FRANCE 24 explores events across Europe, including in the 27 member states of the European Union and the United Kingdom. Follow our on-the-ground reports, interviews and analyses of the events affecting social and political life on the Continent and Europe’s role in the world.
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Russia and Ukraine carry out another POW exchange
19 June 2025
Russia and Ukraine on Thursday completed another exchange of prisoners of war, with officials on both sides releasing photos of soldiers wrapped in their national flags, cheering. Neither side said how many prisoners were freed in Thursday's exchange.
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Budapest mayor says Pride march will go ahead despite police ban
19 June 2025
Budapest's liberal Mayor Gergely Karacsony vowed the city's Pride march would go ahead on June 28 despite a police ban on the event announced on Thursday. Police said they could ban the event under a Hungarian law that bans the promotion of same-sex relationships to under-18s.
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Putin says NATO’s increased defence spending poses no 'threat' to Russia
19 June 2025
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that NATO's drive to increase defence spending was no "threat" to Moscow, ahead of the alliance's expected approval of a plan to bolster European military capacity. In a late-night briefing, Putin vowed to continue advancing in Ukraine, questioned President Volodymyr Zelensky's legitimacy and dismissed civilian deaths from Russian attacks.
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Macron launches 'initiative' with EU partners to end Iran-Israel conflict
19 June 2025
French President Emmanuel Macron has tasked his foreign minister with drafting a proposal, in coordination with European partners, for a “demanding negotiated settlement” to end the Iran-Israel conflict, his office said Wednesday. The plan will be prepared in the coming days but details have yet to be disclosed.
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Belgium seeks to try ex-diplomat over 1961 killing of Congo independence icon
18 June 2025
Over 60 years after the killing of the first Congolese prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, prosecutors in Belgium announced Tuesday they were looking to try the last of 10 Belgians accused of complicity in the murder of the iconic leader, in the European country's latest effort to reckon with its colonial past.
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Parliamentary report urges Paris to apologise for French Polynesia nuclear tests
17 June 2025
A French parliamentary report released on Tuesday called for Paris to apologise to French Polynesia for decades of nuclear tests that exposed locals to dangerous radiation. France detonated 193 nuclear bombs from 1966, especially at Moruroa and Fangataufa atolls – leaving a lasting legacy of serious health damage.
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G7 pledges support for Ukraine without US after Trump makes abrupt exit from summit
17 June 2025
Group of Seven powers pledged their support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday as Russia stepped up its attacks on Kyiv, but fell short of issuing a joint statement after the US attempted to "water it down." The US president left the G7 summit early to return to Washington to focus on the Israel-Iran conflict.
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Spain says 'overvoltage' caused major April power outage
17 June 2025
Spain's government said Tuesday that the massive April power blackout across Spain and Portugal that disrupted businesses, internet connectivity, transit systems and other critical infrastructures was caused by a surge in voltage that triggered a chain reaction across the grid.
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🌟The Bright Side: Viking burial site discovered by accident in Denmark
17 June 2025
Around 30 graves from the Viking Age were found by accident when pearls, coins, ceramics and a box containing gold thread were unearthed in a construction site near Lisbjerg near the city of Aarhus in Denmark. Archaeologists believe that the burial site most likely belonged to a noble family that lived during the reign of King Harald Bluetooth in the 10th century AD.
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North Korea to send military construction workers, deminers to rebuild Russia's Kursk region
17 June 2025
North Korea will send military builders and deminers to help restore Russia's Kurk region, Russian news agencies reported Moscow's security chief as saying Tuesday while he was on a trip to Pyongyang. North Korea has become one of Russia's main allies during Moscow's years-long war in Ukraine.
