Europe

Eiffel Tower climber ‘admitted to psychiatric unit’

PARIS, France (AFP) — A man, believed to be Russian, who sparked a mass evacuation of the Eiffel Tower by scaling the iconic Paris landmark has been admitted to a psychiatric unit, legal sources said Tuesday. The man caused chaos Monday and the closure of the monument to tourists by spending six hours clinging to the outer metal framework of the Eiffel Tower. His identity has not been disclosed. He was questioned by police on […]

European elections: voting differs across countries

Each country in the European Union has its own rules for voting in the May 23-26 elections to the bloc’s parliament. Here is an overview. – Who votes when? – Twenty-one of the EU’s 28 members go to the polls on May 26, a Sunday, including France, Germany and Poland. Britain and The Netherlands vote on Thursday May 23; Ireland on the 24th; Latvia, Malta and Slovakia on the 25th. In the Czech Republic, voters […]

Austrian president calls for September snap elections

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen said Sunday he wanted snap elections to take place in September after the government collapsed over a corruption scandal. “My preference is for early elections in September, if possible the beginning of September,” he told journalists after holding talks with Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. The legal procedures to fix the date will now have to take place over the coming weeks, with Van der Bellen set to hold further talks […]

Vatican Supreme Court clears Austrian priest accused of trying to kiss nun

The Vatican Supreme Court has cleared a senior priest accused of making advances towards a German nun during confession, the Vatican said on Friday. The five-member Supreme Court, the Apostolic Signatura, said in a statement that after careful examination the “serious” allegation could not be proved “with the required moral certitude”. Austrian priest Hermann Geissler proclaimed his innocence but resigned in January as one of three top officials at the Congregation for the Doctrine of […]

Macron warns about US-China trade tensions over Huawei

PARIS, France (AFP) — French President Emmanuel Macron warned Thursday about the danger of a “technological war or a trade war” between the US and China as the countries clash over Chinese telecoms group Huawei. “Our perspective is not to block Huawei or any company, it is to preserve our national security and European sovereignty,” Macron told reporters at the Vivatech trade show in Paris. “But I think launching now a technological war or a […]

Britain’s May pins hopes on final June Brexit vote

by Alice RITCHIE LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Theresa May’s Brexit minister said Wednesday that her EU withdrawal deal would be “dead” if parliament rejects it for a fourth time next month after the British premier set the date for what could be the final act of her leadership. May said MPs will vote on legislation to implement the Brexit deal in the week starting June 3, with the aim of getting Britain out of […]

I.M. Pei: five standout buildings

PARIS, France (AFP) — The sharp lines and geometric, light-filled forms of Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei’s designs have created some of the landmarks of the world. Here is a selection of five. US: National Gallery of Art (1978) A “study in triangles” is how Architecture Week magazine describes Pei’s East Building addition to the National Gallery of Art in Washington. The concrete and glass structure features huge mirrored pyramids and a 15-meter (50-foot) waterfall. The […]

Flying cars mooted for Paris’ public transport network

PARIS, France (AFP) — European aerospace giant Airbus and Paris underground operator RATP will study the viability of adding flying vehicles to the city’s urban transport network, the companies said Wednesday. The firms will “explore the feasibility of urban air mobility services” in the French capital and the broader Ile de France region, they said in a statement. “Airbus is developing demonstrators of autonomous and unmanned technologies,” said the company’s chief executive Guillaume Faury. “This […]

British govt to put forward Brexit bill in June

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Prime Minister Theresa May’s government will publish draft legislation in the first week of June that would allow Brexit to proceed if approved by parliament, a Downing Street spokesman announced on Tuesday. The statement came after talks between May and opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on a possible compromise that would end a deadlock on Brexit in parliament. May met with Corbyn “to make clear our determination to bring the […]

Putin meets Pompeo as US seeks ‘a way forward’ in ties

  by Shaun Tandon Agence France Presse SOCHI, Russia (AFP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday meets US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the highest-level talks between the rival powers in nearly a year as they see if they can make headway on a raft of disagreements from Venezuela to Iran to arms control. Pompeo will visit Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi less than two weeks after US President Donald […]

Catholic Church’s Pope Francis changes Church law to make reporting sex abuse obligatory

  by Ella IDE Agence France Presse VATICAN CITY (AFP) — Catholic Church’s Pope Francis on Thursday passed a landmark new measure to oblige those who know about sex abuse in the Catholic Church to report it to their superiors, in a move which could bring countless new cases to light. Every diocese in the world will now be obliged to have a system for the reporting of abuse, under a new law published by […]

Remains of Nazi victims to be buried in Berlin, decades late

  by Hui Min NEO Agence France Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — More than seven decades after the end of World War II, the remains of political prisoners executed by the Nazis and dissected for research will be given a proper burial in Berlin. The microscopic remains — 300 tissue samples each a hundredth of a millimetre thin and around one by one centimetre large — were uncovered by the descendants of the late Hermann […]