Europe News Feeds

Germany’s foreign minister accused Moscow of “deploying a fleet of rusty tankers” to avoid sanctions.

Two trams collide at the French city’s main train station, a prefecture spokesperson says.

An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease has been detected near Berlin — Germany’s first such cases in 35 years. The state of Brandenburg has banned animal transport for three days to contain the virus.

France’s reputation in its former African colonies has been tainted for a while. A recent speech by President Emmanuel Macron might deepen the divide.

Multiple injuries have been reported after two trams collided near Strasbourg’s central station. Police and emergency services urged people to avoid the area.

Two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukrainian troops in Russia’s Kursk region are being questioned in Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday. Ukrainian authorities have vowed to provide media access to the prisoners of war because “the world needs to know what is happening”.

Two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukrainian troops in Russia’s Kursk region are being questioned in Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday. Ukrainian authorities have vowed to provide media access to the prisoners of war because “the world needs to know what is happening”.

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Kyiv is interrogating two wounded North Korean soldiers captured in Russia’s Kursk region. Meanwhile, Russia claimed it took a village in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk. DW has more.

When Western-manufactured weapons are damaged in the war in Ukraine, they have to be sent for repair, and are often out of action for months. Efforts are now being made to minimize the delays and bureaucratic hurdles.

Thousands of anti-Nazi protesters gathered outside the site of a key meeting of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the town of Riesa on Saturday. During its congress the party is expected to formally nominate its leader Alice Weidel as candidate for chancellor ahead of Germany’s snap election on February 23. 

Organizers said they expected more than 10,000 people to attend demonstrations in eastern Saxony state. The far-right Alternative for Germany party is polling in second place ahead of February’s federal election.

The BBC investigates possible scenarios for the huge Arctic territory’s future as the US president-elect talks about taking control of it.

The number of asylum applications submitted in Europe fell in 2024 compared to the previous year, according to the EU asylum agency. Germany once again accounted for the most applications submitted.

Caroline Darian has become a vocal advocate for victims of sexual violence in the wake of her mother’s trial.

The actions are aimed at cutting off revenue Moscow is using to fund its war in Ukraine.

Fresh sanctions targeting Russia’s energy sector include two of the country’s largest oil companies. The sanctions also target Russia’s "shadow fleet" of oil tankers.

Elon Musk and X could face penalties should EU investigators find that he manipulated the site’s algorithm to influence voters. The Digital Services Act allows the EU to impose hefty fines and even block the platform.

The US on Friday imposed a swath of fresh sanctions on Russian oil and gas which could cost the country billions of dollars per month, aimed at cutting Russia’s revenue for funding the ongoing war in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the action, which should improve the odds of a peace deal being reached. 

As the start of Donald Trump’s second term as US president approaches, officials in Serbia are anticipating a significant boost in the relationship between the countries. How justified are these expectations?

Talking Europe sits down with France’s top diplomat in Warsaw, just as Poland takes up the rotating presidency of the EU in turbulent geopolitical times. Étienne de Poncins was previously French ambassador to Ukraine and got out of Kyiv just in time when it was encircled by the Russian army in 2022. He wrote about that experience in his book “Au Cœur de la Guerre” – “At the Heart of the War”. We talk about Poland’s position in the EU, and especially its defence commitments, as well as the EU’s approach to Ukraine and to the incoming US presidency of Donald Trump.

2025 looks like a year full of dangers for the European Union. Even before US President-elect Donald Trump returns to office, his unpredictability is on full display as he tells NATO ally Denmark that he needs Greenland for US national security purposes – prompting a strong rebuke from France, which says the EU will not tolerate threats to its borders. And this is before Trump even gets going on the well-known difficult issues such as trade tariffs, Ukraine and NATO.

Turkey’s chief diplomat has ruled out French military support in Syria after accusing France of ignoring Ankara’s security needs, saying it preferred partnering with the United States to diffuse Kurdish tensions in the country’s northeast.

The US president-elect has said previously that he wants to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.

Russia halted gas deliveries to the pro-Russian separatist region of Transnistria in Moldova on January 1. People living there are now really feeling the cold.

The Kremlin welcomed President-elect Donald Trump’s readiness to engage in dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday. Peskov was speaking a day after Trump reiterated his wish to bring about an end to what he called the “bloody mess” of the war in Ukraine.

With the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) leading the Austrian government’s coalition talks for the first time in the country’s history, an estimated 50,000 people rallied in Vienna to urge the conservative People’s Party (OeVP) not to join forces with the FPOe.

The world’s richest man takes his endorsement of Germany’s far-right party to a new level.

In his latest meddling in European politics, Elon Musk, a fervent ally of US President-elect Donald Trump, wielded his influence to reaffirm his support of rising far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD), backing on Thursday leader Alice Weidel on his social media platform, X (formerly Twitter).

Copenhagen’s grey winter skies match the mood among politicians and business leaders in the face of a crisis.

The man was being held with another inmate at a prison in the eastern city of Semnan, according to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy went on trial this week accused of accepting millions of euros in illegal funding from former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Did Gaddafi set a precedent for other autocrats who want to buy influence in the West?

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Thursday she viewed US President-elect Donald Trump’s threats to use military force to seize Greenland as a warning to foreign competitors, such as China, to keep their hands off key strategic concerns close to the US. 

The Kremlin reacts to the US president-elect’s remarks saying the Arctic is in Russia’s sphere of interest.

Back in November, Moldova’s President Maia Sandu was narrowly re-elected to a second term, despite alleged Russian interference. Sandu partly owes her victory to the vote of the largely pro-European diaspora, which represents almost a third of the Moldovan population and 20 percent of the electorate. But back home, part of the population remains firmly attached to its Soviet past and is denouncing the election result. The topic is divisive, even within families. Our correspondent reports.

Reports that Elon Musk’s SpaceX is in advanced negotiations with the Italian government over the provision of internet and telecommunications via its Starlink system have raised security and competition concerns.

Trump has refused to rule out using military or economic force to take over the territory in recent days.

Norway set a goal for all new cars sold to be electric by 2025, a decade ahead of the European Union. Subsidies and incentives have helped the Nordic country almost realize its goal, so what can others learn?

With uncertainty lingering over US support for Ukraine after Donald Trump’s January 20 inauguration, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to meet with Western allies in Germany on Thursday to strategise means to secure Ukraine’s battlefield position against Russia.

The baby born was born less than an hour before Spanish rescuers reached the crowded raft.

Viktor Babaryko was arrested in 2020 after challenging authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko at the polls.

European NATO members would struggle to increase defense spending to 5% considering the high social welfare bill in the continent. But analysts say Trump’s demand could be a negotiating tactic to reach a compromise.

The Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building has presented figures showing some 531,600 people are without a permanent shelter in Europe’s largest economy.

At least 13 civilians have been killed, and around 30 injured in a missile strike on the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, officials said Wednesday. Footage posted on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Telegram channel showed civilians lying in a city street in the aftermath of the attack, with the president saying the country had “a right to demand serious security guarantees” from its allies.

Sala is said to have been held in solitary confinement in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen has stated that Demark is ‘open to dialogue’ with the US on how the two countries can cooperate on the Arctic region, which includes the Danish-controlled Greenland. His statement comes after US President-elect Donald Trump sparked fears of military engagement in Greenland, which he says he wants the US to control – a claim that was soundly dismissed by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Antal Rogan is one of the most powerful men in Orban’s government and heads his cabinet office.

European leaders have been taken aback by Donald Trump’s renewed interest in control of Greenland. But what is it about the largely ice-covered island that is of such interest to the US president-elect?

Elon Musk’s invective against major European leaders and his support for right-wing, eurosceptic parties peaked this week, sparking warnings about the US tech billionaire’s intervention in the continent’s democratic institutions. Now EU policy experts are mulling legal measures to rein him in.

Germany said borders must not be changed by force after US President-elect Donald Trump refused to rule out a military takeover of Greenland. France says the EU cannot tolerate threats against its "sovereign borders."

The Netherlands is the world’s leader in fresh flower production. Over the past decade, the sector has grown by a fifth. But NGOs have been warning about the high levels of pesticides in Dutch flowers. One study even showed that a third of the substances analysed were banned in the European Union, some of them more than 20 years ago. In France, a florist who worked with flowers from the Netherlands recently obtained recognition of her daughter’s death from cancer from the Pesticide Victims Compensation Fund, putting Dutch flower sellers in the hot seat. Our correspondents report.

While Ukrainian refugees in Europe can take short trips home without a change in protection status, Syrians cannot. Activists say temporary visits would help Syrians rebuild their homes and encourage voluntary returns.

Developers confirms £800m investment across two sites in Scotland to support the growth in renewables

In Ukraine, a media investigation has put the French-funded and trained Anne de Kyiv Brigade under the spotlight, and Kyiv is now investigating. Mismanagement had already driven out the original brigade commander last December, and now there are allegations of mass desertion. Soldiers in the brigade currently operate in one of the most dangerous sections of the frontline: in the sector of Pokrovsk, where our correspondent Emmanuelle Chaze and producer Illia Diadyk met them.    

The Ukrainian military on Wednesday said that its forces had hit a Russian oil depot located hundreds of kilometres inside Russia. Kyiv has said it aims to erode Russian energy revenues that are used to fund the war in Ukraine.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Wednesday warned Donald Trump against threatening the EU’s “sovereign borders” after the US president-elect refused to rule out military action to take control of Greenland, an autonomous territory of EU member Denmark.

Following failed coalition negotiations in Austria, a path to power is now opening up for the right-wing Freedom Party leader Herbert Kickl. The 56-year-old holds some radical views, such as on migration.

France has marked 10 years since an Islamist attack on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo that shocked the country and led to fierce debate about freedom of expression and religion. FRANCE 24’s Sharon Gaffney speaks to Jacob Mchangama, founder of “The Future of Free Speech” think tank and research professor at Vanderbilt University. He says that terrorism has curtailed freedom of expression, adding that France’s “schizophrenic” approach helps erode the culture of free speech.

The Ukrainian army is advancing into the Russian region of Kursk despite being under increasing pressure in this region. Experts agree that Kyiv is sending a message to Donald Trump.

Ukraine has not acknowledged the fall of Kurakhove in the war-torn region of Donetsk.

A Holocaust denier and unrepentant extremist on race and immigration, the far-right politician has died at 96.