Europe

Russia’s lawmakers have passed a law authorising the Kremlin to deploy troops abroad to “protect Russian citizens,” effectively granting President Vladimir Putin the power to invade foreign countries. The legislation aims to address perceived injustices faced by Russian citizens abroad, exacerbating concerns over Russia’s military intentions.

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Denmark’s former Queen Margrethe, who abdicated in 2024, has been admitted to Rigshospitalet due to chest pain described as angina. The 86-year-old monarch will remain hospitalised over the weekend for observation. Her health has been a concern following major surgery last year, but she is reportedly in good spirits.

Moscow has initiated a significant daytime aerial assault on Ukraine, deploying hundreds of drones, resulting in at least three fatalities and 12 injuries. Ukrainian military intelligence warns of a sustained attack on critical infrastructure, with drones detected from various directions, including Belarus.

A Russian politician calling for peace in Ukraine hit a roadblock in her campaign Saturday, when Russia’s Central Election Commission refused to accept her initial nomination by a group of supporters, citing errors in the documents submitted.

Poverty is set to be one of the key issues dominating the 2024 European elections. The EU is home to 95 million people who live below the poverty line – that is, who live on less than 60 percent of the median income for their country. In all, that’s one in five Europeans who live at risk of social exclusion.

Talking Europe hosts Austrian author Robert Menasse, the winner of the 2023 European Union book prize. The award was set up in 2007 to foster a European spirit and promote understanding of the EU from a cultural perspective. The prize has previously been bestowed on such towering figures as Jonathan Coe, Philippe Sands and Tony Judt. Menasse is the only writer to have won the award twice. We discuss his prize-winning novel “The Enlargement”, which takes places against the backdrop of the actual enlargement of the European Union. It forms the second novel in his trilogy, after “The Capital” in 2019.

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