World News in Europe & Middle East by Washington Post
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Europe News: News and Headlines from Europe – The Washington Post
The Washington Post provides the latest information and analysis on UK and European news. Includes news from the European Union, European commission news and European parliament news.
MOSCOW — With Russia in a state of political ferment for the first time in more than a decade, a new poll has found sharply expressed and seemingly contradictory opinions holding sway.
Russians strongly support specific characteristics of democracy, such as fair courts, a free press and honest elections — but don’t mention the word “democracy,” or support drops way off.
BERLIN — European leaders are set to descend on Brussels on Wednesday for a showdown over suggested drastic remedies for the region’s debt crisis, even as fresh signs emerge that Europe’s escalating woes could plunge the region into a recession capable of undercutting the global economic recovery.
BERLIN — The world leaders who urged German Chancellor Angela Merkel this past weekend to back down from her unforgiving approach to Europe’s economic problems have something in common: They don’t answer to German voters.
MOSCOW — Having proved himself with his response to political protests that erupted here in December, Moscow’s police chief, Vladimir Kolokoltsev, was named minister of the interior in the new Russian cabinet announced Monday.
PARIS — A French prosecutor has ordered a preliminary investigation into whether Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former head of the International Monetary Fund and once a leading candidate to become president of France, participated in gang rape at a sex party he is accused of helping to organize in a Washington hotel.
LONDON — The Olympic flame began a 70-day journey Saturday that will end on July 27 when a final torchbearer lights a caldron at the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games.
For many Britons, the torch relay is the beginning of the countdown to the Summer Games, arguably the world’s greatest sporting spectacle.
ATHENS — What did Angela Merkel really say?
The Greek press buzzed late Friday when the office of freshly inaugurated Prime Minister Panagiotis Pikrammenos issued a statement saying Merkel, the German chancellor, had suggested that Greece should hold a referendum on the euro.
ATHENS — Homeward bound after the Trojan War, Odysseus of Greek myth had to pick a path through seas harboring a monster with six heads and a whirlpool that digested ships whole. Now, whether modern Greece exits the euro — potentially triggering global economic turmoil in the process — depends on the tough choices of Ivi Moreti and her 11 million countrymen.
ATHENS — Europe’s economic woes escalated Friday as fears mounted over troubled Spanish banks and the credit rating agency Fitch further downgraded Greece’s debt, citing heightened worries that the country might be forced to abandon the euro.
Middle East News: News and Headlines from Iraq, Iran, Israel, Lebanon & More – The Washington Post
The Washington Post provides the latest information and analysis of breaking Middle East news stories. Includes news coverage on Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Iran, Kuwait, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
CAIRO — As Egyptians turned out to vote on the second day of a landmark presidential election Thursday, early indicators showed the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate taking the lead among the presumed front-runners.
BAGHDAD — Hopes began to fade Wednesday that a fresh round of talks with Iran would help ease tensions over Tehran’s disputed nuclear program after Iran slammed a new package of proposals by Western powers as inadequate.
Why is the Egyptian presidential election important?
This is Egypt’s first competitive presidential election in modern history. For the first time, Egyptians will get to choose who leads, and people have a choice of 13 candidates. The result will also play a major role in shaping Egypt’s future. Who becomes president will be a determining factor in the role of the military leadership in Egypt’s future, the role of religion and its foreign relations with major allies such as the United States.
Iran has agreed in principle to pull back the curtain on some of its most secretive nuclear research, U.N. officials said Tuesday, a concession that came hours before negotiators from the Islamic republic were due to begin crucial talks with six world powers on curbing its nuclear program.
SANAA, YEMEN — With its suicide attack that killed at least 90 people and injured scores Monday, al-Qaeda’s Yemen branch has expanded far outside its sphere of influence in the south, proving it can penetrate even the most sensitive military targets in the capital.
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s capital was badly shaken Monday after a night of fighting between factions for and against the embattled president of neighboring Syria, stoking fears that the unrest across the border could spark serious violence here.
In this rugged northern valley ringed by pink-hued mountains, a conflict between Yemeni factions is siphoning away resources from a more significant war against al-Qaeda-linked militants in the country’s restive south.