RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – The European Union on Saturday called on Israel to improve conditions for Palestinians in its jails, and a Palestinian minister said there would be rallies next week to support hunger striking prisoners. Nearly 5,000 Palestinian... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – An investigation has identified a French meat-processing firm as a likely culprit in the horsemeat scandal that has enraged consumers across Europe and implicated traders and abattoirs from Cyprus to Romania. Separately, British police invest... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission has proposed increased DNA testing of meat products to assess the scale of a scandal involving horsemeat sold as beef that has shocked the public and raised concern over the continent’s food supply chains. “The test... More »
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton urged Iran on Wednesday to show flexibility at this month’s talks between Tehran and six world powers aimed at defusing tensions over the Iranian nuclear program. The five permanen... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Turkey is committed to joining the European Union despite mounting frustration over decades of talks on the issue, but has little appetite for adopting the euro currency, a senior Turkish official said on Wednesday. In a speech in London, Tu... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s center-right plans to obstruct the government expected to emerge from an election in less than two weeks time and block legislation, Northern League leader Roberto Maroni said on Wednesday. The vow by Maroni, the closest electoral all... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British police investigating the hacking of mobile phones to generate stories at Rupert Murdoch’s now-defunct News of the World tabloid made six more arrests of journalists or former journalists on Wednesday. The phone hacking in the new arr... More »
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – A quiet lunch between European Union ambassadors and Indian prime ministerial contender Narendra Modi has shattered what remained of a decade-old informal boycott of the Hindu nationalist political leader. The January 7 lunch at the Germa... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union will consider adding Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement to its list of terrorist organizations after it was implicated in a bombing in Bulgaria last year, an EU foreign affairs spokeswoman said on Wednesday. However, she said ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – London’s Evening Standard, backed by the family of Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev, won a London television franchise on Monday, beating four other bidders with a package offering live news from the paper’s West London offices. Britain’s ... More »
GENEVA/DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s crude oil exports in December leapt to their highest level since European Union sanctions took effect last July, analysts and shipping sources said, as strong Chinese demand and tanker fleet expansion helped the OPEC member dodg... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti weighed in on the scandal surrounding Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena on Thursday, rejecting suggestions that the authorities had failed to spot large trading losses threatening the bank. Already in need of ... More »
LJUBLJANA (Reuters) – Slovenia’s prime minister, abandoned by a junior member of his coalition, pledged on Thursday to remain at the helm of a minority government and seek support for reforms vital to stabilizing the euro zone member’s finances. Janez Jansa’s ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister David Cameron is taking a “huge gamble” with the UK economy by pledging to renegotiate Britain’s role in the European Union and then call a referendum on any changes, the leader of the main opposition Labour Party said on Wedn... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – France believes Britain has many advantages to offer the European Union but if it chose to leave the bloc, Paris would not stand in its way, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Wednesday. British Prime Minister David Cameron is due later ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister David Cameron will promise on Wednesday to give Britons a straight referendum choice on whether to stay in the European Union or leave, provided he wins an election in 2015. Cameron will end months of speculation by announcing... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister David Cameron is set to deliver his hotly anticipated speech about his plans for Britain’s membership of the European Union this week, Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Sunday. After months of speculation, Camero... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain will drift out of the European Union and the European project will fail unless the bloc tackles three serious problems it faces, British Prime Minister David Cameron had planned to say in a postponed speech on Friday. Cameron delayed... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama told British Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday that the United States “values a strong UK in a strong European Union,” the White House said. Cameron, who has faced calls from some in his own party for a refe... More »
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Just weeks after Chinese authorities cleared Yum Brands Inc and McDonald’s Corp of charges they had served chicken laced with excessive chemicals, local media are again attacking the iconic American firms, while barely reporting on the cha... More »
BELGRADE (Reuters) – Serbia held out the chance of a seat at the United Nations for Kosovo on Tuesday, contradicting a historic claim over its former province as it tries to remove the biggest obstacle to joining the European Union. Serbia has vowed never to r... More »
BELGRADE (Reuters) – Serbia indicated on Wednesday it was ready to loosen its hold on a minority Serb region of neighboring Kosovo in what may mark a major concession by Belgrade as it pushes for talks on joining the European Union. Majority-Albanian Kosovo de... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey accused the European Union of bias and bigoted attitudes towards the EU candidate country on Monday and blamed it for undermining the Turkish public’s trust in the bloc. Turkey criticized the European Commission’s latest report on i... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country could provide support to Cyprus as part of an international bailout for the indebted island, but only after euro zone countries have defined the terms of their assistance. “We do not see it... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin and European Union leaders are likely to clash over issues ranging from Syria to trade, energy and human rights on Friday when Putin holds his first talks in Brussels since his re-election as president in M... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece is detaining migrants, including children, in inhuman conditions unworthy of a member country of the European Union, human rights group Amnesty International said on Thursday. Greece – the main entry point into the European Union for ... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European leaders agreed on Friday to press on with further steps to tackle their debt crisis but German Chancellor Angela Merkel threw out a proposal to boost risk-sharing with a fund to help euro zone states in trouble. Germany’s rejectio... More »
MUNICH (Reuters) – Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras visited Bavaria on Sunday, charming former critics of Greece in the southern German state who once wished to eject his country from the euro zone, and departing with pledges of solidarity and support. Sam... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Around a thousand members of left-wing and human rights groups marched in Oslo on Sunday to protest against the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union. Around 50 organizations held the torch-lit march on the eve of the award, arg... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble declined to rule himself out as a candidate to replace Jean-Claude Juncker as chairman of euro zone finance ministers, in an interview published on Sunday. Juncker, Luxembourg’s prime minister, said... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Much has been written over the past year about the risks of a two-speed Europe in which the 17 euro zone countries move ahead more rapidly than the rest of the European Union. Such a divergence, the conventional wisdom goes, could mark the... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Max Clifford, Britain’s highest-profile celebrity publicist, was arrested for alleged sex crimes on Thursday by a special police unit set up in the wake of an abuse scandal involving a former BBC TV star, his lawyer said. Clifford, 69, made ... More »
JERUSALEM/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Israel moved ahead with plans to build 3,000 settler homes in one of the most sensitive areas of the West Bank, as the European Union summoned Israel’s envoy to add its voice to a storm of international protest. Israeli Prime Min... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – London Mayor Boris Johnson heaped pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday by calling for a referendum on a deeply pared back British membership of the European Union. Johnson, speaking at a Thomson Reuters Newsmaker event, said t... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – London Mayor Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that the euro had turned into a calamitous project and that the British people should now be given a referendum on whether they want to stay in an EU single market. Speaking at a Thomson Reuters New... More »
HANOVER, Germany (Reuters) – Angela Merkel kicks off her re-election drive on Tuesday at a congress of her conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), where the chancellor will be feted like a star for defending German interests in the euro zone crisis. At the pea... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister David Cameron woke on Friday to find usually hostile newspapers gushing about his statesman-like qualities after he signaled his opposition to a new law governing the press. After his party suffered a night of humiliat... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister David Cameron rejected the idea of a law to regulate the British press on Thursday, risking a split in his government after an inquiry advised legal backing for a watchdog to police the sometimes outrageous conduct of newspape... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The Greek government and financial markets were cheered on Tuesday by an agreement between euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund to reduce Greece’s debt, paving the way for the release of urgently needed aid loans... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund clinched agreement on a new debt target for Greece on Monday in a breakthrough towards releasing an urgently needed tranche of loans to the near-bankrupt economy, officials sa... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British politicians berated a local council in England on Saturday after it removed children from a foster family’s care because of its support for a political party that wants the UK to exit the European Union and backs tighter immigration ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The BBC on Thursday named a former journalist who runs the Royal Opera House to lead the broadcaster and restore public faith after sex abuse scandals tarnished the reputation of one of Britain’s most treasured institutions. Tony Hall, a for... More »
HELSINKI/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union’s top economic official sought to rule out any write-off of Greece’s debt to governments on Thursday after a European Central Bank policymaker said for the first time that a “haircut” on part of it was probable.... More »
TILORMA, Sierra Leone (Reuters) – When the European Union’s chief election observer Richard Howitt asked people in this remote village last month if they had concerns about Sierra Leone’s looming presidential poll, he got a sobering response: what is voting? T... More »
BRUSSELS/BERLIN (Reuters) – The euro zone debt crisis dragged the bloc into its second recession since 2009 in the third quarter despite modest growth in Germany and France, data showed on Thursday. The French and German economies both managed 0.2 percent grow... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Ukraine’s October 28 parliamentary election was marred by a delayed vote count and other irregularities, the European Union said on Monday. The criticism by the bloc – which has frozen a trade deal with Ukraine because of concerns over the... More »
BRUSSELS/PRAGUE (Reuters) – NATO and European Union leaders upbraided Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili on Monday over the arrest of political opponents as he visited Brussels to try to bolster ties with the West. Ivanishvili, a billionaire whose coa... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey should consider bringing back the death penalty, a decade after Ankara abolished capital punishment as part of reforms aimed at European Union membership. Political commentators accused Erdogan of ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Germany’s Angela Merkel on Wednesday warned Britain not to turn its back on Europe and urged its Prime Minister David Cameron to work with her to avoid deadlock at European Union budget talks later this month. The leaders met in London to tr... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Text messages sent by the former head of Rupert Murdoch’s British newspapers to Prime Minister David Cameron, published on Sunday, have further revealed their close personal relationship. Rebekah Brooks, who is awaiting trial on charges rela... More »
BUCHAREST/BRUSSELS/DUBAI (Reuters) – Two months into anti-government protests in Syria last year, as the military crackdown grew more vicious, the European Union and United States introduced sanctions against President Bashar al-Assad, his security chiefs and ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain faces a crisis that could end with the world’s sixth largest economy leaving the European Union, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg warned ahead of a showdown over budget spending with other states in the 27-member bloc. A day after Pr... More »
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Jeroen Dijsselbloem looked set to become the next Dutch finance minister after Prime Minister Mark Rutte summoned the Labor MP, who is expected to back austerity at home and a tough line on euro zone deficit sinners, to a meeting on Thurs... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Fresh allegations emerged on Wednesday of sexual misconduct by late BBC presenter Jimmy Savile, further damaging the corporation’s reputation and increasing pressure on its management. Facing questions on how suspicions about Savile were han... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – The European Union will lose Turkey if it doesn’t grant it membership by 2023, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday. It was the first time Erdogan has given an indication of how long Ankara might continue down the path towar... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union is considering sending about 200 troops to train Mali’s army to retake the Islamist-held north, but is not willing to deploy them in battle, EU officials said on Tuesday. Fears are growing in Europe that the African coun... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain is increasingly disillusioned with the European Union which it sees as a “machine that sucks up decision-making”, Britain’s foreign secretary said on Tuesday in prepared remarks. “People feel that the EU is a one way process, a great... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Pressure on the BBC to address allegations its bosses covered up sexual abuse claims leveled at one of its former TV stars mounted on Monday after British Prime Minister David Cameron said the broadcaster had serious questions to answer. The... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – European Central Bank policymaker Klaas Knot has thrown his support behind German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble’s call for a euro zone commissioner with power over European Union nations’ budgets. The EU needs not only stricter budget ... More »
MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) – German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on the eve of a summit of European leaders that debt-ridden euro zone states must help themselves while Chancellor Angela Merkel said Europe needed to resolve its crisis to become comp... More »
LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) – European Union governments agreed further sanctions against Iran’s banking, shipping and industrial sectors on Monday, cranking up financial pressure on Tehran in the hope of drawing it into serious negotiations on its nuclear program. T... More »
VILNIUS (Reuters) – Lithuania’s newly-elected opposition tried to reassure financial markets on Monday it will not throw away fiscal prudence, after voters fed up with four years of harsh austerity measures ejected the government. An ex-Soviet state of about t... More »
PODGORICA (Reuters) – Montenegro’s ruling party leader Milo Djukanovic claimed victory in a parliamentary election on Sunday, extending his DPS party’s 23-year old rule in the ex-Yugoslav republic as it starts European Union accession talks. The new government... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union provisionally approved new economic sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program on Friday, with senior diplomats giving their backing to measures against Tehran’s banking sector, industry and shipping. The move marks... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Spain on Friday said a European bond-buying plan was fully ready for use and that there was absolutely no political resistance from within the euro zone to a Spanish bailout request. The situation in Spain, which is considering seeking an aid... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister David Cameron made no comment on the European Union’s Nobel Peace Prize win on Friday, a stark contrast to the effusion of other EU leaders and a reflection of Britain’s uneasy relationship with Europe. Cameron is unde... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s interior minister called on Friday for the suspension of visa-free travel for Serbs and Macedonians to the European Union following a surge in asylum applications from citizens of the two Balkan countries. Serbs and Macedonians acc... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission said on Wednesday Serbia was not ready to start accession talks with the EU because of its tensions with Kosovo, and criticized Turkey for its human rights record and insufficient reforms. In its annual report on co... More »
LUXEMBOURG/ATHENS (Reuters) – Eleven euro zone countries agreed on Tuesday to press ahead with a disputed tax on financial transactions aimed at making traders share the cost of fixing a crisis that has rocked the single currency area. The initiative, pushed h... More »
LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) – Euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund held a “thorough and robust” debate on Greece on Monday, but failed to make significant progress in deciding how best to get the country back on track with its bailout progr... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel will make her first visit to Greece next week since the euro zone debt crisis erupted, in a show of support for Athens after it said it would run out of money at the end of November without fresh international... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union is poised to ban imports of Iranian gas as part of a set of new measures to ratchet up pressure on the Islamic Republic over its nuclear programme, diplomats said on Thursday. Diplomats from EU member states have started... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Regulators and operators should act now to improve safety at nuclear power plants, the EU energy commissioner said on Thursday, following inspections across the European Union. The stress tests, carried out in the aftermath of the Fukushim... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Airlines cannot use strikes as an excuse not to pay compensation to travelers they bump off flights, Europe’s highest court said on Thursday, widening the scope of passenger rights in the European Union. Judges at the Luxembourg-based EU C... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel is hardening her stance on additional help for struggling euro zone economies like Greece and Spain as pressure from parliamentary allies and a looming election campaign shrink her room for maneuver in Europe.... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – France is open to the idea of a new European Union treaty to deepen integration if it is deemed necessary to improve economic governance in the bloc, French Minister for European Affairs Bernard Cazeneuve said on Thursday. Cazeneuve was react... More »
NICOSIA (Reuters) – The European Union is looking at how it can help Mali combat an Islamist rebel takeover in the country’s north after receiving a plea for assistance ranging from military training to equipment for clearing land mines, EU officials said on T... More »
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Escalating violence in Syria and limited access to civilians in need hinder the distribution of humanitarian aid in the country, the European Union’s crisis chief said on Wednesday. An 18-month uprising against Syrian President Basha... More »
ATHENS/MADRID (Reuters) – Demonstrators have clashed with police on the streets of Athens and Madrid in an upsurge of popular anger at new austerity measures being imposed on two of the euro zone’s most vulnerable economies. In some of the most violent confron... More »
KINSHASA (Reuters) – The European Union has frozen further budgetary support to Rwanda over allegations that the Central African state supports anti-government rebels in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, the EU’s ambassador to Congo said on Wednesday. ... More »
MINSK (Reuters) – International monitors and the European Union on Monday dismissed Belarus’s parliamentary election as a sham exercise, increasing the isolation of President Alexander Lukashenko. After election officials listed 109 winning candidates for parl... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – President Francois Hollande’s government demanded on Monday its Green allies fall into line over European Union policy after the ecologist party said it would oppose a European Union budget discipline pact in a vote next month. While the pact... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union and Chinese leaders will try to bridge growing differences over trade and find common ground on tackling Europe’s debt crisis at a summit in Brussels on Thursday. Overseas trade is one of few bright spots in Europe and a cri... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said on Wednesday he and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton had agreed to defer more nuclear talks until she has consulted the six world powers she represents next week. Jalili... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A British police officer and two journalists from Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun tabloid newspaper were arrested on suspicion of corruption on Wednesday as part of investigations into illegal payments and phone-hacking that have sparked more than ... More »
DUBLIN (Reuters) – Finland’s Europe minister Alexander Stubb questioned the need for a change to the European Union’s treaty, saying such a move would require too much time and raise uncertainty. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso last week call... More »
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Dutch voters handed pro-European parties a sweeping election victory on Wednesday, shunning the radical fringes and dispelling concerns that eurosceptics could gain sway in a core euro zone country. Exit polls broadcast as soon as voting ... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – President Mohamed Mursi travels to Brussels on Thursday for his first visit to Europe since becoming Egypt’s first freely elected leader in June, hoping to reassure the European Union of his democratic credentials and win pledges of econom... More »
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Liberal Party has widened his lead over Socialist Party leader Emile Roemer in the run up to an election on September 12 that has been dominated by the euro zone crisis, two surveys showed on Monday.... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s Premier Wen Jiabao said on Thursday he is confident the crisis-stricken euro zone can survive its nagging debt crisis, but warned that conditions remained difficult for the world economy. Speaking to reporters after meeting German C... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece’s Prime Minister Antonis Samaras started a European charm offensive on Wednesday with an appeal to Germans for more time to meet targets for deficit cuts, but may struggle to make his case in meetings this week with EU leaders. “All w... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras starts a European charm offensive on Wednesday with talks to persuade euro zone chief Jean-Claude Juncker that the debt-laden nation has the will to ram through unpopular reforms and deserves more time to... More »
MINSK (Reuters) – Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko sacked his foreign minister on Monday, weeks after a diplomatic row with Sweden and the European Union over a pro-democracy stunt in which hundreds of teddy bears were airdropped over the country. Lu... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – A Greek exit from the euro zone would be manageable, European Central Bank policymaker Joerg Asmussen was quoted on Monday as saying, although he would prefer it if the crisis-stricken country remained within the single currency bloc. He als... More »
VIENNA/HELSINKI (Reuters) – Smaller euro zone countries that have retained top credit ratings through the region’s crisis squabbled on Friday over whether struggling nations like Greece that threaten the currency union’s stability should be kicked out. Top Aus... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The former communications chief of British Prime Minister David Cameron appeared in court on Thursday, accused with six others over hacking the phones of Hollywood stars, politicians and crime victims. Andy Coulson, former editor of Rupert M... More »
BERLIN/ATHENS (Reuters) – After a brief summer lull, euro zone leaders are gearing up for a round of shuttle diplomacy in the run-up to what could be a crucial month in the 2-1/2-year debt crisis. Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras will fly next week to meet... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair told a German newspaper he was “deeply worried” Britain might opt to leave the European Union in a referendum, particularly if too many powers were transferred to Brussels without democratic legitimac... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Politicians in Germany’s ruling centre-right coalition have expressed renewed concerns about an increased role for the euro zone’s permanent bailout fund, which is at the centre of a court case after the German parliament approved it in basi... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – European Central Bank President Mario Draghi was under intense pressure from investors, European leaders and even the United States to deliver on Thursday on his pledge to do whatever it takes to save the euro. Draghi faced the biggest te... More »
