Europe

Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine shows great results against the Delta coronavirus strain, with its effectiveness against it reaching around 83%, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said on Wednesday. “Today, the Sputnik V vaccine shows the most effective results in preventing and fighting the Delta strain. The latest data show that its …

Russia and China are taking part in massive joint military drills in China’s north-central region of Ningxia, in what is widely viewed as the two superpowers’ intention to boost their operational capabilities vis-a-vis the United States. Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that more than 10,000 troops …

A truck has crashed into a bus in central Germany, killing one person and injuring 13 others A truck crashed into a bus in central Germany, killing one person and injuring 13 others, news agency dpa reported Tuesday. A 29-year-old woman was killed in the crash in Langenhagen, near the …

The governor of disaster-hit North Rhine-Westphalia has said that a planned fund to help the worst-affected parts of Germany recover from devastating fatal floods in July will need between €20 and 30 billion. Speaking on Monday in a special session of the Düsseldorf state parliament, Armin Laschet, leader of the …

Police in France has begun enforcing the vaccination pass mandate to enter cafés and restaurants, leading to many of their tables being empty during the usually busy lunchtime, as the French lunched on public benches instead. On Monday, President Emmanuel Macron’s government extended the controversial ‘pass sanitaire’ requirement to dining …

Rare summer flooding submerged Venice’s famed Piazza San Marco in up to a metre of water overnight. The lagoon city is often hit by so-called “acqua alta” (high water) in autumn and winter, and devastating floods in November 2019 caused hundreds of millions of euros of damage. Sunday night’s event …

Law enforcement in Milan is investigating the source of an envelope containing three bullets addressed to the pope, Italian paramilitary police said Monday. The suspicious envelope was intercepted by postal employees overnight at a mail sorting facility in a Milan suburb, according to the carabinieri provincial command in Milan. It …

Large fires have burned in several European countries in recent weeks, with some of the worst blazes occurring in Greece where thousands of people have fled wildfires burning out of control, including near the capital, Athens. A 50-year-old farmer has been arrested after hidden cameras caught him deliberately starting a …

Russian authorities started to evacuate two villages in a vast region of Siberia where 155 active forest fires burned Sunday. A dozen villages in northeastern Siberia’s Sakha-Yakutia republic were threatened by the fires, according to the regional task force dealing with the emergency. Local authorities were moving the residents of …

Protesters have staged street rallies in France and Italy against COVID restrictions, which they say infringe on their civil liberties. Hundreds of thousands of French protesters took to the streets on Saturday in opposition to government-issued health passes and mandatory vaccines for health care workers. Some 17,000 people demonstrated in …

Poland is to introduce changes to its controversial disciplinary chamber for judges, the head of the ruling party announced on Saturday. “We will abolish the Disciplinary Chamber (of the Supreme Court) in the form in which it currently operates and the subject of the dispute (with the EU) will thus …

Flames swept through a town near Athens overnight and hundreds of people were evacuated by ferry from the island of Evia as wildfires burned across Greece for a fifth day on Saturday. On Evia, east of the capital, a fire which began on Tuesday quickly burgeoned into several fronts, ripping …

A German rescue ship carrying 257 migrants docked in Sicily on Saturday, after Italian authorities granted permission. Another humanitarian vessel with 549 people aboard still awaits an assigned port, six days after the start of rescue operations in the Mediterranean. After several days in limbo at sea, Sea-Watch 3 sailed …

From Monday, people in France would need the health pass if they want to eat at restaurants, cafes or use inter-city transport. Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets across France for the fourth weekend in a row against a coronavirus health pass needed to enter a cafe …

Wildfires north of Athens leapt back to life on Thursday as searing conditions persisted and emergency crews battled blazes across Greece for a third day running. A wall of dark smoke rose high above the Greek capital, residents fled suburbs, asylum seekers were evacuated and authorities warned of more blazes …

At least one person has died in Greece as wildfires continue to spread, forcing thousands to flee in Greece and Turkey. A 38-year-old man in northern Athens died after being hit by a falling utility pole, the Greek health ministry said. In neighbouring Turkey, wildfires described as the worst in …

The highest constitutional authority in France ruled in favor of controversial measures for a COVID-19 “health pass” Thursday, along with compulsory vaccination for health care workers. With the decision by the Constitutional Council, the precautions drawn out in a recently passed health crisis bill will go into effect on Monday, …

A Russian court gave the brother of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny a one-year suspended sentence on Friday for inciting people to break COVID-19 restrictions, his lawyer Nikos Paraskevov said on Twitter. Oleg Navalny was detained in January as part of a broad crackdown on his brother’s allies. He was initially …

German prosecutors said Friday they have launched an investigation against the district chief of the flood-hit region of Ahrweiler for negligence as warnings were made belatedly, resulting in the deaths of dozens of residents. Some 189 people lost their lives in severe floods that pummeled western Germany in mid-July, raising …

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said authorities were doing “whatever is humanly possible” to tackle wildfires burning across Greece for the third day on Thursday, including near the ancient site of the first Olympic Games.