Europe

Dutch pension fund to divest from fossil fuel producers

Editorial Bureau October 26, 2021

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The Netherlands’ biggest pension fund announced Tuesday that it will stop investing in companies that produce fossil fuels, saying the move — long been demanded by many members of the fund — was prompted by recent climate reports by the United Nations and International

Europe

Germany’s newly elected parliament to convene for first time

Editorial Bureau October 26, 2021

BERLIN — Germany’s newly elected parliament is set to hold its first meeting on Tuesday. The 736-member lower house, or Bundestag, is expected to elect as its new speaker Baerbel Bas of the center-left Social Democrats, which emerged from last month’s election as the strongest party. German Chancellor Angela Merkel will attend the meeting although […]

Europe

COVID-19 cases spike in Belgium; govt poised for action

Editorial Bureau October 26, 2021

BRUSSELS — Coronavirus indicators are shooting upward in Belgium, pushing the government on Tuesday to consider re-imposing some pandemic measures that it only relaxed a few weeks ago. Daily infections in the nation of 11 million increased 75% to reach 5,299 case on a daily basis last week. Hospitalizations have increased by 69% to reach […]

Europe

German court sentences IS woman to 10 years in prison

Editorial Bureau October 25, 2021

BERLIN — A German convert to Islam was sentenced to 10 years in prison Monday on charges that, as a member of the extremist Islamic State group in Iraq, she allowed a 5-year-old Yazidi girl she and her husband kept as a slave to die of thirst in the hot sun. The court convicted the […]

Europe

Hungary: Thousands of Orban supporters march across Budapest

Editorial Bureau October 24, 2021

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Thousands of supporters of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his right-wing government marched in Budapest on Saturday in a demonstration of unity behind the populist leader’s contentious policies. The rally was dubbed a “Peace March” and participants gathered along the western bank of the Danube River and departed across Liberty Bridge, […]

Europe

A jab in each arm: France vaccinates against flu and COVID

Editorial Bureau October 22, 2021

PARIS — Worried that the flu and COVID-19 could trigger a winter-time double-whammy of new infections and deaths, France is forging ahead with a nationwide vaccination and booster-shot program against both diseases, offering simultaneous jabs to millions of at-risk people. The annual flu vaccination campaign kicked off Friday, four days earlier than initially planned,

Europe

Why some fear a ‘Polexit’ from European Union

Editorial Bureau October 19, 2021

Poland will be a focus of European attention this week, with Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki addressing the European Parliament WARSAW, Poland — Poland will be a focus of European attention this week, with Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki addressing the European Parliament and leaders at a European Union summit expected to grapple with a legal conundrum […]

Europe

Small-town mayor to lead Hungary opposition bloc in election

Editorial Bureau October 18, 2021

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Independent conservative Peter Marki-Zay won a primary contest Sunday to become the joint candidate of a six-party opposition coalition that will challenge right-wing populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Hungary’s elections next spring. The small-town mayor won the second round of the primary over Social Democrat Klara Dobrev, who conceded the race

Europe

Poles protest pushbacks of migrants at border with Belarus

Editorial Bureau October 18, 2021

WARSAW, Poland — Thousands of protesters marched Sunday in two Polish cities in solidarity with migrants and asylum-seekers at the Poland-Belarus border who have been pushed back by Polish authorities. Several thousand people marched in Warsaw and others protested in Krakow under the slogan “Stop torture at the border.” Marchers accused Polish authorities of cruel […]

Europe

Woman dies after last month’s huge blast in Sweden

Editorial Bureau October 15, 2021

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A woman who was among four people seriously injured in a huge building explosion and fire last month that damaged at least 140 apartments has died, Swedish police said Friday. The woman died in the hospital where she was being treated, police said, declining to elaborate. Earlier this month, the suspect in […]