LAZARAT, Albania (AP) — About 400 Albanian police officers, backed up by two army helicopters, started to move late Wednesday into a major illegal marijuana-growing village after gunmen there fatally shot one policeman and wounded two others. Local media said gunfire was heard coming from the southern village of Lazarat throughout the day, but an … Continue reading
PARIS (AP) — A French appeals court ruled Wednesday that police carried out unjustified identity checks on five minority men based on their racial profiles, ordering the government to pay them damages in an unprecedented ruling that activists hope will help reduce widespread discrimination. The collective case, which included 13 men, all black or of … Continue reading
LONDON (AP) — British crime experts say some 300 suspects have been identified in a wide-ranging inquiry into industrial-scale child sex abuse in the northern city of Rotherham. The National Crime Agency said Wednesday that earlier reports saying roughly 1,400 children had been abused in the city between the years of 1997 and 2013 appear … Continue reading
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A Dutch court ordered the government Wednesday to slash greenhouse gas emissions to help fight global warming, a landmark ruling in a case brought by hundreds of concerned citizens that could pave the way for similar legal battles around the world. Climate activists in a packed courtroom in The Hague … Continue reading
MOSCOW (AP) — The Moscow city legislature on Wednesday gave the go-ahead for a popular vote on whether to restore the statue of the Soviet secret police’s founder to a square in central Moscow, but the city election commission vowed to block the motion. The statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the Bolshevik revolutionary nicknamed Iron Felix, … Continue reading
PARIS (AP) — Embarrassed by leaked conversations of three successive French presidents and angered by new evidence of uninhibited American spying, France demanded answers Wednesday and called for an intelligence “code of conduct” between allies. France’s foreign minister summoned the U.S. ambassador to respond to the WikiLeaks revelations, while President Barack Obama spoke by phone … Continue reading
LONDON (AP) — Thousands of revelers, new-agers and self-styled Druids descended on the ancient stone circle at Stonehenge on Sunday, catching a brief glimpse of the sun as they marked the summer solstice — the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. About 23,000 sun-watchers gathered on the Salisbury Plain about 80 miles … Continue reading
SHANGHAI (AP) — Italian prosecutors are seeking to indict 297 people and the Bank of China in connection with a massive money-laundering investigation reported by The Associated Press earlier this month. The suspects, mostly Chinese migrants living in Italy, include four senior managers of the Chinese state bank’s branch in Milan. According to prosecutors, at … Continue reading
MADRID (AP) — Emergency services in Spain’s northeastern region of Catalonia successfully rescued an injured caver from deep underground on Sunday after deploying a team of 40 experts. The fire department of the region of Catalonia said rescuers had used special tools to chip away at sections of the cave to widen it in order … Continue reading
BERLIN (AP) — A prominent Al-Jazeera journalist will remain in German custody for a second night, prosecutors said Sunday, adding they have not yet decided whether to extradite him to Egypt or set him free. As dozens of supporters protested Sunday in front of the Berlin court building where Ahmed Mansour was being held, his … Continue reading
ISTANBUL (AP) — Two weeks after Turkey’s parliamentary elections, experts agree on one thing: No one really knows what’s going to happen next. Turkey’s June 7 election left Turkey’s long-ruling Justice and Development Party, known by Turkish acronym AKP, short of the majority it needs to govern alone, meaning it will have to turn to … Continue reading
BRUSSELS (AP) — Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras headed to Brussels late Sunday for a crucial emergency eurozone summit aimed at reaching a deal between Athens and its international creditors that would allow the debt-ravaged country to avoid a default and a potentially disastrous exit from the euro. Tsipras’ departure for Monday’s summit of the … Continue reading
VENTIMIGLIA, Italy (AP) — Italy warned retaliation Sunday against the European Union if governments don’t make good on proposals to take in more asylum-seekers as migrants desperate to reach northern Europe refused for a third day to leave borders tightened by Italy’s neighbors. “We are not going back,” a few dozen migrants chanted in Ventimiglia, … Continue reading
MATTERDALE, England (AP) — James Rebanks sits in his stone farmhouse, describing the hardscrabble mountain life his family has known for six centuries or more. Then his cell phone rings. It’s a big London ad agency, hoping to sign him up for a project. Rebanks is probably the world’s most famous shepherd, with a hit … Continue reading
LONDON (AP) — A week ago, Tim Hunt was a well-known Nobel Prize winner who was promoting science education throughout Europe and the world. Today he’s widely perceived as a sexist who has been stripped of most of his positions because of inappropriate comments about women in science. Gone is his position with the European … Continue reading
TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Severe flooding in the Georgian capital left at least 12 people dead Sunday and triggered a big-game hunt across the city for lions, tigers, a hippopotamus and other dangerous animals that escaped from Tbilisi’s ravaged zoo. Residents were warned to stay indoors as police conducted the hunt, but fear deepened as … Continue reading
CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — Moldovans voted in local elections Sunday which are seen as a test of whether the country is committed to European integration or will move closer to Russia’s orbit. The elections in the former Soviet republic come two days after pro-European Prime Minister Chiril Gaburici resigned amid questions about the authenticity of … Continue reading
ELMAU, Germany (AP) — After spending much of the first day talking about Ukraine, leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies shifted their focus Monday to global issues including climate change, terrorism and the threat from diseases such as Ebola. German Chancellor Angela Merkel aimed to get backing for a strong agreement on cutting … Continue reading
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Oscar-winning Italian composer Ennio Morricone this week will premiere a Mass he composed to mark the 200th anniversary of the restoration of the Jesuit order and named for its most illustrious member, Pope Francis. The Jesuits said in a statement that the 86-year-old Morricone will conduct “Missa Papae Francisci” on Wednesday … Continue reading
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s ruling Islamic-rooted party is likely to need a coalition partner to form the next government after getting hit with surprisingly strong losses in a national vote, yet other parties vowed Monday to resist any such pact. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamic-based Justice and Development Party, known as the AKP, won … Continue reading
SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Macedonia’s main opposition leader has called for a caretaker government to lead the country until early elections next year, following an agreement to hold a ballot to resolve one of the country’s worst political crises since its independence in 1991. Social-Democrat head Zoran Zaev said Monday he would not accept a … Continue reading
PARIS (AP) — Members of a radical Islamic group went on trial Monday in Paris after French prosecutors alleged they planned terror attacks similar to those on a kosher grocery and a satirical newspaper that left 17 victims dead in January. Mohamed Achamlane, the leader of Forsane Alizza (Knights of Pride), was among the 15 … Continue reading
MADRID (AP) — An 8-year-old Ivory Coast boy caught being smuggled into Spain in a suitcase last month was reunited Monday with his mother. A statement from the city of Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in North Africa, said Adou Ouattara was returned to his mother at a youth center where he has been cared for … Continue reading
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek bailout negotiators sought Monday to narrow their differences with international creditors following days of acrimony over rival reform proposals for a deal to unlock Greece’s remaining rescue funds. With Greece facing an end-of-month deadline to secure a deal, government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis said negotiators were in Brussels to explore the … Continue reading
PARIS (AP) — Paris police evacuated hundreds of migrants Tuesday from a makeshift tent camp near a major train station and tourist area, then bulldozed their leftover debris from a patch of pavement that had become a symbol of Europe’s migrant crisis. The migrants, mostly from East Africa, took agonizing journeys to reach the French … Continue reading
Spartan Echo 