Europe

Vatican 'Surprised' By Pope's Resignation Announcement

11:41am February 11, 2013

Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday that he will resign on February 28 because he no longer has the strength to fulfill the duties of his office. For more details, Renee Montagne speaks with journalist Josephine McKenna in Rome.

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World News

Bulgaria Links Hezbollah To Deadly Attack On Israelis

8:51am February 10, 2013

by Michele Kelemen

The attack at a Black Sea resort town last July killed five Israeli tourists and one Bulgarian citizen. In response, the White House called Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, a "real and growing threat not only to Europe, but to the rest of the world."

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World News

Spain's Wind Farms Break Energy Record

12:28pm February 08, 2013

by Lauren Frayer

For the first time, electricity production from Spanish wind mills topped that of nuclear, coal and solar. Spain's location in the south of Europe means it's endowed with lots of sunshine and clear windy skies — which it's put to use becoming a leader in renewable energy.

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Employees of Hellenic Postbank protest during a strike against the bank's privatization in Athens, in December.

Privatization Of Greek Assets Runs Behind Schedule

3:07pm February 07, 2013

by Sylvia Poggioli

The sweeping fire sale is a requirement for multibillion-euro bailouts. And the Chinese, Russian and Arab companies lining up to take advantage of the steep discounts are making Greeks and other Europeans nervous.

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Georgia Kolia, 63, has two adult children, both unemployed. She works as a volunteer distributing loaves of bread at the Agia Zonis Orthodox church soup kitchen for the poor in Athens, Greece, in April 2012.

World News

For Greeks, Painful Cuts Keep Tearing At The Social Fabric

6:12pm February 06, 2013

by Sylvia Poggioli

Three years of austerity measures are hitting ordinary Greeks hard. Unemployment is nearly 27 percent and rising, and the once dependable safety net of welfare benefits is being pulled in. Further cutbacks and tax hikes are about to kick in.

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Sergei Filin, artistic director of the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre's Bolshoi Ballet, was nearly blinded by an attacker on Jan. 17.

In Moscow, Scandals Shake A Storied Ballet

1:47pm February 05, 2013

by Elizabeth Blair

The Bolshoi Ballet is deeply beloved in Russia. But a series of recent scandals — capped by a nasty acid attack on the company's artistic director in mid-January — has sent shock waves through artistic circles.

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A protester holds a petrol bomb during clashes with riot police after a demonstration against new austerity measures outside the parliament in Athens, Greece, on Nov. 7.

World News

Violence At Both Ends Of Political Spectrum Threatens Greece

8:33pm February 04, 2013

by Sylvia Poggioli

Debt-burdened Greece's fragile political stability is under attack. On the left, anti-government groups have bombed a series of Greek government offices, banks and other symbols of the establishment. Meanwhile, violent attacks by supporters of a neo-Nazi and anti-immigrant party are also on the rise.

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Valencia spent more than $1.5 billion to build the City of Arts and Sciences, the museum complex shown here in a photo from summer 2011.

World News

How A Spanish City Went Boom, Then Bust

2:29pm February 04, 2013

by Lauren Frayer

Valencia, which once spent lavishly on tourism projects, now epitomizes the worst of Spain's economic problems. Its landscape is littered with empty and half-finished buildings, and the regional government has run out of funds to repair schools.

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World News

Where's The Beef? Burger King Finds Horsemeat In Its U.K. Patties

8:21pm February 01, 2013

by Vicki Barker

The fast food giant said this week that some of its burgers in Britain and Ireland were found to contain horsemeat. That's prompted a Twitter campaign and threats of a boycott.

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The Nazis imprisoned Czech composer Rudolf Karel (shown here in a sketch from 1945) for helping the resistance in Prague. He wrote his compositions down on toilet paper.

Honoring 'Our Will To Live': The Lost Music Of The Holocaust

9:56am February 01, 2013

by Sylvia Poggioli

For two decades, Italian musicologist Francesco Lotoro has searched for and resurrected works of music written in World War II concentration, labor and POW camps. He wants to fill the hole the Holocaust left in Europe's musical history and document the triumph of creativity over brutality.

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