Europe News Headlines

PARIS (AP) — Two French aid workers were convicted of fraud on Tuesday and sentenced to 2 years in prison for trying to bring 103 children from central Africa to France for adoption, claiming they were orphans from Darfur.

PARIS (AP) — France's lower house of parliament approved a sweeping bill on Tuesday to legalize gay marriage and allow same-sex couples to adopt children, handing a major legislative victory to President Francois Hollande's Socialists on a divisive social issue.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — One of Africa's brightest hopes to be the next pope, Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson, says the time is right for a pontiff from the developing world, and that he's up for the job "if it's the will of God."

LONDON (Reuters) - Barclays' new chief executive pledged a fresh course for the lender on Tuesday, axing at least 3,700 jobs and pruning its investment bank as he seeks to rebuild its reputation and boost profitability after a series of scandals. In an attempt to distance Britain's third biggest bank from the aggressive, …

LONDON (Reuters) - Speciality meat suppliers in Britain have seen a surge in sales of horse burgers, with a scandal over the discovery of horsemeat in beef burgers and ready meals apparently piquing the curiosity of some shoppers. Viewed as a delicacy in some European countries, in South America and in east Asia, horsemeat …

LONDON (Reuters) - British and European Union officials will try to work out on Wednesday how to contain a scandal over horsemeat sold as beef which has shocked consumers and exposed flaws in European systems of food safety control. The scandal, affecting a growing number of European countries and retailers, began in Ireland …

VATICAN CITY (AP) — For months, construction crews have been renovating a four-story building attached to a monastery on the northern edge of the Vatican gardens where nuns would live for a few years at a time in cloister.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's lower house of parliament has overwhelmingly passed a bill that would ban smoking in public places, a contentious measure in a country with one of the highest smoking rates in the world.

PARIS (AP) — Libya's government is struggling to control its borders and retrieve the arms and explosives that were looted after longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi's downfall, according to the conclusions of an international meeting on Libyan security on Tuesday.

LONDON (Reuters) - Barclays is halting agricultural trading with hedge funds in a move to burnish its reputation amid a major overhaul, but will still market index-linked investment products in the sector. The British bank is among several financial institutions to have come under fire for speculating on grain and other …

REGENSBURG, Germany (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI is planning to stay out of the public eye following his retirement at the end of the month and will probably not write any further works during his lifetime, his brother said Tuesday after talking with the pontiff.

RUEIL-MALMAISON, France (AP) — Workers fired flares and paint bombs and riot police answered with tear gas in a standoff Tuesday over layoffs at a French plant for U.S. tiremaker Goodyear, amid tensions over a slump in Europe's car industry that has hurt automakers and their suppliers.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The closest of confidants, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger watched from the front row as Pope John Paul II, once a strapping athlete, steadily deteriorated in his later years.

MILAN (AP) — A Milan appeals court on Tuesday convicted two former Italian spy chiefs for their role in the kidnapping of a terror suspect as part of the CIA's extraordinary rendition program.

REGENSBURG, Germany (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI is planning to stay out of the public eye following his retirement at the end of the month but may stand ready to advise his successor if asked, his brother said Tuesday after talking with the pontiff.

MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin has submitted a bill that would ban Russian Cabinet members and other senior officials from having foreign bank accounts and owning foreign stock, the Kremlin said Tuesday.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — For months, construction crews have been renovating a four-story building attached to a monastery on the northern edge of the Vatican gardens where nuns would live for a few years at a time in cloister.

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda has deported a British theatre producer charged with staging a play about homosexuality, the British High Commission said on Tuesday. Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda and further legislation on the issue, awaiting debate in parliament, has drawn criticism from donors including the United States. …

PARIS (AP) — Libya's government is hoping to integrate former fighters into fledgling security forces but the country is struggling to control its borders and the arms and explosives that were looted after longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi's downfall.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — A Vatican spokesman says the resigning Pope Benedict XVI will play no role in election of his successor.

LONDON (Reuters) - G4S settled a months-long dispute with the organisers of the London Olympics, having failed to supply enough security guards for the 2012 Games, and said on Tuesday it will take a 70 million pound loss on the contract. The world's No. 1 security firm said just weeks before the Games began that it could …

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican is acknowledging for the first time that Pope Benedict XVI has had a pacemaker for years and that its battery was replaced a few months ago in secret.

LONDON (AP) — BP has named Stephen Green as the fourth member of its staff who was killed during a terrorist assault on an Algerian gas plant last month.