At least 45 people were killed when a bus with North Macedonian plates caught fire on a highway in western Bulgaria on Tuesday, officials said.

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said yesterday that the European Union was refusing to discuss the fate of 2,000 migrants wishing to go to Europe and stranded in Belarus.

Australia formally embarked yesterday on a hotly-contested programme to equip its navy with nuclear-powered submarines in a new defence alliance with Britain and the United States.

Egypt has used intelligence supplied by the French military to target and “kill civilians” suspected of smuggling, according to a report Sunday by investigative website Disclose, based on leaked documents.

The death toll from record flooding in western Canada has risen to four, with a fifth person still missing, local authorities there said Saturday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov yesterday slammed the United States for driving “hysteria” over a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine, after Western countries accused Moscow of a troop build-up near the ex-Soviet country.

Fifth-wave coronavirus infections in France are rising at an alarming rate, the government reported yesterday, with new daily Covid cases close to doubling over the past week.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki yesterday called the migrant crisis on the Belarusian-Polish border, the EU’s eastern frontier, the “greatest attempt to destabilise Europe” since the Cold War.

As Western Europe’s vaccination rollout gained strength in the early part of 2021, many of the region’s leaders touted the shots as their immediate route out of the pandemic.

A large fire broke out in a building on boulevard des Capucines, near the Place de L'Opera square in central Paris on Saturday, sending clouds of smoke rising into the air.

Police opened fire on protesters and seven people were injured in rioting that erupted in downtown Rotterdam around a demonstration against COVID-19 restrictions. The Dutch city’s mayor called it “an orgy of violence.”

Climate activist Greta Thunberg yesterday slammed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson for using a jet during his hosting of the COP26 summit in Glasgow and called world leaders’ behaviour “hypocritical”.

As global trade in red and processed meats has increased, so have chronic diseases associated with meat consumption, a study looking at data from 154 countries found on Thursday.

Austria will become the first country in western Europe to reimpose a full Covid-19 lockdown, it said yesterday as neighbouring Germany warned it may follow suit, sending shivers through financial markets worried about the economic fallout.

A boat carrying the bodies of 10 migrants found dead at sea arrived in Sicily on Friday, along with dozens of people it rescued this week as they tried to cross the Mediterranean.

Britain's interior minister Priti Patel on Friday said she had banned the Palestinian militant group Hamas in a move that brings the UK's stance on Gaza's rulers in line with the United States and the European Union.

Canada is sending the military to help evacuate and support communities hit by “catastrophic” flooding, with the death toll expected to rise after record rainfall on the Pacific coast triggered a state of emergency Wednesday.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says coronavirus deaths in Europe have risen by 5 percent in the last week, making it the only region in the world where fatalities have increased.

Poland yesterday warned that the crisis on the Belarusian border could last for months or even years, a day after Polish forces used tear gas and water cannon to deter stone-throwing migrants.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces a parliamentary grilling yesterday over sleaze allegations, as tensions ran high within his Conservative party due to his proposals to ban MPs from paid political consultancy work.