CNN – Europe/Mideast/Africa

By Jack Guy and Mostafa Salem, CNN Distributing Covid-19 vaccine booster shots in some countries while inoculations across Africa lag is “immoral,” according to the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO). The increasing use of boosters is “immoral, unfair and unjust and it has to stop,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told CNN’s

By Richard Allen Greene and Kara Fox, CNN The Vatican cannot be sued in European courts because it is a sovereign state, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled Tuesday in dismissing a suit from survivors of abuse by Catholic clergy. It was the ECHR’s first case to deal with the immunity of the

By Vasco Cotovio, Sharon Braithwaite and Helen Regan, CNN The British government failed to act quickly enough in its initial Covid-19 response, enabling the virus to spread rapidly through communities and resulting in thousands of deaths, lawmakers said in a damning report published Tuesday. The report, an initial assessment by the British Parliament’s Health and

By Laura Smith-Spark, CNN The rollout of Covid-19 vaccinations to schoolchildren in the United Kingdom has opened up a new front in the disinformation war: anti-vax campaigners are now taking their protests to the school gates. Groups opposed to vaccination have sought to stoke the fears of parents and children by falsely claiming that the

By Al Goodman, CNN Lava flowing from the Cumbre Vieja volcano on Spain’s La Palma island sparked a fire at a cement factory Monday, leading to at least 2,500 residents to be ordered into lockdown to protect their health, a local official said. The main danger came from the gas and smoke spewing from the

By Aqeel Najim and Mostafa Salem, CNN Iraqi forces captured Sami Jasim, the deputy of former ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Iraq’s Prime Minister said in a statement on Monday. Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi did not disclose details of the operation, however in a statement posted to Twitter, he said that Jasim was detained outside

By Stephanie Halasz, CNN Alexander Schallenberg was named Austria’s new chancellor on Monday after his predecessor, Sebastian Kurz, resigned abruptly amid a corruption scandal. Former foreign minister Schallenberg was sworn in by President Alexander Van der Bellen at the Hofburg palace in Vienna. Schallenberg, 52, is a career diplomat and a close ally of the

By CNN’s Katharina Krebs and Reuters A performer at Moscow’s renowned Bolshoi Theatre was killed on Saturday in an accident on stage during an opera. The Bolshoi, one of Russia’s most prestigious theaters, said the incident occurred during a set change in Sadko, an opera by Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The cast member has been

By Niamh Kennedy and Antonia Mortensen, CNN A record number of people attempted to cross the border between Poland and Belarus Saturday, amid accusations that Belarus is facilitating migration to the European Union’s eastern border. The Polish Border Guard told CNN that Saturday’s figure of of 739 attempted crossings was the most so far for

By Tamara Qiblawi, CNN Lebanon’s main state electricity company supplied around two hours of power to the national grid, local residents told CNN on Sunday, a day after the country was reported to have disconnected from its grid due to fuel depletion. On Saturday, Lebanon’s Energy Minister Walid Fayad told CNN Arabic that reports of

By John Mastrini and Sheena McKenzie, CNN Czech President Miloš Zeman is in a stable condition in intensive care after he was hospitalized following a dramatic election that saw a majority of voters reject the country’s populist prime minister. Zeman, who plays a crucial role in choosing the next prime minister, was admitted to Prague’s

By Stephanie Halasz, Martin Goillandeau and Niamh Kennedy CNN Austrian leader Sebastian Kurz said he was stepping down from his office Saturday evening, days after his office was raided by Austrian prosecutors investigating him and close team members on suspicion of bribery and breach of trust. Kurz, speaking in a televised address on Austrian television

By John Mastrini and Sheena McKenzie, CNN The Czech Republic‘s billionaire prime minister appears to have lost his grip on power after his populist party failed to win a majority in Saturday’s nail-bitingly close election. The results mean opposition coalitions could now join forces to grab power after a dramatic day at the ballot box.

By Jeevan Ravindran and Robert Iddiols, CNN The Archbishop of Toledo in Spain has apologized after two artists filmed a racy music video in the city’s cathedral, saying he was completely unaware of the project and its content. Spanish artist C. Tangana and Argentinian singer Nathy Peluso filmed parts of the video for their track

By David McKenzie and Nimi Princewill, CNN A safe house was the only place Joe felt protected enough to meet. Tucked away in a neighborhood of Accra, off Aflao Road, a group of Ghanaian gay activists use the house to gather in secret and provide shelter to LGBTQ people in need. Sitting on the corner