CNN – Europe/Mideast/Africa

By Tara John and Rob Picheta, CNN Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said people can get “hung up” on peace negotiations with the Palestinians, saying he has opted for a different approach in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday. “When effectively the Arab-Israeli conflict (comes) to an end, I think we’ll circle back

By Artemis Moshtaghian and Jomana Karadsheh, CNN The video was instantly viral: Cell phone footage from anti-government protests in Iran’s Kurdish city of Sanandaj showed a bare-chested man wielding a knife, encircled by about a dozen regime forces armed with guns. Security officers appeared to take turns cautiously swinging their batons at the protester, some

By Muhammad Darwish, Katharina Krebs and Tara John, CNN A former Wagner mercenary says the brutality he witnessed in Ukraine ultimately pushed him to defect, in an exclusive CNN interview on Monday. Wagner fighters were often sent into battle with little direction, and the company’s treatment of reluctant recruits was ruthless, Andrei Medvedev told CNN’s

By Tim Lister, Frederik Pleitgen and Konstantin Hak, CNN The pine forests near the city of Kreminna have become one of the hottest combat zones in the war in eastern Ukraine. Almost every weapon seems to be at work here, artillery, howitzers, tanks and mortars. But perhaps the most important is the smallest: The reconnaissance

By Artemis Moshtaghian and Mohammed Tawfeeq, CNN US officials believe drone attacks at a military plant in Iran‘s central city of Isfahan were carried out by Israel, according to US media reports. Tehran said on Sunday that drones had attacked the plant in Isfahan late the previous evening, calling the operation “unsuccessful.” The Wall Street

By Nimi Princewill and Alex Stambaugh, CNN Eight people were killed and three wounded after two gunmen entered a home and opened fire on a group of people celebrating a birthday at a home in South Africa on Sunday evening, according to the South African police service (SAPS). The shooting happened in the southern port

By Fred Pleitgen, Tim Lister and Matthias Somm, CNN Dug in amid the rolling hills west of Bakhmut, the tanks of the Ukrainian army’s 28th Mechanized Brigade are helping to hold the line against a growing Russian offensive. They are battered and bruised by nearly a year of combat, but despite their age they are

By Uliana Pavlova, CNN Olesya Krivtsova sports an anti-Putin tattoo on one ankle and a bracelet that tracks her every move on the other. The 19-year-old from Russia’s Arkhangelsk region must wear the device while she is under house arrest after she was charged over social media posts that authorities say discredit the Russian army

By Angus Watson, CNN Israel will “take steps to strengthen settlement” in response to shooting attacks in Jerusalem Friday and Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said. A six-point list to “fight terrorism and exact a price from terrorists and those who support them” was posted to Netanyahu’s Facebook page overnight Saturday after a meeting

By Mohammed Tawfeeq, CNN A massive fire broke out at an oil refinery in northwestern Iran on Saturday, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported. The refinery is near the city of Tabriz in East Azerbaijan Province. “The firefighting is still going on and the size and intensity of the fire made it difficult to extinguish,”

By Mohammed Tawfeeq, CNN At least three people were killed and more than 800 injured when a 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck Iran on Saturday night local time, according to Iranian news agencies. Iran’s state news agency IRNA said the earthquake hit the city of Khoy, West Azerbaijan province, in northwest Iran, around 9:44 p.m. local

By Artemis Moshtaghian and Mohammed Tawfeeq, CNN Drones attacked a military plant in Iran‘s central city of Isfahan, Tehran said on Sunday. “An explosion has occurred in one of the military centers affiliated to the Ministry of Defense,” the deputy head of security for Isfahan governorate Mohammad Reza Jan-Nesari told the semi-official Fars News Agency.

By Richard Allen Greene, Hadas Gold, Amir Tal and Tara John, CNN Two people were wounded in a shooting attack in Jerusalem on Saturday, emergency services say, the day after a gunman killed at least seven people near a synagogue in the city. The two men injured in the City of David area of Jerusalem

By Sahar Akbarzai, CNN A British serviceman has been charged with terrorism and explosives offenses, the London Metropolitan Police said Friday. Daniel Abed Khalife, 21, from Beaconside, Stafford, was charged after an investigation by the Met’s Terrorism Command, concerning two incidents in Staffordshire in August 2021 and earlier this month, police said. Khalife was charged

By Nadine Schmidt, Sophie Tanno and Claudia Otto, CNN The biggest moment in the Ukraine war this week took place hundreds of miles from the battlefield. After days of diplomatic pressure from its increasingly exasperated NATO allies, Germany announced Wednesday that it would send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, a potentially pivotal move in the

By Richard Allen Greene, Hadas Gold, Amir Tal and Tara John, CNN Israeli police say at least seven people were killed and three were injured in a shooting near a synagogue in Jerusalem on Friday amid high tensions in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Two people were wounded in a separate shooting attack on Saturday

By Nadine Schmidt The German parliament for the first time on Friday focused its annual Holocaust memorial commemorations on people persecuted and killed over their sexual or gender identity during World War II. Campaigners in Germany have worked for decades to establish an official ceremony to commemorate the LGBTQ victims persecuted under the Nazi regime.

By Mostafa Salem and Allegra Goodwin, CNN A gunman entered Azerbaijan’s embassy in the Iranian capital and killed one person on Friday, the foreign ministries of Iran and Azerbaijan confirmed in separate statements, with both citing different motives for the deadly attack. Police and security forces arrested the assailant, who is now under investigation, according

By Nadeen Ebrahim, CNN Turkey is less than four months away from a presidential election that could extend the 20-year rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan into a third decade. Analysts say that the result may be a close call for the long-term leader. The poll, which is expected May 14, takes place amid the

By Al Goodman, CNN Spanish authorities believe the Moroccan suspect in a deadly machete attack at two churches in the southern port city of Algeciras Wednesday acted alone in the assault, which is being investigated as a suspected terror attack. “The police investigation is going at a rapid pace. There are not third parties involved

By Rob Picheta, CNN Ukraine has urged the West to get military hardware into the hands of its troops as quickly as possible, as Russia fired missiles toward Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities just hours after Germany and the US announced their plans to provide modern tanks to the country. Russia launched 55 missiles at

By Abeer Salman, Celine Alkhaldi, Hadas Gold and Michael Schwartz, CNN Israeli forces killed nine Palestinians and wounded several others in the West Bank city of Jenin on Thursday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said, prompting the Palestinian Authority to suspend its security coordination with Israel. Hours after the Jenin raid, a tenth Palestinian was

By Celine Alkhaldi, CNN Diplomatic efforts to prevent Iran developing a nuclear weapon should restart, said International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi, who warned that Tehran has amassed enough material for “several nuclear weapons.” Speaking ahead of a planned visit to Tehran, Grossi told a European Parliament subcommittee in Brussels on Wednesday that Iran

By Kevin Liptak, Stephanie Halasz, Sophie Tanno and Sugam Pokharel, CNN The leaders of the United States and Germany each announced Wednesday they will send contingents of tanks to Ukraine, reversing their longstanding trepidation at providing Kyiv with offensive armored vehicles and unleashing powerful new tools in Ukraine’s efforts to retake territory seized by Russia.

By Melissa Bell, Saskya Vandoorne and Joseph Ataman, CNN Vladimir Osechkin says he was walking toward his dining room table, plates of spaghetti for his children in his hands, when he spotted the red laser dancing across the wall. He knew what was coming. Slamming off the lights, he says he and his wife pulled

By Tim Lister and Fred Pleitgen, CNN Ukrainian officials say the Russians are learning from their battlefield mistakes and making it harder for Ukraine’s missiles to hit their ammunition depots and logistics hubs. That’s why, they say, Ukraine needs longer range missiles that can reach inside Russia. They also believe the appointment of Gen. Valery

By Ivana Kottasová, Kostan Nechyporenko and Jo Shelley, CNN President Volodymyr Zelensky has fired a slew of senior Ukrainian officials amid a growing corruption scandal linked to the procurement of war-time supplies, in the biggest shakeup of his government since Russia’s invasion began. During his nightly address on Monday evening, Zelensky announced he was banning

By Rob Picheta and Antonia Mortensen, CNN Poland has formally asked for approval from Germany to transfer some of its German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, its defense minister said Tuesday, raising the pressure on Berlin to respond to Kyiv’s pleas and send its own shipment of vehicles into the battlefield. “The Germans have already

By Amir Tal and Pauline Lockwood, CNN Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed key ally Aryeh Deri from all ministerial posts on Sunday, complying with an Israeli High Court ruling that it was unreasonable to appoint the Shas party leader to positions in government. The court had said Deri’s appointment “cannot stand” due to his

By Tim Lister and Fred Pleitgen and Matthias Somm, CNN A few kilometers from the Belarus border, Ukrainian forces are training for what they expect to be a brutal spring. Ageing T-72 tanks — some twice the age of their crews — fire off rounds into the mist, while ground troops practise storming abandoned buildings.

By Mohammed Tawfeeq, CNN Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Melnyk has expressed frustration in an interview with CNN over Germany’s indecision over whether to send its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. Speaking to CNN’s Isa Soares on Friday, Melnyk called Germany’s lack of action a “disappointment,” after first praising the United Kingdom for moving forward

By Rob Picheta, CNN Pressure is growing on Germany to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, with Kyiv stepping up its pleas and a spat brewing between Berlin and some of its NATO allies. On Friday, Germany failed to reach agreement with its key Western partners on sending the vehicles, ahead of a potential Russian

By Molly Stazicker and Allegra Goodwin, CNN Influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan will remain in police custody until February 27 after a Romanian court on Friday extended their detention, Tate’s lawyers told CNN affiliate Antena 3. The brothers are being investigated on allegations of human trafficking and rape. Authorities in Romania said police

By Barbie Latza Nadeau and Sharon Braithwaite, CNN The arrest of Cosa Nostra mob boss Matteo Messina Denaro at a private health clinic in Palermo on Monday stunned many around the world due to the extraordinary length of time he’d been on the run — but came as little surprise for some who watched the

By Uliana Pavlova, CNN Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council and key ally of President Vladimir Putin, warned on Thursday that defeat for Russia in Ukraine could lead to nuclear conflict. The former Russian president made the threat in a Telegram post ahead of a key meeting of NATO allies and other

By Artemis Moshtaghian, Hande Atay Alam, Jonny Hallam and Mostafa Salem, CNN An Iranian man who beheaded his 17-year-old wife in February 2022 was sentenced to just eight years and two months in prison on Wednesday, according to the country’s semi-official Khabar Online website, sparking criticism over the leniency of the prison term. Following the

By Celine Alkhaldi, Mostafa Salem and Aqeel Najim, CNN A Gulf Cup final match between Iraq and Oman will take place in Basra on Thursday as scheduled, Iraqi soccer officials said, despite a deadly stampede outside the stadium just hours earlier. “The match between the Iraqi and Omani national teams will take place as scheduled,”

By Rachel Ramirez, Laura Paddison, Inke Kappeler, Lindsay Isaac and Nadine Schmidt, CNN Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was released by German police on Tuesday evening after being detained earlier in the day at a protest over the expansion of a coal mine in the western village of Lützerath, police confirmed to CNN on Wednesday.

By Maria Kostenko, Sophie Tanno, Brent Swails and Ivana Kottasová, CNN A helicopter carrying the leadership team of Ukraine’s interior ministry crashed near a kindergarten and residential block in the Kyiv region on Wednesday, killing at least 14 people, including all nine people on board, according to officials. A further 25 people were injured following

By Saskya Vandoorne, Marguerite Lacroix and Allegra Goodwin, CNN A group of women and girls foraging for wild fruits were abducted by armed men in separate incidents in Burkina Faso, the government said Monday. Around 50 women and girls were taken in the incidents which happened on January 12 and 13 respectively, according to a

By Barbie Latza Nadeau, Antonia Mortensen and Valentina Di Donato, CNN Matteo Messina Denaro, one of the bosses of the Cosa Nostra Mafia in Sicily and Italy’s most wanted man, has been arrested by police while being treated in a private health clinic in Palermo, prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia said Monday. He had been a

By Ehsan Popalzai and Tara Subramaniam, CNN Former Afghan lawmaker Mursal Nabizada and her security guard were shot dead her home in Kabul early Sunday morning, according to Kabul police. Nabizada represented Kabul in Afghanistan’s parliament from 2019 until the government was deposed by the Taliban in August 2021. She was one of the few

By Tim Lister and Josh Pennington, CNN Russian actor Artur Smolyaninov was the star of one of President Vladimir Putin’s favorite films — about a Soviet unit making a last-ditch stand against Afghan insurgents. Now he is classified as a “foreign agent” and faces criminal investigation. Smolyaninov was the hero of “Devyataya Rota” (The 9th

By Denis Lapin, Olga Voitovych, Tim Lister, Hannah Ritchie and Mariya Knight, CNN The death toll from a Russian missile strike on an apartment block in Dnipro rose to 40, Ukrainian officials said Monday, after missiles and explosions were heard across the country. The latest count of fatalities includes three children, while another 75 people

By Luke McGee, Saskya Vandoorne, Sebastian Shukla and Lindsay Isaac, CNN The Western alliance’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine received a shot in the arm this week as multiple European nations for the first time answered President Volodymyr Zelensky’s longstanding call to supply modern battle tanks to Kyiv. France, Poland and the United Kingdom

By Sahar Akbarzai, Artemis Moshtaghian and Niamh Kennedy, CNN A dual British-Iranian citizen was hanged by Iran on charges of espionage and corruption, a state-affiliated media outlet reported Saturday, the latest in a string of executions carried out by a regime grappling with unprecedented protests across the country. The Iranian official, Alireza Akbari, was executed

By Laura Paddison, CNN It’s a stark image in 2023: Police in riot gear flooding a village, pulling people out of houses and tearing down structures to make way for the arrival of excavating machines to access the rich seam of coal beneath the ground. Since Wednesday, as rain and winds lashed the tiny west

By Alex Hardie and Niamh Kennedy, CNN A Greek court dropped espionage charges against a group of aid workers who rescued migrants from the sea, in a move hailed by rights groups and lawmakers. Irish-German citizen Sean Binder and 23 other humanitarian workers had their misdemeanor charges set aside by a court on the island

By Mohammed Abdelbary, CNN The United Arab Emirates will soon become the first Arab nation to teach the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust in its schools, a historic move that has been praised in some quarters — but also criticized in others. The UAE plans to include Holocaust education in the curriculum for primary and

By Sebastian Shukla and Hafsa Khalil, CNN An injured Ukrainian soldier had an unexploded grenade successfully removed from his chest earlier this week, according to the country’s military doctors. Photos shared on the Ukrainian Military Medics Facebook page on Monday included an X-ray image of the soldier’s upper body with the grenade visible. The surgery

By Sebastian Shukla, Mick Krever and Katharina Krebs, CNN Russia said Friday its forces had taken the small town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine following weeks of fierce fighting, in what would be Moscow’s first notable victory in months, although Ukraine denied the claim. The capture of Soledar would represent a symbolic if not an

By Issy Ronald, CNN A well-known riddle compares an egg to treasure, asking: A box without hinges, key or a lid, yet inside golden treasure is hid. What am I? And for archaeologists in Israel, eight prehistoric ostrich eggs — thought to be between 4,000 and 7,500 years old — proved as valuable as treasure

By Katie Hunt, CNN In 1984, a peat cutter discovered human remains in a bog in Cheshire, England. They belonged to a man who died a brutal death some 2,100 years ago before being placed in the bog — examination of his well-preserved mummy revealed blows to the head, a possible stab wound and a

By Rob Picheta, Tim Lister and Olga Voitovych, CNN Russia said Friday its forces had captured Soledar, a salt mine town in eastern Ukraine, as Kyiv rejected the claims. Should Russian troops indeed take the town, it would mark Moscow’s first gain in the Donbas for months — potentially offering President Vladimir Putin some welcome