Tag Archives: Europe

The Russian defense ministry on Monday handed a protest note to a German military attache due to the German defense minister’s comments over the need to deter Russia’s nuclear capabilities, RIA state news agency reported. The Russian defense ministry said it summoned the German diplomat and “drew attention to the …

Thousands of protesters held a rally in Bern, rejecting the introduction of Covid certificates aimed to curb the spread of the virus. The rally remained peaceful, unlike earlier October protests. Massive crowds of people flooded Bern, the capital of Switzerland, this Saturday, expressing anger over the Covid-19 measures adopted by …

Restaurants and hair salons are shut. Schooling is remote. People are stuck at home after 8 pm At least one country in Europe has already returned to full-on crisis mode as COVID-19 flares anew from the UK to Russia to Singapore. Latvia’s response is the most extreme, but the Baltic …

The president of the unrecognized state of Kosovo accused Russia of exerting “malign influence in order to wreck Pristina’s, as well as the US’, NATO’s, and European Union’s achievements” Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu has declared two Russian diplomats personae non grata. According to Osmani, she issued a request to the …

Police in Germany, Italy, and Bulgaria raided 46 residential and commercial buildings on Wednesday as part of a European probe into the Italian mafia, German police said. They said they would release more information after the raids had been completed. The synchronized raids were the result of a European investigation …

Hundreds of anti-vaccine protesters joined some political leaders in Sofia on Wednesday to demonstrate against Bulgaria’s decision to make a COVID-19 “Green Certificate” mandatory for access to restaurants, theatres, and shopping malls. The interim health ministry announced the move on Tuesday to try to slow a surge in infections and …

Portuguese and Spanish authorities have seized 5.2 tons of cocaine from a sailboat on the high seas and arrested three suspects, in Portugal’s largest drug bust in 15 years and a world-record haul from a sailboat, police said on Monday. With the cocaine bales piled up behind him at a …

The speaker of the Czech upper house has said that the country’s president Milos Zeman is unable to carry out his duties, having spent a week in intensive care, and is unlikely to return to office in the coming weeks. Speaking on Monday, Senate speaker Milos Vystrcil told reporters that …

Five aides and allies of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy were set to go on trial on Monday for allegedly misusing public money and cronyism, adding to the former head of state’s legal problems. Sarkozy’s former chief of staff Claude Gueant and ex-advisor and consultant Patrick Buisson are among those …

France confirmed its ambassador to Belarus left the country on Oct 17, adding that the official in question – Nicolas de Lacoste – would now assume the role of special envoy in Belarus as of this Monday onwards. “France will keep on standing by the Belarus people and will look …

Angela Merkel’s final visit to Turkey as German chancellor on Saturday saw two of Europe’s longest-serving leaders pay tribute to one another as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hosted her for farewell talks overlooking the Bosporus. Erdogan had been in office for more than two years when Merkel came to …

Police say four Russian tourists were found dead at a beach resort in western Albania. Albanian police issued a statement Saturday saying the four were found asphyxiated in a hotel sauna in the village of Qerret late Friday. Police did not give more details about the circumstances of the deaths, …

A teenager triggered a large-scale police operation after a restaurant owner mistook a toy gun he was carrying for a real weapon. A witness raised the alarm after seeing the 15-year-old, who was wearing a camouflage outfit and holding what appeared to be a rifle, running up and down the …

Russia’s daily death toll from COVID-19 has exceeded 1,000 for the first time as the country faces a sustained wave of rising infections. The national coronavirus task force on Saturday reported 1,002 deaths in the previous day, up from 999 on Friday, along with 33,208 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, more …

France on Friday stopped offering COVID-19 tests free of charge for everyone, in the government’s latest effort to incite holdouts to get vaccinated against the virus. A recent negative test, proof of recovery, or full vaccination is needed to get a health pass which is required for access to cafes, …

The suspect in a bow-and-arrow attack that killed five people and wounded three in a quiet Norwegian town this week is facing a custody hearing Friday. He won’t appear in court because he has confessed to the killings and has agreed to be held in custody. Espen Andersen Braathen, a …

A 37-year-old Danish citizen is suspected of killing five people with a bow-and-arrow and other weapons in the Norwegian town of Kongsberg in a rare incident of mass killing in Norway, police said on Thursday. Two people, including an off-duty police officer, were wounded in the Wednesday evening attacks, which …

Nine people died after a block of flats partly collapsed in Georgia’s Black Sea resort of Batumi, the interior minister said on Saturday, with unsafe renovation work blamed for the accident. Around five floors of the building collapsed on Friday, crushing several cars parked outside and leaving “up to 15 …

A French anti-terrorist judge has charged four men with suspected links to a far-right conspiracy theorist for allegedly plotting a series of attacks, including on coronavirus vaccination centers, a judicial source said Saturday. Two of the men are also accused of involvement in the kidnapping of an eight-year-old girl in …

Azerbaijan is willing to expand its natural gas supplies to Europe, President Ilham Aliyev said Wednesday, amid the continent’s deepening energy crisis driven by soaring demand. The energy-rich Caspian nation is currently supplying 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year to Italy, Greece, and Bulgaria through the Southern …