Croatians and Serbs at odds after name of airport changed to 18th-century polymath Ruđer Bošković

The renaming of Dubrovnik’s airport has ignited a new ethnic row between Croatians and Serbs, this time over the lineage of one of the ancient port city’s most illustrious sons.

After a rebrand this month, flights to the Adriatic walled city now land at Ruđer Bošković airport , named in tribute to an 18th-century astronomer, mathematician and polymath.

Sanchez set to secure congressional support after controversial Catalan amnesty law forgiving people involved in push for regional independence

It’s a big day for Pedro Sánchez . Here’s a photo of the socialist politician arriving for today’s session and vote.

Yesterday’s debate was every bit as tense, angry and bitter as one would expect given the issues at stake and the four months of tension and frantic negotiation that have followed July’s inconclusive general election.

Tech companies are pushing the idea that the only way to make AI safe is to leave them in control. Trusting them could lead to disaster

This month, the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, convened government representatives, AI companies and experts at Bletchley Park – the historic home of Allied code-breaking during the second world war – to discuss how the much-hyped technology can be deployed safely.

The summit has been rightly criticised on a number of grounds, including prioritising input from big tech over civil society voices, and fixating on far-fetched existential risks over tangible everyday harms. But the summit’s biggest failure – itself a direct result of those biases – was that it had nothing meaningful to say about reining in the dominant corporations that pose the biggest threat to our safety.

Georg Riekeles is associate director of the European Policy Centre, an independent thinktank based in Brussels. Max von Thun is director of Europe and transatlantic partnerships at the Open Markets Institute, an anti-monopoly thinktank

Proposals aimed at choking off commercial revenues include total ban on sale of Russian rough diamonds

The European Commission is proposing a 12th round of sanctions against Moscow, including restrictions on scores of individuals apparently including the son of the former president Dmitry Medvedev and a relative of Vladimir Putin’s.

Among the 47 individuals the commission wants added to existing sanctions lists are Putin’s cousin Anna Tsivileva, who chairs the “defenders of the fatherland” foundation that supports Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine.

In 2019, a looming crisis over pollution led the Dutch government to crack down on farm emissions. The response was furious – and offers a warning to other countries about protecting the environment without losing public trust

It was the worst traffic jam in the history of the Netherlands. From Amsterdam to Eindhoven, Rotterdam to Roermond, more than 2,000 tractors lumbered along clogged highways during the morning rush hour of 1 October 2019. Their spinning beacon lights shining amber through the dark and the rain, they caused more than 1,000km of backups on their way to the seat of government in The Hague. Other tractors made their way slowly through the sand of North Sea beaches. They converged at the Malieveld, a park located close to parliament and the primary royal residence, and a traditional scene of protest. Authorities had said that only 75 tractors would be allowed in the park, but wanting to avoid a direct confrontation, they quickly lifted the restriction. Within hours, 2,200 tractors would be squeezed in, parked front grille to trailer hitch.

The farmers had gathered to protest against an announcement made the previous week. An advisory committee, chaired by the former deputy prime minister Johan Remkes, had declared that the government would need to take “drastic measures” to reduce emissions of nitrogen, a formidable contributor to pollution of land, seas and skies worldwide. By far the largest share of nitrogen deposited on Dutch land comes from agriculture, so these measures would need to involve, according to the committee’s report, buying out and shutting down livestock farms. The report – titled, with a very Dutch combination of understatement and candour, Not Everything Is Possible – did not make clear whether these buyouts would be voluntary or forced. Farmers assumed the worst.

Sauli Niinistö says this is Russia’s response to Finland’s cooperation with US and vows to take ‘very clear action’

The Finnish president has vowed to take “very clear action” over the growing number of asylum seekers arriving from Russia, which he said appeared to be a Kremlin act of revenge for Finland ’s cooperation with the US.

Sauli Niinistö’s comments come after the Finnish border guard reported steadily increasing numbers of asylum seekers arriving at border crossing points in south-east Finland in recent days.

With the nationalist PiS party out of office after years in power, the country’s institutions are free from its cultural grip

In Poland, there is a changing of the guard, but it’s not happening quickly. The new parliament began work on Monday, but the government-in-waiting, led by the ex-prime minister and former European Council president Donald Tusk, is unable to take office.

The Law and Justice (PiS) party that has ruled the country for the past eight years is now in a parliamentary minority, after elections last month handed victory to a broad opposition alliance . But Poland’s PiS-aligned president, Andrzej Duda, gave the rightwing nationalist party the first shot at forming a new government , even though it clearly does not have the numbers. Barring a political miracle, once two weeks have elapsed, PiS will have failed to form a government and Tusk will get the chance.

Czechs freeze Russian state-owned property; Russia concedes Ukrainians hold territory on illegally occupied side of Dnipro river

• See all our Ukraine war coverage

The Czech Republic has frozen property owned by Russia on Czech soil, it was announced. Jan Lipavský , the Czech foreign minister, said: “At my suggestion, the government today approved the freezing of Russian state assets in the Czech Republic. The commercial activities from which Russia finances the murder of Ukrainians ends here.”

Russia said that Ukrainian accession to the US-led Nato military alliance would be unacceptable, according to Reuters. “Whether in parts or in any form, Ukraine’s accession to Nato is unacceptable for Russia,” Maria Zakharova , spokesperson for Russia’s foreign ministry, told reporters.

A Russian missile killed two emergency workers in southern Ukraine as they put out a fire from an attack only minutes earlier, Ukrainian officials said. At least seven other people were injured in the strikes in the Zaporizhzhia region, in which Russian forces fired three missiles in about half an hour, according to the regional governor, Yuriy Malashko .

The EU has proposed banning the export of machine tools and machinery parts that Russia uses to make weapons targeting Ukraine , documents seen by Bloomberg reveal . The proposal is contained in the EU’s 12th sanctions package, which also includes a ban on diamonds, the outlet reported.

Russia said for the first time that some Ukrainian troops had established positions on the Russian-held side of the Dnipro River .

A report in the Wall Street Journal said Ukrainian marines were reinforcing positions in three villages on the eastern bank of the Dnipro , including placing armoured Humvees and at least one infantry-fighting vehicle , and had cut off one road that Russians used to resupply troops in the area.

Ukraine’s state railway said it had restricted grain deliveries to Odesa , one of the country’s key Black Sea ports, because of repairs.

Nato has announced it will buy six Boeing aircraft to replace its ageing fleet of Awacs surveillance planes, bolstering the alliance’s capabilities to track the threat from Russia , AFP reported.

Hungary has sought a review of the EU’s policy towards Ukraine, disagreeing with Germany, Lithuania, Finland and Ireland, who backed bringing Kyiv closer to the bloc more quickly and granting it more aid .

Pope Francis has called on the faithful to pray regularly for peace in Ukraine, the Middle East, Sudan and all other war-torn places.

Vladimir Putin is likely to announce his presidential candidacy before the end of 2023, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said.

Bill Pallot is charged with building pieces to sell at high prices to buyers including Palace of Versailles

A leading French art expert is to face trial on charges of forgery for building furniture he falsely claimed to be from the 18th century and was sold at high prices to buyers who included the Palace of Versailles.

Bill Pallot, one of the world’s leading experts on 18th-century French furniture, is charged with implementing the scam between 2008 and 2015 in one of the biggest forgery scandals to rock the art world in recent years.