Europe

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — The Latest on tensions between Serbia and Kosovo (all times local):

11 a.m.

The NATO-led Kosovo Force mission is calling on all people in the country to stay calm, adding that it is closely monitoring a police operation in the north.

KFOR spokesman Col. Vincenzo Grasso told The Associated Press on Tuesday that they are monitoring the situation and coordinating with the authorities, but NATO troops are not on alert.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia has ordered its troops to full alert after reports that Kosovo police entered Serb-populated regions of the former Serbian province.

Serbia’s state TV said Tuesday that Kosovo’s special police “burst into” northern Kosovo and made several arrests. There was no confirmation of the action from Pristina.

Serbian government official Marko Djuric says the Kosovo police action is designed to intimidate and expel Serbs from Kosovo and presents a “not only a threat to stability but the most direct threat to peace.”

BRUSSELS (AP) — The latest on European elections (all times local):

8:10 p.m.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she’d like to see a quick agreement on who should run the European Union’s executive branch, a matter on which her own governing coalition so far is divided.

In her first comments on the outcome of the European Parliament election, Merkel said both her center-right bloc and her center-left coalition partners back the idea that the head of the EU’s executive Commission should be a politician who ran for that job.

27 May 2019; AFP: Anti-EU populist Nigel Farage's Brexit Party triumphed on Sunday and the ruling Conservatives endured a historic blow in European Parliament elections in which Britain was never meant to vote.

The pro-EU Liberal Democrats and the Greens capitalised on their demands for second Brexit vote and made major gains in an election dominated by debates over Britain's place in Europe.

French police have arrested two men after an IED exploded outside a bakery in Lyon, France's third most populous city. Several people were wounded and hospitalized after the attack.

Police in Lyon on Monday arrested two suspects over last week's explosion in the heart of the French city. Investigators are treating the blast as a possible terror attack.

"A suspect has been arrested," French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner, wrote on Twitter. He later said a second man had been detained.

27 May 2019; DW: A central banker and pro-European political novice has been chosen as Lithuania's new president. He takes over from the popular Dalia Grybauskaite, who could not stand for reelection after two terms in office.

Gitanas Nauseda, Lithuania's former central banker, won the presidential election on Sunday after opponent Ingrida Simonyte conceded.

MOSCOW, May 27. /TASS/: The US growing pressure on Cuba under the Helms-Burton Act contradicts international law, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference after talks with his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla.

"The decision, which was endorsed in Washington, drastically contradicts both international law and demands of the overwhelming majority of members of the international community," Lavrov said.

In his turn, the Cuban foreign minister noted that the Helms-Burton Act was part and parcel of the US policy of pressuring third states.

Brussels, May 27; AFP/GANASHAKTI:  Liberals and Greens say they have broken the two centrist blocs' grip on power in the European Parliament based on a projected shift in the electoral fortunes of the four.

Liberals and Greens are now pushing harder to snag the head of the European Commission, the 28-nation EU executive, and shape key laws, such as on climate change and taxation.

MOSCOW, May 27. /TASS/: The average exchange rate of Bitcoin over the past day increased by almost 9.4% and reached 8,750.24 dollars per unit of cryptocurrency. Thus, the price returned to the levels of mid-May 2018, according to Coinmarketcap.

The capitalization of the bitcoin market, according to the website, reached $155.1 bln.

The price of cryptocurrency began to grow significantly in early May of this year.

Bitcoin is a decentralized cryptocurrency system of the same name based on blockchain technology, which can be mined by any user.

BRUSSELS (AP) — Europeans woke Monday to a new political reality after European Parliament elections ended the domination of the EU’s main center-right and center-left parties and revealed a changed political landscape where the far-right, pro-business groups and environmentalists will be forces to be reckoned with.