Category: Europe

Portugal’s parliament has approved a controversial bill banning face coverings worn for “gender or religious reasons” in public spaces; a measure widely viewed as targeting Muslim women who wear the burqa or niqab, reported by Arab News. Proposed by the far-right Chega party, the bill passed Friday with support from several center-right lawmakers. It prohibits […]

A long-anticipated meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump may take place in Budapest within the next two weeks, the Kremlin confirmed Friday, marking what could be the most closely watched diplomatic encounter in years. “It could indeed take place within two weeks or a little later,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov […]

Bomb Blast Rocks Home of Italian Investigative Journalist Near Rome A powerful explosion shattered the quiet of an Italian seaside neighborhood late Thursday when a bomb detonated outside the home of journalist Sigfrido Ranucci, host of the acclaimed investigative TV program Report, according to Mehr News Agency. The blast, which occurred in Campo Ascolano, a […]

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu narrowly preserved his fledgling government on Thursday, surviving two no-confidence votes in parliament after offering to suspend President Emmanuel Macron’s controversial pension reform, according to Arab News. The motions, tabled by the far-left France Unbowed and the far-right National Rally (RN), gathered only 271 and 144 votes—far short of the […]

Fico Blocks EU Sanctions Against Russia, Demands Concessions on Energy and Auto Industry BRUSSELS — Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico has once again wielded his veto to block a new round of European Union sanctions against Russia, setting the stage for a potential clash at next week’s leaders’ summit, according to Euro News. Austria, too, […]

BELGRADE — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday called on Serbia to “get concrete” about its ambitions to join the European Union, urging President Aleksandar Vučić’s government to advance reforms, uphold democratic values, and align with EU sanctions against Russiam, according to Hurriyet Daily News. “We need to see greater alignment in […]

PARIS — French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has moved to suspend President Emmanuel Macron’s deeply divisive 2023 pension reform in a last-ditch effort to save his fragile government ahead of no-confidence votes scheduled for later this week, according to BBC News. Speaking to lawmakers on Tuesday, Lecornu told the National Assembly he would formally propose […]

EU interior ministers gathered in Luxembourg on Monday with one goal in sight: to make deportations swifter and more enforceable. Yet as discussions began, two of the bloc’s most divisive issues, online surveillance and migration policy cast long shadows over the meeting, according to ORF News. The long-debated “chat control” law, intended to combat the […]

PARIS — Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been ordered to begin serving his prison sentence on October 21, according to sources close to the case cited by Agence France-Presse (AFP). The 70-year-old conservative leader will be incarcerated at Paris’s La Santé prison, where he was informed of his detention conditions by France’s financial prosecutor’s […]

Macron Unveils New Government to Steer France Out of Political Crisis PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron unveiled a new government on Sunday, in a high-stakes attempt to restore political stability and prevent the country from sinking deeper into crisis, according to Hurriyet Daily News. The reshuffle comes after days of intense negotiations and mounting […]