Europe News

By Philip Pullella

ROME (Reuters) - An Italian museum on Thursday defied Pope Benedict and refused to remove a modern art sculpture portraying a crucified green frog holding a beer mug and an egg that the Vatican had condemned as blasphemous.

The board of the Museion museum in the northern city of Bolzano decided by a majority vote that the frog was a work of art and would stay in place for the remainder of an exhibition.

The wooden sculpture by the late German artist Martin Kippenberger depicts a frog about 1 meter 30 cm (4 feet) high nailed to brown cross and holding a beer mug in one outstretched hand and an egg in another.

The G7, the seven most industrialised nations, have issued a stinging condemnation of the Russian recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

LONDON - British police charged three men with terrorism offences on Thursday over threats to kill Prime Minister Gordon Brown posted on a militant Islamic website.Lancashire police said they had charged Ishaq ...

Premier Silvio Berlusconi's Cabinet is to meet to discuss changes to a bankruptcy-protection law to fit Alitalia's needs, a crucial step in its plan to save the loss-making airline.

Low-fare transatlantic airline Zoom tonight suspended all operations and cancelled all flights after running into financial difficulties.

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel topped Forbes magazine's list of the world's 100 most powerful women for the third year running, while U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice slipped to seventh from fourth ...

A third travel company has gone bust this summer with up to 500 people set to lose their holidays, it was revealed today.

"Over its 15 years of existence, The Moscow Times managed to win its readership's acclaim as the nation's most popular English language daily.

Independent News & Media, owner of The Independent newspaper, has seen its half-year profits plunge 35.6 per cent because of poor consumer confidence and challenging trading conditions.

ROME - When it comes to political satire, Italians like theirs hot -- with buxom women in mini-skirts and low-cut tops dancing as cameras zoom in on their breasts and long legs.So much so that ...

MADRID, Spain - The Spanair plane that crashed in Madrid, killing 154 people, had landing gear trouble a month ago that forced the pilot to abandon a first attempt at takeoff, the airline acknowledged ...

The conflict in Georgia revealed problems that extend well beyond our region. Recent events have made clear how perilous it is for the international community to ignore "frozen conflicts." The issues of ...

A white Muslim convert was arrested today in connection with threats to kill the Prime Minister which were posted on an extremist Islamic website.

American soprano Renee Fleming and Pink Floyd band members Nick Mason and Roger Waters have received this year's Swedish Polar Music Prize.

A cargo ship rescued 25 African migrants from a sinking boat in the Mediterranean Sea but survivors said up to 35 others died as the boat drifted for three days, the Spanish Red Cross said Tuesday.

A woman who walked away from last week's devastating plane crash with barely a scratch said Tuesday the aircraft lacked power during takeoff, corroborating other survivor accounts of what went wrong in the ...

CONSUMER confidence in Europe's biggest economy declined for a fourth month in a row, sliding to another five-year low as lower energy prices failed to bolster Germans' likelihood of buying new goods, a report ...

The German military attache in Moscow described the Russian military response in Georgia as "appropriate" in an internal document, according to a report in the Sunday edition of the German newspaper, the ...

HOTNESS REQUIRED: Paris Hilton is hunting for a new best friend in Britain, and she has to be 'hot'. Calling all young, beautiful Britons with a yearning for life in the fast lane - celebrity socialite Paris ...

By Stephen Brown

ROME (Reuters) - Two brutal attacks on foreign tourists in Italy this weekend have put the ruling centre right on the defensive about the effectiveness of its crackdown on crime, which has included mobilizing the military.

A 52-year-old Dutch woman was raped and badly beaten on Friday night after she and her husband, who were cycling in Italy, set up tent at an abandoned farmhouse on the outskirts of Rome in an area Mayor Gianni Alemanno called "Godforsaken".

Two Romanian men were arrested, which will reinforce the view held by many Italians that immigrants from Eastern Europe are responsible for a disproportionate number of violent crimes.