Accessibility links
Europe Europe

Europe

Tuesday

World

Mladic Extradited To The Hague To Stand Trial

Ratko Mladic has been extradited to The Hague to face trial. The Bosnian Serb general is accused of genocide and war crimes carried out by forces under his command during the war in Bosnia in the early 1990s.

Mladic Extradited To The Hague To Stand Trial

Listen · 2:51
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/136829590/136829577" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Germany Moves To Shutter Nuclear Power Stations

The German government has decided to close all the country's nuclear power stations by 2022. The decision marks a U-turn for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who only last year had forced through legislation that would have extended the working life of the power plants. Anti-nuclear feeling has grown in Germany following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. And in March, Merkel's Christian Democrats party lost a crucial regional election that was fought largely on environmental issues. NPR's Eric Westervelt talks to Robert Siegel from Berlin.

Germany Moves To Shutter Nuclear Power Stations

Listen · 4:41
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/136829606/136830294" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Head Over Heels For Cheese

About 200 people gathered in England Monday for the traditional cheese rolling contest. The idea is to slip and somersault to the bottom of Cooper's Hill, near Gloucester in pursuit of a wheel of Double Gloucester cheese. Police had canceled the event out of concerns over safety and ticket prices, but rebel cheese rollers still turned up.

Head Over Heels For Cheese

Listen · 0:28
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/136812183/136811236" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Monday

German Toll Rises In Europe's E.coli Outbreak

German farmer Tim Voges destroyed produce in the town of Ronneburg because of suspicion that vegetables could be contaminated with Enterohaemorrhagic E. coli bacteria. Julian Stratenschulte/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Julian Stratenschulte/AFP/Getty Images

German Toll Rises In Europe's E.coli Outbreak

The death toll from the outbreak allegedly caused by contaminated Spanish produce rose to at least 11 in Germany. Meanwhile, Spain said there was no proof that the E. coli outbreak has been caused by Spanish vegetables.

Sunday

Mladic's Arrest Rankles Serbia Yet Offers Opportunity

The former Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic was arrested in Serbia this past week. He is wanted by an international tribunal in Yugoslavia for genocide and war crimes, and he could be extradited to face trial in The Hague as soon as Monday. His arrest, after a 16-year man hunt, is unpopular with Serb nationalists, but it removes a major obstacle to Serbia starting the process of joining the European Union. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli joins us from Belgrade.

Mladic's Arrest Rankles Serbia Yet Offers Opportunity

Listen · 4:21
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/136765585/136765561" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Saturday

Wooden Bike Settles A Bet With A Splinter

The Splinter Bike, built by carpenter Michael Thompson. Courtesy Michael Thompson hide caption

toggle caption
Courtesy Michael Thompson

Strange News

Wooden Bike Settles A Bet With A Splinter

Michael Thompson, a carpenter in Norfolk, England, claimed that he could build anything out of wood. Even a bicycle. He calls his creation the "Splinter Bike," and true to his word, there are no metal parts — not even a chain.

Wooden Bike Settles A Bet With A Splinter

Listen · 3:00
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/136742757/136742790" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Obama Visit Underscores America's European Ties

President Obama meets with Poland's prime minister and other Eastern European leaders on Saturday before closing his weeklong trip to Europe with a press conference in Warsaw. NPR's Scott Horsley looks back at the president's trip.

Obama Visit Underscores America's European Ties

Listen · 4:11
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/136742713/136742700" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

Report: Air France Plane Stalled Before Plunge

Alain Bouillard of France's air incident investigation bureau held a news conference on May 12 near Paris. On Friday, the agency, known as the BEA, released its first formal statement on the crash of Air France 447. Mehdi Fedouach/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Mehdi Fedouach/AFP/Getty Images

Report: Air France Plane Stalled Before Plunge

Investigators in France say "black box" recordings show the pilot of the Paris-bound Air France plane that plummeted into the Atlantic nearly two years ago was not at the controls when the jet first encountered trouble. All 228 people onboard were killed.

Mladic In Serb Prison After 16 Years On The Run

Former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic faces war crimes charges at the Hague. Adam Smith, author of After Genocide: Bringing the Devil to Justice, talks to Mary Louise Kelly about Thursday's arrest of Mladic, who has been on the run for 16 years.

Mladic In Serb Prison After 16 Years On The Run

Listen · 3:45
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/136706584/136706572" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

At G8, Obama Pushes For Aid To Egypt, Tunisia

Leaders of Egypt and Tunisia, two emerging democracies, joined President Obama and the other seven world leaders meeting at the G8 summit in France on Friday. They were taking part in a discussion on how the world's leading economies can help promote democratic transformation across the Middle East and North Africa.

At G8, Obama Pushes For Aid To Egypt, Tunisia

Listen · 4:06
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/136706576/136706568" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

In Europe, Refugee Influx Spotlights Borders

France reinstated long-abolished checks along its border with Italy after undocumented migrants arrived from Tunisia and Libya. The move put enormous strain on a cornerstone of European integration: the free movement of people and commerce.

In Europe, Refugee Influx Spotlights Borders

Listen · 3:47
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/136694025/136706656" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

Youth Protests Sweep Spain As Unemployment Soars

Demonstrators shout slogans as they protest during a rally called "Real Democracy Now" in Barcelona. Demonstrations have taken place in cities across Spain. Emilio Morenatti/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Emilio Morenatti/AP

Youth Protests Sweep Spain As Unemployment Soars

Spain's sharp austerity measures have fed a growing sense of hopelessness and anger among young people. The jobless rate for the young has reached nearly 45 percent — a record in any industrialized country. Now, many young citizens are making their anger heard with protests around the country.

Youth Protests Sweep Spain As Unemployment Soars

Listen · 4:00
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/136683688/136691700" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Books

Shteyngart Wins Wodehouse Prize

Writer Gary Shteyngart recently won the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize for comic fiction. The 11-year-old award was named for British author P.G. Wodehouse and has been awarded to Brits — until this year when it was given to a self-proclaimed Russian-Jewish New Yorker. Shteyngart won for his third work of fiction, Super Sad True Love Story, and he will be given a pig named after the novel as a part of the prize. Shteyngart told Robert Siegel, "This is what I've been writing for all my life. The last award I won was the National Jewish Book Award — and now I get to hang out with a pig."

Shteyngart Wins Wodehouse Prize

Listen · 5:43
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/136690525/136690501" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

World

Mladic To Be Sent To The Hague For Trial

The man most wanted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal, a fugitive on the run for 16 years, Ratko Mladic has been arrested. Serbian president Boris Tadic announced the Serbian Intelligence Agency had found Mladic in the north of the country. There, he's said to have assumed another identity. Now, Mladic will be sent to The Hague in the Netherlands to await trial.

Mladic To Be Sent To The Hague For Trial

Listen · 1:38
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/136690505/136690494" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

World

North Africa, Middle East Top Priority At G8 Summit

The president is attending the G-8 summit in France Thursday, where the agenda is dominated by discussions about shoring up the new democracies in the Arab world. President Obama is asking his allies among the major industrial nations to be generous in the aid to Egypt, Tunisia and the rebels in Libya.

North Africa, Middle East Top Priority At G8 Summit

Listen · 3:57
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/136690529/136690502" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript