Europe
Chirac veers left to smooth path for favoured successor De Villepin
Published: 06 January 2006
President Jacques Chirac has entered what may be his last full year in politics by veering significantly to the left. M. Chirac, a connoisseur of U-turns and zig-zags, has used new year receptions to announce a flurry of left-leaning policies, including a radical shift in the financing of health and social security spending. He has 17 months remaining in his second term and his poll ratings are at a record low.
Hotels wake up to urban blight as tourists desert Spanish resorts
Published: 06 January 2006
Excessive urban development of Spain's Mediterranean resorts is driving away foreign visitors and damaging the vital tourist industry, the country's leading hotel conglomerates have warned.
Paris commute proves too much for Philo
Published: 06 January 2006
Phoebe Philo, the designer behind the phenomenal regeneration of the Chloe label, has resigned from the helm of the French fashion house, citing personal reasons, in particular, the need "to spend time with my new baby in the coming months".
Carpenter who posed as priest for 25 years is finally defrocked
Published: 06 January 2006
Father Axel was adored by the parishioners in Neukirchen an der Enknach. The assistant priest in the Austrian village north of Salzburg married couples, held moving funeral services and baptised babies.
Second teenager dies in Turkey bird flu outbreak
Published: 05 January 2006
A second Turkish teenager who tested positive for bird flu died today, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.
Gas truce sparks talk of EU energy pact
Published: 05 January 2006
Russia and Ukraine agreed a five-year gas supply deal yesterday, easing fears of impending shortages in continental Europe and prompting talk of new EU policies to head off supply problems in the future.
France accused of covering up train gang attack
Published: 05 January 2006
Opposition politicians have accused the French government of covering up a sustained attack by a gang of 20 young people on a crowded train near Nice on New Year's Day.
Europe's 'no smoking' zones
Published: 05 January 2006
Dubai comes to Tuscany with tourist island plan
Published: 05 January 2006
Environmentalists and lovers of Tuscany are up in arms over a plan unveiled by municipal officials yesterday to emulate Dubai and build a horseshoe-shaped cement island 1,000m off the pristine coast of Forte dei Marmi, one of the most civilised beach resorts in the province of Lucca.
13th victim found at German ice rink
Published: 04 January 2006
Rescue workers recovered a 13th body today from the wreckage of a collapsed skating rink in southern Germany, and said there were no further signs of life as they continued their search for the two remaining people believed still under the wreckage.
Russia restores gas supplies to the West
Published: 04 January 2006
Europe's gas supply was returned to normal yesterday as Russia limited the external fallout of its price row with neighbouring Ukraine, but the political crisis appeared far from over and the two countries showed no signs of reining in their increasingly acerbic rhetoric.
Terror suspects describe alleged torture 'in front of MI6 agents'
Published: 04 January 2006
Three Pakistanis who were allegedly kidnapped and tortured by intelligence agents in Athens after the London bombings have claimed that they were threatened with being taken to England during their interrogation. Speaking for the first time in public since their alleged ordeal in July last year, the Athens-based Pakistanis said they were beaten and received death threats during their interrogation.
Four still missing at ice rink after safety fears halt rescue efforts
Published: 04 January 2006
German rescue workers trying to reach four people still missing after the collapse of an ice rink had to halt their efforts yesterday while heavy machinery was used to clear away rubble and make the structure safe. Hopes of finding the survivors were fading as the rescue effort resumed last night amid fresh snow and freezing temperatures.
Six children among dead as ice-rink roof collapses
Published: 03 January 2006
At least 11 people were killed, including six children, and 18 were injured yesterday after part of an ice-rink roof collapsed in the Bavarian Alps.
Russia promises to restore Europe's gas supply
Published: 03 January 2006
Russia moved to protect its international reputation and promised to restore full gas supplies to Europe by this evening after they were badly disrupted by a rancorous price dispute with neighbouring Ukraine
Analysis: Bullying tactics mar Putin's G8 presidency
Published: 03 January 2006
New Year's Day was supposed to be a momentous occasion for Russia; assuming the presidency of the G8 for the first time in its difficult history and showing the world that it was finally getting its act together after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Widow of earl faces murder questions
Published: 03 January 2006
The widow of a British aristocrat bludgeoned to death in France has been placed under formal investigation for "assassinat", or premeditated murder.
Moscow cuts off Ukraine gas in price row
Published: 02 January 2006
Russian relations with Ukraine's "orange" government sank to a new low yesterday when Moscow first stopped deliveries of natural gas to Kiev indefinitely because of a bitter price row and later accused Ukraine of stealing its gas.
Russian-Ukraine gas dispute hits EU countries with major cuts in deliveries
Published: 02 January 2006
Gas supplies fell sharply Monday to some European countries in the fallout of Moscow's pricing dispute with Ukraine. Officials in some nations urged energy-hungry industries to switch to oil while consumer groups elsewhere braced for price hikes.
Mozart mania: Austrians cash in on Amadeus
Published: 02 January 2006
Mladic arrest for Srebrenica massacre is 'imminent'
Published: 01 January 2006
The arrest of Ratko Mladic, the Serb general wanted for the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica, is thought to be imminent after Serbia's Prime Minister, Vojislav Kostunica, in a surprising turnaround, called the indicted war criminal "a stone around Serbia's neck".
Ukraine and Russia go to the wire over gas supply deal
Published: 01 January 2006
Russia's state-controlled natural gas monopoly, Gazprom, said early today that Ukraine had rejected a final offer on natural gas deliveries in 2006, setting the stage for Moscow to close the taps later today.
Putin's critics take aim as Russia steps into G8 limelight
Published: 31 December 2005
Russia assumes the presidency of the G8 tomorrow for the first time, an event unimaginable 20 years ago when it was part of the Communist Soviet Union, and regarded capitalism as a dirty word. Through 2006, it will provide organisational leadership to the exclusive club which counts among its members the world's eight most-developed industrialised democracies.
France on New Year alert for renewed bout of riots
Published: 31 December 2005
Sales of petrol in cans have been banned in Paris and other French cities as France prepares for a possible New Year's Eve resurgence of last month's suburban riots.
In search of France's black gold
Published: 31 December 2005
