Browsing: European News

10 January 2014 – United Nations independent human rights experts today urged the Spanish Government to reconsider its decision to…

Nigeria and Britain on Thursday signed a “compulsory prisoner transfer” agreement, allowing their nationals jailed in the other country to serve the rest of their time behind bars back home. The two countries said the scheme meant Nigerians who commit…

Dieudonne, the controversial French comic who has been branded an anti-Semitic “pedlar of hate” by the government, on Thursday won the first round of a legal battle to be allowed to start a nationwide tour. A judge in Nantes ordered local authorities…

The European Commission cleared on Thursday a merger between France’s Publicis and US peer Omnicom which will create the world’s biggest advertising company. The nature of the market, “the presence of other large competitors, the relatively low barriers…

Germany said Thursday it had accepted a UN request to destroy remnants of Syria’s chemical weapons on its own soil as part of a bid to eliminate the arsenal by June 30. The foreign and defence ministries said in a joint statement that the move was intended…

A European Parliament committee approved plans Thursday to hear US intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden, whose revelations about snooping on EU leaders has sparked uproar against Washington. Parliament’s Civil Liberties committee voted 36 in favour…

A rare opportunity to change the path of copyright in Europe has emerged, but there’s not much time to take advantage of it. The European Commission (EC) has opened up for public comment copyright policy across the European Union for the first time…

Big wave surfers hit southwest France Tuesday as the Belharra monster waves crashed onto the Basque country’s Atlantic coast, creating swells of up to 15 metres. The wave, one of Europe’s highest, builds up over relatively shallow rocky coastal water…

A Spanish judge on Tuesday remanded in custody a man suspected of belonging to an Al-Qaeda linked militant group taking part in the Syrian conflict. The judge ordered Abdelwahid Sadik Mohamed, 28, to be held in custody while he is investigated for the…

Former Romanian prime minister Adrian Nastase was sentenced to four years in jail on Monday for taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to appoint a businesswoman to a senior government post. Nastase, 63, was found guilty of receiving bribes…

Staff at Oakwood prison near Wolverhampton have ‘resolved’ an overnight incident, the security firm that manages the facility said on Monday. A G4S spokesman said: “This incident was resolved successfully at 2.10am. “Police and internal investigations…

British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne will warn that 2014 is to be the year of “hard truths” and public spending cuts when he sets out his plans for the year ahead on Monday. He will tell an audience in central England that there is “still…

EDINBURGH, Scotland — In the United States, where drinking alcohol in public is prohibited, police routinely turn a blind eye to people sipping from bottles wrapped in brown paper bags. A similar system has existed in the Scottish capital for almost…

Four skiers were killed and another was in a critical condition after a series of avalanches hit the Alps in southern Switzerland Sunday, Swiss media reported. Three of the victims, including a guide, died when a wall of snow bore down on a group of…

Former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was freed by Moscow last month after a decade in jail, vowed Sunday to fight for Russian political prisoners from his new base in Switzerland. “You can’t live with peace of mind when you know there are political…

Turkey’s embattled Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday he would favour retrials for hundreds of military officers jailed for coup-plotting. In the latest sign of the turmoil that has gripped Turkish politics since the government was hit…

Exiled Uzbek dissidents broke into the Geneva home of President Islam Karimov’s eldest daughter last month, publishing images of items allegedly taken from the Uzbek national museum, according to a report Sunday. The members of a dissident group called…

The bronze statute of Benfica legend Eusebio in front of Lisbon’s Stadium of Light was covered with flowers, scarves and messages as Portugal mourned the iconic striker’s death on Sunday. Widely regarded as Portugal’s greatest player before the meteoric…

A man died after his mobility scooter fell into the River Thames on Sunday, police said, as dozens of flood warnings remained in place across Britain. The 47-year-old was pulled from the river near Oxford, south England, after he fell in while trying…

The British media had warned of a flood of new Bulgarian and Romanian migrants arriving on January 1, but judging by this week’s coverage, they only appeared to have found one. Victor Spirescu, a 30-year-old Romanian, has become an unexpected star after…