Norway’s new oil minister says Lofoten moratorium remains in place
Norway’s moratorium on oil exploration in the waters around the Arctic Lofoten-Vesteraalen-Senja archipelago will remain in place, the country’s new oil minister Kjell-Boerge Freiberg told reporters on Friday.
Amsterdam police shoot, wound stabbing suspect
Dutch police said Friday they shot and wounded a suspect at Amsterdam’s main train station after a stabbing incident in which two others were injured.
Syrian swimmer who saved refugees arrested in Greece: lawyer
Sarah Mardini, one of two Syrian sisters who saved over a dozen refugees in 2015 by pulling their sinking dinghy to Greece, has been arrested for alleged people smuggling, her lawyer said on Friday.
Situation at ‘boiling point’ at refugee center on Greek island: U.N.
The United Nations refugee agency urged Greece on Friday to speed up transfers of eligible asylum-seekers from Aegean islands to the mainland, saying conditions at an overcrowded Lesbos reception center were “reaching boiling point”.
Italy may reallocate Autostrade concession in tender: cabinet official
The Italian government could strip a national concession from the country’s biggest toll-road operator, Autostrade, after this month’s deadly bridge collapse and reallocate a revised version of it in a European tender, a senior official said on Friday….
Swedish Academy members deny full return to scandal-ridden body
Three Swedish Academy members, who stepped down this year in protest over a sex scandal, said on Friday they might resume participating in some important votes at the body which decides the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Russia challenges arbitrator’s jurisdiction in Ukraine oil dispute
Russia is contesting the jurisdiction of the international Permanent Court of Arbitration in a dispute with Ukraine over oil rights in the Crimea region, the Hague-based court said on Friday.
Israel sees slowdown in long-term Iranian deployments in Syria
Israel’s defense minister described Iran on Friday as having slowed down its long-term force deployment in Syria, attributing this to Israeli military intervention as well as an economic crisis gripping Tehran as U.S. sanctions are restored.
Three Bulgarian ministers sacked after fatal bus crash
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov sacked three ministers on Friday over a bus accident in which 17 people died, saying politicians needed to take responsibility for a crash that provoked an outcry over the poor state of the country’s roads.
As EU divisions deepen, Macron stakes out electoral turf
Emmanuel Macron’s strategy for next year’s European elections is taking shape and the French president sees it in stark terms – an open battle between anti-immigrant nationalists on the one hand and pro-EU ‘progressives’ on the other.
