Browsing: Europe

Allies of the jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Monday that they had been unable to locate him for six days, and that he had likely been transferred to another facility.

According to initial findings, the perpetrator knew his victims.

The Royal Navy is sending two minehunter ships to Ukraine, as part of a wider effort to bolster Kyiv’s capabilities at sea.

The failed attempt to saturate Ukrainian air defences with decoy missiles reveals a vulnerability in Russia’s military capabilities.

The Ukrainian leader and Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban were seen having an animated exchange.

Among the dozens of people evacuated were three newborns, the mayor of the town said after the blaze.

French artificial intelligence start-up Mistral AI announced Sunday it had raised 385 million euros ($414 million), becoming one of Europe’s two AI leaders.

EU member states and lawmakers clinched a deal on Friday on how to draft “historic” rules regulating artificial intelligence models such as ChatGPT — after 36 hours of negotiations.

Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne on Friday visited the French overseas island of Mayotte, the poorest place in the European Union, amid a growing water crisis. Due to a drawn-out drought compounded by years of underinvestment and water mismanagement, the island’s inhabitants have access to water only one every three days.

The war in Ukraine has forced a major rethink in European security, with both Sweden and Finland abandoning their long-standing policy of non-alignment and applying for NATO membership last year. But while Finland was admitted into NATO this April, delays have persisted on Sweden’s entry, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan linking a serious of unrelated issues to Ankara’s ratification of Sweden’s accession – the latest of which is a potential sale of US F-16 fighter jets to Turkey. We discuss what Sweden’s entry to NATO would actually mean with Sweden’s top diplomat, Foreign Minister Tobias Billström.

Denmark’s parliament on Thursday adopted a law criminalising the “inappropriate treatment” of religious texts, effectively banning Koran burnings after a series of desecrations of Islam’s holy book sparked anger in Muslim countries over the summer.

Russian President Vladimir Putin Thursday held talks with Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi on trade and an expected arms deal. Iranian officials confirmed late November rumours surrounding a large weapons deal, which includes fighter jets, between Tehran and Moscow. This is “the first time Iran has purchased fighter jets since the 1990s, which could be a big shift in the military power balance in [the Middle East],” Russia correspondent Daniel Hawkins told FRANCE 24.

Europe Briefing – Gunman on the run in Brussels & Conor McGregor running for Irish presidency Police in Brussels are still hunting Friday’s gunman -…

The New Silk Road Project: Italy quits the Chinese infrastructure project Italy has quit the Chinese infrastructure project, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) -…

Russia school shooting: 14-year-old girl kills a friend before committing suicide A tragic incident unfolded in southwest Russia as a 14-year-old girl opened fire at…

France trade deficit lifted in October by easing energy costs In October 2023, France’s trade deficit, which is the difference between what the country imports…

Pro-Russia Ukrainian politician shot dead near Moscow Illia Kyva, a former pro-Russian member of Ukraine’s parliament who had been residing in Russia during the conflict,…

‘If you cannot spar a friendly spar with your President you should not lead the country.’

In Belgium, a recent documentary on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church has caused shock and soul-searching, reigniting a debate about the way religion is funded in the country. Unlike in neighbouring France, the Belgian state finances officially recognised religions, with representatives of the Catholic Church receiving the best pay. But the abuse scandal has seen many people demand a change in the rules. The justice ministry has asked the Church to remove members of the clergy guilty of sexual abuse from the list of those paid by the state, and a parliamentary inquiry is underway. Our correspondent reports.

Increasing uncertainty surrounds Western funding for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s escalating efforts to cripple the nation’s energy infrastructure.

It’s a real-life Scandi drama.

WCL: Nine teams to qualify directly for new format Champions League 2025-26 The news yesterday that the much-welcomed format change to the Women’s Champions League…

There was a clear failure in the psychiatric care of the radicalised Islamist suffering from mental troubles who stabbed a German tourist to death in central Paris at the weekend before being arrested, France’s interior minister said Monday.

The suspect converted to Islam in 2015 after being radicalised online by an ISIS supporter.

FRANCE 24’s terrorism expert Wassim Nasr discusses the suspect, who was known to French authorities, in the deadly knife attack in Paris on December 2, 2023. “This is the same kind of case of what happened in Vienna in 2020: a national, who never went to Syria, tried to go there, went to prison, went through a deradicalization program, changed his mind on the way and committed the attack.”