Europe

Chilean university student discovers new planet some 300 light years away

A 25-year-old doctorate student in Chile has discovered a new planet which orbits a red star twice the size of the Sun, located 293 light years from Earth. Maritza Soto Vasquez, an Astronomy student at the University of Chile, said that she had happened upon the planet by coincidence, whilst studying the red star, known as “HD 110014”, which she knew already had one planet in its orbit known as “HD110014 b”. It was then […]

Dead baby whale washed up on beach in Basque country

AUGUST 26 (Reuters) — A dead baby blue whale was found along the shores of French Basque country town Bidart on Monday evening (August 24). Local media reported that the approximately 12-metre long blue whale weighting some five to eight tonnes was found around 20.30 local time (1830 GMT). Firemen secured the area and brought the body of the animal on the beach, where it stayed for the night. Three diggers were necessary to move […]

Train shooting heroes awarded France’s highest honor

(Reuters) — French President Francois Hollande on Monday (August 24) awarded France’s highest honour, the Legion d’honneur, to three U.S. citizens and a Briton who helped disarm a machine gun-toting suspected Islamist militant on a train last week. The award came a day after it was revealed that one of the Americans, Spencer Stone, also appeared to have saved the life of a fellow passenger. The suspect’s lawyer said on Sunday the man named by […]

Italian navy rescues more than 100 migrants in Mediterranean

(Reuters) — Some 111 migrants were rescued from a deflating rubber dinghy in the Mediterranean on Saturday (August 22), the Italian coast guard said, releasing video footage of the rescue operations. The footage released by the coast guard on Sunday (August 23) showed the migrants waving as coast guard officers approached them. Some migrants could be seen holding up the deflated front of their rubber dinghy while officers signalled to the those waving to stay […]

Chilean university student discovers new planet some 300 light years away

AUGUST  21(Reuters)  A 25-year-old doctorate student in Chile has discovered a new planet which orbits a red star twice the size of the Sun, located 293 light years from Earth. Maritza Soto Vasquez, an Astronomy student at the University of Chile, said that she had happened upon the planet by coincidence, whilst studying the red star, known as “HD 110014”, which she knew already had one planet in its orbit known as “HD110014 b”. It […]

Train collision injures 19 people near Budapest

AUGUST 17 (Reuters) — Two trains crashed 50km (31 miles) northeast of Budapest early on Sunday (August 16), injuring 19 people, Hungarian police said. Two people were injured seriously, Imre Kavalecz, spokesman for state rail company MAV, was quoted as saying by national news agency MTI. The trains were carrying 30 to 40 passengers and were traveling at a low speed of about 20km per hour when the crash happened near Galgaguta, Kavalecz said. An […]

French riot police clear migrants off motorway

  (Reuters) — French riot police cleared migrants from a motorway in Calais in the early hours of Sunday (August 2) morning after the migrants sat in the middle of the road to block traffic. A witness to the events, Jason Smith, said 250 migrants tried to enter the Eurotunnel in the evening but were stopped by French police who used tear gas. The migrants then blocked traffic at the Eurotunnel entrance ramp for trucks, […]

Russian state “involved” in ex-KGB agent’s London murder, inquiry hears

(Reuters) — The Russian state must have been involved in the 2006 poisoning of ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko with a radioactive isotope, which amounted to “a nuclear attack on the streets” of London, an inquiry into the death was told on Thursday (July 30). Kremlin critic Litvinenko died weeks after drinking green tea laced with polonium-210 at London’s plush Millennium hotel. From his deathbed he accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering his killing but […]

Greece FM says action toward Greece is ‘terrorism’

(REUTERS) Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said European action toward the country was “terrorism” in an interview with Spanish newspaper El Mundo and said a trillion euros would be lost if Greece was allowed to crash. “What they’re doing with Greece has a name: terrorism,” Varoufakis said in the interview, published on Saturday. “Why have they forced us to close the banks? To frighten people. And when it’s about spreading terror, that is known as […]

PM Tsipras urges vote for “dignity in Europe”

  (Reuters) Greek Prime Minister Tsipras urges crowds in central Athens to spurn the tough terms of an aid deal offered by creditors calling on people to vote ‘No’ in referendum. Elected in January on a promise to end years of austerity, Tsipras wants Greeks to spurn the tough terms of an aid deal offered by international creditors. He frames Sunday’s ballot as a battle for democracy. ALEXIS TSIPRAS, GREEK PRIME MINISTER: “Democracy is liberation, democracy […]

How did Greece get here?

  (Reuters) Alexis Tsipras was voted Prime Minister of Greece on a wave of euphoria after his leftist Syriza party won the election in January this year, promising to overturn 5 years of harsh austerity. With not quite enough votes to form a government, he joined forces with the anti-bailout, far-right Independent Greeks, headed by Panos Kamenos, whom he made Defence Minister. Also invited to join the cabinet were Nikos Kotzias as foreign minister, and […]

Germans take to rivers, lakes to cool off in hot summer weather

JULY 2 (Reuters) — People across Germany enjoyed the warm summer weather on Wednesday (July 1), taking to rivers and lakes to surf or simply relax in the sun. “For me, it can’t be hot enough,” said Mario Maric as he was sunbathing in Munich’s Englischer Garten (English garden) while other young people around him surfed on the Eisbach river and played volleyball or went for a swim. “Summer has to feel like summer,” Maric […]