Europe

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets to demonstrate against the rise of far-right extremism across France, as tensions run high over the prospect of Marine Le Pen being elected president next May. More than 100 left-leaning organizations staged nationwide “Liberty March” rallies on Sunday to demonstrate …

The Greek coastguard said that one of its patrol vessels was “harassed” by a Turkish patrol boat on Sunday, causing minor damage, a day before the Greek and Turkish leaders hold talks in Brussels. There were no injuries in the incident, which occurred east of the Aegean Island of Lesbos, …

Countries should also avoid giving the Astrazeneca coronavirus vaccine to people over 60, the head of the EU drug regulator’s COVID-19 task force was quoted on Sunday as saying, amid fears over rare blood clotting and as more vaccines become available. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) considers the Astrazeneca shot …

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has threatened the European Union with emergency measures if no solution was found in a trade dispute with the bloc. Speaking to Sky News on Saturday, Johnson said the UK will do “whatever it takes” to protect its territorial integrity in the dispute over Northern …

A Greek court has sentenced four young Afghan asylum seekers to 10 years in jail each after they were charged with starting fires that destroyed Europe’s largest migrant camp last year. Defence lawyers said the men, who denied the accusations, were found guilty of intentional arson. The defence described the …

Azerbaijan said on Saturday it had handed over 15 Armenian prisoners in exchange for a map detailing the location of landmines in Agdam, a region relinquished by ethnic Armenian forces as a part of a deal to end a short war last year. A Russian-brokered ceasefire halted six weeks of …

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an interview with NBC News ahead of his meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden next week, said U.S.-Russia relations are at their lowest point in years. Putin and Biden will meet in Geneva on Wednesday. The White House has said Biden will bring up ransomware …

A French military offensive in Mali has killed an extremist leader linked to al-Qaeda who is believed to have helped orchestrate the kidnapping and killing of two French journalists in 2013, France’s defense minister said Friday. Three other extremists were also killed in the weekend anti-terrorist operation around Aguelhok in …

Thousands of Greeks marched in Athens on Thursday against government plans to overhaul labour laws which unions say will undermine workers’ rights and let companies bring in longer hours through the back door. Greece’s biggest private and public sector unions staged a day-long strike that brought public transport to a …

European Council President Charles Michel said on Thursday that the European Union was ready to stand up to aggressive actions by China and Russia, offering support to U.S. President Joe Biden on his first European tour. “We will defend ourselves against practices that pose security risks,” Michel told an online …

U.S. President Joe Biden will bring a grave Brexit warning to his first meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson: Prevent a row with the European Union from imperilling the delicate peace in Northern Ireland. On his first trip abroad since taking office in January, Biden meets Johnson on Thursday …

A Russian court on Wednesday approved a request by prosecutors to declare organizations linked to jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny “extremist” in a move that outlaws the groups, his lawyers said on social media. The ruling, which takes effect immediately, effectively bars the groups’ members from running in a parliamentary …

Two passengers on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean have tested positive for Covid-19. The pair were traveling on the MSC Seaside cruise ship and disembarked with their families in Syracuse, Sicily, on Tuesday, MSC said on Wednesday. The two passengers were asymptomatic. The cruise had previously docked in Malta …

After talks in London ended without a breakthrough, European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic said patience with the UK was wearing “very, very thin” The EU has threatened to launch a trade war against the UK if it fails to implement checks on goods entering Northern Ireland under the terms of …

The leaders of the European Union and the United States are set to commit at a summit in Brussels next week to ending their transatlantic trade disputes and to call for a new study into the origins of COVID-19, according to a draft communique. The seven-page draft, seeks to show …

France has suspended aid and military cooperation in the Central African Republic because of what it says is the government’s failure to stop “massive disinformation campaigns” against France that have targeted its officials, the armed forces ministry said. France has cut 10 million euros ($12.18 million) in budget support for …

U.S. President Joe Biden departs for Britain on Wednesday on his first trip abroad since taking office, an eight-day mission to rebuild trans-Atlantic ties strained during the Trump era and to reframe relations with Russia. The trip represents a test of the Democratic president’s ability to manage and repair relationships …

French President Emmanuel Macron was slapped in the face by a man in a crowd as he spoke to the public during a visit to southeast France on Tuesday, a video of the incident posted on social media showed. The footage shared BFM, showed Macron walking up to a metal …

Appeals judges will hand down a verdict against former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic on Tuesday, ending the last Bosnian genocide trial before the U.N. court for the former Yugoslavia. Mladic, 78, led Bosnian Serb forces during the 1992-95 Bosnian War. He was convicted in 2017 on charges of …

Officials from Europol, the FBI, Sweden, and the Netherlands on Tuesday gave details of the European leg of a global sting in which criminals were given phones that allowed law enforcement officials to listen in on their conversations. Europol Deputy Executive Director Jean-Phillipe Lecouffe said that in all, law enforcement …