Europe

While Finland and Sweden appear keen on membership, there is little public or political support for joining the alliance in historically neutral Switzerland. The security architecture on the European continent is changing dramatically as Russia extends its war on Ukraine. While Finland and Sweden are increasingly likely to join NATO, …

Washington wants the conflict to drag on and to weaken Russia, Beijing claims The US isn’t interested in peace in Ukraine but is instead doing everything it can for the conflict in the country to last as long as possible, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said during a briefing …

More than 3,000 refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers died or went missing last year while trying to reach Europe via Mediterranean and Atlantic sea routes, a UN refugee agency report showed on Friday, reporting the highest toll in recent years. Thousands of Africans take long, perilous journeys to Europe each …

Energy producer Novatek has been ordered to hand over its transmission infrastructure to the country’s state-owned firms Warsaw has obliged the Polish subsidiary of the Russian energy giant Novatek to transfer its gas infrastructure to the nation’s state companies, Government Spokesperson Piotr Müller said on Friday. Novatek, which is on …

Russia’s central bank Friday said it was cutting its key interest rate for a second straight time as risks of price rises and financial instability were no longer rising. The Bank of Russia said it was slashing the rate from 17 percent to 14 percent from May 4, a greater …

Germany summoned Turkey’s ambassador to Berlin on Friday to protest a sentence of life in prison that a Turkish court handed to a prominent Turkish civil rights activist and philanthropist. Western governments and rights groups strongly criticized this week’s ruling which found Osman Kavala guilty of attempting to overthrow the …

The US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said Friday that one of its staff had died in a Russian strike on Kyiv during a visit by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. “Radio Liberty journalist and producer Vera Gyrych died as a result of a Russian missile hitting the house where she lived …

Ukraine war takes toll on economy of European countries using the euro as inflation reaches record levels and output weakens. Inflation in the eurozone hit a new record this month while growth slowed during the first quarter of the year, according to official data, as the war in Ukraine takes …

Under the pretext of war in Ukraine, the UK army will send about 8000 soldiers to eastern Europe. About 8,000 British army troops will take part in exercises across Eastern Europe in one of the largest deployments since the cold war. Dozens of tanks will be deployed to countries ranging …

The Kremlin said Thursday that Western arms deliveries to Ukraine were dangerous for European security. “The tendency to pump weapons, including heavy weapons into Ukraine, these are the actions that threaten the security of the continent, provoke instability,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. Peskov was responding to comments made …

Finland and Sweden will be welcomed to NATO with open arms and their accession process will expectedly take place quickly if they decide to join the Western military alliance, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says. “Finland and Sweden are our closest partners. They are strong and mature democracies, EU members, and …

Russia halted gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland on Wednesday for rejecting its demand for payment in roubles, taking direct aim at European economies in its toughest retaliation so far against international sanctions over the war in Ukraine. The step was denounced by European leaders as “blackmail”, and comes as …

The European Commission said that between 60% and 80% of the EU population was estimated to have been infected with COVID-19, as the bloc enters a post-emergency phase in which mass reporting of cases was no longer necessary. In preparing for this less acute phase, European Union governments should ramp …

Several French cities suffered internet outages, a government minister said on Wednesday, confirming media reports of coordinated attacks on the country’s communication infrastructure. “Internet cables have been cut in the Ile-de-France region, which is affecting the landline and mobile network,” Minister for Digital Affairs Cedric O said on Twitter. “We …

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday it was expelling eight Japanese diplomats in a retaliatory move as it criticized Japan for taking an “openly hostile anti-Russian course”. The ministry said it had summoned a representative of the Japanese embassy in Moscow and told him the eight diplomats must leave Russia …

Denmark has become the first country in the world to suspend its COVID vaccination program. The country has cited its high vaccination rate vaccinated and ta reduction in the number of new infections and stable hospitalization rates as the reason for the move. The decision means that invitations for vaccinations …

Russian forces were on Wednesday pounding a huge steelworks in Mariupol where the southern Ukrainian city’s last defenders are holed up, a local official said. Petro Andryushchenko, an aide to the city mayor, said there had been no let-up in airstrikes on the Azovstal plant despite Russian President Vladimir Putin …

Police in the region of Trans-Dniester say two explosions on Tuesday morning in a radio facility close to the Ukrainian border knocked two powerful antennas out of service. Trans-Dniester, a strip of land in Moldova with about 470,000 people, has been under the control of separatist authorities since a 1992 …

Spain’s King Felipe VI disclosed that his wealth is worth about 2.6 million euros ($2.8 million) as the government pushes rules to make the Royal House more transparent and end the opaqueness that prevailed during the reign of his father Juan Carlos. The king’s assets include just under 2.3 million …

Moscow on Tuesday said it was expelling three Swedish diplomats after Stockholm expelled three Russian diplomats over the conflict in Ukraine, despite Sweden saying four were dismissed. Russia’s foreign ministry said it summoned the Swedish ambassador to Russia and “strongly protested” the expulsion of Russian diplomats and Sweden’s “military support …