- Europe RSS Feed

Turkish court returns nearly 300 verdicts over 'Deep State' coup plot

Mon, 05 Aug 2013 11:21:47 +0100

The landmark trial of an alleged underground terrorist organisation accused of trying to overthrow the Turkish government has begun returning its verdicts.

US senator calls Russian president Vladimir Putin a 'schoolyard bully' for refusing to hand over NSA leaker Edward Snowden

Mon, 05 Aug 2013 10:22:36 +0100

A US senator has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of behaving like a "schoolyard bully" over his decision to ignore extradition requests from the US government over NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Minister says Spain 'acting like North Korea' and 'sabre rattling' in row over Gibraltar

Mon, 05 Aug 2013 10:21:46 +0100

Spain is acting like North Korea and “sabre rattling” the chief minister of Gibraltar has warned in a further escalation of the row over the British territory.

US band Bloodhound Gang ejected from Russia after flag stunt

Sun, 04 Aug 2013 23:09:26 +0100

US rock group Bloodhound Gang has been banned from Russia and threatened with prosecution after footage emerged of a band member stuffing the Russian flag down his trousers.

Aleksandar Vucic: The man who’s bringing Belgrade in from the cold

Sun, 04 Aug 2013 21:01:54 +0100

Over dinner, in between pointing out the subtle, fruity bouquet of the Slovenian sauvignon blanc and urging us not to neglect the langoustine, Aleksandar Vucic was ensuring that the Serbian government did not collapse. After yet another call on his mobile he announced that the resignation a few hours earlier of the Finance minister would not, as predicted, lead to early elections. It was business as usual.

Tower at heart of Paris opens to the public for the first time

Sun, 04 Aug 2013 18:20:56 +0100

The Eiffel Tower has a new rival, five centuries old.

EU warrant opt-out 'could free Julian Assange': Campaigners warn of four-month loophole before UK rejoins treaty

Sun, 04 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Julian Assange could walk free from his Ecuadorian embassy hide-out next year if he takes advantages of a new legal loophole, campaigners say.

Shell shocker: French oysters hit as mystery killer spreads

Sun, 04 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0100

A mysterious ailment is killing up to 80 per cent of adult oysters in shell fisheries around the French coast this summer, threatening an industry already weakened by a succession of crises.

'Trojan horse' raid ends 18-month hunt for Kazakh banker Mukhtar Ablyazov

Sun, 04 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0100

The armed police looking on from their camouflaged surveillance posts in the woods were convinced the gardener's van which emerged from behind the gates of the secluded villa was their cornered target's final attempt to escape. As the van left, officers radioed colleagues some distance away and ordered a armed "hard stop" in an effort to stop him. Yet when the van was stopped by armed officers moments later, they discovered the van was empty and the gardeners were genuine. Undeterred, the police quickly capitalised on the mix-up. The gardeners were persuaded to change clothes with police and readily provided the access code for the formidable security gates. So it was that a humble workman's van, acting as an improvised Trojan horse, ferried a heavily armed French tactical firearms team past the security cameras and into the heart of the fugitive banker Mukhtar Ablyazov's secret bolthole in the south of France.

'Teflon Don' Silvio Berlusconi finally comes unstuck after guilty ruling

Fri, 02 Aug 2013 19:00:25 +0100

The bigger they come, the harder they fall. Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s richest man, three-time premier and pre-eminent libertine, is now a tax fraud. By autumn he will be under house arrest or even sweeping the streets for his community service.

The heiress-apparent: Silvio Berlusconi lines up daughter to take control of his political party

Fri, 02 Aug 2013 18:54:21 +0100

Comparisons to the Kennedys and the Bushes are exaggerated, but if Silvio Berlusconi’s criminal conviction makes it politically impossible for him to continue at the head of his party after the summer, there is a strong chance that another Berlusconi will take his place – Marina Berlusconi, his eldest daughter, who at present heads both Fininvest, his financial holding company, and Mondadori, Italy’s biggest book publisher, acquired by her father in controversial circumstances.

Crime à la Croisette: Cannes becomes the No 1 destination for world’s jewel thieves

Fri, 02 Aug 2013 18:41:04 +0100

When asked why he robbed banks, the legendary American criminal Willie Sutton replied: “Because that’s where the money is?”

Spanish train crash: 'I keep thinking, I was actually there... that was almost us'

Fri, 02 Aug 2013 18:13:08 +0100

When Amy Barnicoat-Hood realised how narrowly she escaped last week’s train crash in Spain which killed 80 people, her first reaction was to laugh out of sheer, glad-to-be-alive relief. Only later did the horror of the accident become clear.

Humiliated ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi rages at Italian court that declared him a tax fraud

Fri, 02 Aug 2013 06:00:34 +0100

The law has finally caught up with Silvio Berlusconi after Italy’s Supreme court declared the former prime minister a tax fraud.

Mukhtar Ablyazov, the Kazakh fugitive, found guilty of £2.6bn fraud, wanted by Russia, sued in London, finally captured in France

Fri, 02 Aug 2013 00:00:47 +0100

The closest that Mouans Sartoux normally comes to a muscular police presence are patrols to check on holidaying villagers’ homes. At least, that was the case until French special forces – backed by armoured vehicles and a helicopter – arrived looking for the fugitive oligarch Mukhtar Ablyazov.

Spanish PM, Mariano Rajoy, declares himself ‘not guilty’ in finance scandal

Thu, 01 Aug 2013 18:12:02 +0100

The first day of August is popularly known in Spain as Operación Salida (Operation Exit). But those expecting the country’s embattled Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, to join the millions of Spaniards making their annual mass exodus from the towns and cities and quit – in a political sense – were left sorely disappointed.

Gay Olympians competing at Sochi Winter Games face risk of prosecution under Russia’s crackdown

Thu, 01 Aug 2013 18:07:03 +0100

Gay competitors in next year’s Winter Olympics risk arrest by Russian police if they engage in “propaganda” of their homosexuality, Russia’s Sports Minister has confirmed.

Russia grants NSA PRISM whistleblower Edward Snowden a year's asylum

Thu, 01 Aug 2013 13:21:22 +0100

The former computer analyst turned whistleblower who revealed widespread surveillance by the United States finally left Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport after being granted temporary asylum by Russia.

Mariano Rajoy slush fund allegations: Spain PM denounces former ally Luis Barcenas

Thu, 01 Aug 2013 10:29:52 +0100

Spain's prime minister has made an unexpected confession that he was wrong to trust his former party financial chief for so many years but denies the ex-treasurer's allegations that the party ran a slush fund.

Wealthy Greeks lose security perks in austerity cutback

Wed, 31 Jul 2013 19:27:14 +0100

Greeks fearing attacks by anarchists will no longer be entitled to free police bodyguards in the latest cost-cutting plan from a government trying to meet budget targets set by international creditors.

Shamed IMF boss Strauss-Kahn may return as Serbia’s financial guru

Wed, 31 Jul 2013 19:01:30 +0100

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, whose job as the head of the International Monetary Fund and hopes of the French presidency disappeared in a spectacular storm of sex scandals, is being lined up to return to public life as an economic adviser to Serbia.

Swedish serial killer who raped and ate his victims to be freed – because he made it all up

Wed, 31 Jul 2013 18:33:24 +0100

He was once Sweden’s most infamous serial killer, a self-confessed cannibal who claimed to have murdered 30 people. But Sture Bergwall could soon be freed from a high-security psychiatric unit after prosecutors dropped the last charge against a man they now accept was a fantasist.

Video: Helicopter crash in Romania kills five people

Wed, 31 Jul 2013 17:26:11 +0100

Five people have been killed when a helicopter crashed into a lake in north-west Romania.

Rome counts down to Silvio Berlusconi tax fraud verdict

Wed, 31 Jul 2013 17:12:26 +0100

Italy is on tenter hooks as it waits to see if the country's wide boy patron/director general Silvio Berlusconi will finally get a definitive criminal conviction for tax fraud.

'Time to fend for yourselves': Greek government withdraws free bodyguards perk for the wealthy

Wed, 31 Jul 2013 12:58:04 +0100

Wealthy Greeks fearing attacks by anarchist groups will no longer be entitled to free police bodyguards in the latest cost-cutting plan from a government trying to meet budget targets.

Switzerland train crash: Driver's body recovered after disaster leaves 26 injured

Wed, 31 Jul 2013 07:00:30 +0100

The driver of a train was killed late last night in a head-on collision with another train that also saw 26 people injured.

Stop racist jibes, Italian minister Cécile Kyenge orders

Tue, 30 Jul 2013 22:05:22 +0100

Italy's first black minister has demanded that the leader of the anti-immigrant Northern League put a stop to racist remarks directed at her by members of his party.

Germany tells Justin Bieber to pay up for his former pet monkey, Mally

Tue, 30 Jul 2013 22:05:22 +0100

The authorities have posted a public notice urging Justin Bieber to contact them about an unpaid bill for his former pet monkey, Mally.

Spanish train crash: Driver Francisco Jose Garzon de Amo was 'on phone and reading at time of rail crash' that killed 79

Tue, 30 Jul 2013 22:05:22 +0100

The driver of a train that derailed last week, killing 79 people, was on the phone and reading a document as he travelled at 95mph (153kph) before the crash, a court was told.

May they all rest in peace: Funeral for 38 victims of Italian bus crash

Tue, 30 Jul 2013 21:13:34 +0100

Relatives wept and clutched coffins draped with flowers at a mass funeral held in Italy for the 38 victims who died in Sunday’s bus crash.

Video: Huge tornado hits Milan

Tue, 30 Jul 2013 17:09:15 +0100

Footage captured on a mobile phone shows the moment a tornado, which injured 12, hit near Milan, filling the air with debris.

Anders Brevik applies to study political science at the University of Oslo

Tue, 30 Jul 2013 13:11:38 +0100

Anders Behring Breivik, the right-wing extremist who killed 77 people in a bombing and shooting rampage in Norway two years ago, has applied to study political science at the University of Oslo.

More WWI pictures unearthed: Photographs found in the Somme come to light

Tue, 30 Jul 2013 11:01:11 +0100

Four years ago The Independent website published 300 images of British and Commonwealth soldiers from World War One taken from old glass photographic plates found in barns and rubbish skips in the Somme. In 2010, we published another batch of 50.

In pictures: Switzerland train crash

Tue, 30 Jul 2013 09:44:17 +0100

The driver of a train was killed late last night in a head-on collision with another train that also saw 26 people injured.

Hopes raised that Pope Francis's comments on homosexuality will change attitudes in Italy

Mon, 29 Jul 2013 20:39:58 +0100

Puglian governor Nichi Vendola, one of the few leading politicians to come out as gay, hailed the Pope’s comments. “Pope Francesco has done something fantastic,” he said. “In one fell swoop he has distinguished homosexuality from paedophilia and also demonstrated the ability to listen to what the politicians seem to ignore.“

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy attacked over £350k website

Mon, 29 Jul 2013 19:20:19 +0100

The former first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, is threatening legal action after an online petition asked her to repay nearly €410,000 (£354,000) used to fund her website while her husband was President.

Greek monks defy eviction with Molotov cocktails

Mon, 29 Jul 2013 19:11:40 +0100

Monks refusing to obey an eviction order hurled Molotov cocktails at bailiffs who were trying to bulldoze their way into a monastic sanctuary in Mount Athos, northern Greece on Monday morning.

Meet Lev Leviev, the billionaire who lost his sparkle in Cannes jewellery heist

Mon, 29 Jul 2013 19:00:34 +0100

The Carlton Intercontinental hotel on the exclusive Promenade de la Croisette in Cannes was the setting for an extraordinarily brazen diamond heist at the weekend, in which a lone gunman strolled into a jewellery exhibition taking place at the hotel and stuffed a suitcase with millions of pounds worth of Leviev diamonds before walking out. The owner of Leviev diamonds, Lev Leviev, is yet to comment on the theft. Apart from being a billionaire with an amazingly alliterative name, just who is this wronged bling merchant?

Spain train crash: Driver Francisco Garzon 'admits to recklessness' and faces 79 charges of negligent homicide

Mon, 29 Jul 2013 18:50:36 +0100

The train driver suspected of causing Spain's worst rail disaster for decades has been freed on jail after admitting to recklessness, it has been reported locally.

Video: Migrants rescued off the coast of Malta

Mon, 29 Jul 2013 18:30:02 +0100

More than a hundred migrants are rescued off the coast of Malta, bringing the monthly total to a record 1,500.

€100m Cannes jewel heist 'one of biggest ever'

Mon, 29 Jul 2013 17:53:51 +0100

The audacious one-man raid on the Carlton Hotel in Cannes at the weekend was the largest jewellery robbery in French history, it emerged today.

In pictures: The Red Bull Flugtag 2013 in Moscow

Mon, 29 Jul 2013 15:08:48 +0100

All manner of homemade flying contraptions attempted to fall the furthest at the Red Bull Flutag event in Moscow over the weekend.

'It was this big' Really? Russia thinks there's something fishy about Putin's 26 pound pike

Mon, 29 Jul 2013 14:02:03 +0100

The opposition in Russia thinks there's something fishy about President Putin's latest macho photo op.

Video: Hope for Spain train crash victim

Mon, 29 Jul 2013 13:05:16 +0100

Robert Spencer says it will be weeks before his stepson can leave hospital after being on-board the train that crashed near Santiago de Compostela.

A wing and a prayer: Homemade contraptions try to fly at Red Bull Flugtag 2013 in Moscow

Mon, 29 Jul 2013 12:57:53 +0100

All manner of homemade flying contraptions attempted to fall the furthest at the Red Bull Flutag event in Moscow over the weekend.

Spain eases up on Gibraltar border searches

Mon, 29 Jul 2013 10:50:11 +0100

Intensive checks on the Gibraltar border have been eased after William Hague made a direct appeal to his Spanish counterpart.

In pictures: Italy coach crash

Mon, 29 Jul 2013 09:44:55 +0100

At least 38 people died after a tour bus filled with Italians returning home after an excursion smashed into several cars and plunged off a highway into a ravine in southern Italy.

Video: Italy coach crash

Mon, 29 Jul 2013 09:19:17 +0100

Nearly 40 people have been killed after a coach plunged more than 15 metres off a viaduct in southern Italy.

Italy bus crash: Burst tyre may have caused coach to plunge from viaduct, killing at least 38

Mon, 29 Jul 2013 00:49:08 +0100

A burst tyre may have caused Sunday night’s horrific coach crash in southern Italy that killed at least 38 people after the vehicle plunged 30 metres from a viaduct, it has emerged.

Gibraltar border tensions with Spain: William Hague steps in over 'torture' of six-hour queue for car checks

Sun, 28 Jul 2013 22:41:55 +0100

William Hague has raised “serious concerns” with Spain following claims it deliberately engineered lengthy delays at the border with Gibraltar following a weekend of heightened tensions.

Cruise ship has alleged close call in Venice

Sun, 28 Jul 2013 19:37:16 +0100

The row over the presence of giant cruise ships in Venice’s lagoon was reignited this weekend after claims that a huge vessel belonging to the same company as the wrecked Costa Concordia sailed dangerously close to St Mark’s Square.

EU tackles Iceland over 'mackerel wars'

Sun, 28 Jul 2013 18:15:59 +0100

The European Union is about to launch its fiercest salvo yet in the so-called “mackerel wars”, finally opening sanctions proceedings against Iceland and the Faroe Islands over their rising catches of mackerel and herring, which have led to fears of overfishing.

Lone gunman pulls off £34m jewellery heist at Cannes hotel

Sun, 28 Jul 2013 13:27:33 +0100

A lone gunman pulled off one of the biggest jewellery thefts in French history today, walking out of the Carlton Hotel in Cannes with a suitcase full of diamonds worth an estimated €40m (£34.5m).

Pet food giant under fire over bear-baiting sponsorship

Sun, 28 Jul 2013 12:11:07 +0100

Pet food maker Royal Canin has been strongly criticised by horrified animal rights campaigners after it emerged that it had been sponsoring a bear-baiting contest in Ukraine.

Fury after banana thrown at Italy's first black minister Cecile Kyenge in latest racist attack

Sun, 28 Jul 2013 09:47:46 +0100

The racist abuse and taunts endured by Italy's first black minister, Cecile Kyenge, further escalated on Friday after a banana was hurled at her during a rally, sparking outrage across the political spectrum.

Pope Francis ends first foreign trip with mass for crowd of three million people at Copacabana Beach

Sun, 28 Jul 2013 09:04:33 +0100

A reported three million pilgrims packed Brazil's Copacabana Beach to hear Pope Francis' final Mass of his historic trip to his home continent.

WWI pictures unearthed: The mystery of the 'man' in the lemon squeezer hat

Sun, 28 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0100

The images shown here tell the story of a love affair between young people from opposite ends of the earth, brought together by war and finally separated by peace.

EU and China settle solar rift

Sun, 28 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0100

The EU and China said yesterday that they had settled a trade dispute about solar panels that threatened to upset relations between the two.

Driver Francisco Jose Garzon Amo charged over derailed Spanish train

Sun, 28 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0100

The driver of the Spanish train that derailed in Santiago de Compostela last Wednesday, killing 78 people, was charged yesterday with reckless manslaughter. Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, 52, will appear before a judge today to answer questions about how the crash occurred. He had been arrested on Thursday, and was treated in hospital after sustaining head injuries during the crash.

LGBT campaigners boycott vodka in protest at Russian gay rights abuses - even though their main target isn't made in Russia

Sat, 27 Jul 2013 18:42:34 +0100

An LGBT activist's call for a boycott of Russia’s most famous export has gained international attention this week as concerns over Russian gay rights abuses mount.

Francisco José Garzon - driver in Spain train crash - suspected of negligent homicide

Sat, 27 Jul 2013 16:13:12 +0100

The Spanish driver whose train derailed, killing 78 people, has left hospital and is in custody on suspicion of negligent homicide.

Spanish train crash: 'I want to die,' says arrested driver Francisco José Garzon

Sat, 27 Jul 2013 00:01:53 +0100

The driver of the train that derailed in Galicia on Wednesday night killing 78 people, is reported to have said in the aftermath of the disaster that he wanted to end his life. “I’ve fucked up, I want to die,” he apparently told rescue workers as they pulled bodies from the wreckage that littered the track.

Neo-Nazi Italian GP has bust of Hitler in library

Fri, 26 Jul 2013 18:40:03 +0100

Italy’s dubious relationship with far-right politics is in the spotlight again with news that an unabashed neo-Nazi doctor has been reported to the country’s health ministry.

Pink Panther jewel thief breaks out of Swiss jail

Fri, 26 Jul 2013 18:31:40 +0100

Police across Europe are hunting for a leading member of the infamous “Pink Panther” gang of international jewel thieves who staged a spectacular breakout from a Swiss jail aided by accomplices firing automatic weapons to cover his escape.

Undisputed master of the macho photo op: Vladmir Putin goes fishing...

Fri, 26 Jul 2013 18:22:52 +0100

He is the undisputed master of the macho (if at times weird) photo op.

Former IMF boss Strauss-Kahn set to face charges for 'aggravated pimping'

Fri, 26 Jul 2013 17:20:15 +0100

The disgraced former IMF chief, Dominique Strauss-Kahn looks likely to face trial in France for "aggravated pimping" despite a ruling by prosecutors that the case should be dropped.

Kestrel suspected of being Israeli spy by Turkish authorities turns out to be just a bird

Fri, 26 Jul 2013 16:43:16 +0100

A Kestrel captured in Turkey on suspicion of being an Israeli spy has been released after officials concluded it was not actually in the employ of Mossad.

French photographer and editor charged over Kate topless pictures

Fri, 26 Jul 2013 14:41:54 +0100

The editor of the French magazine Closer, which published topless photographs of the Duchess of Cambridge, has been charged with breaching privacy laws along with the photographer who took the controversial pictures.

Tall ship capsizes off the coast of Ireland

Fri, 26 Jul 2013 13:02:08 +0100

A tall ship on its way to France has capsized off the coast of Ireland near Cork.

Pensioners, students, a footballer...Galicia counts victims of disaster

Fri, 26 Jul 2013 12:09:18 +0100

Antonio Reyes had set off on Wednesday with his wife Rosa Quijano and their daughter Fátima to meet friends in Santiago de Compostela.

Foreign Office names British teenager feared drowned off French coast

Fri, 26 Jul 2013 10:59:18 +0100

A British teenager who went missing while swimming in the sea on holiday in France has been named as Kieran Knight.

Tourists warned after French woman and her dog are attacked by gang of six feral cats

Fri, 26 Jul 2013 10:20:14 +0100

A woman walking her dog in one of France's most attractive tourist areas was the victim of a 'nightmare' attack when a pack of six feral cats dragged her to the ground and mauled her severing an artery.

Spanish train crash mystery: Investigators examine why driver was travelling at twice recommended speed, as 13 bodies remain unidentified

Fri, 26 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Spanish medical experts are yet to identify 13 bodies and almost 100 people remain in hospital after the country’s worst rail disaster in more than 40 years, with investigators trying to establish why the train was travelling at such an excessive speed.

Spanish rail disaster: Prime Minister's condolence note 'copied and pasted'

Thu, 25 Jul 2013 21:59:57 +0100

The Spanish government has been criticised for “cutting and pasting” a message of condolence to the families of victims of the train crash in Garcia that has left at least 80 dead.

Spanish rail disaster: The scene in Galicia - 'I came for a christening, but now I’m going to a funeral'

Thu, 25 Jul 2013 21:57:54 +0100

The people of the Spanish region of Galicia had been looking forward to the feast of St James the Apostle, the patron saint of nearby Santiago de Compostela – a holiday throughout the region. Yet when they awoke this morning, they were faced with the mangled, bloody wreckage of the country’s worst train crash in decades, and neighbours racked with grief as they prepared to bury their dead.

Normandy 'island' Mont Saint-Michel cut off by extreme high tide

Thu, 25 Jul 2013 19:05:58 +0100

One of the most celebrated small islands in the world became a true island this week for the first time since 1879.

Spanish rail crash comment: the lessons are yet to be learned

Thu, 25 Jul 2013 18:32:00 +0100

There is no easy way to say it, but transportation safety is built upon the debris of past tragedies. The 21st-century traveller benefits from unprecedented levels of safety because of everything that has been deduced from previous disasters.

Swedish politician exposes more than intended on Instagram in ill-fated attempt to post picture of new Liverpool tattoo

Thu, 25 Jul 2013 16:50:18 +0100

It could have happened to anyone.

'A scene from Dante': Galicia festival becomes a national day of mourning

Thu, 25 Jul 2013 15:25:15 +0100

Friday was meant to be a holiday in Spain’s Galicia region, but instead hundreds of grieving relatives spent the day anxiously seeking news of loved ones or identifying corpses after the country’s worst train crash in decades.

Spain train crash: Video footage shows disaster as it happened

Thu, 25 Jul 2013 12:42:37 +0100

WARNING: Video contains footage that some may find disturbing

Footage has emerged of the moment a train travelling at high speed crashed.

In pictures: Train derailment in Spain

Thu, 25 Jul 2013 10:17:36 +0100

At least 77 people have been killed and more than 130 believed to be injured as a passenger train derailed in north-western Spain.

Video: Train crash near Santiago de Compostela

Thu, 25 Jul 2013 09:42:33 +0100

At least 77 people have been killed and more than 130 believed to be injured as a passenger train derailed in north-western Spain.

Spain train crash: Video footage emerges showing moment train derails and kills 80, as police interview driver Francisco Jose Garzon Amo

Thu, 25 Jul 2013 07:20:12 +0100

WARNING: Video contains footage that some may find disturbing

Spanish media have named one of the drivers being formally investigated by police as Francisco Jose Garzon Amo.

'Vomiting in public is not on': Why the party’s over for Mallorca’s boozy British tourists

Thu, 25 Jul 2013 00:01:22 +0100

The Spanish holiday island of Mallorca is eager to move away from its image as a low-budget, raucous, drink-sodden holiday venue and go upmarket.

Violence mars Montenegro’s first gay rally

Wed, 24 Jul 2013 19:55:51 +0100

Several hundred people shouting “Kill the gays” attacked gay activists and clashed with police in an effort to disrupt the first ever pride event in staunchly conservative Montenegro, which is seeking to improve its human rights record as it bids to join the European Union.

Member of Pussy Riot refused parole in Russia

Wed, 24 Jul 2013 19:25:27 +0100

A provincial court refused parole to Maria Alekhina, one of the jailed members of the punk band Pussy Riot, ignoring an appeal by 100 international musicians calling for her release.

Swisscom chief executive Carsten Schloter who committed ‘suicide’ could not stop looking at his smartphone

Wed, 24 Jul 2013 19:11:59 +0100

Police are investigating the presumed suicide of Swisscom chief executive Carsten Schloter amid indications that the head of Switzerland’s telecoms giant suffered from permanent stress and had become dangerously addicted to his smartphone since the break up of his marriage in 2009.

Do food the French way - grow it on your roof!

Wed, 24 Jul 2013 18:55:44 +0100

In recent years people have become more aware of exactly what is in their food, but patrons of one restaurant in Paris need not worry, as they have a unique way of assuring that their food is ethically-sourced - by growing it on the roof.

Police rescue 100 besieged MPs after parliament blockade as Bulgaria protest turns violent

Wed, 24 Jul 2013 14:50:47 +0100

The President appealed for calm after more than 100 MPs, ministers and staff were forced to spend the night in parliament as demonstrators blocked the exits and held off police by throwing stones.

Jailed Pussy Riot punk singer denied parole

Wed, 24 Jul 2013 14:09:26 +0100

A Russian court has rejected an appeal by a jailed member of Pussy Riot against a previous court ruling that denied her an early release.

Single currency could emerge from recession as eurozone bounces back to growth

Wed, 24 Jul 2013 12:33:36 +0100

Manufacturers in the UK and Europe put their Chinese rivals in the shade for once today amid more recovery signs for the economy.

In pictures: Battleground Bulgaria - protesters clash with police

Wed, 24 Jul 2013 12:04:13 +0100

Bulgarian police have broken up a blockade of parliament and escorted out more than 100 MPs and ministers who had been trapped inside the building for more than eight hours by protesters.

French MP Gilles Bourdouleix under fire over Nazi Roma remark

Tue, 23 Jul 2013 18:15:25 +0100

A French mayor faces prosecution and expulsion from the centre-right UDI party after allegedly saying he wished the Nazis had murdered more Roma gypsies during the Second World War.

Karamba Diaby: The man who aims to become Germany’s first black MP

Tue, 23 Jul 2013 18:12:33 +0100

In a the back room of the “Soup Ladle” community centre on a rundown communist-era housing estate, an elderly woman was getting hot under the collar about foreigners. “Germany cannot keep taking them all in,” she protested.

Gripes about grapes as EU says Croatian Prosek wine sounds too much like Italian Prosecco

Tue, 23 Jul 2013 14:44:02 +0100

Andro Tomic raised a glass of his beloved Prosek while underwater in a sight-seeing submarine, looked at the rich, amber wine and wondered wryly whether it was the only place where it may be safe from the reach of the bureaucracy of Brussels.

Bomb found at Brazilian shrine ahead of Pope's visit

Tue, 23 Jul 2013 10:09:45 +0100

A small bomb has been found in a shrine in the Brazilian town of Aparecida ahead of a planned visit by Pope Francis.

Briton stabbed to death in Crete: 18 British nationals arrested in Malia bar crawl

Tue, 23 Jul 2013 09:47:39 +0100

Greek police confirmed they have arrested 18 British nationals suspected of being involved in a brawl at a resort in Crete in which a Briton was stabbed to death.

Turkish journalists fired over coverage of Gezi Park protests

Tue, 23 Jul 2013 00:52:28 +0100

At least 22 journalists have been fired and 37 forced to quit over their coverage of the Gezi Park protests, the Turkish Journalists Union (TGS) has claimed.

Hezbollah rattled as EU unanimously agrees to put group on terrorism blacklist

Mon, 22 Jul 2013 13:42:09 +0100

The 28 members of the European Union on Monday unanimously agreed to label Hezbollah’s “militant wing” a terrorist organisation, making it illegal to send money to the organisation and enabling its assets in Europe to be frozen.

Dubai rape case: Norwegian woman receives 'pardon' after being jailed

Mon, 22 Jul 2013 11:40:22 +0100

A Norwegian woman who was jailed for illicit sex in Dubai after reporting that she had been raped, has been pardoned and told she is free to leave.