Europe

In this image made from video released by the Russian Presidential Press Service, on Wednesday, March 12, 2025, Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, shakes hands with Russian Chief of General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov as he visits military headquarters in the Kursk region of Russia. (Russian Presidential Press Service via AP)

Russia says it has retaken Kursk’s biggest town from Ukraine as US awaits Putin’s ceasefire response

Russia’s Defense Ministry says its forces have driven the Ukrainian army out of the biggest town in Russia’s Kursk border region, as U.S. officials sought the Kremlin’s response to a proposed 30-day ceasefire in the three-year that Ukraine has endorsed.
 
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting of The Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Putin seems likely to set his own conditions for a ceasefire in Ukraine

 
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio disembarks from a military airplane upon arrival at Quebec City Jean Lesage International Airport in Quebec, Canada, March 12, 2025, as he travels to a G7 Foreign Ministers meeting. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP)

Rubio could face an unfriendly reception from close G7 allies over Trump’s policies

 
Poland's President Andrej Duda speaks during a media conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Harry Nakos)

President Duda calls on US to place nuclear weapons in Poland

 
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen addresses European Parliament members on new plans to ramp up defense spending agreed at last week's summit, Tuesday, March 11, 2025 at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/Pascal Bastien)

Canada and the EU swiftly retaliate against Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs

 
Filipino Catholic priest Flavie Villanueva, left, consoles Melinda Lafuente, as she holds the urn containing the remains of her son Angelo, during an interment ceremony for victims of extrajudicial killings, at the "Dambana ng Paghilom" or Shrine of Healing inside a cemetery in Caloocan City, Philippines, Wednesday March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

ICC takes custody of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in crimes against humanity case

The International Criminal Court has taken custody of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on a warrant accusing him of crimes against humanity for anti-drugs crackdowns he oversaw while in office.
 
Chairman of Demokraatit, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, center, hugs supporters during the election party at Demokraatit by cafe Killut in Nuuk, early Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Greenland’s election winners push back against Trump’s wish to take control of the island

A party that favors a gradual path to Greenland’s independence from Denmark has won a surprise victory in parliamentary elections.
 
A couple kiss in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Pope marks the 12th anniversary of his papacy hospitalized but with condition improving

Pope Francis marked the 12th anniversary of his papacy Thursday with increasingly positive medical updates four weeks into his hospitalization for double pneumonia.
 
Visitors enjoy their sauna session at the Hackney Wick Community Sauna Baths, in London, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Communal sweating in saunas is the hottest wellness trend taking over the UK

Sauna-bathing has taken London and the rest of the U.K. by storm, particularly among trendy 20- and 30-somethings keen to try a new pastime that’s healthier than nights out in pubs and bars.
 
Chancellor Christian Stocker signs papers during the swearing-in ceremony of the Federal Government in the presidential office at the Hofburg Palace, in Vienna, Austria, Monday, March 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

Austria’s new government is stopping family reunions immediately for migrants

The new Austrian government says it has decided to immediately stop family reunion procedures for migrants because the country is no longer able to absorb newcomers adequately.
 
Taoiseach Micheal Martin, left, attends a bilateral meeting with President Donald Trump ahead of the White House St Patrick's Day reception, Wednesday March 12, 2025, in Washington. (Niall Carson/PA via AP)

Trump says Ireland cheats the US as its leader joins him to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day

President Donald Trump is hosting Ireland’s prime minister, Micheál Martin, for the annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration at the White House.
 

UK expels Russian diplomat and a diplomatic spouse in tit-for-tat response to expulsions in Moscow

Britain’s government says it has expelled a Russian diplomat and a diplomatic spouse in a tit-for-tat response to the expulsion of two British embassy staff in Moscow earlier this week.
 
This photo provided by the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution in March 2025, shows archaeological excavation work at the Sima del Elefante site in Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain, where a fossil from a hominin between 1.1 million and 1.4 million years old was found. (Maria D. Guillén/IPHES-CERCA via AP)

Archaeologists uncover the oldest known partial face fossil of a human ancestor in western Europe

Scientists report that a fossil of a partial face from a early human ancestor in Spain is between 1.1 and 1.4 million years old.
 
Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili who was convicted in absentia of abuse of power during his presidency and arrested upon his return from exile, gestures speaking from a defendant's dock during a court hearing in Tbilisi, Georgia, Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021. . (Irakli Gedenidze/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Georgia sentences imprisoned former president Saakashvili to a further 9 years behind bars

A court in Georgia has convicted imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili on embezzlement charges and handed him another prison term of nine years.
 
Coils of steel are seen at the ArcelorMittal Dofasco Steel Plant in Hamilton, Ontario, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canada will announce more than $20 billion in tariffs in response to Trump’s metal tariffs

Canada will announce Canadian $29.8 billion or $20.7 billion in retaliatory tariffs in response to the 25% steel and aluminum tariffs that U.S.
 
Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, second right, gestures during a debate preceding a confidence motion vote at the Portuguese parliament in Lisbon, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

What to know about the collapse of Portugal’s government

Portugal has slid back into more political uncertainty after its third government fell in as many years when Prime Minister Luis Montenegro lost a confidence vote in Parliament.
 
Bosnian Serb President Milorad Dodik, center, speaks during a news conference with Prime Minister Radovan Viskovic, left, and Parliament Speaker Nenad Stevandic after Bosnian prosecutors ordered the detention of three top Bosnian Serb officials over a series of separatist actions, in the Bosnian town of Banja Luka, 240 kms northwest of Sarajevo, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Radivoje Pavicic)

Bosnia prosecutor seeks detention of separatist Serb leaders amid mounting tensions

Bosnian prosecutors have ordered the detention of three top Bosnian Serb officials over a series of separatist actions in recent weeks that have heightened tensions in the Balkan country.
 
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer departs 10 Downing Street to attend Prime Minister's Questions at the Houses of Parliament in London, England, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)

Britain says retaliation is possible over new U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has expressed disappointment over the decision of the Trump administration to impose tariffs on global steel and aluminum imports.
 
Smoke billows from the MV Solong cargo ship in the North Sea, off the Yorkshire coast in England, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (Dan Kitwood/Pool Photo via AP)

The arrested captain of a cargo vessel involved in North Sea collision is Russian, ship’s owner says

The captain of a cargo ship that collided with a U.S. tanker is a Russian national who remains in U.K. police custody.
 
Tourists and locals walk along St. Peter's Square on a rainy day at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

The pope’s improving condition confirmed with a chest X-ray, Vatican says

Pope Francis’ recovery from double pneumonia continues. As a chest X-ray has confirmed improvement. Doctors earlier this week said he’s no longer in imminent danger of death.
 
Trader Fred DeMarco works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Wall Street rises after encouraging inflation data, but the trade war keeps knocking stocks around

U.S. stock indexes rose after getting some relief from an encouraging inflation update. But even on a rare up day for the market, President Donald Trump’s trade war still knocked stocks around on Wednesday.
 
President Donald Trump arrives at the annual St. Patrick's Day luncheon at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Trump vows to take back ‘stolen’ wealth as tariffs on steel and aluminum imports go into effect

President Donald Trump is openly challenging U.S. allies by increasing tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports to 25% as he vows to take back wealth he says was “stolen” by other countries, drawing quick retaliation from Europe and Canada.
 
PSG's Desire Doue celebrates after the Champions League round of 16 second leg soccer match between Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain at Anfield in Liverpool, England, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Does Liverpool’s Champions League exit to PSG reveal a flaw in the revamped competition?

On top of Europe in January. Out of the Champions League by early March. Liverpool’s reward for dominating the competition’s new-look league format was to run into Paris Saint-Germain in the round of 16.
 
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas arrives for an EU Summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

EU’s top diplomat pledges unified support for Ukraine and global humanitarian aid in dig at US

The European Union is doubling down on its pledge to continue supporting Ukraine against Russia’s illegal invasion and stepping up humanitarian aid when others pull back as the bloc of European countries reconciles with the reality of America’s retreat on the global stage.
 
A participant holds an "Elbows Up Canada" sign during rally in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's threats to Canadian sovereignty, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Sunday, March 9, 2025. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)

US factories likely to feel the pain from Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs

President Donald Trump is once again lashing out at three of his biggest irritants: foreign steel, foreign aluminum and Canada.
 
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk speaks at the Sejm, the lower house of parliament, in Warsaw, Poland, Friday March 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Poland aims to train 100,000 military reservists a year as security fears grow

Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk says his government intends to put 100,000 volunteers through military training yearly starting in 2027.
 
Lawyer Harry Durimel, right, stands next to an activist with a sign that reads in French "No to Chlordecone poison," as they protest during the arrival of the French government's Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot in Raizet Abymes, Guadeloupe, Nov. 18, 2007. (AP Photo/Dominique Chomereau-Lamotte, File)

An appeal court upholds ruling finding the French state guilty in Caribbean pesticide case

An appeals court in Paris has upheld a ruling that found the French government guilty of wrongful negligence for using a banned pesticide in the French Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique.
 
The seal of the Board of Governors of the United States Federal Reserve System is displayed in the ground at the Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve Board Building in Washington, Feb. 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

Explainer: What’s a recession and why is rising anxiety about it roiling markets?

Stock markets are plunging, consumers and businesses have started to sour on the economy, and economists are marking down their estimates for growth this year, with some even seeing rising odds of a recession.
 
A woman holds a portrait of Calin Georgescu during a protest after Romania's Constitutional Court upheld a ban on his candidacy in the presidential election rerun, in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

A top Romanian court upholds the ban on far-right Georgescu’s presidential bid

A top Romanian court has rejected an appeal by far-right politician Calin Georgescu to lift a ban on his candidacy in the presidential rerun.
 
FILE -An aerial photograph taken by a drone shows migrants entering a detention center for processing following earlier court rejections, in the port of Shengjin, northwestern Albania, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Vlasov Sulaj, File)

The EU wants to increase deportations and supports ‘return hubs’ in third countries

The European Union wants to increase deportations and is opening the way for “return hubs” to be set up in third countries for rejected asylum-seekers.
 
El secretario general de la OTAN, Mark Rutte, durante una conferencia de prensa conjunta con los miembros de la presidencia bosnia en Sarajevo, Bosnia, el lunes 10 de marzo de 2025. (AP Foto/Armin Durgut)

NATO chief assures Western Balkans of alliance support and urges flexibility in Kosovo, Serbia talks

NATO’s secretary general, in his first trip to the once-volatile Western Balkans, has underscored the alliance’s “steadfast commitment” to its security.
 
This undated handout photo issued on Wednesday March 6, 2025 by the Hertfordshire Police shows Kyle Clifford who has been found guilty at Cambridge Crown Court of raping his ex-partner Louise Hunt in an attack which saw him murder her and her sister with a crossbow and their mother with a butcher's knife. (Hertfordshire Police via AP)

Court orders crossbow killer who murdered 3 women never to be released from prison

A former British soldier who pleaded guilty to the murder of three women at their family home north of London has been sentenced to a whole-life order, meaning that he would never be released from prison.
 
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen addresses European Parliament members on new plans to ramp up defense spending agreed at last week's summit, Tuesday, March 11, 2025 at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/Pascal Bastien)

EU chief says member countries must use a new defense loan to buy European, not American

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says EU countries must purchase military equipment made in Europe under a new loan plan meant to help the continent provide for its own security.
 
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban responds to speeches at the start of the spring session of the National Assembly in Budapest, Hungary, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (Zoltan Mathe/MTI via AP)

Hungary’s leader orders price controls on basic foods as inflation spikes

Hungary’s government is limiting the profit margin for grocers on a number of basic food items in response to growing inflation hitting consumers in the Central European country.
 
Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro walks back to his seat after delivering a speech during a debate preceding a confidence motion vote at the Portuguese parliament in Lisbon, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

Portugal’s government loses confidence vote, triggering early election amid prolonged instability

Portugal’s minority government has lost a confidence vote in parliament, forcing its resignation and bringing the European Union country’s third general election in three years.
 
Students form a human chain as they block the public broadcaster RTS building in central Belgrade, Serbia, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

Protesters block main state Serbian TV building as tensions soar ahead of a planned large rally

Several hundred students have blocked Serbia’s public television station building in Belgrade as tensions soar in the Balkan country days ahead of a planned large rally billed as an endgame in months of massive anti-government protests.
 
People vote during an early voting for Greenlandic parliamentary elections at the city hall in Nuuk, Greenland, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Greenland in facts and figures

Greenland is having a moment in the spotlight. U.S. President Donald Trump has been maneuvering to gain control of the mineral-rich Arctic territory that most people know only as a huge icy island at the top of the world.
 
A nun attends a Rosary prayer for Pope Francis, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

In his own words: Pope Francis has long been up front about his health problems and eventual death

Pope Francis has written and spoken at length about sickness, aging and death. And he has personally directed that his doctors provide the fairly detailed daily updates that have punctuated his own battle with pneumonia.
 
FILE- Jennilyn Olayres cuddles her live-in partner alleged drug user and pusher Michael Siaron, after he was killed by unknown assailants at an intersection in Pasay city south of Manila, Philippines, July 23, 2016. (AP Photo/Linus G. Escandor II, File)

Duterte’s arrest caps an investigation into one of Asia’s most unorthodox leaders

Philippine ex-President Rodrigo Duterte, who left a savage legacy over his deadly anti-drugs crackdown, was arrested on an international warrant as he returned to Manila.
 
French President Emmanuel Macron, second left, , shakes hands with Colonel-General Ruslan Khomchak, First Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, as French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu, right, and Chief of Staff of the French Armed Forces Thierry Burkhard, left, look on during a meeting on the conflict in Ukraine at the Musee de la Marine as part of the Paris Defense and Strategy Forum in Paris, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (Sarah Meyssonnier/Pool via AP)

Deterrence is a key issue as army chiefs from 30-plus countries talk about a Ukraine force

Ukraine was hoping for answers to key questions as European army chiefs and other military officials from over 30 countries met in Paris for talks on an international force for Ukraine after any ceasefire.