CNN – Europe/Mideast/Africa

By Rob Picheta, CNN Germans will file into polling stations to vote in an unpredictable federal election on Sunday — but for the first time in nearly two decades, their longtime leader won’t be in contention. Chancellor Angela Merkel has been a symbol of stability in Europe since she took on the role in 2005;

By Antonia Mortensen, Allegra Goodwin and Eliza Mackintosh, CNN Four people have died on Poland’s border with Belarus in recent days, amid accusations that the Belarusian government is funneling migrants to the European Union’s eastern border in retaliation over western sanctions. Three people were found dead on the Polish side of the border after suffering

By Eliza Mackintosh, CNN Tensions between European leaders and the White House over a scuppered submarine deal threatened to overshadow President Joe Biden’s address to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, with one EU official saying “something is broken” in the transatlantic alliance. The French government has been seething since last week, when Australia

By Kara Fox and James Frater, CNN Russia was responsible for killing Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian agent turned Kremlin critic who died in London by polonium poisoning in 2006, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said Tuesday. The ruling found that “Russia was responsible for assassination of Aleksandr Litvinenko in the UK.” “The

By Mostafa Salem, Nima Elbagir and Yasir Abdullah, CNN A military coup d’etat attempt failed in Sudan on Tuesday and most of the involved officers were arrested, according to three senior government and military sources. About 40 officers were arrested after attempting to take over the state broadcaster’s television buildings and the military general command,

By Lianne Kolirin, CNN As a child growing up in Sweden, Karolina Jurzyk didn’t pay much attention to her grandfather’s tales of wartime Poland. Now, however, thanks to a long-forgotten letter, Jurzyk, 35, has uncovered the truth about how her family rescued and hid two Jewish sisters from the Nazis. Having moved to Stockholm as

By Stephanie Busari and Nina Avramova, CNN Paul Rusesabagina, who inspired the film ‘Hotel Rwanda,’ has been convicted of terrorism related charges and sentenced to 25 years in prison by a court in Kigali on Monday. Rusesabagina, who inspired the film ‘Hotel Rwanda,’ has been found guilty of being part of a terror group, MRCD-FLN.

By Ivana Kottasová, CNN Poland will have to pay a €500,000 ($586,000) fine for each day it continues extracting coal at an open-pit mine near the Czech and German borders, Europe’s top court ruled Monday. The European Commission ordered Poland to stop operations at the Turów lignite mine in May following a lawsuit launched by

By Jack Guy, CNN Dozens of endangered African penguins were apparently killed by a swarm of bees in South Africa on Friday. The 63 penguins were found dead on Friday at a colony in Simonstown, near Cape Town, according to a statement from South African National Parks (SANParks). “The deaths occurred suddenly some time between

By Al Goodman, Vasco Cotovio, Martin Goillandeau and Jeevan Ravindran, CNN The Cumbre Vieja volcano on Spain’s La Palma island is continuing to expel molten lava and ash after erupting on Sunday and is likely to do so for days, the president of the Canary Islands regional government warned Monday. Angel Victor Torres added in

CNN Editorial Research Here’s a look at the life of Lech Walesa, former president of Poland. Personal Birth date: September 29, 1943 Birth place: Popowo, Poland Father: Boleslaw Walesa, carpenter Mother: Felicja (Kaminski) Walesa Marriage: Miroslawa “Danuta” (Golos) Walesa (1969-present) Children: Bogdan, Slawek, Przemek, Jarek, Magdalena, Ania, Maria Wiktoria and Brygidka Military service: Army, Corporal,

By Joseph Ataman and Ben Westcott, CNN France’s ambassador to the United States reiterated in an interview Monday that the breakdown of the French-Australian submarine deal last week came as a surprise to Paris. Speaking on French radio station RTL, Ambassador Philippe Etienne said French Cabinet ministers were not given any indication the agreement would

By Anna Chernova and Lauren Said-Moorhouse, CNN At least six people were killed when a gunman opened fire at a university in the Russian city of Perm on Monday, officials have said. A suspect entered the Perm State University campus, some 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) east of Moscow, “with an offensive weapon” and began shooting

By Zahra Ullah and Anna Chernova, CNN Russia’s ruling party is on track to secure a majority in parliamentary elections amid allegations of voter fraud and interference. Voting concluded late Sunday in Russia, after people across the country cast votes for members of the State Duma — the lower house of the Russian Parliament —

By Vasco Cotovio, Martin Goillandeau and Jeevan Ravindran, CNN The Cumbre Vieja volcano in La Palma, one of Spain’s Canary Islands, erupted Sunday, after several earthquakes were felt over the weekend. The Canary Islands Volcanology Institute (Involcan) tweeted news of the eruption at 3:24 p.m. local time (10:24 a.m. ET) and urged members of the

By Jeevan Ravindran, CNN Crowds lining the banks of the Seine and visiting the Eiffel Tower in Paris this weekend were treated to an unusual sight — a slackliner charting an unusual path across the skies above their heads. Frenchman Nathan Paulin walked the 600-meter slackline from the Eiffel Tower to the Chaillot Theater on

By Rob Picheta, CNN Much of Europe has opened up to international visitors and scaled back Covid-19 restrictions since a wave of cases swept the continent in the spring. Those steps back toward pre-Covid life have been accompanied by a gradual rise in cases and hospitalizations in many nations, with the more transmissible Delta variant

By Ben Westcott, CNN Growing up as a teenager in Afghanistan, Rabia Balkhi felt lucky. Despite being born in a country with a long history of discrimination against its LGBTQ people, Balkhi’s family accepted her as a lesbian. Now Balkhi says that rare acceptance has put all their lives at risk, as the new Taliban

By Becky Anderson, Zeena Saifi and Mostafa Salem, CNN New Prime Minister Najib Mikati urged Lebanon’s people to put their trust in his government as he seeks “quick fixes” to help his economically shattered country. In his first interview with an international media outlet since forming a government a week ago, Mikati acknowledged that some

By Zahra Ullah and Anna Chernova, CNN Millions of Russians are expected to head to the polls over a three-day period starting Friday in elections taking place against the backdrop of an unprecedented assault on democracy over the past year. Voters will choose members of the State Duma — the lower house of the Russian

By Sarah Dean and Nicolo Ruotolo, CNN The Italian government has approved a decree making it mandatory for all public and private sector workers to show proof of vaccination, a negative test or recent recovery from infection, Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza told a news conference on Thursday. The rule was decided at a cabinet

By Katharina Krebs and Majlie de Puy Kamp, CNN Dutch Foreign Minister Sigrid Kaag announced her resignation on Thursday after a majority of the Dutch parliament said she had mishandled the Afghanistan evacuation crisis, a press officer from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs told CNN. Tens of thousands of foreigners and Afghans who were

By Zahra Ullah, Ivana Kottasová and Anna Chernova, CNN Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday morning that “not just one or two but several dozen people” from his inner circle had contracted coronavirus. Putin told a summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in the capital of Tajikistan, Dushanbe, via video link that

By Nadine Schmidt and Rosa Steindorff, CNN German officials on Thursday said a possible Islamist terror attack on a synagogue in the western city of Hagen was averted after authorities were tipped off. “We received a very specific and serious tipoff that an attack on the synagogue could take place during the Yom Kippur festival.

By Rob Picheta and Niamh Kennedy, CNN Around 3,000 healthcare workers have been suspended in France after failing to meet a government requirement to get vaccinated against Covid-19, French Health Minister Olivier Véran told French radio station RTL Thursday. The employees missed a September 15 deadline to be inoculated, which was introduced by the government

By Joseph Ataman and Saskya Vandoorne, CNN French forces have killed Adnan Abou Walid al Sahraoui, leader of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISIS-GS), in a drone strike, the French government announced on Thursday. Al Sahroui succumbed to his wounds, suffered in a strike on a motorbike carrying two people during a French-led

By Neri Zilber The new Israeli government that toppled long-serving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this summer is full of contradictions. There’s pro-peace leftists, pro-settlement right-wingers, pragmatic centrists and even for the first time an Arab Islamist party, all sitting together in one governing coalition. On the most divisive issue — the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — there

By Scott McLean, Bethlehem Feleke, Solomon Muingi and Fabien Muhire, CNN Kenya’s wide-open, postcard-perfect savannah is dotted with acacia trees in every direction as the early morning fog still clouds the air. Donart Mwakio is doing his rounds in a white pickup truck when it suddenly screeches to a halt. The ranger at Kenya’s Taita

By Jeevan Ravindran, Stephanie Halasz, Allegra Goodwin and Sharon Braithwaite, CNN More than 1,400 white-sided dolphins were killed Sunday night in the Faroe Islands, in what local authorities said was a traditional whaling hunt. The killing has been denounced by marine conservation group Sea Shepherd as a “brutal and badly mishandled” massacre, and the largest

By Angela Dewan and James Frater, CNN European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen sought to assert the bloc as a global leader on the climate crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic and humanitarian issues in a sweeping speech Wednesday that acknowledged an emerging new world order. In her State of the Union address to the European

By Eliza Mackintosh, Joseph Ataman, Saskya Vandoorne and Melissa Bell, CNN After US President Joe Biden laid out a plan to tackle the worsening pandemic in America with a raft of new vaccination rules last week, the big question on the minds of many is: Will mandating vaccines work? Across the Atlantic, in France, it’s

By Max Foster and Gawon Bae, CNN Queen Elizabeth sent a message of congratulations to the people of North Korea on their national day, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson told CNN. The message was sent on behalf of the Queen by the UK’s Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) “as has been done before,” the spokesperson said.

By Lauren del Valle and Ivana Kottasová, CNN Prince Andrew’s legal team said Tuesday that a civil lawsuit alleging the senior British royal sexually abused Virginia Roberts Giuffre when she was 17 is baseless, and argued that legal papers in the case weren’t served properly. Los Angeles attorney Andrew Brettler, who appeared virtually during a

By Ivana Kottasová, CNN Norway’s main opposition Labour Party is beginning coalition talks to form a government Tuesday after the ruling Conservatives lost their command in parliamentary elections and the anti-oil Greens failed to win enough seats to become the potential kingmaker. Labour is likely to form an alliance with the country’s Center Party and

By David McKenzie, CNN South Africa will start to ease several Covid-19 restrictions as infection rates decrease in the country, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Sunday. Amongst other measures, the nationwide curfew will be reduced to 11pm until 4am, the size of gatherings can increase to 250 people indoors and 500 outdoors, and restrictions on

By Nimi Princewill, CNN At least 240 prisoners have escaped in a prison break in Nigeria’s north-central Kogi State after gunmen carried out a blitz attack on the facility, prison authorities said Monday. A spokesman for the Nigerian Correctional Service said in a statement the correctional facility in Kogi’s Kabba district came under fire from

By Radina Gigova, Ramin Mostaghim and Hannah Ryan, CNN Iran will allow inspectors from the UN’s nuclear watchdog to service nuclear monitoring equipment in the country, according to a joint statement by officials from Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The agreement comes ahead of a key IAEA meeting on Monday — and

By Amir Tal, Kareem Khadder, Abeer Salman and Andrew Carey, CNN Israeli police say four of the six men who escaped from a prison in Northern Israel on Monday have now been recaptured. The first two were arrested on Friday evening in Nazareth, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the Gilboa prison where the breakout

By Matthew Chance, Zahra Ullah and Katharina Krebs, CNN Ukraine’s ruling party acknowledged for the first time Friday a Ukrainian-led sting operation aimed at luring suspected war criminals out of Russia. In an exclusive CNN investigation released Tuesday, three former high-ranking Ukrainian military intelligence officials described how they attempted to lure suspected war criminals out

By Jack Guy and AJ Davis, CNN Austrian police have found the body of a woman who, they say, was mummified by her son so he could keep claiming her social security. The 66-year-old man confessed to keeping his mother’s body in the basement of a property in the Innsbruck-Land region of western Austria after

By Tamara Qiblawi and Mostafa Salem, CNN A new government has been formed in crisis-ridden Lebanon, ending a more than year-long power vacuum that began shortly after the August 2020 Beirut port blast. Prime Minister Najib Mikati, a billionaire who has already twice served as premier, will lead a cabinet of ministers that will preside

By Jack Guy, CNN Queen Elizabeth II and the royal family support Black Lives Matter (BLM), a senior representative has told UK broadcaster Channel 4. Ken Olisa, the first black Lord-Lieutenant for London, said that the issue of race is a “hot conversation topic” in the royal household, in an interview which will be aired

By Matthew Chance, Zahra Ullah and Katharina Krebs, CNN Ukrainian opposition politicians are demanding an immediate investigation into how a special operation to lure alleged Russian war criminals failed after Belarus arrested the men in Minsk last year. The new calls follow an exclusive CNN investigation in which former high-ranking Ukrainian military intelligence officials described

CNN Editorial Research Here’s a look at the life of award-winning screen legend Sophia Loren. Personal Birth date: September 20, 1934 Birth place: Rome, Italy (grew up in Pozzuoli, outside of Naples) Birth name: Sofia Villani Scicolone Father: Riccardo Scicolone Mother: Romilda Villani Marriages: Carlo Ponti (April 9, 1966-January 10, 2007, his death; September 17,

By Anna Chernova, CNN A veteran Russian politician has complained that two opponents running against him in St. Petersburg have adopted his name and mimicked his appearance in order to confuse voters. Liberal Yabloko party candidate Boris Vishnevsky is standing to keep his seat in the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly later this month. The Russian

By Anna Chernova, CNN Russian Emergencies Minister Yevgeny Zinichev has died in an accident during training exercises in the Arctic, Russian state media RIA Novosti reported Wednesday, citing the ministry. Zinichev, aged 55, was trying to save someone’s life when the incident in the Russian city of Norilsk occurred. “The Russian Emergencies Ministry informs with

CNN Editorial Research Here’s a look at Boko Haram, a militant Islamic group working out of Nigeria, whose purpose is to institute Sharia, or Islamic law. Facts In the local Hausa dialect, Boko Haram means “Western education is forbidden.” The group also refers to itself as Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-Jihad, meaning “People Committed to

EXCLUSIVE by Matthew Chance and Zahra Ullah, CNN Security forces shattered the early morning calm of the lakeside Soviet-era resort outside the Belarusian capital of Minsk, bursting in to arrest 32 Russian mercenaries. It was less than two weeks before Belarus’ presidential election last year, and authorities suspected that the outsiders had been sent from

By Nimi Princewill, CNN Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, has been named patron of Nigeria’s first sexual assault referral center in Lagos, the country’s largest city. The Duchess, 74, has long campaigned against domestic abuse and sexual violence and said she is “delighted to become Patron of the Mirabel Center in Lagos,” which was founded in

By Angela Dewan, International Climate Editor Europe experienced its hottest summer on record this year and temperatures in the Mediterranean smashed records by large margins, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said Tuesday. Like much of the Northern Hemisphere, Europe was battered by extreme weather events over recent months, including record levels of rain

By Eliza Mackintosh, CNN ​​”Abiy, Abiy,” the crowd chanted, waving Ethiopia’s tricolor flag and cheering as the country’s new prime minister, dressed in a white blazer with gold trim and smiling broadly, waved to a packed basketball arena at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, part of a whirlwind three-city tour of the

By Eliza Mackintosh and Katharina Krebs, CNN A Belarusian court on Monday sentenced Maria Kolesnikova, a prominent opposition figure who led mass street protests against President Alexander Lukashenko, to 11 years in prison, the latest move in a widespread crackdown on government critics following a contested election last year. Kolesnikova and another opposition activist, Maxim

By Abeer Salman, Amir Tal and Ibrahim Dahman, CNN Israeli authorities are hunting for six Palestinian militants who broke out of prison, apparently through a tunnel, sometime early Monday morning. The men escaped from Gilboa prison, which lies between the Sea of Galilee in Israel and the West Bank town of Jenin. A picture of

By Zixu Wang and Sophie Jeong, CNN The German Ambassador to China, Jan Hecker, has died suddenly at 54, after only a few weeks in his position, according to a statement posted on the German Embassy to China’s website on Monday. Hecker had worked as a foreign policy adviser to German Chancellor Angela Merkel before

By David McKenzie, CNN Former South African President Jacob Zuma has been released from prison on medical parole due to ill health, the government’s correctional services department said Sunday. Zuma, 79, has been serving a 15-month prison sentence since July for contempt of court after defying a summons to appear at an inquiry into corruption

By Umaro Djau, Kareem Khadder and David McKenzie, CNN A Guinean military officer broadcast a statement Sunday announcing that Guinea’s Constitution has been dissolved in an apparent coup. “We will no longer entrust politics to a man. We will entrust it to the people. We come only for that; it is the duty of a

By Nima Elbagir, Katie Polglase, Barbara Arvanitidis, Gianluca Mezzofiore, Laura Smith-Spark Video by Alex Platt and Mark Baron The ghostly outlines of limbs emerge through the mist along the Setit River in eastern Sudan. As the river’s path narrows, the drifting bodies become wedged on the silty clay bank and their forms appear more clearly;

CNN Editorial Research Here’s a look at what you need to know about the Camp David Accords. On September 17, 1978, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and US President Jimmy Carter signed the Camp David Accords in Washington. The Details of the Camp David Accords Called for a formal peace treaty

CNN Editorial Research Here is a look at Sunni extremist group Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Facts The Yemeni-based arm of al Qaeda, AQAP, emerged when al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia and Yemen unified in 2009. Many analysts believe AQAP is the most dangerous al Qaeda affiliate. AQAP’s main goals include establishing a

By Atika Shubert, CNN From his office window, Brig. Gen. Joshua Olson can see a daily football match organized by the Afghan children who are temporarily calling his air base home. “This is now my family — at least until they get off our airpatch,” Olson, the installation commander at Ramstein Air Base in Germany,

By Eyad Kourdi, Mostafa Salem and Tamara Qiblawi, CNN An oil spill that originated from Syria’s largest refinery is growing and spreading across the Mediterranean Sea, and could reach the island of Cyprus by Wednesday, Cypriot authorities have said. Syrian officials said last week that a tank filled with 15,000 tons of fuel had been

By Jeevan Ravindran and Barbara Wojazer, CNN Authorities in the French capital of Paris are forcing drivers to slow down, setting a speed limit on almost all the city’s roads, in a bid to reduce pollution and improve road safety. But will it work? There are questions over whether the rule — which limits drivers

By Nimi Princewill and Ahmad Ibrahim, CNN Scores of schoolchildren who were abducted at gunpoint at a school in Nigeria’s north-central Niger State have been freed and handed over to their families, a government spokesperson told CNN Friday. The students were released after their parents paid a ransom of $140,000 (70 million naira) and gave

By Nimi Princewill, CNN Emmanuel Agbenro sits helplessly inside his sparsely-decorated ward at a hospital in Nigeria. He is supposed to be having treatment for colon cancer but doctors in Nigeria have downed tools in a nationwide strike over better pay and conditions. “I’m only surviving by faith,” said Agbenro, who is supposed to be

CNN Editorial Research Here’s a look at what you need to know about the Oslo Accords, a series of agreements between Israel and the Palestinians signed in the 1990s. Facts Oslo I is formally known as the Declaration of Principles (DOP). The pact established a timetable for the Middle East peace process. It planned for

CNN Editorial Research Here’s a look at the life of former Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. He is currently the deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council. Personal Birth date: September 14, 1965 Birth place: Leningrad, USSR (now St. Petersburg, Russia) Birth name: Dmitry Anatolyvich Medvedev Father: Anatoly Medvedev, professor Mother: Yulia Medvedeva, professor and

By Jack Guy, CNN A man has been arrested on suspicion of contaminating food after processed meat and microwaveable products were injected with needles at three London stores. Metropolitan Police officers were called at around 7.40 p.m. local time (2.40 p.m. ET) Wednesday following reports of a man shouting abuse at people in the street,

By Inke Kappeler, CNN German police have opened an attempted murder investigation after seven people who had consumed food and drink at a university kitchen showed symptoms of poisoning on Monday. Blue discolorations appeared on their limbs following the incident at Darmstadt Technical University, German police and the public prosecutor in the federal state of

By Amy Woodyatt, CNN Last year was Europe’s hottest on record, according to a report published Wednesday by the American Meteorological Society, which also found 2020 to be among the three hottest years globally. The UK Met Office, which contributed to the report, said record had been broken “by a considerable amount.” Average temperatures in

By Nimi Princewill, Bethlehem Feleke and Stephanie Busari, CNN Afghanistan’s only girls’ boarding school has evacuated dozens of students and staff to Rwanda, the president of the privately-run institution said Tuesday. The move came days after the Taliban ousted the government in Afghanistan, where girls and women were banned from being educated when the Islamist

By Livia Borghese and Jack Guy, CNN A US veteran has traveled to Italy to be reunited with three siblings who he almost shot dead during World War II. On Monday Martin Adler, 97, returned to the European country and was able to hug the three Italian siblings that he nearly mistook for hiding German

By Stephanie Busari and David McKenzie Zambia’s newly-elected president, Hakainde Hichilema, has been sworn into office after pulling off a stunning rare victory for an African opposition leader. Hichilema was inaugurated Tuesday morning at a ceremony attended by leaders such as Tanzania President Samia Suluhu Hassan and Malawi leader Lazarus Chakwera. Zambia’s second female Vice

By Scott McLean and Idris Mukhtar, CNN Inside a hospital in a leafy campus in the shadow of Mount Kenya, workers dressed head-to-toe in pale green Hazmat suits load a shrouded body into an ambulance. For the past few weeks, this somber scene has become a daily routine at the 31-bed Mount Kenya hospital, in

By Angela Dewan, CNN Record rainfall that triggered deadly floods in Western Europe in July was made between 1.2 and 9 times more likely by human-caused climate change, according to a new study. At least 220 people were killed between July 12 and 15 — mostly in Germany, though dozens also died in Belgium —

By Anita Patrick, CNN The coronation of a dashing monarch in the oil-rich but impoverished Delta region has sparked a resurgence in royalty, tradition and ancestry among some young Nigerians. Thousands thronged the streets and dignitaries and well-wishers flew in from around the world as the Itsekiri people of Iwere Kingdom in Delta state crowned

By Nimi Princewill, CNN It was a roll call of Nigeria’s most powerful political elites during the wedding of Yusuf Buhari, son of Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, to the daughter of a prominent monarch in northwestern Kano State, in a lavish ceremony over the weekend. The nuptials, spanning over two days, commenced Friday amid tight

By Atika Shubert, James Briggs and Jack Guy, CNN A nurse who delivered a baby girl on board an aircraft that evacuated people from Afghanistan has said her team was “expecting the worst, hoping for the best.” The Afghan mother went into labor aboard a C-17 transport aircraft full of evacuees fleeing the Taliban takeover

By Frederik Pleitgen, Claudia Otto, Angela Dewan and Mohammed Tawfeeq, CNN The ferries that once shuttled tourists to and from the little islets in Iran’s Lake Urmia sit rusty, unable to move, on what is rapidly becoming a salt plain. Just two decades ago, Urmia was the Middle East’s biggest lake, its local economy a