Europe

Nine arrested as Spain targets Mediterranean migrant smuggling operation

Spanish authorities arrested nine people and dismantled a migrant smuggling network that allegedly transported irregular migrants from Algeria to Spain and onward to other European countries, Europol said. The operation…

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Iceland’s parliament votes to hold referendum on EU accession talks in August

Iceland's parliament on Thursday voted in favour of holding an August 29 referendum to begin European Union accession talks, supporting the government's two-step plan that could lead to membership in…

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Russian Drone Slams Into Apartment Block in Romania, Two Injured

A drone crashed onto the roof of a 10-storey block of flats in the southeastern city of Galati during a Russian overnight attack on neighbouring Ukraine on Friday, causing an…

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Italy in favour of Ukraine joining EU

Italy’s government supports Ukraine joining the European Union, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Thursday, while stressing that accession talks for Balkan countries seeking membership should not be pushed aside.…

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Ukraine’s parliament ratified loan agreement with EU

Ukraine's parliament ratified ‌on Thursday a €90 billion ($104 billion) loan ⁠agreement with the European Union with 298 votes, well ‌ahead ⁠of the 226 votes required ⁠for a majority. The…

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Europe-wide probe dismantles mafia financial network linked to Sicilian boss Messina Denaro

Italian anti-mafia prosecutors and financial police have seized assets worth more than €200 million in an international operation targeting a financial network linked to late Sicilian mafia boss Matteo Messina…

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Russia’s foreign spy chief accuses NATO of preparing for ‘large-scale conflict in the east’

Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia's ‌SVR foreign intelligence service, on Thursday accused the NATO military ⁠alliance of making practical preparations for what he called a "large-scale conflict in the east,"…

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Florence plans major expansion of Airbnb curbs beyond historic centre

Florence is planning a major expansion of restrictions on new short-term tourist rentals, extending a ban beyond its UNESCO-listed historic centre, in a ‌new attempt to ease housing pressure in…

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Norway will come under France’s nuclear umbrella

Norway will open talks with France on joining its nuclear umbrella, French President Emmanuel Macron and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said on Wednesday, reflecting growing European concerns about…

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UK Unveils Fresh Measures Targeting Russian Cryptocurrency Operations

Britain targeted Russia-linked cryptocurrency platforms, banks and financial networks ‌that it said were used to bypass sanctions, freezing their assets and barring UK firms from processing payments and holding correspondent…

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Former Greek PM Tsipras makes comeback with new political party

Former prime minister Alexis Tsipras, the leftist firebrand who ran Greece at the height of its debt crisis in 2015, has launched a new political party, promising ‌to fight corruption…

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Train collides with school van in Belgium, killing four

A train crashed into a school van at a level-crossing in the Belgian town of Buggenhout on Tuesday, killing four people including two special needs pupils, authorities said. The driver…

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France Reports Heatwave Fatalities as Britain Breaks May Temperature Record

A spell of unusually high temperatures affected parts of Europe, with France facing heat-related fatalities and Britain recording its hottest day ever for the month of May. In France, government…

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Meloni coalition wins Venice mayoral vote, defying polls

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing coalition won the Venice mayoral election, projections showed on Monday, ‌retaining control of the most prominent city at stake in a round of local votes…

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Pope Leo XIV warns of ‘new forms of slavery’ linked to Artificial Intelligence

In his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV cautioned against what he described as a global competition for increasingly powerful algorithms and vast datasets, driven by geopolitical ambitions and commercial…

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David Miliband: Europe and US need ‘separate bedrooms’ but not divorce

David Miliband has warned that Europe should strengthen its independence from the United States without completely breaking away from its long-standing alliance with Washington. Speaking at the Hay Festival, Miliband…

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Lithuania warns mass data leak was work of foreign country

Lithuanian authorities have stepped up cybersecurity measures following a major data breach involving more than 600,000 entries from national databases, amid suspicions that a foreign state may be behind the…

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Italian Local Elections Put Meloni Coalition to New Electoral Test

Italy has begun voting in a nationwide round of local elections that is widely seen as a key political test for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her right-wing governing coalition,…

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Zelenskyy rejects Merz proposal for associate EU membership

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected a German proposal to grant Ukraine “associate member” status in the European Union, arguing it would leave Kyiv without a proper voice in EU decision-making. In…

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Russia hits Ukraine with Oreshnik missile in one of war’s biggest attacks on Kyiv

Russia carried out one of its largest attacks on Kyiv in recent months on Sunday, firing hundreds of drones and missiles at the Ukrainian capital and surrounding areas, including what…

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Spain to introduce job-matching plan for migrants granted legal status

Spain will introduce a plan to match migrants to jobs under a programme ‌to grant legal status to about 500,000 undocumented workers to help drive economic growth, the country's top…

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Money Laundering in Italy Estimated at Up to €35 Billion Annually

Money laundering in Italy amounts to between €25 billion and €35 billion per year, according to the country's Guardia di Finanza (GdF) tax police. Andrea De Gennaro, Commander General of…

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Italy busts €300 million streaming piracy ring

Italy's financial police said on Friday they had busted a sophisticated streaming piracy network that caused roughly €300 million ($348 million) in ‌damages to rights holders such as Sky, DAZN,…

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US sending 5,000 troops to Poland as it draws down forces in Germany

President Donald Trump said that the U.S. would deploy an additional 5,000 troops to Poland, an apparent reversal of his moves to reduce the presence of American forces in Europe…

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Russia delivers nuclear munitions in Belarus as part of nuclear drills

Russia delivered nuclear munitions ‌to field storage facilities in Belarus as part of major nuclear drills, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Thursday. The three-day nuclear exercise, which started on…

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Naples Hit by Strong Tremor

A strong earthquake struck the Naples area shortly after dawn on Thursday, triggering concern among residents across the city and surrounding areas. The tremor was felt in several parts of…

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Italian health ministry takes precautionary measures over Ebola outbreak

The Italian health ministry issued a circular detailing preventive measures linked to the outbreak of the Bundibugyo virus, a strain of Ebola, in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.…

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Italy, Libya, Turkey and Qatar strengthen migration security framework

Italy hosted a new round of talks with Libya, Turkey and Qatar focused on migration and security coordination in the central Mediterranean, highlighting the growing role of a four-country mechanism…

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Drone incidents rattle Baltics as Moscow and NATO trade accusations

Lithuania issued an "air danger" warning on Wednesday, urging residents to take shelter and temporarily halting traffic at Vilnius airport amid fears of a drone entering its airspace, as tensions…

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Romania shoots down Ukrainian drone flying over Estonia

Three NATO countries collaborated to shoot down a Ukrainian drone flying over European Union territory on Tuesday. Ukrainian drones, which the government in Kyiv says are electronically hijacked by Russia…

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Maldives investigates if Italian divers went too deep in fatal cave dive

Maldivian authorities are investigating whether Italian divers who died in a deepwater cave accident may have descended further than intended, following the discovery of five fatalities in a submerged cave…

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No ‘tailor-made’ deal for UK if it wants to rejoin bloc, say former EU Brexit officials

Former EU officials involved in the Brexit negotiations have warned that Britain would not be able to rejoin the European Union on the favourable terms it previously enjoyed, as debate…

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Merkel says EU should use political influence to secure peace in Ukraine

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has criticised the European Union for not doing enough diplomatically to help end Russia’s war in Ukraine, arguing that Europe is failing to fully use…

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NATO military chiefs meet as Iran war depletes alliance’s arsenal

NATO allies are becoming increasingly concerned that the United States’ large-scale military campaign in Iran is rapidly depleting stocks of advanced weaponry, particularly high-end missile defence systems and interceptors. The…

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Belarus holds nuclear weapons drills

Belarus, which hosts Russian nuclear weapons, said on Monday its armed forces had begun training on how ‌to deploy them in the field. "During the training, in cooperation with the…

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Nationwide Strike Disrupts Trains and Public Transport Across Italy

A 24-hour general strike called by the USB trade union is disrupting transport and public services across Italy on Monday, affecting rail services, local transit systems, schools and health services.…

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Two tragedies, one grieving nation: Italy confronts deaths in Maldives and Modena horror

Italy is confronting a period of national grief after two separate tragedies — a deadly cave-diving disaster in the Maldives and a car-ramming incident in Modena — left the country…

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Zelenskiy says Russia considering plan to attack NATO country from Belarus

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that Russia was seeking to draw Belarus deeper into its war in Ukraine and was weighing plans to attack Ukraine's north or a NATO country from…

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Russian parliament approves law allowing Putin to invade other countries

Russia's lawmakers have passed a law formally authorising the Kremlin to deploy troops abroad to "protect Russian citizens," giving Russian President Vladimir Putin the authority in practice to invade foreign…

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What to know about the corruption probe involving Zelenskyy’s ex-chief of staff

Ukraine’s anti-corruption authorities have named former presidential chief of staff Andrii Yermak as a suspect in a major graft investigation involving alleged money laundering. According to Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau…

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Nuclear energy set for comeback in Italy under new government framework

The Italian government is set to approve a framework for the resumption of nuclear power this summer, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told parliament. Italy abandoned nuclear energy following a referendum…

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Latvian Prime Minister Silina resigns over handling of Ukraine drone incidents

Latvia's centre-right Prime Minister Evika Silina said ‌she would resign on Thursday, triggering the collapse of her coalition government just months before an election is due in October. "I am…

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The UK may soon have another female prime minister

Angela Rayner has been cleared of wrongdoing in a tax investigation, removing a potential hurdle to any bid to become the next leader of the ruling Labour Party. The former…

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Britain to strengthen ties with the EU in new legislation

Britain will introduce legislation to strengthen its ties with the European Union, as Prime Minister Keir Starmer prioritises mending economic relations with the bloc as he tries to stay in…

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Probe says sunken Russian cargo ship off Spain was transporting nuclear reactors to North Korea

Spanish investigators have discovered that the Russian cargo ship that sank in the Mediterranean in 2024 — originally believed to be part of a weapons retrieval mission to Syria —…

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Russia’s Lavrov says ‘nothing is happening’ with US-Russia relations

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that many positive things ‌were being said about the enormous potential of U.S.-Russia relations, but that in reality "nothing is happening". After…

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UPDATED: Italy says four people quarantined for hantavirus have all tested negative

Four people who have been under observation in Italy for possible hantavirus infection have all tested negative, the Italian health ministry said on Wednesday. Tests were conducted on an Argentine…

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Italy to face nationwide general strike on May 18

Italy is set to face a nationwide general strike on May 18 involving multiple sectors, with disruptions and possible closures expected across parts of the country. According to Italian state…

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Ukraine’s Zelenskiy: Russia has no intention of ending this war

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that Russia has no intention of ending the more than four-year-old war with his country and Kyiv was preparing for further attacks. Zelenskiy ‌made his…

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Stable weather drives higher number of migrants reaching Crete

More than 600 migrants have arrived on Crete and Gavdos in recent days, as boats carrying them were either found adrift by the Greek Coast Guard or managed to reach…

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Labour unrest intensifies as British lawmakers push Starmer towards exit

Keir Starmer came under renewed pressure on Monday when four ministerial aides stepped down and more than 70 Labour lawmakers publicly called for the British prime minister's resignation after his…

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Italy prepares hantavirus guidance as global health authorities monitor cruise ship outbreak

Italy’s Health Ministry is preparing a circular letter on hantavirus for regional authorities and healthcare professionals following renewed international concern over the rare but potentially deadly disease, Italian news agency…

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UK’s Keir Starmer says Britain must reclaim leading role in Europe in major post-polls address

Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged on Monday to prove the “doubters” in his own party and among the electorate as a whole wrong as he tries to fight off demands…

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Record number of candidates fuels fears of political fragmentation in Cyprus

A record number of candidates submitted bids for Cyprus's May 24 parliamentary election this week in a race which could shape one of the most fragmented ‌legislatures in the island's…

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Moscow on high alert Saturday as drone war overshadows Victory Day truce

Russia and Ukraine accused each other Friday of violating a unilateral ceasefire declared by President Vladimir Putin to coincide with World War II Victory Day commemorations, as fighting, drone strikes…

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Italy leans on Libya to plug energy gap caused by Iran war

A delegation of Italian lawmakers has traveled to Libya to explore potentially ramping up energy trade with the war-torn country to fill the gap caused by the war in the…

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UK’s Labour Party suffers heavy early losses as Reform gains in elections

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer suffered heavy early losses in elections on Friday, showing the depth of voter anger with his government and raising fresh doubts about his future just…

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