All Europe
Italians, backed by the Catholic Church, aim to stop Sunday shoppingA law that deregulates store hours in Italy, allowing businesses to operate on Sundays in order to stimulate economic growth, has fueled opposition since its inception a year ago.
A year after being literally wiped out, a Russian hockey team flourishesLast November, nearly every member of the team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl was killed in a plane crash that devastated the hockey world. Today, the team is one of the KHL's best.
Doing the Lindy for fun and exercise in MoscowA forbidden cultural import during the cold war, American swing dance and rock 'n' roll are now seeing a jump in popularity among Russians who embrace the retro Americana.
Putin presser: chilling news for orphans, but warm words for DepardieuIn a lengthy session, Russian President Putin backed a bill banning US adoption of Russian children 鈥� but offered residency to G茅rard Depardieu, who renounced his French citizenship over high taxes.
What's behind Russia's bill banning US adoptions?The bill had originally been a smaller, tit-for-tat response to US legislation, but the Russian Duma has expanded it into a much broader anti-American measure that even Putin may not approve.
Ireland announces abortion law reforms, leaving no one satisfiedThe new legislation is meant to clarify Ireland's stance on abortion when the mother's health is at risk, but antiabortion groups say it goes too far, and abortion-rights groups not far enough.
Newtown shooting highlights Russia's gun-control debatePrime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called for further strengthening of Russia's already strict gun-control laws on Monday, but some Russians argue more guns would make the public safer.
For Brits, Newtown shooting brings reminders of DunblaneIn 1996, 16 children died at the hands of a lone gunman in Scotland, spurring a radical reform of British gun laws. But Britain's experience may be too different to help a post-Newtown US.
US Magnitsky Law draws Kremlin ire 鈥� but many Russians support itThe new law, enacted in the US last week to target Russians involved in the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, has infuriated the Kremlin, which sees it as a 'purely political, unfriendly act.'
N. Irish police involved in Belfast lawyer's 1989 murder, says reportToday's report said Northern Irish police colluded in a loyalist paramilitary's murder of high-profile lawyer Patrick Finucane, though it did not find an 'overarching state conspiracy.'
FocusBaltic nations offer ex-Soviet states a Western modelThe tiny states of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, having shed their Russian-dominated past and joined the EU and NATO, are looking to help their post-Soviet neighbors to do the same.- FocusLeft behind? Russian-speaking minorities struggle in new BalticsWhile the Baltics make economic and democratic strides, they also face growing pressure to better integrate their poor, disenfranchised Russian-speaking minorities.
FocusA Russian island encircled by Europe: Kaliningrad's dual existenceOnce the Prussian city of K枚nigsberg but now separated from the rest of Russia by Lithuania and Poland, Kaliningrad occupies a peculiar space in Europe both geographically and psychologically.
Is Berlusconi really set to lead Italy again?Mario Monti's resignation as prime minister of Italy has opened the door to Silvio Berlusconi's return to the office 鈥� and he has promised that he will run again in February's elections.
Amid criticism, EU receives Nobel Peace PrizeMore than 20 top EU leaders attended today's awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union. But critics say the EU's win, coming amid the financial crisis, is inappropriate.
On Europe's foreign agenda: how to handle IsraelThe future of Israeli-European relations will be on the agenda when European Union foreign ministers meet today to broach the subject of Israel.聽
Six days of riots erupt in the 'New Northern Ireland'A motion in Belfast to stop flying the British Union flag year-round touched off the riots, but the issues run deeper.聽
Starbucks tax avoidance has Brits frothing madAngry over the negligible corporate taxes that Starbucks and other corporations have paid to Britain despite huge revenues, a protest group is threatening to occupy Starbucks shops on Saturday.
Norwegian protesters say EU Nobel Peace Prize win devalues awardMore than 50 organizations plan to march in Oslo on Sunday to protest of the Nobel Committee's award of the 2012 Peace Prize to the EU at a time of debt crisis.
The ExplainerBriefing: Catalonia's bid to breakaway from SpainAusterity's bite revives a long-running independence push for Spain's Catalonia. How likely is its success?
