Tag Archives: Europe

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 …

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 …

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, …

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 …

Czech police have asked for Prime Minister Andrej Babis to be charged with fraud, following an investigation into alleged misuse of European Union subsidies, according to a statement released on Monday. The criminal unit of the Economic Crime Department of the Prague Police has concluded its investigation into the case …

Iceland’s glaciers have lost around 750 square kilometers, or seven percent of their surface, since the turn of the millennium due to global warming, a study published on Monday showed. The glaciers, which cover more than 10 percent of the country’s landmass, shrank in 2019 to 10,400 square kilometers, the …

Russia has announced the resumption of air travel with Britain and a number of other countries that had been suspended due to coronavirus restrictions. “Given the improvement of the epidemiological situation in the United Kingdom, a decision has been taken to resume regular air travel between Moscow and London from …

Greece has reacted furiously to remarks by Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu describing the Muslim minority community in northern Greece as Turkish who were denied full civic rights. “We want Greece to give the same rights as we provide to the Greek Orthodox Church and Greek minority to the Turks …

An Italian judge ruled late on Saturday that three men detained over a cable car crash that killed 14 people in northern Italy could leave prison, with one of them being placed under house arrest. In the crash a week ago, the gondola on a cable way connecting the Lake …

Austrian Muslim groups slam the government over map identifying locations of mosques and Islamic associations around the country. A leading Muslim group in Austria has said it plans to file a lawsuit against the government of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz for unveiling a controversial “Islam map”, according to Austrian media reports. …

The European Commission said on Friday it has given the Chinese-owned video app TikTok one month to answer complaints from a European consumer group over its commercial practices. The EU’s executive arm said it has started discussions involving the social media platform and the national consumer authorities following an alert …

When Italy won the Eurovision Song Contest with an over-the-top glam-rock performance, the victory signaled more than just a psychological boost for one of the countries hardest hit by COVID-19: Held before a live, indoor audience of 3,500, the annual kitsch fest confirmed that Europe was returning to a semblance …

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko flew into Russia on Friday to hold talks with President Vladimir Putin amid an uproar in Europe over the dramatic grounding of a passenger jet in Minsk and the arrest of a dissident blogger. The talks in the Black Sea city of Sochi were organised before …

A man stabbed and badly wounded a policewoman in the town of La Chapelle-Sur-Erdre in western France on Friday, and he later died following a shoot-out with officers, the national gendarmerie force said. The assailant was cornered after a manhunt that involved two police helicopters and more than 200 officers, …

Austria on Thursday slammed Russia after it refused to allow an Austrian Airlines flight to be rerouted to avoid Belarusian airspace, resulting in the Vienna-Moscow service being cancelled. “Based on a recommendation by the EU Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Austrian Airlines has suspended flights through Belarusian airspace until further notice. …

The European Commission is suing AstraZeneca in a bid to force the drug giant to deliver 90 million more doses of its coronavirus vaccine before July. EU lawyers asked Belgian judges to fine the Anglo-Swedish pharma giant AstraZeneca millions of euros on Wednesday, as a long-running row over the supply …

The European Commission warned the decision will erode EU-Swiss relations. Switzerland on Wednesday canceled talks to salvage a long-delayed cooperation agreement with the EU, saying that it could not accept Brussels’ demands on issues like citizen’s rights and wages. “Taking into account [domestic] consultations and based on the results of …

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Wednesday a journalist pulled off a plane that was forced to land in Minsk had been plotting a rebellion, and he accused the West of waging a hybrid war against him. In his first public remarks since a Belarusian warplane intercepted a Ryanair flight …

Pressure mounts on Minsk as more carriers suspend flights while the journalist’s father says Protasevich has likely been beaten. More air carriers have suspended flights over Belarusian airspace in response to Minsk’s forced plane diversion, as fears grew for the journalist on board who was arrested after landing in the …