The Local (Europe)

A roughly 20-metre (66-foot) wall dating from the Gallo-Roman period was discovered in Paris this summer beneath a hospital on the Ile de la Cite, a stone's throw from Notre Dame Cathedral, the French culture ministry said. The stone-and-wood find is thought to be a fragment of the ramparts of Lutetia -- the ancient name for Paris -- built by the Gallic Parisii tribe which lived along the river Seine in the Iron Age.

Maricarmen's 70-year stay at her home in upmarket central Madrid ended on Wednesday when she left escorted on a stretcher, flanked by protesters on one side and police on the other -- a traumatic event broadcast live on TV. Unable to afford a 275-percent hike to the monthly rent imposed by the real estate firm that owned her apartment, she has become the cruellest symbol of a crisis that has stalked Spain for years.

European countries have been on high alert for any Russian interference, with fears that Moscow could target Kyiv's Western backers as the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine drags on into its fifth year. "There is a low but growing risk that Russia will launch a limited military attack against one or several Nato countries bordering Russia," Thomas Ahrenkiel, the head of the DDIS, told a press conference at which he presented an updated assessment of the threat from Russia.

Two Galician cities have outranked Madrid, Barcelona and other major Spanish cities to be crowned the Spanish cities with the highest quality of life. According to Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2026 ranking, A Coruña and Vigo are the Spanish cities with the highest quality of life. Although Spain's major cities often top international rankings, smaller cities from the northern region of Galicia (A Coruña is home to around 250,000 people, Vigo 200,000) rarely gain global attention.

The September 2024 floods were among the most severe in Austria's recent history. Six people died during the floods in Austria, five of them in Lower Austria, which was hit particularly hard. Between the Mostviertel and Wienerwald, some areas received 300 to more than 400mm of rain in just five days - more than 5.5 times the long-term average for an entire September.

In the Austrian town of Kronstorf, a planned Google data centre promises investment, jobs and a place on the digital map - but residents are not convinced. They have staged protests against the 50-hectare (123 acre) complex, in a case that has become symbolic of global debate about the environmental and societal costs of the AI boom.

The processing of Danish citizenship applications has been frozen for months after a bill set to be approved by parliament was delayed due to the spring election. A group of citizenship applicants under the name Statsborgerskabsappel Danmark, or Citizenship Appeal Denmark, all personally affected by the current citizenship situation, have launched an appeal addressed to parliament's citizenship committee and the migration and integration minister, Morten Bødskov, to try to thaw processing.

Travellers flying with EasyJet from Germany in the coming weeks may want to keep a close eye on their bookings, as separate labour disputes in Portugal and France threaten to disrupt flights during some of the busiest travel periods of the year.

When Sweden's new citizenship law came into force on June 6th, appeals against rejected applications soon began piling up in the post box at the Migration Court in Malmö. Rather than process them individually, however, the court chose one as a test case, with its chief judge Fredrik Löndahl sitting on the panel alongside a senior judge and three lay judges.

Family reunification brought more than three times as many third-country nationals to Austria in 2025 as the country's two best-known skilled-worker residence permits, according to newly published official figures. The latest Migration & Integration yearbook from Statistics Austria shows how people from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland are moving to Austria and what residence status they hold once here. Around 45,500 first residence titles were issued to third-country nationals during 2025.