At the Paris Fire Brigade’s brand new training facilities outside Paris, new recruits are excited to join the ranks of one of the emergency services to be deployed during the Olympic Games next year. Launching a hiring drive to find an extra 300 recruits, aiming to hire a total 1,200 for 2024, the brigade is competing with police, the army and private security companies to employ young people.

After a barrage of earthquakes that herald an impending volcanic eruption, some evacuated residents of the Icelandic town of Grindavik wonder if they will ever return.

Pedro Sanchez won the backing of Spain’s parliament on Thursday for another term as prime minister, with the country divided over his decision to grant Catalan separatists an amnesty in exchange for their crucial support in a vote of confidence.

He previously criticised Putin for allowing a ‘third-ranking’ air force.

Alsu Kurmasheva is a dual US-Russian citizen and journalist who has been detained by Russia since October 18, charged with failing to register as a “foreign agent” despite having travelled to Russia for a family emergency. She faces up to five years in prison if convicted. Her husband has called for the State Department to designate her as “wrongfully detained”. “She is a US citizen and has the same rights as any US citizen,” he says.

An insidious war-time theft has been kept under wraps, until now.