Europe

Baku says an Azerbaijani soldier has been killed near the border with Armenia in an act of “provocation” by Armenian troops, nearly two weeks after the neighbors held talks to ease tensions leftover from last year’s war. Azerbaijan’s defense ministry said in a statement that a soldier “was killed overnight …

Armenia’s Defence Ministry said on Thursday that Azerbaijan had begun intensively shelling its military positions in Armenia’s Gegharkunik province, the TASS news agency reported. Azerbaijan said earlier on Thursday that one of its soldiers had been killed on the border with Armenia in what it described as an Armenian “provocation”. …

After 16 years, Angela Merkel handed over the German chancellery to Olaf Scholz, leaving behind a changed country and a polarizing legacy. It was vintage Angela Merkel: The woman who has dominated European politics for the better part of two decades handed over her office to the next German chancellor …

The United Nations’ top court has ordered both Armenia and Azerbaijan to work to prevent racial hatred and discrimination and ease their feud following last year’s war between the South Caucasus neighbors over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) also told Azerbaijan on December 7 to …

Sweden will reintroduce a raft of measures to curb rising COVID-19 infections, urging renewed social distancing and the use of masks in public transportation, the government said on Tuesday. “We see an increased spread of infection, but still from low levels,” Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson told a news conference. “We …

U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin began virtual talks on Ukraine and other subjects on Tuesday, Russian state television reported, amid Western fears that Moscow plans to attack its southern neighbour. Biden will tell Putin that Russia and its banks could be hit with the toughest economic …

One of the suspected killers of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was arrested at the Roissy airport near Paris on Tuesday as he was about to board a flight to Riyadh, French RTL radio reported. RTL said the person arrested was a former Royal Guard of Saudi Arabia who is believed …

Fewer migrants are trying to cross the frontier between Poland and Belarus, but the Polish Border Guard told journalists visiting the previously off-limits border zone on Monday that it still faces provocations from Belarusian forces. Reuters was among a group of journalists permitted to enter the area around the Kuznica …

A three-party deal to form a new German government under center-left leader Olaf Scholz cleared its final hurdle on Monday, setting the scene for Scholz to succeed longtime Chancellor Angela Merkel this week. Germany’s environmentalist Greens said their rank-and-file members approved the agreement reached last month, with 86% voting for …

US Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin have a chasm of mutual distrust to bridge when they hold a virtual meeting on Tuesday in the shadow of what the United States believes is a threatened Russian invasion of Ukraine. “A lamentable state,” was how the Kremlin described relations ahead of …

The Belarusian defence ministry said on Sunday it had summoned Ukraine’s military attaché to protest against what it called repeated violations of Belarus’ airspace by Ukrainian aircraft. Relations between the two countries have plummeted since last year, when Russia sided with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko during mass street protests and …

Police fired teargas and used water cannons on Sunday to disperse protesters pelting officers with cobblestones and fireworks as a demonstration in Brussels over government-imposed COVID-19 restrictions turned violent. A few thousand protesters marched peacefully through the centre of the Belgian capital to the neighbourhood which hosts the headquarters of …

Tens of thousands of protesters marched through several northwest European cities on Saturday to demonstrate against coronavirus restrictions imposed amid a surge in infections. Austria last month became the first country in Western Europe to reimpose a lockdown, which is set to last 20 days and said it would make …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday urged Germans to get vaccinated against COVID-19, speaking days ahead of leaving office in the final episode of more than 600 weekly video podcasts. “I once again emphatically ask you to take this tricky virus seriously,” Merkel said, calling the fourth coronavirus wave to …

Russia has dismissed new US media reports about a possible Russian attack on Ukraine, accusing Washington of trying to aggravate the situation while blaming Moscow, the Kommersant newspaper said on Saturday, citing the Foreign Ministry. The Washington Post cited officials and an intelligence document on Saturday as saying US intelligence …

Alexander Schallenberg has announced he is resigning as Chancellor of Austria, just two months after taking office. He said he would remain in the post until his party agrees on a new leader in the wake of Sebastian Kurz’s departure. Just hours earlier, Schallenberg’s predecessor and People’s Party leader Kurz …

The European Union’s public health agency said on Thursday that the Omicron variant could be responsible for more than half of all COVID-19 infections in Europe within a few months, but no cases of the severe disease had yet been identified in the region. The estimate could lend weight to …

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Moscow of the “severe costs” Russia would pay if it invaded Ukraine, urging his Russian counterpart on Thursday to seek a diplomatic exit from the crisis. Blinken delivered the warning to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at what he called a “candid” meeting …

The European Union said on Thursday it was injecting around $368 million (325 million euros) for refugees in Turkey, part of a huge funding plan for the country, which hosts the world’s largest refugee population. The EU approved a plan in June to provide Turkey with three billion euros from …

The European Union proposed on Wednesday curtailing some rights of migrants at its frontier with Belarus, a gesture towards member states Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia, even as Brussels acknowledged border tensions were easing. The EU says Belarus has flown in migrants from the Middle East to push them to cross …