Browsing: European News

Turkey’s top constitutional court ruled on Wednesday that the government’s ban on the online messaging service Twitter violated rights, local media reported. The court ordered that the ban must be lifted, sending a statement both to the country’s telecommunications…

Italian police on Wednesday arrested 24 alleged separatists for terrorism after thwarting a bizarre plan to take over St Mark’s Square in Venice armed with guns and a rudimentary “tank” made from a digger. Police said they had arrested activists from…

French President Francois Hollande recalled his former partner Segolene Royal from the political wilderness on Wednesday to join a new, streamlined government, days after his Socialist Party suffered an election drubbing. Sunday’s stinging setback in…

Italy on Wednesday said it had recovered a painting worth millions of euros by Paul Gauguin, stolen in London in 1970, bought by an Italian factory worker for a pittance and hung in his kitchen for almost 40 years. The artist’s “Fruit on a table or…

France’s new Prime Minister Manuel Valls set about forming a new government on Tuesday tasked with the mammoth challenge of reviving a battered economy, as the EU warned Paris not to renege on its reform pledges. President Francois Hollande nominated…

Italy’s unemployment hit 13 percent for the first time in February and is expected to remain high for months to come, raising the pressure on new Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. The country’s jobless rate continued to inch stubbornly up, defying improving…

US Senate investigators have accused heavy equipment giant Caterpillar of hiding $8 billion in profits offshore in Switzerland to avoid US taxes. In a report released late Monday, investigators said the company took advantage of a special corporate…

NATO said Tuesday it has suspended all cooperation with Russia over the Crimea crisis and questioned Moscow’s claim to have withdrawn troops from near the Ukrainian border, saying it could not confirm any pullback. The Western alliance’s latest statements…

Turkish police fired water cannon at protesters in the capital Ankara Tuesday complaining about irregularities in Sunday’s local elections. More than 1,000 people demonstrated outside the elections authority in the city, where Prime Minister Recep Tayyip…

Relatives wept Tuesday as the names of the 96 Liverpool football supporters who died in the 1989 Hillsborough stadium crush were read out in court. Lord Justice John Goldring, the coroner presiding, said Britain’s worst sporting disaster was “seared…

Britons should eat seven portions of fresh fruit and vegetables a day, according to new research into healthy eating, published on Tuesday. The state-run National Health Service currently recommends each person eats five 80-gramme (three-ounce) helpings…

The Vatican is turning to social media to reach out to the millions of pilgrims expected to attend the canonisation of John Paul II, the Polish pope who attained rock star status by the time he died in 2005. Rome police expect up to five million people…

An independent Scotland would drive on the right, replace the queen’s head on coins and bring in UN peacekeepers with purple berets — if Britain’s newspapers were to believed on April Fool’s Day. The Scottish independence referendum on September 18…

The chief executive of London’s Heathrow will stand down from the job later this year, the airport announced Tuesday. No immediate reason was given for the departure of Colin Matthews from the post, which he has held since April 2008. Matthews said…

A man in his twenties was arrested in the southern Swedish town of Helsingborg on Tuesday in connection with the weekend death of a football fan from head injuries, police said. The 28-year-old suspect presented himself to a police station late Monday…

Greece will receive 6.3 billion euros ($8.7 billion) from its pending EU bailout fund at the end of April, Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Tuesday. “A first tranche of 6.3 billion euros at the end of April will allow Greece to meet its debt…

Two British nationals arrested for an alleged plot to steal oil from a pipeline in Nigeria are “totally innocent” and should be released immediately, according to their employer. Maritime security company Port2Port West Africa said the charges against…

British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline on Monday announced a five-year investment programme for sub-Saharan Africa to fuel the company’s growth and to serve an area with “pressing health needs”. GSK will invest up to £130 million ($216 million…

The party of Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan took a strong lead in local elections Sunday, despite turbulent months marked by mass protests, corruption scandals and Internet blocks. If the national trend holds up, it would considerably brighten…

Anne Hidalgo, a Spanish-born Socialist, will be the first female mayor of Paris after an unexpectedly comfortable win in municipal elections on Sunday. Hidalgo, 54, had been expected to be run extremely close by her centre-right rival, former government…