Decision would anger environmental campaigners, who say it would amount to ‘gutting’ of green deal

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The EU’s outright ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2035 is poised to be watered down, a senior European parliament politician has said.

The decision, expected to be announced by the European Commission on Tuesday in Strasbourg, would be a divisive move, angering environmental campaigners who argue it would amount to the “gutting” of the EU’s flagship green deal.

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© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

Interior ministry will tell 640 people awaiting sanctuary ‘there is no longer any political interest in their being admitted’

• Europe live – latest updates

Hundreds of Afghans previously promised sanctuary in Germany have been told they are no longer welcome, in a stark U-turn by the conservative chancellor, Friedrich Merz‪.

The 640 people in Pakistan awaiting resettlement – many of whom worked for the German military during the US invasion and occupation of Afghanistan – will no longer be taken in, as Merz’s government axes two programmes introduced by its centre-left-led predecessor.

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© Photograph: Thomas Peter/Reuters

© Photograph: Thomas Peter/Reuters

© Photograph: Thomas Peter/Reuters

From glühwein to lebkuchen, bratwurst to stollen, recreating the delicacies I sampled in the city’s festive markets is wholly achievable. Plus, a new digital cookbook for a good cause

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Without wanting to sound tediously Scrooge-like, the German-style markets that have become seasonal fixtures in many British cities over the last few decades never make me feel particularly festive. What’s remotely Christmassy – or German – about Dubai-chocolate churros and Korean fried chicken, I grumble as I drag the dog (who enjoys all such things) around their perimeters.

Hamburg’s markets, however, which I was myself dragged around last weekend, are a very different story. For a start, the city has many of them, mainly fairly small – and some, such as the “erotic Christmas market” in St Pauli, with a particular theme. What they all have in common is the range of food and drink on offer … though let’s gloss hurriedly over the phallic gingerbread shapes on sale at St Pauli in favour of the eye-opening range of glühwein (white, rosé, kirsch-spiked, blueberry-flavoured), which was far more appealing.

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© Photograph: klug-photo/Getty Images

© Photograph: klug-photo/Getty Images

© Photograph: klug-photo/Getty Images

US president says Europeans pushing for meeting as ‘Coalition of Willing’ due to hold call about war

In other news, we will also hear from Nobel peace prize winner María Corina Machado later today, as she arrived in Oslo overnight after a truly incredible trip from Venezuela.

The Wall Street Journal reported on the details of the operation to get her out of the country and over to Norway, describing how she “slipped through 10 military checkpoints to reach a fishing boat bound for Curaçao and a private jet headed to Norway,” where she met members of her family for the first time in almost two years.

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© Photograph: Xinhua/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Xinhua/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Xinhua/Shutterstock

Syrians who have rebuilt their lives abroad face uncertainty over their futures amid hardening of attitudes

Tears of joy streamed down Abdulhkeem Alshater’s face as he joined thousands of other Syrian nationals in central Vienna last year. The moment they were marking felt like a miracle: after more than five decades of brutality and repression, the Assad regime had fallen.

A day later, however, the ripple effects of what had happened 2,000 miles away in Syria were laid bare. A dozen European states announced plans to suspend asylum applications from Syrians, in a show of how western states are increasingly treating refugees as transients. As the fall of Bashar al-Assad collided with politicians’ quest to be seen as taking a hard line on migration, the lives of Syrians around the globe were plunged into uncertainty.

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© Photograph: Omer Messinger/Getty Images

© Photograph: Omer Messinger/Getty Images

© Photograph: Omer Messinger/Getty Images

Continent’s other nationalist parties wary of echoing sentiments of US president due to his unpopularity

Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has responded to US claims that Europe faces “civilisational erasure” by saying it backs efforts for a nationalist revival on the continent – but other nationalist parties in the EU are far more cautious.

“The AfD is fighting alongside its international friends for a conservative renaissance,” the party’s foreign policy spokesperson, Markus Frohnmaier, said on Wednesday, adding that he would meet Maga Republicans in Washington and New York this week.

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© Photograph: Hannibal Hanschke/EPA

© Photograph: Hannibal Hanschke/EPA

© Photograph: Hannibal Hanschke/EPA

With the help of A.I., a historian has identified the killer in a 1941 image that defined the savagery of the Nazi regime.

© Associated Press

Weary of being captive to geopolitics, car companies are looking for ways to replace powerful rare-earth magnets in electric motors.

European chipmakers need TSMC’s help to grow their own semiconductor supply chain, but the chip giant’s Taiwanese suppliers find Europe a tough place to do business.

© Milan Bures for The New York Times

A leading German automotive supplier said it was again allowed to ship semiconductors that Beijing had barred for export.

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