BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — Unemployment in the eurozone fell in August to 7.4 percent, its lowest level since May 2008, according to official data released Monday. The figure, which brought the number of unemployed in the single currency bloc to 12.17 million, was lower than a forecast by financial data provider Factset, which predicted unchanged unemployment at 7.5 percent. Unemployment in the eurozone thus fell below the rate just prior to the world financial […]
Europe
World leaders set for final tribute to France’s Chirac
by Stuart WILLIAMS PARIS, France (AFP) — Dozens of world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, were expected in Paris on Monday to pay their final respects to France’s late president Jacques Chirac as the country holds a national day of mourning for its charismatic former head of state. Putin and other world leaders were to join President Emmanuel Macron for a church service in the French capital, a day after thousands of people queued […]
Fire at French chemical plant extinguished: official
CAEN, France (AFP) — Firefighters said Friday they have extinguished a huge blaze that broke out at a chemical factory in northern France and forced authorities to close schools and warn of pollution risks for the river Seine. The fire erupted early Thursday at a storage facility near the city of Rouen owned by Lubrizol, a manufacturer of industrial lubricants and fuel additives that is owned by the billionaire American investor Warren Buffett. No injuries […]
Former French president Jacques Chirac dead at 86
by Adam PLOWRIGHT and Stuart WILLIAMS Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Two-term French president Jacques Chirac died Thursday at the age of 86 after a long battle with ill-health, his family said, leading to tributes from across the political spectrum for a statesman who famously said “non” to the 2003 Iraq war. The centre-right Chirac, acknowledged even by foes as a supreme political fighter, rose to prominence as mayor of Paris before […]
Updated: 5.7-magnitude earthquake shakes Istanbul, injures eight
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AFP) — A 5.7-magnitude earthquake shook Turkey’s largest city on Thursday, driving residents to evacuate buildings, AFP journalists witnessed. Eight people were “lightly injured”, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a press conference in Istanbul. “Some buildings have been lightly damaged,” he added. Istanbul’s Bogazici University Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute said the quake’s centre was in the town of Silivri, around 80 kilometres (50 miles) west of the city. It said the […]
UK’s Johnson defiant after bombshell court ruling
by Alice RITCHIE / Robin MILLARD LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday challenged opposition MPs to call a confidence vote in his government, in a defiant response to the Supreme Court decision to strike down his suspension of parliament. Britain’s highest court on Tuesday found the Conservative leader acted illegally in suspending or proroguing, parliament for five weeks in the run-up to Brexit. But Johnson showed no contrition as […]
Macron: ‘lost opportunity’ if Trump, Rouhani don’t meet
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — French President Emmanuel Macron said that this week’s UN summit would be a “lost opportunity” if his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani does not meet US President Donald Trump. In a three-way chat with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a smiling Macron said that if Rouhani “leaves the country without meeting with President Trump, honestly this is a lost opportunity because he will not come back in a few months.” […]
France’s Catholic child abuse probe flooded with messages
PARIS, France (AFP) — A commission set up by the French Catholic Church to investigate allegations of child sex abuse by clerics received about 2,000 messages in its first three months, chairman Jean-Marc Sauve said Friday. The independent body, looking into abuse claims dating back to the 1950s, was set up last year in response to a number of scandals that shook the Church in France and worldwide. Composed of 22 legal professionals, doctors, […]
Pilot saved from power line after Belgian F-16 crashes in France
by Benjamin MASSOT PLUVIGNER, France (AFP) — An F-16 fighter jet of the Belgian air force crashed Thursday in western France, with both pilots successfully ejecting — but one spent two hours hanging from a power line before being cut down, officials said. Parts from the stricken plane, which was not carrying weapons and was flying from Belgium to a French base on a training mission, crashed into houses in the Morbihan region around the […]
Spain flood toll rises to seven dead
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — The death toll from torrential rains and floods in southeastern Spain rose to seven on Tuesday after the discovery of the body of a missing 66-year-old Dutch national, local officials said. The alarm was raised on Sunday after a man was sucked into flood water in a canal at Dolores, a town 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of Alicante. The body, matching a description by the Dutchman’s family, was recovered in […]
Russia’s world-first floating nuclear plant arrives in port
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia’s world first floating nuclear power station on Saturday completed a 5,000-kilometre (3,100-mile) Arctic transfer to the country’s far east, the Rosatom nuclear agency said. “The Akademik Lomonosov floating nuclear plant arrived … at Pevek, in the autonomous district of Chukotka,” where it is to start operating by year end once connected to the local electricity grid, Rosatom said. What will be the world’s northernmost nuclear power plant left Murmansk […]
Death toll from Spain floods rises to three
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — The death toll from torrential rain and floods in southeastern Spain rose to three on Friday after a man drowned when his car became trapped in a tunnel, local authorities said. The latest tragedy occurred in the city of Almeria when the tunnel was “flooded by a huge amount of water in a few minutes,” Almeria city hall said in a tweet. A policeman managed to rescue two of the three […]





