Europe

President Vladimir Putin has signed legislation to pull Russia out of the Open Skies arms control treaty following the US exit from the pact. The United States initially left the Open Skies Treaty, which allows unarmed surveillance flights over member countries, in November in one of Donald Trump’s final acts …

Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been returned to the original correctional facility where he had been serving out a sentence after he recovered from a hunger strike at a hospital in a different prison, the TASS news agency reported on Monday. The 45-year-old opposition politician had declared a hunger …

Malta registered no new COVID-19 cases for the first time in 11 months on Monday, but the Mediterranean island’s health minister urged people to remain careful to prevent any resurgence. “Today is the first day with zero cases since last summer,” minister Chris Fearne wrote on Twitter. “It is essential …

Switzerland could become the first European country to ban artificial pesticides in a June 13 referendum which backers of the initiative hope will trigger similar prohibitions elsewhere. Globally, only Bhutan has a complete ban on synthetic pesticides, according to supporters aiming to outlaw the use of products made by agrochemical …

Backlog of 305,000 applications in post-Brexit settlement scheme prompts calls for extension of 30 June deadline Hundreds of thousands of European citizens face legal limbo if the Home Office fails to clear a backlog of more than 300,000 applications before the EU settlement scheme closes at the end of this …

The first cruise ship to leave Venice since coronavirus restrictions were eased set sail on Saturday, but some local residents protested over the return to normal, unhappy about the passage of giant liners through the historic lagoon city. Hundreds of people rallied on land and small boats fluttering flags saying …

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the United States was wrong to think that it is “powerful enough” to get away with threatening other countries, a mistake, he said, that led to the downfall of the former Soviet Union. Putin made the comments during a press briefing late on Friday as …

A deputy Polish parliamentary speaker faced calls for his dismissal on Saturday after criticising Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya for meeting Warsaw’s liberal mayor. Tsikhanouskaya met Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, a member of Poland’s biggest opposition party, during a visit to Warsaw this week which she used to call for increased …

Bulgaria will set up its own “blacklist” of companies and people associated with three Bulgarians and 64 entities that the United States has imposed sanctions on over alleged corruption, preventing state dealings with them, the interim government said late on Friday. The United States this week blocked assets and cut …

Russian president says he wants to improve strained ties with the US but sets a tough tone ahead of the Geneva summit. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he wants to improve Moscow’s ties with Washington when he holds his first summit with US counterpart Joe Biden later this month, …

People traveling to France from countries where the COVID-19 risk is rated “orange”, such as Britain and the United States, will have to be vaccinated and show a recent negative test result, European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune said on Friday. Under new rules set to take effect from June 9, …

Hungary’s decision to block a European Union statement criticising China’s Hong Kong policy was condemned on Friday by a senior German official, who said the bloc’s foreign policy was being undermined. “Hungary again blocked an EU statement on Hong Kong. Three weeks ago it was in the Middle East. Common …

Three killed and four wounded after the anti-tank mine explodes in the Kalbajar region. A landmine explosion in Azerbaijan’s Kalbajar region, west of Nagorno-Karabakh, has killed two Azerbaijani journalists and an official, authorities said. Four others were injured in Friday’s incident, which saw an anti-tank mine blow up a truck …

The European Union and Britain launched parallel competition probes on Friday into whether Facebook uses data from advertisers to unfairly dominate the online classifieds market. The US social media behemoth sells classified advertising on its Marketplace service, but also gathers data from commercial advertising that may give it an unfair …

Norway’s prime minister Erna Solberg said on Thursday the United States had given assurances it had stopped spying on its allies in 2014 after Oslo launched a protest against the practice. Norway called in the U.S. ambassador, she said, after a report that the U.S. National Security Agency had used …

Germany persistently violated EU limits on air pollution, the European Union’s top court said on Thursday, in a ruling that could see the country face financial penalties if it fails to improve air quality in several big cities. Air pollution in Europe has eased in the last decade but remains …

Germany has refused to issue any further permits for flights arriving from Russia in a tit-for-tat move after Moscow failed to extend German airline Lufthansa’s flight permissions, the German transport ministry said on Wednesday. The dispute follows European Union moves to stop Russia-bound flights from crossing Belarusian air space after …

As NATO and Russia continue a dispute over Ukraine’s eastern region of the Donbass, a Russian military official has said modern weapons will be delivered to Ukraine under the guise of NATO’s annual military drill in the strategic Black Sea. Major-General Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, …

The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on 64 companies and three Bulgarians over corruption, including an oligarch accused of planning to create a conduit for Russian political leaders to influence the Bulgarian government. A statement by the Treasury Department said the move was its single biggest action targeting graft …

Stoltenberg says Belarus to be punished over flight diversion as shock grows after an activist stabbed himself in Minsk court. Pressure mounted on Belarus on Wednesday as NATO’s chief called for sanctions to be implemented after Minsk’s controversial flight diversion, and as shock rose over an activist’s apparent suicide attempt …