Europe

Journalist Peter R de Vries was reportedly shot in the head by an unidentified gunman, according to Het Parool newspaper. A man believed to be Dutch crime reporter Peter R de Vries was shot and seriously wounded on a street in Amsterdam, newspaper Het Parool reported on Tuesday, adding he …

Russia’s Federal Security Service detained an Estonian diplomat based in St Petersburg, Mart Latte, on Tuesday as he was receiving confidential information from a Russian citizen, Interfax news agency reported. “Measures in line with the norms of international law will be applied to the foreign diplomat,” Interfax quoted the Federal …

French prosecutors said Monday they are investigating claims that a Saudi prince kept seven employees in a state of modern-day slavery at an apartment he owned outside Paris. The inquiry for human trafficking was opened after the women, most from the Philippines filed complaints of modern-day slavery in October 2019, …

The French Senate has voted to block a referendum promised by President Emmanuel Macron on whether to enshrine the fight against climate change in the French constitution, it said in a statement on Monday. Macron had pledged to organise such a vote in response to criticism that he has not …

Ukraine, the US, Poland, and Lithuania will hold a large military exercise in the western part of Ukraine later in July, the Ukrainian military said on Monday, the second round of war games involving Kyiv and foreign partners in a month. The drill, Three Swords-2021, will involve more than 1,200 …

Italian police said on Monday they had arrested four men accused of sending funds to people across Europe and the Middle East who were collecting on behalf of Islamic State, in an investigation that led to a larger suspected terrorism-funding network. The four men were suspected of wiring 30,000 euros …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron exchanged views on European Union-China relations with China’s President Xi Jinping in a video conference on Monday, Merkel’s office said. “They also discussed international trade, climate protection, and biodiversity,” her office added in a statement. “The conversation also revolved around cooperation …

Russia’s Orthodox Church admonished people refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19, calling them sinners who would have to atone for the rest of their lives, as the country reported another jump in new infections and deaths. The church urged all its faithful to be inoculated as another 24,353 new COVID-19 …

Pope Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Sunday for scheduled intestinal surgery, the Vatican said, the first time he has been in hospital since his election in 2013. Spokesman Matteo Bruni said the pope, 84, was due to undergo the surgery later on Sunday for an intestinal condition …

Four people were found dead as a huge fire raged for a second day in Cyprus, razing tracts of forest in a blaze one official called the worst on record. The blaze, fanned by strong winds, affected at least 10 communities over an area of 50 square kilometres (19 square …

Danish households are the richest in the European Union, according to a data analysis by the country’s central bank. The average household in Denmark had 1.88 million Danish kroner ($300,000) in financial assets as of the fourth quarter of 2020. The data, released Wednesday, was extracted from the European Central …

Azerbaijan handed over 15 prisoners of Armenian origin to Armenia on Saturday in return for maps detailing the locations of 92,000 anti-tank and anti-personnel mines, Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said. Ethnic Armenian and Azeri forces fought a bloody conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave last year that locked in territorial gains for …

Influential cardinal and nine others to face trial in connection with 350m euro investment in London property venture. A Vatican judge has indicted 10 people, including a once-powerful cardinal, on charges including embezzlement, abuse of office, extortion, and fraud in connection with a 350 million-euro ($415m) investment in a London …

Authorities are trying to increase the speed and effectiveness of vaccinations as the highly infectious Delta variant spreads. Germany is recommending that all people who get a first shot of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine switch to a different type of vaccine for their second shot. The aim is to increase …

Britain said on Friday it had received 6 million applications to its settlement scheme for European Union nationals before a June 30 deadline passed, including a surge of more than 400,000 in the last month. After completing its exit from the EU last year, Britain has started bringing in a …

A Swiss court ordered the son of former leader Muammar Gaddafi’s oil minister to pay $1.5 million in a corruption case on Friday, a decision that his lawyer said he may appeal. The case involving Mohamed Ghanem, the CEO of a Bahrain-based Islamic investment bank and the son of Shokri …

The email accounts of about a dozen members of parliament were hacked recently, Polish counter-intelligence said on Friday, disclosing further details of one of the biggest cyberattacks on the country in recent years. The revelations come two weeks after the authorities said top Polish government officials had been hit by …

An explosion at Petromidia’s Black Sea crude oil refinery in Romania has sent plumes of black smoke rising into the sky. Several people are injured, and ambulances have arrived at the scene, according to reports. A government official, Silviu Cosa, told local TV station Digi24 on Friday that an explosion …

A night-time curfew will be imposed in several Portuguese municipalities, including the capital Lisbon and the city of Porto, as authorities scramble to bring under control a surge in COVID-19 infections, the government said on Thursday. The 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew, which starts on Friday, will be in …

A Swedish police officer died from his wounds after being fatally shot in Gothenburg on Wednesday. It reportedly marks the first killing of a law enforcement officer in 14 years, as gun violence in the country continues to soar. The officer’s death was announced by police in a statement on …