All Europe
- Brexit puts EU nurses – and British health care – on rocky road
For many proponents of Brexit, the core of the effort is about protecting Britishness from diffusion in the European project. But what if Europe is needed to keep alive one of the most British of institutions: the NHS?
- Europe is trying to make the internet more fair. How that may backfire.
Europe is trying to redistribute copyright profits: from the Facebooks and to little publishers. But the law of unintended consequences looms large. The proposed directive could well make things worse.
- Welcome to Oodi: Helsinki’s new ‘living room’
The new Helsinki Central Library, known as Oodi, doesn't just lend out books. It hosts community spaces, a theater, toolshops, and even a restaurant, all in an effort to promote Finnish civil society.
- First LookTaxi drivers in Spain stage their own 'yellow vest' protests
Spanish taxi drivers in Madrid and Barcelona have blocked streets to demand stricter regulations for app-based ride-hailing companies, which compete for their customers.
- First LookBid to prevent no-deal Brexit gathers steam among British lawmakers
An amendment proposed by a British lawmaker, which is likely to be supported by the Labour Party and a handful of Conservative MPs, could prevent the disastrous scenario of a no-deal Brexit.
- New Russian order: After presidency, yet another role for Putin?
Russia faces a looming question: What follows Putin's current, likely final presidential term? An answer is beginning to take shape – and may involve a new position for Putin and a reshaped political landscape.
- In ticking of ‘The Clock,’ a parallel to Brexit's relentless grind
Whether you're observing it from afar, reporting on it, or living it, Brexit can seem endless. And the Monitor's Brexit correspondent finds echoes of the Brexit experience in an exhibit not far from Westminster.
- First LookSharp uptick in Iranian migrants attempting Channel crossing by boat
Last year saw a spike in the number of migrants, many of them Iranians, trying to cross the English Channel to reach Britain by boat. The re-imposed sanctions by the United States have hurt the Iranian economy and made life hard for ordinary Iranians, causing some to flee.
- With May’s monumental defeat, no end in sight for Brexit
The vote on Theresa May’s Brexit plan was perhaps the most important in Britain’s modern era. Parliament’s sweeping rejection almost assures that Brexit will require an extension beyond its March 29 deadline.
- As Brexit racks Parliament, British democracy feels the strain
The stakes of the Brexit process aren't solely in the outcome of Tuesday's vote. They also lie in whether Britain's venerable democratic system can handle the stresses that the debate is putting upon it.
- For some migrants in Spain, hope springs from a soccer field
Spain’s welcome mat is still out, but many newcomers are jobless. All dreams need some kind of support: what should be government’s role?
- Russia’s GMO debate looks a lot like America’s – with more geopolitics
Russians tend to be just as concerned as their Western peers about how genetic modification might affect food products. But Russia's bans on GMOs have become a bone of East-West ideological contention.
- Not back in the USSR: Russia’s battle over rap highlights cultural shifts
A crackdown on Russian rappers may look like a continuation of Soviet-era cultural controls. But the debate it has engendered in Russian society shows that much has changed since Soviet days.
- The chicken age: Will finger lickin’ fossils define our geological era?
Over the past several decades, humankind has reshaped the domestic chicken into a creature highly tailored to our needs – so much so that its fossils may prove to be the defining markers of our geological era.
- How much should a former church’s past affect its future use?
As religious buildings hit the real estate market in an era of shrinking congregations, some are weighing how to strike a balance between the buildings’ former purposes and communities’ modern needs.
- Why Britain's effort to end knife crime is about more than stopping violence
Knife crime is surging across England and Wales, spurring new strategies to end the violence. But activists say that until the deeper societal issues fueling the crime are fixed, prevention efforts will be only stopgap.
- [special project]Are Greek and EU officials illegally deporting migrants to Turkey?
While reporting in Greece on another story, Monitor correspondent Dominique Soguel heard tales of migrants being beaten and illegally expelled from the EU by border officials. So she investigated.
- First LookSpanish cabinet meeting stirs up dissent in Catalonia
Pro-independence Catalan demonstrators took to the streets Dec. 21 to protest against Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's decision to host a weekly cabinet meeting in Barcelona, bringing hundreds of anti-riot officers from the national police force with him.
- First LookDrones shutdown London's Gatwick Airport, snarling holiday traffic
Gatwick Airport reopened Friday morning after a closure prompted by unauthorized industrial drones flying over the airport stranding tens of thousands of visitors. This incident may be a bellwether of more to come as drone use becomes more widespread worldwide.
- First LookPutin blames US on negating treatises, pursuing nuclear proliferation
In a press conference, President Vladimir Putin accused the US of being the driving force behind a lapse in negotiations of the New START treaty and reneging on existing nuclear nonproliferation agreements. The consequences, he claims, could lead to nuclear war.