Europe | featured news

When Defense Secretary Robert Gates devoted his final policy speech this month to berating NATO and our European allies, he was engaging in a time-honored tradition: Americans have worried about Europeans shirking their share of global burdens since the start of the 60-year-old alliance.

Prime Minister George Papandreou has vowed to stay on and fight to pull his country out of a crippling debt crisis, facing down a revolt in his Socialist party over new but widely unpopular austerity measures....

Five children admitted to hospital in northern France after eating beefburgers infected with a strain of E.coli bacteria are seriously ill, health officials said on Thursday, fanning fears of a wider outbreak.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou offered on Wednesday to step down and make way for a national unity government provided it supported EU/IMF bailout plans, government sources said.

The number of people falling sick as a result of E. coli contamination has slowed to a trickle, Germany's national disease control center said Tuesday, even as the death toll from the outbreak rose by one Tuesday to 37....

Standard & Poor's cut its ratings on Greece three notches on its expectations of the likelihood of one or more defaults over the next 12 months.

A North Somerset primary school teacher filmed himself sexually abusing young girls in his classroom, a court hears.

The strain of E. coli that has killed at least 25 people and sickened more than 2,600 others in Europe is a terrifying reminder that killer microbes lurk in places where we least expect them. Though it is not a reason to panic, this incident should force us to rethink some important food safety issues.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates delivered a sharp parting shot at European allies on Friday, saying NATO risks "collective military irrelevance" unless they bear more of the burden and boost military spending.

An official says the tainted sprouts may have been eaten or thrown away by now, but people should still not eat sprouts. However, the warning against cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce is lifted. The outbreak killed 29.