Europe

Unprecedented in the history of international relations, the governments of four European countries - France, Spain, Italy and Portugal - have closed off their airspace this week to the Bolivian president’s airplane. Is this a case of strict compliance with international laws or further proof of the servility of European ’powers’ towards Washington? To better answer this simple question, French pundit Salim Lamrani sets out a list of 25 facts.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has resigned from the country’s Constitutional Council following a ruling that said he breached spending limits during his 2012 presidential campaign.

France's foreign intelligence service intercepts computer and telephone data on a vast scale, like the controversial US Prism programme.

Declassified papers reveal that plutonium fallout hit the whole of French Polynesia, a much broader area than France had previously admitted. Tahiti, the most populated island, was exposed to 500 times the maximum accepted levels of radiation. The impact spread as far as the tourist island, Bora Bora.

The European Union is examining the potential violation of the EU law over revealed tapping of global communications and sharing of gleaned data with the United States.

A hidden microphone has been found in the office of Ecuadorian ambassador to Britain Ana Alban as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange remains holed up in the building for fear of arrest by the British police. The Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said they have yet no clues as to who planted the bug, found last month.

The ‘biggest bilateral trade deal in history’, reached at the G8 Summit, is possibly at risk as rapport between the US and EU quickly degenerates over leaks which reveal the US allegedly spied on EU diplomats.

The world's first "three-parent baby" could be born in Britain by 2015, if detailed proposals for regulating the procedure pass a public consultation and are approved by Parliament next year.

Russia said that U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden has a chance to receive political asylum from Moscow if he requests it. The Russian parliament has also invited Snowden to assist probe and collaborate into the possible handover of information on Russian citizens to US information providers, and provide them with proof of US intelligence agencies’ access to the servers of Internet firms.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned against supplying arms to the foreign-backed militants in Syria, saying the risks of the move are too high.

Malta's Nationalist MP proposes Constitutional amendment and appeals for “sexual orientation” to be added to the fundamental rights and freedoms protected by the state.

Malta set to lose €11 million over 30 years following €50.6 million loan to Greece, finance minister says.