Europe News

French riots after Algeria-Egypt match

Video: Hundreds of football fans took to the streets of Paris and Marseille on Wednesday night after Algeria beat Egypt 1-0, qualifying the team for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa. Fans were seen waving Algerian flags and cheering in both French cities. Duration: 00:30
AFP - Friday, November 20

PARIS (AFP) - - Football fans battled with police, torched cars in cities across France and looted a supermarket after Algeria beat Egypt to qualify for the World Cup finals, police said. More »

  • Slovenian President Danilo Turk (L) and his Russian counterpart Dimitri Medvedev applaude as they watch a World Cup 2010 qualifying match between Slovenia and Russia. Medvedev has fired one of his top advisors for abuse of office in one of the biggest changes to his Kremlin administration since taking power, media reported on Thursday.

    Russian president fires top advisor: reports

    AFP - Thursday, November 19

    MOSCOW (AFP) - - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has fired one of his top advisors for abuse of office in one of the biggest changes to his Kremlin administration since taking power, media reported on Thursday.

  • Cesare Battisti is seen during a meeting with representatives from a human rights commission at Papuda penitentiary in Brasilia, on November 17. Brazil's supreme court on Wednesday voted to extradite Battisti, despite a government order granting him political asylum.

    Brazil court backs Battisti extradition, but Lula has final say

    AFP - Thursday, November 19

    BRASILIA (AFP) - - Brazil's supreme court Wednesday authorized the extradition of Italian ex-militant Cesare Battisti, wanted for murders dating from the 1970s, but left President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva with final say in the case.

  • EU and Russian leaders met in Stockholm on Wednesday for a summit dominated by energy issues and climate control. Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt hosted Russian President Dmitry Medvedev for the meeting. Duration: 01:07

    EU-Russia summit sees climate progress, rights row

    AFP - Thursday, November 19

    STOCKHOLM (AFP) - - EU criticism of Russia's rights record and fears Moscow will delay its WTO entry clouded EU-Russia talks Wednesday, but the two sides aligned on climate issues ahead of a key summit in December.

  • Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip walk through the Royal Gallery after the State Opening of Parliament in Westminster. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has unveiled a crackdown on the banking industry as part of a voter-friendly agenda designed to boost his party's chances at elections barely six months away.

    British PM unveils final plans before election

    AFP - Thursday, November 19

    LONDON (AFP) - - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown unveiled a crackdown on the banking industry on Wednesday as part of a voter-friendly agenda designed to boost his party's chances at elections barely six months away.

  • Former Latvian president Vaira Vike-Freiberga, shown in a file picture, a candidate to be the EU's first president, stepped up Wednesday her attack on the selection process and challenged her male rivals to a open contest.

    Ex-Latvian president challenges rivals on top EU job

    AFP - Wednesday, November 18

    LONDON (AFP) - - Former Latvian president Vaira Vike-Freiberga, a candidate to be the EU's first president, stepped up Wednesday her attack on the selection process and challenged her male rivals to a open contest.

  • British Prime Minister Gordon Brown leaves 10 Downing Street, in central London. Brown's government will unveil Wednesday a crackdown on the banking industry as part of a series of policies aimed at boosting its chances at the general election

    British govt to unveil new plans ahead of election

    AFP - Wednesday, November 18

    LONDON (AFP) - - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government will unveil Wednesday a crackdown on the banking industry as part of a series of policies aimed at boosting its chances at the general election.

  • Auschwitz survivors shortly after the concentration camp was liberated in 1945. German prosecutors have charged a 90-year-old former SS soldier with 58 counts of murder for the cold-blooded killings of Jewish forced labourers in the final weeks of World War II.

    Former SS member, 90, charged over Nazi massacre

    AFP - Wednesday, November 18

    BERLIN (AFP) - - German prosecutors on Tuesday charged a 90-year-old former SS soldier with 58 counts of murder for the killing of Jewish forced labourers in the final weeks of World War II.

  • French President Nicolas Sarkozy (L) and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah arrive at the Janadriya residence. Sarkozy arrived in Riyadh on Tuesday for talks with King Abdullah after warning of an extremist backlash if Middle East peace talks do not commence soon.

    Sarkozy in Riyadh, says Mideast peace talks 'urgent'

    AFP - Wednesday, November 18

    RIYADH (AFP) - - French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Riyadh on Tuesday for talks with Saudi King Abdullah after warning of an extremist backlash if Middle East peace talks do not commence soon.

  • A file photo taken in March 2005 shows Rwandan Hutu rebel Ignace Murwanashyaka, current leader of the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR), during a news conference in Rome. Murwanashyaka is one of two leading Rwandan Hutu rebels who have been arrested in Germany on suspicion of crimes against humanity and war crimes in DR Congo, prosecutors said.

    Top Rwandan Hutu rebels 'arrested in Germany'

    AFP - Wednesday, November 18

    BERLIN (AFP) - - Two leading Rwandan Hutu rebels were arrested in Germany on Tuesday on suspicion of crimes against humanity and war crimes this year and in 2008 in DR Congo, prosecutors said.

  • Zapatero confirms release of Spanish trawler

    AFP - Wednesday, November 18

    MADRID (AFP) - - Somali pirates have released a Spanish tuna trawler and its crew of 36 which they seized over a month ago in the Indian Ocean, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Tuesday.

  • This handout picture by the Spanish Defence Ministry (SDM) shows the Spanish tuna trawler Alakrana near the Somali coast on October 3. Somali pirates holding the trawler said Tuesday they had received a four million dollar ransom and that the vessel and its 36 crew would be released immediately.

    Ransom paid for Spanish trawler: Somali pirates

    AFP - Wednesday, November 18

    MOGADISHU (AFP) - - Somali pirates holding a Spanish trawler said Tuesday they had received a four million dollar ransom and that the vessel and its 36 crew would be released immediately.

  • Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, seen here with German Chancellor Adolf Hitler in Munich in 1937. Mussolini was a rabid anti-Semite who called Adolf Hitler

    Diary of Mussolini's mistress reveals rabid anti-Semite

    AFP - Tuesday, November 17

    ROME (AFP) - - Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was a rabid anti-Semite who called Adolf Hitler "a big romantic" and despised the pope, a new book of his mistress Claretta Petacci's diaries revealed.

  • A French security van driver suspected of stealing 11.6 million euros ($17.2 million) handed himself in to police in Monaco.

    French heist suspect surrenders in Monaco: official

    AFP - Tuesday, November 17

    MONACO (AFP) - - A French security van driver suspected of stealing 11.6 million euros (17.2 million dollars) handed himself in to police in Monaco on Monday, officials said.

  • An Italian officer checks documents in Naples' area of Ponticelli during a sweeping crackdown in May 2009. Italian police on Sunday captured the number two leader of Sicily's Cosa Nostra Mafia, Domenico Raccuglia, after 15 years on the run, officials said.

    Italian police arrest Sicilian Mafia 'number two'

    AFP - Monday, November 16

    ROME (AFP) - - Italian police on Sunday captured the number two leader of Sicily's Cosa Nostra Mafia, Domenico Raccuglia, after 15 years on the run, officials said.

  • Human rights activists protest in front of the Brazilian Supreme Court in support of Cesare Battisti. Battisti, an ex-militant awaiting a verdict on whether he should be extradited to his native Italy for murder, started a hunger strike in his Brazilian prison, reports said

    Italian ex-militant starts hunger strike: reports

    AFP - Saturday, November 14

    SAO PAULO (AFP) - - Cesare Battisti, an ex-militant awaiting a verdict on whether he should be extradited to his native Italy for murder, started a hunger strike in his Brazilian prison, reports said.

  • Undated handout photo provided by the European Union Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) shows the Lynn Rival yacht, belonging to British couple Paul and Rachel Chandler in the Indian Ocean. The crew of a British military ship watched as the couple were taken hostage by Somali pirates but were ordered not to open fire, the Ministry of Defence said Friday

    British ship watched pirates seize couple: ministry

    AFP - Saturday, November 14

    LONDON (AFP) - - The crew of a British military ship watched as a British couple were taken hostage by Somali pirates but were ordered not to open fire, the Ministry of Defence said.

  • A Russian NTV television channel TV grab shows a blast at an arms depot outside the central Russian city of Ulyanovsk. A series of blasts ripped through an arms depot near the Russian city of Ulyanovsk on Friday, killing two firemen, but dozens of people escaped the explosions and fire by hiding in a shelter, officials said.

    Dozens escape Russia arms depot blasts

    AFP - Saturday, November 14

    MOSCOW (AFP) - - A series of blasts ripped through an arms depot near the Russian city of Ulyanovsk on Friday, killing two firemen, but dozens of people escaped the explosions and fire by hiding in a shelter, officials said.

  • The speaker of the German parliament, an ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, backs Luxembourg's Jean-Claude Juncker, pictured in October 2009, for European Union president, a press report cited him as saying on Friday.

    Merkel ally backs Juncker for EU presidency: report

    AFP - Saturday, November 14

    BERLIN (AFP) - - The speaker of the German parliament, an ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, backs Luxembourg's Jean-Claude Juncker for European Union president, a press report cited him as saying on Friday.

  • Government soldiers ride in the back of a pick-up truck as they patrol a market in Mogadishu, in September. The European Union is to endorse a plan to train up to 2,000 security personnel from Somalia, as the EU broadens engagement in the crisis hit Horn of Africa country, officials have said.

    EU 'to greenlight' Somalia security training plan

    AFP - Saturday, November 14

    BRUSSELS (AFP) - - The European Union is to endorse next week a plan to train up to 2,000 security personnel from Somalia, as the EU broadens engagement in the crisis hit Horn of Africa country, officials said on Friday.