A Russian book distributor has ordered bookshops to “return or destroy” works by the Pulitzer Prize-winner Jeffery Eugenides and the British bestseller Bridget Collins, among others, in the latest case of censorship targeting the country’s literary scene. Trading House BMM sent a letter to shops this week, seen by the …

Haribo is recalling packets of sweets in the Netherlands after some were found to contain traces of cannabis. Several people, including multiple members of one family, reported feeling unwell after eating from a 1kg pack of Haribo Happy Cola F!ZZ. A spokesperson for the food safety body in the Netherlands …

Lindsey Prosser & Lauren Hirst BBC News, Liverpool BBC Metro mayor Steve Rotheram was at the stadium during the 1985 disaster The mayor of the Liverpool City Region has spoken of the importance of remembering the causes of the Heysel stadium disaster 40 years on. Steve Rotheram was at the …

In Sarajevo it is, once again, the Year of the Rat. Social media posts from residents of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital have shown an abundance of rodents swimming in the Miljacka river which flows through the centre of the city. Sarajevans long accustomed to poor public services have also posted …

The Swiss village of Blatten has been partially destroyed after a huge chunk of glacier crashed down into the valley. Although the village had been evacuated some days ago because of fears the Birch glacier was disintegrating, one person has been reported missing, and many homes have been completely flattened. …

The town of Rodynske in Ukraine’s Donetsk region has been the scene of intense Russian drone attacks and is on the front line of the war. The BBC’s Yogita Limaye was reporting from Rodynske when a Russian drone struck nearby, forcing the journalist and her crew to take cover. She …

Anadolu via Getty Images Germany’s new chancellor (R) greeted Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky to Berlin on Wednesday Germany’s new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has told Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky that Berlin will help Kyiv produce long-range missiles to defend itself from Russian attack. “We want to talk about production and we will not …

Reuters French ex-surgeon Joel Le Scouarnec has admitted to sexually abusing hundreds of patients A verdict is expected on Wendesday in the case of Joel Le Scouarnec, the former surgeon who has admitted to sexually abusing hundreds of patients, mostly under age, between 1989 and 2014. Le Scouarnec, 74, has …

The meat of brown bears, a protected species in the EU, could soon be available to eat in Slovakia after the populist government approved plans for sale. Last month, the cabinet authorised a plan to shoot about a quarter of the country’s 1,300 brown bears in response to some recent …

Nick Thorpe Central Europe correspondent SBU Ukraine said it uncovered a Hungarian espionage network earlier this month A spate of arrests, diplomatic expulsions and public humiliations has plunged relations between war-torn Ukraine and its prickly Nato neighbour Hungary to a new low. At the heart of the row are accusations …

French police have arrested more than 20 people following a number of kidnapping plots targeting cryptocurrency entrepreneurs and their families. Authorities said the arrests were in connection with investigations into a recent abduction attempt in Nantes and the attempted kidnapping of a woman and child in Paris in May. The …

French MPs have voted to allow some people in the last stages of a terminal illness the right to assisted dying. The National Assembly approved the bill, which is backed by President Emmanuel Macron, by 305 votes to 199. It will now go to the upper house, the Senate, before …

A Syrian man has admitted carrying out a knife attack in the German town of Solingen last August in which three people were killed. “I have committed a grave crime, I am prepared to accept the verdict,” Issa al H said in a statement read out by his defence lawyers …

Austria’s former chancellor Sebastian Kurz has won his appeal against a conviction for giving false testimony to a parliamentary committee. The court’s ruling overturns last year’s judgement and eight-month suspended prison sentence for the former political star. Once hailed a wunderkind of Europe’s conservatives, the 38-year-old resigned as chancellor in …

A second power outage in two days his hit the French Riviera region after a fire at a substation in Nice overnight, which authorities said was caused by a malicious act. At least 45,000 homes were affected after the blaze broke out at around 02:00 local time (01:00 BST) on …

James Waterhouse BBC Ukraine correspondent Europa Press via Getty Images Andriy Portnov’s murder in a Madrid suburb has shocked Ukrainians, but it has not exactly triggered an outpouring of grief. The controversial former official had just dropped his children off at the American School when he was shot several times …

Andrew Harding BBC Paris correspondent Getty Images Protesters outside the court in Vannes have turned out to show their support for Le Scouarnec’s victims It was supposed to be a defining, catalytic moment for French society. Horrific, but unmissable. Unignorable. The seaside town of Vannes, in southern Brittany, had carefully …

Cannes faced a citywide power cut on Saturday, disrupting the prestigious film festival and closing restaurants, and businesses. French police are investigating suspected arson as the cause of the outage, after a a substation in the village of Tanneron, which supplies Cannes, was attacked by arsonists in the early hours. …

Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who has repeatedly been imprisoned and banned from film-making in his home country, spoke out against the restrictions of the regime after winning the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Panahi picked up the prestigious Palme d’Or for It Was Just an Accident, described by …

EPA EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic warned that Europeans “stand ready to defend our interests” The European Union’s trade chief said the 27-member bloc is committed to securing a trade deal with the US based on “respect” not “threats”. It comes after US President Donald Trump threatened to slap a …