Europe | GlobalPost

Russia's Victory Day parade bolsters nationalism

Miriam Elder May 9, 2010 16:26Updated May 30, 2010 13:32

MOSCOW, Russia — The 9-year-old boy craned his neck and shot a finger into the sky. “Here they come, here they come!” he shouted, as four supersonic Blackjack bombers shot through the skies above. “Yes, my golden one,” his grandmother replied. “Now you’ll never forget.” That, arguably, is the mission of Russia’s annual Victory Day parade, held with increasing fanfare each May 9 to mark the end of World War II.

Britain: Pols keep people waiting

Michael GoldfarbMay 9, 2010 08:30

LONDON, U.K. — Why are we waiting? Why-eye are we waiting? Why are we wai-ting? Oh, why, why, why?

EU leaders defend the euro

Teri SchultzMay 8, 2010 09:36Updated May 30, 2010 13:32

The EU debates increasing maternal leave

Teri SchultzMay 9, 2010 10:15Updated May 30, 2010 13:32

BRUSSELS, Belgium — Some women have a lot more mother’s days than others. Glory Francke, an American teaching in Sweden, left her job when she had her first daughter in 2002 and remained at home and on salary through the arrival of her second daughter in 2003. Then she went to law school while her husband Filip stayed home nine months with the girls while getting paid. Francke, now with a law degree and a little boy to boot, called the arrangement a “fantastic privilege.”

As Russia releases Somalis, other "pirates" languish in jail

Miriam ElderMay 7, 2010 22:52Updated May 30, 2010 13:32

MOSCOW, Russia — When the Moscow University, an oil tanker owned by the Russian government, sent out a distress signal from the Gulf of Aden early Wednesday, a rescue plan emerged like clockwork. The ship’s crew cut the power and hid in a saferoom as Somali pirates boarded the vessel, loaded with $52 million worth of oil destined for China. A nearby Russian warship, the Marshall Shaposhnikov, changed course and headed for the distressed tanker.

Top 10 photos: eurozone debt crisis

News DeskMay 9, 2010 10:23Updated May 30, 2010 13:32

BOSTON — They were the first fatalities of the unrest gripping Athens — three workers killed Wednesday when protesters set fire to a bank building.

Northern Ireland voters reject Mr. Robinson

Conor O'CleryMay 7, 2010 11:22Updated May 30, 2010 13:32

DUBLIN, Ireland ─ One of the biggest shocks in the United Kingdom's general election came in Belfast, where the leader of Northern Ireland’s biggest party lost the parliamentary seat he has kept warm for 31 years. Peter Robinson, who heads the Democratic Unionist Party, conceded defeat in East Belfast to Naomi Long, deputy leader of the moderate Alliance party, which straddles the sectarian divide in Northern Ireland.

Who has a mandate to govern in Britain?

Michael GoldfarbMay 7, 2010 07:28Updated May 30, 2010 13:32

10:17 a.m. ET — Now it's Cameron's turn

British elections: The counting begins

Michael GoldfarbMay 6, 2010 17:30Updated May 30, 2010 13:32

8:55 p.m. ET — Brown re-elected ... Cameron a safe bet. Gordon Brown has just been re-elected in his constituency in Fife in eastern Scotland. He told the assembly at the counting hall, he would continue to "play his part" in creating "stable government" for Britain. Sufficiently ambiguous to be interpreted as a valedictory statement or a declaration of willingness to form a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats.

Does the French media censor itself?

Mildrade CherfilsMay 7, 2010 19:02Updated May 30, 2010 13:32

PARIS, France — Press reports speculating on the love lives of France’s president and first lady have raised eyebrows for a reason one might not expect: the possibility of government pressure on the press. Two journalists were fired after a story about the rumors of infidelity by the first couple was removed from the website of the weekly newspaper, Le Journal du Dimanche, which is owned by a friend of President Nicolas Sarkozy.