The use of rubber bullets by security forces has become a major source of controversy in France because of dozens of injuries to people during violent demonstration by "yellow vest" protesters. Campaigners lost a legal bid on Friday to suspend their use in France. Elsewhere in Europe,...

Willie Walsh, chief executive of British Airways owner IAG, said Friday that he was "very confident" that London and Brussels would reach a "comprehensive agreement" on post-Brexit aviation. Walsh, speaking at a relaunch of global airline alliance Oneworld, added that a chaotic no-deal...

Romania, the European Union’s current term president, on Friday voiced strong support for Turkey's bid to join the bloc. "We will do our utmost to succeed and to give a very clear signal about the importance we are attaching to the negotiation process for Turkey's accession to the EU,”...

France’s top legal advisory body, the Council of State, has refused to ban police from using controversial rubber-ball launchers that have been blamed for a spate of serious injuries suffered by Yellow Vest protesters. Friday's highly anticipated ruling by the Conseil d'État follows an...

The U.K. said on Friday it is “completely unacceptable” to refer Gibraltar as a “colony,” hitting back at EU language describing the British oversees territory as a “colony of the British Crown.” The British reaction came after a footnote to new EU legislation guaranteeing visa-free travel...

EU diplomats have agreed that after Brexit, British citizens should be granted visa-free travel, the European Council said on Friday. "According to EU rules, visa exemption is granted on condition of reciprocity. The government of the United Kingdom has stated that it does not intend to...

Sailing in the “same boat”, Turkey and EU back a political solution to the Syria crisis, EU ambassador in the capital Ankara said. Speaking to Anadolu Agency Thursday, Christian Berger said Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu will make great contribution to the Brussel conference on...

Germany said Friday that Russia had "de facto invalidated" a landmark Cold War missile reduction treaty which the US is poised to abandon, with Europe anxious at the prospect of a new arms race. A US deadline for Russia to come back into compliance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear...

A UN human rights expert expressed grave concern Thursday after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s state-owned oil company. "I am especially concerned to hear reports that these sanctions are aimed at changing the government of Venezuela," Special Rapporteur Idriss Jazairy said in a...

French lawmakers approved a bill Thursday that restricts the use of masks to hide faces during demonstrations. Protesters wearing masks or covering faces during demonstrations will face one year of imprisonment and €15,000 ($17,200) fine, according to the bill. The French National...

The European Parliament recognized Venezuela’s self-declared interim president Juan Guaido in an official vote Thursday. After a debate on developments in Venezuela, MEPs voted to recognize Guaido by 439-104, with 88 abstentions. The resolution recognizes opposition leader Guaido as the...

The EU on Thursday announced the creation of an international contact group of European and Latin American countries to help chart a peaceful end to Venezuela's political crisis within 90 days. EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini said the aim of the group was to enable the holding of new...

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido's claim to the presidency is "illegitimate" and part of a "Western-backed coup," said Russian’s ambassador to Turkey on Thursday. Aleksey Yerhov, speaking at a panel on Turkish-Russian relations in the capital Ankara, said that the West does not care...

More time may be needed for Brexit legislation, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Thursday, signaling a possible extension of process on Article 50, the section of the EU treaty governing Brexit. "It is true that if we ended up approving the deal in the days before the 29 March...

Moscow and Washington have made "no progress" in talks on saving a key arms control treaty, a Russian diplomat said on Thursday, with the United States expected to begin withdrawal this weekend. Russian and US officials had met on the sidelines of a meeting of the five permanent members of...

Madrid on Thursday demanded the immediate release of journalists working for the Spanish news agency EFE who were arrested in Venezuela as part of a crackdown by Caracas on foreign media. The Spanish government "strongly condemns" the detention in Caracas of four members of a team from...

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Thursday he believed sanctions against Venezuelan "kleptocrats" could be a way to pressure President Nicolas Maduro to call new elections. He said he would raise the issue later in the day with his European Union counterparts at a meeting in...

The Yellow Vest protests in the French capital Paris, which have been continuing since mid-November, have spread to southern and western parts of the country. The protests are regarded as the greatest crisis since President Emmanuel Macron has assumed his office; although he organized...

The European Union ended 2018 with an unemployment rate of 6.6 percent, the EU's statistical office reported on Thursday. On a yearly basis, the unemployment rate in the EU fell 0.6 percentage points compared to 7.2 percent in December, 2017. "Eurostat estimates that 16.3 million men...

The French government is under growing pressure to follow other European countries in banning controversial rubber-ball launchers used by riot police amid a spate of serious injuries suffered by Yellow Vest protesters. France’s legal advisory body, the Council of State, was due to examine...