EUROPE - latest news report on Europe, European politics, society, culture, business, institutions, EEC, EU

UK - CHINA

Supreme Court confirms death penalty for Briton, execution imminent

China's supreme court has upheld the decision to execute a British citizen caught smuggling heroin into the country, despite international calls for clemency and his family's claim that he is mentally unstable and was tricked into trafficking drugs.

British national faces death penalty for drug trafficking

CROATIA

Social Democrat Josipovic to face major of Zagreb in presidential run-off

Croatia's opposition Social Democrat presidential candidate Ivo Josipovic will face independent Zagreb mayor Milan Bandic in a run-off vote on Jan. 10 after taking 32.7% of the vote in the first round on Sunday.

PETROLEUM

Russia warns of oil supply cut-off through Ukraine, says Slovakia

Slovakia said on Monday that Russia had warned it may halt oil supplies through Ukraine to Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic over a price dispute.

AFP

Moscow approves direct flights from Tbilisi: ministry

Russia has authorised the first direct flights from the Georgian capital of Tbilisi since the two countries' brief war in August 2008, the transport ministry said, Russian news agencies reported."The decision was taken to authorise Georgian Airways ...

UK - CHINA

British national faces death penalty for drug trafficking

Akmal Shaikh, a British man indicted in China for drug trafficking, faces execution on Tuesday after losing his final appeal in China's Supreme Court. Shaikh's two cousins have arrived in Urumqi in a last-ditch bid for clemency.

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AFP

Avalanches kill seven in Italian Alps: reports

Avalanches in northern Italy killed seven people, including a team of four rescue workers sent out to find two tourists caught in an earlier accident, Italian media reported Sunday.Two tourists were trapped in a first avalanche at Val Lasties, near ...

TURKEY

Eight soldiers arrested for alleged plot against deputy PM

Eight Turkish soldiers have been arrested and questioned in connection with an alleged plot against the country's deputy prime minister Bulent Arinc.

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UKRAINE

Government denies being unable to pay gas bill

Ukraine on Saturday said there was no truth to claims by Russian gas giant Gazprom that Ukraine would not be able to pay its energy bill for the month.

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TRAIN

Eurotunnel blames Eurostar over Channel shutdown

The Channel tunnel operator has blamed Eurostar staff for violating safety procedures during the incident that blocked traffic last week. Both companies have been accused of negligence.

RELIGION

Pope gives Christmas address after assault

Pope Benedict XVI looked to be on good form as he delivered his traditional Christmas message on Friday, urging tolerance for migrants, a day after falling during an assault at St Peter's Basilica.

IRELAND

Two more bishops offer resignation after child abuse scandal

Two more Irish bishops have said they were offering their resignation to Pope Benedict XVI in the wake of a child sex abuse scandal that has convulsed Ireland.

ROMANIA

Twenty years after fall, ghost of Ceausescu's gov't still haunts Romanians

Exactly 20 years after former Romanian communist strongman Nicolae Ceausescu was executed following a popular uprising against his regime, the spectre of his iron rule continues to haunt former dissidents.

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GEORGIA

Border with Russia to reopen, Georgian foreign ministry says

Georgia and Russia have agreed to re-open the only land border crossing between the two countries which does not go through Georgia's Russian-backed rebel regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Georgia's foreign ministry has announced.

RUSSIA

Medvedev promises major reform of prison and justice systems

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev pledged to reform his country's Soviet-era prison and justice systems, after firing 20 top prison officials earlier this month over the death of high-profile jailed high-profile lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

THE OBSERVERS

Why turkey is easier than carp for Christmas

What length would you go to in order to make sure your Christmas dinner is fresh? In Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, where the staple dish on Christmas Eve is carp, tradition dictates that you keep the fish in your bathtub until the day you cook it.

AFP

Italy's Berlusconi 'pardons attacker'

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, declaring himself "incapable of rancour", has pardoned the man who assaulted him on December 13, news reports said Wednesday.Berlusconi, 73, told his centre-right People of Freedom party he had pardoned ...

THE OBSERVERS

The firm that laughed at redundancy victims

After consultants who defied trade unions in advising a Prague company to lay off staff then invited the same trade unions to their lavish Christmas party, both union leaders and redundancy victims were left feeling bemused.