And, at the height of the Coronavirus pandemic, the BBC discovered a network of more than 1,200 faked or hijacked accounts on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube that posted pro-Chinese government and anti-US messages. There is evidence to suggest Western governments also engage in disinformation campaigns, although the scale of their …

The French book scene is in uproar after a Canadian-Haitian author billed as a sensation was accused of using artificial intelligence (AI) to write his first novel. Thélyson Orélien, 38, has just been awarded the Prix du Roman Fnac – the first of the literary season’s prizes – for C’était …

Deaths related to illicit drugs rose by 11% in Scotland last year to 1,133 as the country struggles to tackle the worst fatality rate in Europe. BBC News

The dramatic eviction of an 87-year-old woman from the home in Madrid where she lived for seven decades has drawn attention to the depth of Spain’s housing crisis. The tenant of the flat in the Retiro area of central Madrid, Maricarmen, was unable to pay the rent set by the …

The European Union is to remove sanctions on two oligarchs imposed after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to reports, prompting anger in Ukraine. France had campaigned for Russian-Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov to be taken off the list, citing “national security concerns”. Luxembourg called for the removal of …

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Trump said: “We going to have a tremendous relationship, a secure relationship.” “This is tremendous for Europe and for the United States, for everybody, and for Greenland it’s going to be incredible.” Meanwhile, Frederiksen described the signing of the deal as a “milestone in our …

The most dramatic and tragic natural phenomenon Spain has seen in recent years were flash floods that killed 237 people in the east of the country in October 2024, centred on the Valencia region. Spanish meteorological research group Climatoc-Lab described it as “a manifestation of how global warming alters the …

Germany is Europe’s, and therefore the eurozone currency’s, largest economy. It is the world’s largest single donor to Ukraine right now and it is the biggest net payer into the EU budget. When Germany’s finances are in trouble and the country turns inward because of a political crisis, the knock-on …

Personal possessions of late actress Brigitte Bardot – from Repetto ballet flats and diamond rings to her copy of the Kama Sutra – are being sold at auction on Monday with proceeds going to her animal charity. Fans of the iconic figure, who died last December at the age of …

Vice Admiral Peter Hudson, vice chairman of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, said he was honoured the organisation had delivered the project and grateful for the presence of Princess Anne. “[In the cemetery around us lie nearly 5,000 German and Austrian soldiers, the cemetery next door, another 350 personnel,” he …

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has appointed a new acting prosecutor general, after the predecessor resigned over an anti-corruption investigation. Anton Kovalskyi, 42, was appointed on Thursday to replace Ruslan Kravchenko, who stood down last week after searches of his offices by Ukrainian anti-corruption officials related to illegal call centres in …

Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has resigned after his ruling right-wing bloc was narrowly defeated by the centre-left opposition in the country’s general election. He made the announcement in a post on X on Thursday afternoon, after preliminary votes from Sunday’s election showed about 50,000 votes separated the two blocs …

In return, Mexico has agreed to lend another priceless document, the Codex Boturini, to France for display there. The pictograms in the Codex Boturini narrate the story of the migration of the Aztecs, also known as Mexica, from their ancestral homeland to the shores of Lake Texcoco, where they built …

The leaders of eight German states have backed the nation’s chancellor amid growing speculation about his political future. The premiers – all of whom are part of Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) – wrote that restoring trust in their party lay in “listening ​and taking political action, not in …

The former president of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after being found guilty of war crimes. A hearing at The Hague on Wednesday sentenced the 58-year-old for crimes during Kosovo’s independence war against Serbia in the 1990s, in which more than 10,000 people died. …

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has accused Russia of plotting to murder Ukrainian allies in the US and Europe. In a statement on Tuesday, the DoJ charged five men allegedly connected to the Russian Intelligence Services (RIS). The men are accused of paying, or trying to pay, people in …

French former minister Rachida Dati has gone on trial in Paris for corruption, accused of taking money from Renault-Nissan in return for political influence. Dati, 61, who was justice minister under former President Nicolas Sarkozy and culture minister under Emmanuel Macron, is known to have been paid €900,000 (£770,000) by …

Von der Leyen told the EU’s State of the Union address that the bloc and Canada “see the world with the same eyes”, including on topics ranging from AI, to climate change and geopolitics. “And we have stood together: on Ukraine, on defence, on raw materials and on supply chains. …

Turkish police have arrested dozens of people as part of the government’s recent crackdown on LGBTQ+ activists and venues. The protesters were detained as they gathered on Tuesday outside Istanbul’s main courthouse. They were calling for the release of another group of LGBTQ+ activists, who were arrested over the weekend …

Yet – in public – Europe’s leaders have remained cautiously quiet. Though not, it seems, out of any lack of support for Mark Carney. A number of Europe’s leaders, like Finland’s president – but also French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, herself once a true Trump …