Europe

Amazon has been handed an $888 million fine by European Union regulators for breaching the bloc’s data protection laws. The fine is the largest issued by the EU but is still less than one percent of the firm’s annual revenue. The Luxembourg National Commission for Data Protection (CNPD) issued the …

Russia on Friday blamed a software failure for an incident that briefly knocked the International Space Station (ISS) off course and said it was pressing ahead with work to activate a newly-attached module at the centre of the episode. The ISS was thrown off track on Thursday after the engines …

Iceland, one of the first countries in the world to abolish all COVID-19 restrictions for vaccinated tourists, may see recently reimposed safety protocols in place for 15 years, according to one of the Nordic country’s chief medical experts. Despite the overwhelming majority of Iceland’s adult population having been vaccinated, chief …

The much-politicized Nord Stream 2 undersea gas pipeline from Russia to Germany is 99% complete, the pipeline operator said, after the pipelay vessel Akademik Cherskiy finished its initially planned workload. The $11 billion Nord Stream 2, designed to bypass Russia’s political foe Ukraine and double the capacity of the existing …

Three more people were found dead after Tuesday’s explosion at an industrial park in western Germany, bringing the death toll from the blast to five, police and prosecutors said on Thursday. They said they would not provide further details until the dead had been identified. Police are investigating what caused …

Three people died in a forest fire in southern Turkey on Thursday where authorities were battling multiple blazes for a second day amid suspicions of arson, the country’s AFAD disaster agency and the agriculture minister said.

Hundreds of people blocked traffic in the centre of Slovak capital Bratislava, protesting against a law that gives those who have had the COVID-19 vaccine easier access to public events and spaces, Slovak media reported on Thursday. The law, which requires people who haven’t been inoculated to take a test …

France said on Thursday it failed to understand why it was exempt from a new rule allowing fully-vaccinated European Union citizens to enter England without having to quarantine. From next week, travelers fully jabbed with a vaccine approved by the US Food and Drug Administration or the European Medicines Agency …

Russia has denounced the United States’ ongoing talks with Afghanistan’s neighboring countries to create military bases as well as centers for refugees, saying Washington is seeking to take root in Central Asia following its withdrawal from the war-ravaged country, where it has faced a complete failure. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu …

Armenia said on Wednesday that three of its soldiers had been killed in an exchange of gunfire with Azerbaijan and both sides later accepted a Russian ceasefire proposal to try to calm tensions. Armenia’s defense ministry said in a statement that Azeri forces had attacked Armenian positions near the border …

Lithuania’s border guard service said it detained 171 people caught illegally crossing from Belarus into Lithuania on Tuesday night, the largest number in a single day in 2021 and bringing the total number of migrants detained so far this year to 3,027. The border service said the group of migrants, …

Senior diplomats from the United States and Russia held what the State Department described as “substantive and professional” talks on arms control and other strategic issues on Wednesday despite myriad other differences that have sent relations into a tailspin. The State Department said the discussions in Geneva produced no breakthroughs …

Rescuers are searching for people reported missing in deadly floods which hit border regions of northern Italy and southern France. Six German trekkers remain unaccounted for, and many homes have been destroyed. An Italian fireman died and at least 19 people were unaccounted for in France and Italy on Saturday …

Three Armenian soldiers have been killed in a cross-border exchange of fire with Azeri forces in Karabakh, where a truce has been in place between the republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan since November last year. According to reports, Armenia’s Defense Ministry said that as of 8:30 am (0430 GMT) Wednesday, …

An Austrian court has sentenced two men to jail over their involvement with ISIS in Syria, a spokeswoman said Wednesday, following a high-profile trial in the country that had one of Europe’s largest per capita rates of ISIS fighters. A Chechnya-born man who fled to Austria in 2004 was sentenced …

Russia says members of the Takfiri Daesh militant group are moving into Afghanistan from Syria, Libya, and several other countries, stressing that Moscow would provide its Central Asian ally Tajikistan with military assistance if any security threats emanate from Afghanistan. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made the remarks during a …

Three Armenian troops were killed in border clashes with Azerbaijani forces on Wednesday, Yerevan said, in the deadliest military incident between the arch-foes since their war last year over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. “As a result of armed action launched following an attack by Azerbaijani forces, there are three dead …

A Chaumet jewellery store close to the Champs-Elysee avenue in central Paris was targeted by an armed robbery on Tuesday, the Paris prosecutors’ office said, with almost 2 million euros ($2.37 million) worth of goods stolen, according to reports. Le Parisien newspaper said a man arrived at the store on …

Greek authorities have evacuated several areas north of Athens as a wildfire swept through a hillside forest and threatened homes near the country’s capital. The fire, which started on Tuesday morning, is “out of control,” Dionysos mayor Yannis Kalafatelis told Greek radio. The town located about 30 kilometres northeast of …

Helicopters provided air support, armoured personnel carriers rolled through fields, and soldiers fired at enemy targets on Tuesday as part of a large military exercise hosted by Ukraine and also involving the United States, Poland, and Lithuania. The drills, called Three Swords-2021, will involve more than 1,200 servicemen and more …