CNN – Europe/Mideast/Africa

By Luke McGee, CNN In the 12 months since President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops to invade Ukraine, one of the biggest surprises has been the willingness with which Western countries, especially in Europe, have handed over increasingly sophisticated military equipment for Ukrainian use. At times the debates around sending certain types of weapons, most

By Talia Kayali, Aliza Kassim Khalidi, Rhea Mogul and Sana Noor Haq, CNN Rescue teams in southern Turkey say they are still hearing voices from under the rubble more than a week after a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake, offering a glimmer of hope of finding more survivors. Live images broadcast on CNN affiliate CNN Turk

By CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh, Darya Tarasova and Jo Shelley Video by Oscar Featherstone The audio is garbled at times, but the emotions are unmistakable. “I am being taken to be shot. I lost a lot of people there. Remember this: do not send more people here. It’s enough, they want to kill us all.”

By Sarah Dean, CNN Regaining consciousness in a cloud of smoke, Simon Johnsen heard a loud whistling in his ears. He checked to see if he still had all his body parts. Next to him, fellow medic Pete Reed was dead. So was the civilian Ukrainian woman whose injuries they had come to treat. It

By Kareem El Damanhoury, Abeer Salman and Hadas Gold, CNN A Palestinian man was killed and 13 were injured in an Israeli raid in Nablus early Monday, Palestinian health officials said, in what Israeli authorities said was an operation to arrest suspects in the fatal shooting of an Israeli soldier last year. The Palestinian Ministry

By Lauren Said-Moorhouse, CNN Turkish authorities have arrested or detained a number of property developers as the death toll from last week’s catastrophic earthquake soared past 36,000. The 7.8-magnitude quake that struck southeastern Turkey near the border with Syria last Monday has now caused 31,643 deaths in Turkey, according to the Turkish Emergency Coordination Center

By Hadas Gold, CNN Tens of thousands of flag-waving Israelis converged on the nation’s parliament Monday, amid warnings that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to weaken the judiciary risks plunging the country into a “social collapse.” Protesters held signs with messages including “there is no democracy without equality” and “destroying the country to avoid trial”

By Tim Lister, CNN The scenes are chaotic: Russian tanks veering wildly before exploding or driving straight into minefields, men running in every direction, some on fire, the bodies of soldiers caught in tank tracks. Russian military bloggers are calling it a fiasco, and worse. These scenes have been recorded by Ukrainian military drones over

By Christian Edwards, Talia Kayali and Karen Smith, CNN It’s been a week since a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked Turkey and Syria, claiming the lives of more than 36,000 people. Many tens of thousands more have been injured. Millions may be left homeless. Few images have captured the devastation of the past week as

By Amarachi Orie, Isil Sariyuce, Eyad Kourdi and Chris Liakos, CNN More than 33,000 people have died across Turkey and Syria since a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck on Monday, as hopes of rescuing more survivors dwindle amid freezing conditions. The latest figures show that 33,181 have died across both countries. The death toll in

By Tim Lister and Frederik Pleitgen, CNN Two former fighters of the Russian private military company Wagner have told CNN of their horrific experiences on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine, and how anyone who faltered was immediately shot by their own commanders. The two fighters were captured by Ukrainian forces late last year. CNN is

By Andrew Raine, Rhea Mogul and Amarachi Orie, CNN The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

By Amarachi Orie, CNN Security risks put a handful of search and rescue operations on hold on Saturday, as the death toll of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey surpassed 25,000. Germany and Austria have suspended rescue operations in Turkey, citing security concerns. Meanwhile, rescue efforts in the rebel-controlled areas in north

By Amarachi Orie and Nadine Schmidt, CNN The remains of more than 200 German soldiers who were buried alive in a tunnel in northeastern France during the World War I will not be recovered. The German government has instead decided to declare the burial site a war memorial and put it under state protection. Germany’s

By Christian Edwards and Lauren Said-Moorhouse, CNN Five days after a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked Turkey and Syria the number of dead is staggering. Drone footage and satellite imagery have conveyed the stark reality of widespread destruction in an area that straddles two very different nations. The scale of the disaster is enormous. “We’ve

By Kathleen Magramo, Andrew Raine, Amarachi Orie and Sophie Tanno, CNN The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

By Jonny Hallam, Artemis Moshtaghian and Niamh Kennedy, CNN An Iranian doctor and rights activist has been released from Tehran’s infamous Evin prison one week after photographs of his severely emaciated condition emerged on social media. Farhad Meysami was released from prison on Friday, according to the Iranian pro-reform outlet Shargh Daily. News of his

By Laura Paddison, CNN Europe has experienced an exceptionally warm January, with average temperatures 2.2 degrees Celsius hotter than the 1990 to 2020 average, according to data from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. The month started with a record-breaking heatwave, as New Year’s Day saw an alarming number of heat records fall across

By Sophie Tanno, Radina Gigova, Jack Guy and Nic Robertson, CNN Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a heartfelt appeal to lawmakers in Brussels on Thursday to allow his country to become part of the European Union, insisting that Europe is Ukraine’s “home.” During an address to the European Parliament, Zelensky said his country and the

By Tim Lister, Victoria Butenko and Josh Pennington, CNN A former Chechen commander wanted by Ukraine for alleged war crimes committed last year is leading the Russian earthquake relief effort in Turkey. Daniil Martynov was in several locations in Ukraine last year in the early weeks of the Russian invasion. He is thought to be

By Raja Razek, Rhea Mogul, Teele Rebane and Celine Alkhaldi, CNN Survivors of Monday’s earthquake in Turkey and Syria could face “a secondary disaster” as cold and snow lead to “worsening and horrific conditions,” the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Thursday. Speaking at a press conference in Geneva, WHO incident response manager Robert Holden warned

By Brad Lendon, CNN Russia has potentially lost up to half of all its operational tank fleet since the start of the Ukraine war, according to information collected by a monitoring group, as its military struggles to meet the goals of Vladimir Putin’s invasion. Oryx, an open source intelligence website, has been collecting visual evidence

By Sophie Tanno, Mick Krever, Radina Gigova, Yulia Kesaieva and Lauren Kent, CNN Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a surprise visit to the UK on Wednesday, sweeping in to London on the first stage of an unannounced diplomatic tour of European capitals with a powerful message for British lawmakers. In only his second foreign trip

By Lauren Said-Moorhouse, Christian Edwards, Krystina Shveda and Henrik Pettersson, CNN Thousands of people have died and tens of thousands of others were injured by the devastating earthquakes that rocked Turkey and Syria on Monday. Rescue teams are still desperately searching for signs of life beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings amid grim conditions, but

By Dalya Al Masri and Celine Alkhaldi, CNN For many of the Syrian victims of the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria on Monday, this is just the latest in a decade-long series of tragedies. The magnitude 7.8 quake struck in the early hours, killing more than 5,000 people in the two countries and

By Nic Robertson, CNN International Diplomatic Editor, and Joseph Ataman, CNN In the distance there are gunshots, a heavy blanket of snow muffling the sound, confusing the senses — how far away and which direction, impossible to know. Inside their German-made Leopard 2 tanks, Danish soldiers wait to pounce on their prey, an “enemy” force

By Rhea Mogul, Isil Sariyuce, Celine Alkhaldi, Gul Tuysuz and Jack Guy, CNN Survivors are still being pulled from the rubble in Turkey and Syria, more than 24 hours after a powerful earthquake toppled thousands of homes, killing at least 7,726 people. The 7.8-magnitude quake hit just after 4 a.m. local time Monday, sending tremors

By Sarah Dean and Sam Kiley, CNN Traditional Ukrainian tapestries, family photos and pastoral scenes on cheap posters cover the walls of her cottage warmed by a wood-burning stove. The only record of her tragic past are her birth certificate and her memories. In her 102 years, Liubov Yarosh has survived three famines, including the

By Eyad Kourdi with Ivana Kottasova, CNN My parents woke up in terror, screaming as the ground shook underneath us. I shouted at them to take cover. “It’s going to be over soon, it’s going to be over soon,” I yelled, even as it felt like it would never end. It was just after 4:15

By Stephanie Halasz, Schams Elwazer, Mostafa Salem, Adam Pourahmadi and Sarah Diab, CNN Iran will pardon or commute the sentences of a large number of prisoners as part of an annual amnesty, state media reported Sunday, although it is unclear how this will apply to people arrested in the recent wave of protests. Supreme Leader

By Delia Gallagher, CNN Pope Francis called for peace on Saturday as he met a group of several hundred South Sudanese people internally displaced by war at an event in the country’s capital Juba. “I want to renew my forceful and heartfelt appeal to end all conflict and to resume the peace process in a

By Zahra Ullah and Jennifer Hansler, CNN An American volunteer aid worker, Pete Reed, was killed in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut on Thursday while aiding civilians, according to a statement from Global Response Medicine, the humanitarian aid group he founded. Reed, a US Marine veteran, was listed as “killed while rendering aid” on

By Vasco Cotovio, Nic Robertson, Kareem Khadder and Luis-Graham Yooll, CNN Mohammed Abu al-Hayja was sleeping alongside his wife and two young daughters last month when loud gunfire woke them up. Minutes later, Israeli soldiers rammed down his door and burst through his apartment. “They spread through the house in seconds,” 29-year-old al-Hayja told CNN.

By Sammy Mngqosini, CNN The South African government’s tourism board has conditionally approved plans to sponsor English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur amid an energy crisis, South African Tourism (SAT) announced in a statement on Thursday. The controversial sponsorship deal, which is yet to be finalized, is reported to be around $58 million (R1 billion). “We cannot

By Delia Gallagher, CNN Pope Francis arrived in Juba, South Sudan on Friday fulfilling a long-time wish to visit the war-ravaged country, currently in the midst of a major humanitarian emergency. In a first, the Pope is undertaking the trip together with the head of the Anglican Communion, Archbishop Justin Welby, and the Moderator of

By Charlotte Banks, CNN A British man has pleaded guilty to threatening to assassinate the late Queen Elizabeth II on Christmas Day 2021, police have said. Jaswant Singh Chail, 21, pleaded guilty to three charges, including treason and possession of an offensive weapon, at a hearing at London’s Old Bailey court on Friday following an

By Tim Lister and Frederik Pleitgen, CNN Russia is bringing its war against Ukraine closer to the industrial cities of Donetsk with a series of missile strikes against densely populated areas. On Thursday, two S-300 missiles were fired at the center of the city of Kramatorsk, landing about a minute apart and less than a

By Hande Atay Alam and Artemis Moshtaghian, CNN One of Iran’s most influential filmmakers, Jafar Panahi, has reportedly gone on a hunger strike in Tehran’s Evin prison to protest his continued detention. The move by Panahi, a Cannes film festival award winner who directed such movies as “The White Balloon,” “The Circle,” and “No Bears,”

By Jennifer Hauser, CNN A former senior Russian army officer says he saw his comrades torturing prisoners of war in Ukraine, in a rare eyewitness account from within Moscow’s ranks to address widespread allegations of Russian war crimes. Speaking to CNN’s Erin Burnett on Thursday, former Lt. Konstantin Yefremov said he witnessed a deputy commander

By Tim Lister, Fred Pleitgen and Sana Noor Haq, CNN A fresh barrage of missiles ripped through the city of Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine Thursday, sending flames and thick plumes into the air as screaming civilians scrambled to find shelter. A CNN team had just arrived at the scene and heard the first incoming strike

By Mohammed Tawfeeq, Jennifer Hauser and Jessie Yeung, CNN Israel carried out airstrikes in Gaza early on Thursday after intercepting a rocket attack from the coastal enclave, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. In a Twitter post, the IDF said Israeli fighter jets targeted a chemical production site and a weapons manufacturing facility owned by

By Amy Croffey and Sharon Braithwaite Andrew Tate, the controversial former kickboxer turned social media influencer, and his brother Tristan have lost their appeal and will remain in detention in Romania on allegations of human trafficking and rape, CNN affiliate Antena 3 reported Wednesday. The brothers will remain in the custody of Bucharest Police until

By Artemis Moshtaghian, CNN An Iranian couple, both social media influencers, have been given lengthy prison sentences after a video emerged of them dancing in a main square in the capital Tehran. In a video shared widely on social media, Astiyazh Haghighi, 21, is seen dancing without a headscarf with her fiancé Amir Mohammad Ahmadi,

By Yulia Kesaieva, Mick Krever and Jack Guy, CNN Ukrainian authorities have conducted a series of anti-corruption raids across the country, uncovering stashes of cash as well as luxury watches and cars. Among those caught up in the investigations is the acting head of the Kyiv tax authority, who was allegedly part of a scheme

By Tim Lister, Frederik Pleitgen and Konstantin Hak, CNN Southwest of the city of Bakhmut, Ukrainian soldiers Andriy and Borisych live in a candle-lit bunker cut into the frozen earth. For several weeks they have been confronting hundreds of fighters belonging to the Russian private military contractor Wagner throwing themselves against Ukrainian defenses. Disguised in

By Vasco Cotovio, Nic Robertson, Kareem Khadder and Richard Harlow, CNN Abu A’asem brews pot after pot of his specialty Arabic coffee, despite the pouring rain. His corner stand at the heart of Ramallah is always busy, no matter the weather, but his future as a Palestinian is very much as gloomy as the skies

By Jack Guy, Yulia Kesaieva, Mick Krever, Jonny Hallam and Josh Pennington, CNN Russia is gearing up for a “maximum escalation” of the war in Ukraine, potentially as soon as the next few weeks, according to a top Ukrainian national security official. “These will be defining months in the war,” Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s

By Jack Guy and Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN German police have arrested a woman on suspicion of murdering a doppelgänger she sought out online in order to fake her own death. The 23-year-old German-Iraqi woman is being held at a prison in Ingolstadt, southern Germany, in connection with the death of a 23-year-old Algerian woman,