Europe

People in France have taken to the streets to protest against the government’s decision to make Covid-19 vaccination compulsory for health workers and to introduce a health pass to access bars and restaurants. Protests took place across France on Wednesday with heated clashes erupting with police in Paris. A number …

Amnesty International accused Greek police of using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to impose blanket bans on protests and apply excessive force to crush peaceful demonstrations. Street protests are common in Greece, and several have taken place in recent months on issues ranging from new labor law to Israeli …

European Union policymakers on Wednesday unveiled their most ambitious plan yet to tackle climate change, aiming to turn green goals into concrete action this decade and set an example for the world’s other big economies to follow. The European Commission, the EU executive body, set out in painstaking detail how …

A senior Russian diplomat has said Moscow has warned the United States against deploying its troops in the former Soviet Central Asian nations following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Tuesday that Moscow delivered the message to Washington during a meeting between Russian …

Russia’s meteorological service said Tuesday the country could see its hottest summer on record, driven by climate change, after a record-breaking heatwave in June. Moscow was hit by a historic heatwave at the end of June, with temperatures reaching a 120-year record. “We estimate that temperatures will be high in …

German officials said on Tuesday coronavirus measures should be maintained until more of the population has been vaccinated, and one called England’s plan to lift most restrictions despite the spread of the Delta variant “a highly risky experiment”. England will become from July 19 the first part of the United …

A top Polish court will rule on Tuesday on whether the country’s constitution or European Union treaties take precedence, the first of two rulings this week that could bring Warsaw’s conflict with Brussels over the rule of law to a head. Warsaw aims to hit back at what it says …

Belarus’ president Alexander Lukashenko is using migration to put political pressure on the European Union, it’s been claimed. It comes after Euronews reported migrant crossings on the Lithuania-Belarus border have soared this year. More than 1,500 illegal crossings have been registered in 2021, compared with just 81 for the whole …

France needs to push back the retirement age and the government will continue its pension reforms as soon as the COVID-19 situation is under control, French President Emmanuel Macron said in a televised speech on Monday. Pension reform was a central pillar of Macron’s drive to create a more flexible …

Dozens of migrants scaled a fence and crossed the border from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Melilla on Monday, just weeks after a similar crisis that saw thousands cross the frontier and clash with security. Migrants routinely try to enter Melilla and Ceuta, Spanish territories near the Moroccan border …

Several thousand people protested in front of the Georgian parliament on Sunday evening, demanding that the ex-Soviet nation’s prime minister resign over the death of a journalist who was attacked and beaten by anti-LGBT protesters. Cameraman Alexander Lashkarava was found dead in his home by his mother earlier Sunday, according …

A Spanish customs agent died Sunday after a customs agency helicopter crashed into the sea while chasing suspected drug smugglers off Spain’s southern coast, officials said. Two other customs agents who were also on board the chopper when it went down in waters near Sotogrande, a coastal town near Gibraltar, …

Commemoration ceremony, memorial service held in Bosnia and Herzegovina Leading political figures across the world, commemorated the 1995 Srebrenica genocide on Sunday. Bosnia and Herzegovina marked the 26th anniversary of the tragic events, bidding farewell to 19 newly identified victims of the massacre at a memorial service. Every year on …

Pope Francis greeted supporters for prayers on Sunday from the 10th-floor balcony of his hospital where he is recovering from colon surgery. “I am glad to be able to keep the Sunday Angelus appointment, even here” at the hospital, he said. “I have deeply felt your closeness and the support …

Austrian police said today that a car rammed into a crowd of people at a Sunday market in the Austrian town of Saint Florian, injuring 13 people, at least three of whom are in a critical condition. According to the “ORF” website, police spokesman Clemens Lehner said it was not …

The Russian Foreign Ministry has denounced the decades-long US embargo against Cuba as a violation of both international law and the human rights of Cubans. According to reports, in a statement posted on its website on Saturday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said the restrictive measures that the White House has …

China and Russia have vigorously denounced new sanctions imposed by the United States against dozens of their companies and entities. The US on Friday announced sanctions against 23 Chinese companies and other entities “for their involvement in, or risk of becoming involved in, activities contrary to interests of United States.” …

Russia Forest fires have broken out in Russia’s Chelyabinsk region near Kazakhstan and in north-eastern Siberia. The Ministry of Emergency Situations said it has deployed aircraft and a helicopter to fight the fires, as well as 240 personnel to Chelyabinsk where two large villages have been evacuated. Wildfires are also …

A disgruntled customer has stabbed two cell phone store clerks in a shopping mall in the city of Claye-Souilly, near Paris. The suspect was arrested shortly after the attack. French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on Twitter that the assailant was detained by an off-duty police officer and an off-duty …

The Ukrainian army said on Saturday that a soldier had been killed and three others wounded in the country’s pro-Russian separatist east, amid rising tensions in the conflict-torn region. It was the fourth Ukrainian soldier killed in the past week. The wounded soldiers were being treated in hospital and their …