Europe migrant crisis One of Spain’s busiest airports shut down for nearly four hours on Friday after an apparent attempt by migrants to enter the country illegally. A plane flying from Casablanca in Morocco to Istanbul, Turkey, was diverted to Palma de Mallorca after a medical emergency was reported aboard. When the jet landed, […]
By Alison Roberts BBC News, Lisbon Portugal’s president has announced plans to dissolve parliament and call a snap election on 30 January. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa cited the national assembly’s rejection of the government’s draft budget for 2022 – the first such occurrence in decades. He said the budget would be crucial as Portugal tries […]
Europe’s top human rights organisation has pulled posters from a campaign that promoted respect for Muslim women who choose to wear headscarves after provoking opposition in France. The Council of Europe released the images last week for a campaign against anti-Muslim discrimination. A slogan on one advert read: “Beauty is in diversity as freedom is […]
Brexit France will delay retaliatory measures against the UK while talks over post-Brexit fishing rights continue, Emmanuel Macron has said. Paris had threatened to block British fishing boats from its ports from midnight in a row over the licensing of French fishing boats. But the French president told reporters the sanctions would be put […]
By Joseph Lee BBC News Prime Minister Boris Johnson has acknowledged “turbulence” in the UK’s relationship with France as the row over fishing rights escalates. After dozens of French boats were denied post-Brexit fishing licences for UK and Jersey waters, France threatened to block ports to British vessels. But Mr Johnson told the BBC the […]
By Mark Lowen BBC Rome correspondent COP26 In a message recorded exclusively for the BBC, Pope Francis has called on world leaders meeting next week at the UN Climate conference in Glasgow to provide “effective responses” to the environment emergency and offer “concrete hope” to future generations. Speaking from the Vatican for BBC Radio 4’s […]
The EU’s top court has told Poland to pay a daily fine of €1m (£850,000) in a row over judicial reforms. Earlier this year, Poland was ordered to suspend a controversial disciplinary chamber, but has not yet done so. It is the latest development in a bitter feud with the EU over changes that are […]
By Steve Rosenberg BBC News Chisinau, Moldova His country is immersed in a gas crisis. But Nicu Popescu is trying to remain positive. “On Monday our country made history,” Moldova’s foreign minister tells me. “For the first time Moldova bought gas from a source that was not Russia’s Gazprom.” The gas shipment from Poland’s PGNiG […]
German police have stopped armed members of an extremist right-wing group from blocking migrants crossing the Polish border. More than 50 far-right vigilantes were armed with pepper spray, a bayonet, a machete and batons, police said. The group is believed to support the Third Way, a far-right party with suspected links to neo-Nazi groups. The […]
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ordered 10 ambassadors, including those from the US, Germany and France, be declared persona non grata. It follows a statement from the envoys calling for the urgent release of activist Osman Kavala. He has been in jail for more than four years over protests and a coup attempt, although […]
