Squeezed Between Trump and China, India Looks for Faraway Friendships

© Sajjad Hussain/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

© Sajjad Hussain/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Seen by rivals as a dangerous rightwinger, others hope the controversial culture minister can snatch Paris from the left
She was the first woman of north African and Muslim heritage to hold a major French government post and she redefined political celebrity in France. Now Rachida Dati wants to become mayor of Paris and take the city from the left, which has been in power for 25 years.
“I want to bring back authority,” Dati, France’s culture minister, told Le Figaro last month, promising a law and order drive to arm municipal police with guns. Her opponents call her a dangerous rightwinger who would turn the French capital into a “Trumpist laboratory”.
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© Photograph: Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images
Family writer Leeanna Lock checks into the boho retreat to see just how welcome little ones really are

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Halkidiki might have a reputation for its superclubs, but Emilee Tombs discovers the Greek destination is also ideal for a relaxing beach break with friends

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Many survivors remain in hospital with severe burns a month after the deadly New Year’s blaze

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Europe’s India and Vietnam deals signal a historic shift away from coercion towards cooperation that respects developing countries’ sovereignty
For the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, the EU’s trade pact with India was the “mother of all deals”. Seen from the other end of the telescope, it looked like the mouse of all deals, with just €4bn (£3.5bn) in tariff reductions – a rounding error in a €180bn trading relationship. But that misses the point: this is about economic heavyweights resetting the terms of their cooperation because of Donald Trump’s use of tariffs as a tool of economic and political compulsion.
Last week marked a turning point. In upgrading ties with Vietnam in the wake of its India deal, Europe is no longer trying to lock Asian partners into fixed industrial roles. The EU wants Hanoi to move into hi-tech production. That shift will probably displace Vietnam’s labour-intensive manufacturing elsewhere. India is an obvious beneficiary, able to absorb that demand.
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© Photograph: Rajat Gupta/EPA

© Photograph: Rajat Gupta/EPA

© Photograph: Rajat Gupta/EPA
Employees of Ukraine’s largest private energy firm, DTEK, were travelling about 40 miles from frontline, says police
A Russian drone attack on a bus carrying mine workers in Ukraine’s central-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region has killed at least 12 people, officials said.
The bus was driving about 40 miles (65km) from the frontline, according to police. Images published by Ukraine’s state emergency service showed what appeared to be an empty bus, its side windows shattered and windscreen hanging from the front.
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© Photograph: State Emergency Service Of Ukraine Handout/EPA

© Photograph: State Emergency Service Of Ukraine Handout/EPA

© Photograph: State Emergency Service Of Ukraine Handout/EPA
Cherub at landmark church causes ecclesiastical and political uproar with alleged resemblance to Italian PM
Italy’s culture minister and the diocese of Rome have launched investigations after claims were made that an angel in a landmark church in Rome was restored in the likeness of the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni.
The resemblance was first flagged by the newspaper La Repubblica, which noted that one of the two angels flanking a marble bust of Italy’s last king in the Basilica of St Lawrence in Lucina now had “a familiar, astonishingly contemporary face”.
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© Photograph: Vincenzo Livieri/Reuters

© Photograph: Vincenzo Livieri/Reuters

© Photograph: Vincenzo Livieri/Reuters
Film with a cast headed by Anthony Hopkins tells the story of a supercar marque that began in a small Bologna garage
Dozens of Maseratis of 1920s and 1930s designs have been built specially for a feature film about the Italian car company’s earliest days, with a cast headed by Anthony Hopkins.
Maserati: The Brothers tells the story of siblings driven by their love of cars to create an automotive company from scratch. It all began in a little garage in the Italian city of Bologna: in 1914 they founded a sports supercar company that went on to make some of the fastest vehicles on the planet.
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© Photograph: courtesy of The Andrea Iervolino Company

© Photograph: courtesy of The Andrea Iervolino Company

© Photograph: courtesy of The Andrea Iervolino Company
Eighteen-year-old Swiss national injured in blaze at Swiss ski resort died on Saturday
A teenager injured in the fire that engulfed a bar in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana during new year celebrations has died in hospital, taking the death toll from the blaze to 41.
The Wallis canton’s public prosecutor, Beatrice Pilloud, said in a brief statement on Sunday: “An 18-year-old Swiss national died at a hospital in Zurich on January 31. The death toll from the fire at Le Constellation bar on January 1 2026 has now risen to 41.”
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© Photograph: Denis Balibouse/Reuters

© Photograph: Denis Balibouse/Reuters

© Photograph: Denis Balibouse/Reuters
Exclusive: Vitaliy Kim, who was handpicked by Zelensky to be governor of the Mykolaiv Oblast region in Ukraine, has signalled a shift towards compromise in an interview with The Independent

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The attack came hours after President Zelensky announced that peace negotiations had been delayed

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