Europe

Russia said on Wednesday it was ordering U.S. embassy staff who have been in Moscow for more than three years to fly home by Jan. 31, a retaliatory move for what Moscow said was a U.S. decision to limit the terms of Russian diplomats. The step, the latest in an …

At least 14 people have been killed when an Azerbaijani military helicopter crashed in the Caucasus country’s eastern region of Khyzy, according to the ex-Soviet republic’s border service. “Fourteen people died and two more were wounded as a result of a state border service helicopter crash,” the border guard said …

A 29-year-old former ISIS terrorist Taha Al-Jumailly has been handed a life sentence by a German court for genocide and crimes against humanity over the persecution of the Yazidi minority, marking the first conviction of its kind. The Frankfurt court’s judgment marks the first time that a verdict has used …

Russia would pay a high price for any new military aggression against Ukraine, NATO and the United States warned on Tuesday as the Western military alliance met to discuss Moscow’s possible motives for massing troops near the Ukrainian border. President Vladimir Putin countered that Russia would be forced to act …

Belgium and Britain said on Tuesday they will cooperate more closely to fight illegal migration, days after France snubbed Britain and said it needed to get serious before talks on the matter could resume. France and Britain were already at loggerheads over immigration, post-Brexit trading rules and fishing rights and …

Russia said Monday it had carried out another successful test of its Zircon hypersonic cruise missile, as world powers race to develop advanced weaponry. Russia, the United States, France, and China have all been experimenting with so-called hypersonic glide vehicles – defined as reaching speeds of at least Mach 5. …

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said on Sunday that the NATO military alliance needed to adjust its stance towards Belarus, whose military, he said, was becoming more integrated with Russian armed forces. Nauseda told a news conference with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in …

The Omicron coronavirus variant kept spreading around the world on Sunday, with 13 cases found in the Netherlands and two each in Denmark and Australia even as more countries imposed travel restrictions to try to seal themselves off. Dutch health authorities said the 13 cases of the variant were found …

Britain and Germany each detected two cases of the new Omicron coronavirus variant on Saturday and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new steps to contain the virus, while more nations imposed restrictions on travel from southern Africa. The discovery of the variant has sparked global concern, a wave of …

Thousands of Spanish police officers marched through Madrid on Saturday to protest against a proposed reform of a security law that they say will hamper their ability to do their work. Politicians from Spain’s three main conservative parties joined police officers in the protest against proposed changes to the 2015 …

Russia has no plans to invade Ukraine and suggestions to the contrary are malicious US propaganda, Moscow’s foreign intelligence chief said on Saturday. U.S., NATO, and Ukrainian officials have raised the alarm in recent weeks over what they say are unusual Russian troop movements near the border with Ukraine, suggesting …

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday said Ukraine had uncovered a plot to overthrow his government next week involving individuals from Russia, although he declined to say whether he thought the Kremlin was behind it. Speaking at an hour-long press conference, Zelenskiy said Ukrainian intelligence had obtained audio recordings of the …

Kiev’s forces are increasingly launching offensives in war-torn Donbass, attempting to use Western firepower to bring the two breakaway self-declared separatist republics to heel with military force, Moscow has blasted. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the situation in the east of the …

Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson, who resigned only hours after winning lawmakers’ backing as prime minister earlier this week, will get a second chance to form a government, the speaker of parliament said on Thursday. Andersson’s resignation as prime minister on Wednesday was prompted by a decision by coalition partner …

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday fired the head of Russia’s prison service, weeks after the emergence of leaked videos that appeared to show prisoners being tortured and sexually assaulted. Alexander Kalashnikov was dismissed with immediate effect, according to a terse decree published on the Kremlin’s website. Arkady Gostev, a deputy …

Belarusian border guards may be guilty of torture against migrants on the country’s border with Poland, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Wednesday, adding that both nations have committed “serious human rights violations.” The group said in a report that the two governments “have an obligation to prevent further deaths by …

At least 27 migrants died after their dinghy capsized on Wednesday while trying to cross the Channel from France to Britain, a local mayor said. According to fishermen, more migrants left France’s northern shores than usual to take advantage of calm sea conditions, although the water was bitterly cold. One …

Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson quit as prime minister on Wednesday less than 12 hours after being appointed when her coalition collapsed, plunging the country into political uncertainty. Andersson said a decision by the Green Party, the junior party in the coalition, to quit had forced her to resign but …

Russia staged military drills in the Black Sea, south of Ukraine, on Wednesday and said it needed to sharpen the combat-readiness of its conventional and nuclear forces because of heightened NATO activity near its borders. Ukraine, which with its ally the United States has said it believes Russia may be …

German Social Democrat Olaf Scholz said on Wednesday he had reached a coalition deal to form a new government that will try to modernise Europe’s largest economy and bring the curtain down on the Angela Merkel era. Scholz’s centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), the ecologist Greens, and the libertarian Free Democrats …