Browsing: European News

The United States said Monday it does not recognize the “illegal referendum” held over the weekend in east Ukraine that called for breaking away from Kiev. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the voting organized by pro-Russian elements in Donetsk…

Irish police arrested a man after a huge car bomb was found in Dublin hours before the city welcomed a stage of the Giro d’Italia cycling race at the weekend, police said Monday. The bomb, reportedly containing 50 lb (22 kilos) of explosives made from…

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch launched Monday an ambitious bid to create a pan-European television giant to tackle fierce competition, rapid sector consolidation, and aggressive bidding wars for live football rights. British pay-TV group BSkyB revealed…

Though anti-EU outsiders UKIP might top the polls at the European Parliament elections in Britain, a eurosceptic streak runs through all the mainstream parties they stand against. The United Kingdom Independence Party of Nigel Farage, which is fixed…

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby warned Sunday of the difficulties of negotiating with an “utterly merciless” group like Boko Haram, but called for active contact with the Nigerian Islamists over their abduction of scores of schoolgirls. Welby…

Swathes of eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian rebels voted on independence Sunday in polls the West slammed as illegal amid fears they could fan violence into full civil war and lead to the break-up of the ex-Soviet republic. Fighting flared…

The Eurovision Song Contest hit the airwaves on Saturday with its inimitable mix of glitz and politics as the Ukraine conflict and an Austrian drag queen took centre stage in the annual spectacle. “It’s … a show that has a worldwide audience, including…

Gregor and Lewis Young made history when they became the first twin brothers to represent Scotland at the same time in the modern era in the final leg of the IRB Sevens World Series at Twickenham. And the duo went one better than that in their Pool…

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande said Saturday that a planned separatist referendum in eastern Ukraine is “illegal,” during a meeting in Germany. The two European leaders also warned Moscow of “consequences” if…

Several Red Cross members whom rebels said they had detained in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk have been released, an official from the organisation in Kiev told AFP Saturday. “An emergency response team from the local Red Cross and one member…

Extradited British millionaire businessman Shrien Dewani is due in court in South Africa Monday on charges of ordering his Swedish wife’s murder during their 2010 honeymoon in Cape Town. After losing a three-year extradition fight in Britain, Dewani…

England’s Football Association said on Thursday that it wants to limit the number of non-European Union players in Premier League teams to two in a bid to bolster home-grown talent. A report produced by a commission set up by FA chairman Greg Dyke also…

Spanish police said Wednesday they have arrested a Colombian man after he was found to be carrying a ham and cheese sandwich stuffed with over 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of cocaine. The 29-year-old was detained at a bus station in the Mediterranean beach…

Hackers have stolen the personal data of 1.3 million customers of French telephone company Orange, in the second major breach of its kind in a matter of months. In the latest incident, which was detected on April 18, the hackers acquired names, email…

Former BBC broadcaster Stuart Hall pleaded guilty Tuesday to indecently assaulting a girl but will face trial on 15 counts of rape. The 84-year-old admitted an indecent assault on a girl aged under 16, between 1978 and 1979. He denied 20 other counts…

The European Union has named David O’Sullivan of Ireland to become the bloc’s new envoy to Washington amid negotiations to forge a free trade pact between the two economic giants. “I am delighted to announce the appointment of David O’Sullivan to this…

Thousands of pro-Russian protesters assaulted Odessa’s police headquarters Sunday, days after deadly clashes and a fire there killed dozens of their comrades in what Kiev charged was a Russian plot to “destroy Ukraine”. The unrest in the southern port…

More than 2,000 pro-Russian militants on Sunday stormed the police headquarters in the Ukrainian port city of Odessa, where 42 people died in clashes two days ago. An AFP reporter on the scene said the crowd shouted “fascists, fascists” as they attacked…

Several dozen Russian planes including what appeared to be strategic bombers and fighter jets have been spotted in the sky above the Moscow-controlled peninsula of Crimea, witnesses and experts said. According to Russian media, President Vladimir Putin…

Nigel Farage, head of the UK Independence Party that is currently leading polls ahead of this month’s European elections, told AFP during an interview in Portsmouth of his hatred of the European Union and his determination to bring down its parliament…