Europe

A fire destroyed a vast area of a forest in France and people in Britain filled beaches on the hottest day of the year so far. More than a dozen Italian cities were put on alert and Spain experienced record temperatures as heatwaves gripped Europe last week. A fire destroyed …

Thousands protested Germany’s coronavirus restrictions Saturday in a Berlin demonstration that insisted “the end of the pandemic” has arrived — a declaration that comes just as authorities are voicing increasing concerns about an uptick in new infections. With few masks insight, a dense crowd marched through downtown Berlin from the …

Russia is preparing to start a mass vaccination campaign against the novel coronavirus in October, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said on Saturday, RIA news agency reported. The minister, who did not give details about the vaccine to be used, said doctors and teachers would be the first to be vaccinated. …

A court in Russia on Thursday sentenced a former US Marine to nine years in prison for assaulting two police officers while drunk last year. Trevor Reed, a 29-year-old student, has been in jail since last year when he was arrested for the attack, which, according to the judge, had …

Authorities in Belarus have announced the arrest of more than 30 Russian mercenaries accused of trying “to destabilize” the country ahead of August’s presidential election, the state-run news agency Belta reported. The detentions come as tensions grow between the neighboring countries and as a rift emerges between their two strongmen …

Boris Johnson has warned there are signs of a “second wave” of coronavirus in Europe, as he defended a 14-day quarantine on travellers from Spain. The PM said the government had to be “swift” – and it would continue to take further action “where it is necessary”. It comes after …

The world’s biggest nuclear fusion project has entered its five-year assembly phase. After this is finished, the facility will be able to start generating the super-hot “plasma” required for fusion power. The £18.2bn (€20bn; $23.5bn) facility has been under construction in Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, southern France. Advocates say fusion could be a …

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte asked parliament on Tuesday to extend a state of emergency, which expands his government’s powers as it tackles the coronavirus health crisis. Opposition parties objected that Conte was trying to keep too much power in his own hands despite a dramatic fall in the rate …

Spain’s Catalonia may take stricter measures to limit coronavirus contagion if situation does not improve in the next 10 days, regional leader Quim Torra said on Monday. Torra warned that in many parts of Catalonia the data was similar to the situation before Spain declared a national lockdown in March. …

A number of people were injured on Sunday morning when a car rammed into bystanders in Berlin’s western district of Charlottenburg. The driver was apprehended by security forces, it has been confirmed. The dramatic incident unfolded near the Bahnhof Zoo station in Berlin-Charlottenburg, which is located near the city’s popular …

Portugal will go on high alert as more than 850 firefighters struggle to put out a fire sweeping across part of the country’s central region on Sunday, with strong winds and high temperatures complicating efforts to tackle the blaze. The wildfire has been raging in the municipality of Oleiros since …

Ukrainian and rebel forces in war-torn eastern Ukraine have started preparing for a “full and comprehensive” cease-fire scheduled to begin at midnight, a move that officials hope can lead to more steps to resolve the 6-year-old conflict. Rebel officials said Sunday they have instructed their troops about the cease-fire and …

Spain is safe for tourists and Spaniards, the government insisted on Sunday after Britain abruptly imposed a two-week coronavirus quarantine on travelers returning from there, a decision that filled holidaymakers with dismay. Last year, Britons made up over a fifth of foreign visitors to Spain, which relies heavily on tourism …

A Rwandan refugee who volunteered as a warden at France’s 15th-century Nantes cathedral has confessed to setting the blaze that gutted its interior a week ago, his lawyer said on Sunday. The suspect, whose name has not been made public, was taken into custody on Saturday following his confession. He …

A well-known Italian senator has launched a political party in a move to take his country out of the European Union, amid a rise in anti-EU sentiments over the bloc’s failure to respond quickly to the coronavirus pandemic in Italy. Politician Gianluigi Paragone presented his party, “Italexit,” on Thursday, saying …

Second coronavirus tests of Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and his political team who attended an EU summit this week came out negative, the government said on Friday, after earlier tests showed positive for one member of the delegation. Borissov went into quarantine after the head of his political office, …

Russia plans to resume international flights from some airports on Aug. 1, the Interfax news agency cited Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin as saying on Friday. Flights will restart from Moscow, St Petersburg and Rostov-on-Don, Mishustin said.

France’s president on Thursday said it would be a serious error by the European Union to not respond to provocations in the Eastern Mediterranean and said he wanted more sanctions on those who violated Greek and Cypriot maritime space. Emmanuel Macron’s comments come after Turkey’s navy on Tuesday issued an …

A man armed with a grenade escaped arrest on Thursday and took a senior Ukrainian policeman hostage in the central city of Poltava, a government minister said. It was the second hostage-taking in Ukraine in three days. On Tuesday, an armed man held 13 people captive on a bus for …

Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borissov replaced key ministers on Thursday in a government reshuffle designed to quell a wave of anti-corruption protests that have called for his resignation. Borissov dismissed the ministers of finance, economy and interior, whom he had asked to resign last week to stop speculation that they …