Category: Europe

BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA — Slovakia has delivered the remaining nine of the 13 Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets that it promised to Ukraine, the Slovak Defense Ministry said on Monday. The ministry said the warplanes were transported overland for security reasons in a “complicated logistics operation.” The first four were flown from Slovakia to Ukraine by Ukrainian […]

French President Emmanuel Macron has signed into law a controversial bill to raise the country’s retirement age by two years. The proclamation of the law came after France’s Constitutional Council on Friday approved the main retirement-age measure and follows months of protests against the reform, which the government forced through parliament without a final vote. […]

France’s Constitutional Council on Friday validated most of the government’s controversial pension reform, including its flagship measure of raising the legal retirement age to 64, while rejecting other measures, such as the creation of a “senior index”. At the same time, the Sages rejected a request for a shared initiative referendum (RIP) filed by the […]

Hungary’s populist leader Viktor Orban has been playing the West off against Russia and China for years, but as the Ukraine war drags on, the pressure is rising, according to analysts. “The Hungarian government continues to maintain close relations with Russia and supports the Russian war machine in various economic ways,” US Ambassador David Pressman […]

The European Union blacklisted Russia’s Wagner Group on Thursday for “actively participating in the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.” The Council of the European Union, the EU institution representing the governments of the member states, announced in a statement that it had added the mercenary group and Russian media agency RIA FAN, which is […]

Protesters opposing President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular plan to raise the retirement age to 64 have marched in cities and towns across France in a final show of anger before a decision on whether the measure meets constitutional standards. In Paris, as thousands marched along the designated protest route on Thursday, some protesters holding lit flares […]

Norway has expelled 15 Russian officials that it had accused of spying under diplomatic cover. Foreign minister Anniken Huitfeldt said Norway would not allow Moscow to use its embassy to carry out “covert intelligence activities”. It is the latest in a string of Russian expulsions since it launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year. […]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on world leaders to respond after a video emerged apparently showing a Ukrainian soldier being beheaded by a Russian serviceman. “Everyone must react. Every leader. Do not wait for this to be forgotten,” he said in a video address. Ukraine’s SBU security service said it was investigating the “war […]

Italy’s right-wing government on Tuesday declared a six-month national state of emergency to help it cope with a surge in migrants arriving on the country’s southern shores. State TV said a special commissioner was expected to be named. Initial funding of 5 million euros (nearly $5.5 million) was also approved as part of the measure […]

The death toll from the collapsed building in Marseille has now reached six, as rescue workers recovered three more bodies on Monday. Two people are still unaccounted for. The explosion occurred at an apartment building where residents had reported a strong gas smell. Civil defense staff have been working tirelessly through the debris with the […]