Europe

Spain plans to airlift around 500 people including Spanish embassy staff and Afghans who worked with them and their families from Kabul, radio station Cadena SER said on Wednesday, citing sources close to the evacuation. A first military plane landed at Kabul airport late on Wednesday morning, the Spanish Foreign …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Kahn, the Emir of Qatar and the head of the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on Tuesday evening, her spokesman said on Wednesday. “The chancellor spoke yesterday, in the early evening, with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Kahn as well as with …

At least two US officials stationed in Germany began to seek medical treatment after developing symptoms of the mysterious health ailment known as Havana Syndrome, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed US diplomats. No further details were provided.

The head of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU party has called the withdrawal of Western troops from Afghanistan the “biggest NATO debacle” since the founding of the US-led military alliance. “With the Taliban sweeping to power after NATO troops withdrew, it is evident that this engagement of the international community …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday condemned the way Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko treats refugees, adding that Germany would consult closely with its European partners on a coordinated response. “President Lukashenko is using refugees, for example from Iraq, in a hybrid way to undermine security, and of course we condemn …

Video shared on social media captured the moment a prototype of a Russian military aircraft burst into flames and crashed. The Ilyushin Il-112V military transport aircraft crashed during a test flight near Moscow with three people on board on Tuesday, the aircraft’s manufacturer United Aircraft Corporation said in a statement …

Poland has recalled its ambassador to the Israeli-occupied territories two days after Tel Aviv did the same, amid a row over a Polish law restricting World War II-era property restitution claims. In a statement released on Monday, Poland’s Foreign Ministry said that its envoy, Marek Magierowski, who is in his …

A first German military plane to land in Kabul since the Taliban takeover evacuated only seven people, the government said on Tuesday, due to chaos at the Afghan capital’s airport. Germany, which had the second-largest military contingent in Afghanistan after the United States, wants to airlift thousands of German-Afghan dual …

French firefighters battled on Tuesday to contain a large wildfire in the southern region of Var, as Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said he would visit the area to monitor the situation. Authorities urged people to stay well away from the blaze, near the village of Gonfaron, about 50 km (30 …

Germany must urgently evacuate up to 10,000 people from Afghanistan for whom its has responsibility, Chancellor Angela Merkel told party colleagues, warning that the fallout from the conflict will last for a very long time. The remarks, made at a closed-door meeting of her Christian Democrat party on Monday and …

Russia has taken the United States to task over the unfolding crisis in Afghanistan, saying the Taliban’s takeover of the country stems from America’s failure two decades after the invasion. The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday that the Taliban’s seizure of Afghanistan should not be considered a transition. “The …

Russia is in contact with Taliban officials via its embassy in Kabul, President Vladimir Putin’s special representative on Afghanistan said on Monday, a day after the Afghan government collapsed and the capital fell to the Islamist insurgent group. “They are talking in Kabul. All contacts are being made there at …

Armenia’s defence ministry said in a statement that an Armenian soldier was shot dead by a sniper from Azerbaijan on Monday, as border tensions between the countries continue. Armenia last month proposed that Russia station border outposts along the length of Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan.

Russia’s special envoy for Afghanistan says Moscow is ready to work with the future interim government in Afghanistan The time to recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan’s legitimate authority has not come yet, Russia’s presidential envoy for Afghanistan said on Sunday. At the moment, Moscow is ready to work with a …

Germany on Sunday shuttered its embassy in Kabul and prepared to send A400M military transport planes to Afghanistan to evacuate as many Germans and local Afghan helpers as possible after Taliban insurgents entered the Afghan capital. “We are doing everything to enable our citizens and our former local staff to …

Russia is working with other countries to hold an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Afghanistan as the Taliban completes its military takeover of the country, foreign ministry official Zamir Kabulov told Russian news agencies. “We are working on this,” Kabulov said, adding that the meeting will take place. Russia …

Protesters have marched in cities across France for a fifth consecutive weekend against rules compelling them to show a COVID-19 health pass for daily activities, but in lesser numbers than a week ago. Crowds rallied through the streets of Paris, Marseille, Nice, Montpellier, and other towns, waving placards reading “Pass=Apartheid” …

Police clashed with protesters from a nationalist party near the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Saturday when they tried to break through a police cordon. TV footage from the scene showed members of Ukrainian police and protesters spraying tear gas at each other. The protesters attacked with long …

Italian police arrested two farmers in Sicily on Saturday on suspicion of lighting recent wildfires to create grazing land for their sheep and said the two had been planning another large and dangerous blaze. Wildfires have torn through swathes of southern Italy this summer, helped by record high temperatures, ravaging …

Russia and China have wrapped up their five-day joint strategic military drills in Northwest China involving over 10,000 troops and advanced weaponry as top officials in both countries vowed further collaborations amid rising US-led provocations in eastern Europe and the pacific. The last day of the drills – dubbed Zapad/Interaction-2021 …