European Union

Some 660,000 hectares of land has been burned from the start of the year until 13 August, according to figures from the European Forest Fire Information System (Effis).

A senior Hungarian judge has spoken to the Observer newspaper about how the government of Viktor Orbán is "constantly overreaching" its authority to sway courts. Csaba Vasvári, a senior judge at the Budapest metropolitan court for 18 years, said we "have been witnessing external and internal influence attempts" for several years — a rare domestic confirmation of EU fears over Hungary's attack on the independence of the judiciary.

Vladimir Putin has said Russia and North Korea will expand bilateral relations. Putin told the North Korean ruler, Kim Jong-un, that the two countries would "expand the comprehensive and constructive bilateral relations with common efforts", the Pyongyang's state news agency KCNA reported on Monday. Separately, the Russian ambassador in Kabul, Dmitry Zhirnov, has said working with the Taliban is necessary where it "suits our interests", the Guardian reported.

So far in 2022 more than 20,017 people have been recorded attempting to cross the Channel between France and the UK, the Guardian reported. At the same point in 2021, the figure was 11,300 crossings. On Saturday the daily total topped 600 for the third time this year, with 607 people detecting crossing the Channel in 14 boats — the equivalent of about 43 people per vessel.

EU leaders condemned over the weekend the stabbing attack on British author Salman Rushdie in New York state, with EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell calling it "despicable". French president Emmanuel Macron said: "[Rushdie] has just been the victim of a cowardly attack by the forces of hatred and barbarism. His fight is our fight; it is universal", while UK PM Boris Johnson said he was "appalled" by the attack.

Russian soldiers shooting at or from Europe's largest nuclear power station in occupied Ukraine will become a "special target" of his forces, Ukrainian president Volodmyr Zelensky said in a video address on Sunday. Zelensky warned that Russia may be about to conduct a false flag operation to claim Kyiv had struck the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. He added anyone giving orders for attacks on the site should face an international court.

Swedish social democrat prime minister Magdalena Andersson on Sunday presented the most extensive toughening of penalties against gang crime ever presented in Sweden. "Too much migration and too weak integration has led to parallel societies where criminal gangs have been able to grow and gain a foothold", Andersson said. The initiative comes after 232 shootings in August and ahead of general elections in Sweden on 11 September.

Ukrainian forces reported heavy Russian shelling and attempts to advance on several towns in the eastern region of Donetsk that has become a key focus of the near six-month war, but said they had repelled many of the attacks.

With war-fatigue starting to take root in the EU, there is a real risk Moscow and Ankara could share the spoils of Ukraine, in a way that leaves its sovereignty severely compromised.

After four inconclusive sessions, UN member states on Monday (15 August) resume talks aimed at finally completing a treaty to protect the world's high seas, a vital yet fragile resource that covers nearly half the planet.

A forest fire that flared anew in southern France sent 1,000 more people fleeing while overnight rain brought blazes elsewhere in the country under control, officials said on Sunday (14 August).

German finance minister Christian Lindner has written to the Commission seeking permission to waive value-added tax on a new gas price levy for a limited period of time, a copy of his letter seen by Reuters showed on 14 August.

Switzerland could prevent an energy shortage by aligning with a European Union plan to cut gas use by 15% this winter, Energy Minister Simonetta Sommaruga told newspaper SonntagsBlick.

The EU on Sunday (14 August) said it was "particularly concerned" about worsening conditions for women and girls in Afghanistan after the country's ruling Taliban violently broke up a women's rally.

Ukraine is targeting Russian soldiers who shoot at Europe's largest nuclear power station or use it as a base to shoot from, as G7 nations, fearing a nuclear catastrophe, called on Moscow to withdraw its forces from the plant.

Russia's Gazprom has ramped up flows to Hungary via the TurkStream pipeline that brings gas to Hungary via Bulgaria and Serbia, a Hungarian foreign ministry official said on Saturday (13 August).

Any possible seizure of Russian assets by the United States will completely destroy Moscow's bilateral relations with Washington, TASS quoted the head of the North American Department at the Russian foreign ministry as saying on Saturday (13 August).

Eleven people including two children were shot dead in Montenegro on Friday (12 August) evening in the deadliest mass shooting the Western Balkan country has ever experienced.

FBI agents in this week's search of former US President Donald Trump's Florida home removed 11 sets of classified documents including some marked as top secret, the Justice Department said on Friday (12 August).

The number of migrants arriving in the European Union rose by 86%t between January and July compared to the same period last year, the European border agency Frontex said Friday (12 August).