Spain's monarch pays tribute to the victims of Valencia floods in his Christmas Eve speech

MADRID (AP) — Spanish King Felipe VI used his traditional Christmas Eve speech to remember the victims of the catastrophic Valencia flash floods, and urged the country to remain calm while addressing hot-button issues such as immigration and housing affordability. In a pre-recorded...

France has a new government, again. Politics and crushing debt complicate next steps

PARIS (AP) — France’s president and prime minister managed to form a new government just in time for the holidays. Now comes the hard part. Crushing debt, intensifying pressure from the nationalist far right, wars in Europe and the Mideast: Challenges abound for President...

US and UK criticize Pakistani military court convictions of civilian supporters of Imran Khan

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The United States and the United Kingdom have expressed concern over convictions imposed by Pakistani military courts to 25 civilian supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan over their alleged involvement in riots last year. The convictions had previously...

Albania opposition activists rally on streets of Tirana to demand government steps aside

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Members of Albania’s main opposition party on Monday blocked the capital Tirana’s main intersections in an anti-government protest calling for a technocratic caretaker cabinet ahead of next year's parliamentary elections. In the first rally after their...

Russia's Putin holds talks with Slovakian PM Fico, in a rare visit to Moscow by an EU leader

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday hosted Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, in a rare visit to the Kremlin by an EU leader since Moscow's all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Fico arrived in Russia on a “working visit” and met with Putin one-on-one on...

Russia's Putin holds talks with Slovakian PM Fico, in a rare visit to Moscow by an EU leader

Hungary's Orbán blames immigration and EU for the deadly attack in Germany

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Saturday drew a direct link between immigration and an attack in Germany where a man drove into a Christmas market teeming with holiday shoppers, killing at least five people and injuring 200 others. During a rare...

Trump adds Europe to the list of US trade partners he's threatening with tariffs

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Friday added the 27 countries that make up the European Union to the list of trade partners he's threatening with tariffs — unless the group takes steps to import more U.S. goods. “I told the European Union that they...

Hungary’s Orbán says European leaders must change strategy on Ukraine

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Friday that European leaders must acknowledge the need to change their strategy regarding Ukraine. In comments to Hungary’s state broadcaster on Friday, Orbán argued that the current strategy was not working...

Rising butter prices give European consumers and bakers a bad taste

PARIS (AP) — Pastry chef Arnaud Delmontel rolls out dough for croissants and pain au chocolat that later emerge golden and fragrant from the oven in his Paris patisserie. The price for the butter so essential to the pastries has shot up in recent months, by 25% since September...