Europe

14 Apr 2019; DW: European Union security services are monitoring Russian attempts to interfere in the EU's parliamentary elections in May, German news agency DPA reported Saturday, citing a security progress report.

According to the report, Russia's efforts are aimed at boosting support for parties that are either euroskeptic or friendly to Russia. Its messaging also questioned the significance of the European Parliament to try to lower voter turnout.

TIRANA, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Albanian opposition parties' rally held in the capital Tirana on Saturday evening turned violent when the supporters clashed with police in front of the prime minister's office and the parliament building.

Albanian opposition parties urged supporters to join the protest, asking Prime Minister Edi Rama and his cabinet to resign and early parliamentary elections to be held.

BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) - Speaking highly of the just-concluded eighth China-CEEC leaders' meeting, Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) express the hope that cooperation between the two sides can be lifted to a broader and higher level.

The meeting, themed "Building new bridges through openness, innovation and partnership," was held Friday in the southern Croatian coastal city of Dubrovnik, with the participation of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and leaders of 16 CEECs.

HELSINKI (AP) — Finns are voting in a parliamentary election in which reforming the nation’s generous welfare model and tackling climate change have emerged as key issues.

Sunday’s vote in the European Union member of 5.5 million people is taking place in a Nordic country that has one-third of its territory above the Arctic Circle.

12 Apr 2019; DW: Leading British euroskeptic Nigel Farage launched the Brexit Party on Friday ahead of the United Kingdom's possible participation in European Parliament elections in May.

Farage said that Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May's failure to pass a deal to exit the European Union was a "betrayal" of the British public and the decision it made in a 2016 referendum.

13 Apr 2019; DW: A Dutch fertility doctor used his own sperm to inseminate female patients who gave birth to 49 children, DNA tests have confirmed.

Jan Karbaat, who died in 2017, has long been suspected of using his own semen at his now closed Rotterdam fertility clinic without the knowledge of the women. The doctor had repeatedly told patients that the sperm came from anonymous donors.

13 Apr 2019; DW: Germany has a "very expansive investment strategy" that is helping to stimulate the global economy, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington on Friday, adding that "politically produced" risks had instead caused global uncertainty.

"We have already done what everybody asked of us," he said, citing recent budgetary increases for Germany's public infrastructure, its education sector and digitalization projects.

13 Apr 2019; DW: The European Commission intends to publish a draft list of retaliatory tariffs on some €20 billion ($22.6 billion) worth of US imports next Wednesday, EU diplomats told multiple news agencies late Friday. The report came as French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire and his US counterpart Steven Mnuchin met in Washington.

MOSCOW, April 12 (Xinhua) -- A Russian national space center will cost about 25 billion rubles (nearly 390 million U.S. dollars), Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday.

"I would very much like it to look modern, beautiful, worthy of the industry, so that our scientific and educational potentials can be concentrated there," Putin said during a visit to rocket engine manufacturer Energomash in a Moscow suburb.

"It seems to me that it can and should become a world-class center," he said, according to an official transcript published by the Kremlin.

DUBROVNIK, Croatia, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with North Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev on Friday, calling on the two countries to enhance infrastructure cooperation.

The meeting was held on the sidelines of the eighth leaders' meeting between China and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) at the southern Croatian coastal city of Dubrovnik.

Commending the bilateral relations, Li said China and North Macedonia respect and trust each other, and that practical cooperation between the two countries has yielded fruitful achievements.