediment when it came to addressing migration.

Amnesty International has called it “a moral retreat”. Europe’s most senior human rights official said the approach risked creating a “hierarchy of people” where some are seen as more deserving of protection than others.

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© Photograph: Santi Palacios/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Santi Palacios/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Santi Palacios/AFP/Getty Images

Leader praises his soldiers for turning ‘danger zone into a safe one’ during ceremony in Pyongyang welcoming them back from Ukraine war

North Korea sent troops to clear mines in Russia’s Kursk region earlier this year, leader Kim Jong-un said in a speech carried on Saturday by state media, a rare acknowledgement by Pyongyang of the deadly tasks assigned to its deployed soldiers.

According to South Korean and western intelligence agencies, North Korea has sent thousands of troops to support Russia’s nearly four-year invasion of Ukraine.

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© Photograph: KCNA VIA KNS/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: KCNA VIA KNS/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: KCNA VIA KNS/AFP/Getty Images

Several European nations are already planning similar moves while Britain has said ‘nothing is off the table’

Australia is taking on powerful tech companies with its under-16 social media ban, but will the rest of the world follow? The country’s enactment of the policy is being watched closely by politicians, safety campaigners and parents. A number of other countries are not far behind, with Europe in particular hoping to replicate Australia, while the UK is keeping more of a watchful interest.

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© Photograph: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images

L’Ukraine entrera dans l’Union européenne en 2027, c'est un des alinéas que contiendrait le plan de paix américain pour mettre fin à la guerre entre la Russie et l'Ukraine. Au-delà du côté pour le moins étrange d’une promesse faite par les États-Unis au nom de l’UE, cette candidature est effectivement en cours avec l’objectif d’une telle adhésion. Mais toute la question est de savoir si cette date de 2027 a la moindre chance d’être réaliste du point de vue des Européens. 

The decision is a significant step towards using the cash to aid Ukraine’s defence – but Moscow is threatening to retaliate

The EU has agreed to indefinitely freeze Russia’s sovereign assets in the bloc, as Moscow stepped up its threats to retaliate against Euroclear, the keeper of most of the Kremlin’s immobilised money.

The decision by the EU to use emergency powers to immobilise €210bn (£185bn) of Russia’s central bank’s assets marks a significant step towards using the cash to aid Ukraine’s defence.

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© Photograph: Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA

© Photograph: Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA

© Photograph: Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA

Russian airstrikes on Kyiv, floods in Indonesia, the IDF in Gaza and the Nutcracker in Nairobi: the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

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© Photograph: Eyad Baba/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Eyad Baba/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Eyad Baba/AFP/Getty Images

Cette semaine, nous recevons Nicușor Dan, président de la Roumanie. Récemment élu, il commente les défis à mener par son pays en termes de budget et de corruption et réitère son alignement aux valeurs européennes. 

The US is also listed as a threat due to its interest in Greenland, which the Trump administration has claimed is vital to America’s national security

Danish intelligence services have accused the US of using its economic power to “assert its will” and threatening military force against its allies.

The comments, made in its annual assessment released this week, mark the first time that the Danish Defence Intelligence Service (DDIS) has listed the US as a threat to the country. Denmark, the report warns, is “facing more and more serious threats and security policy challenges than in many years”.

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© Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

The capital of Latvia is undergoing a cultural renaissance, says Elise Morton. Here’s how to soak in its vibrant art scene, inspiring architecture and chic cafe culture

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More than 100 have been found dead in the past 24 hours alone

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The US made it clear this week that it plans to help the parties of the European far right gain power. Keir Starmer and his fellow leaders have to face this new reality

When are we going to get the message? I joked a few months back that, when it comes to Donald Trump, Europe needs to learn from Sex and the City’s Miranda Hobbes and realise that “He’s just not that into you”. After this past week, it’s clear that understates the problem. Trump’s America is not merely indifferent to Europe – it’s positively hostile to it. That has enormous implications for the continent and for Britain, which too many of our leaders still refuse to face.

The depth of US hostility was revealed most explicitly in the new US national security strategy, or NSS, a 29-page document that serves as a formal statement of the foreign policy of the second Trump administration. There is much there to lament, starting with the sceptical quote marks that appear around the sole reference to “climate change”, but the most striking passages are those that take aim at Europe.

Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist

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© Photograph: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

C’est un documentaire rare, un témoignage précieux sur l’état des troupes russes : dans « Les revenants », deux journalistes du média indépendant « Novaïa Gazeta » donnent la parole à 18 soldats, rentrés d’Ukraine. Leur discours, loin de l’image lisse et héroïque des reportages produits par la télévision russe, offre une vision plus contrastée de l’état des troupes russes.