Taylor Swift's three concerts in Vienna this week were cancelled after the government confirmed a planned attack at the stadium, the organiser announced late on Wednesday (7 August), and Austria's Chancellor Karl Nehammer said "a tragedy was prevented".

Russia said on Wednesday (7 August) it was fighting intense battles against Ukrainian forces that had penetrated its southern border near a major natural gas transmission hub, in one of the largest incursions into Russian territory since the war began.

Last month was the second hottest July for the planet on record, breaking a 13-month period when each month was warmest, which had been in part fuelled by the warming El Nino weather pattern, the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service said on Thursday.

Thousands of police and anti-racism protesters gathered on streets across Britain on Wednesday (7 August) to challenge expected far-right groups that failed to materialise following more than a week of violent racist attacks targeting Muslims and migrants.

The European Union, France and the UK on Wednesday (7 August) condemned a far-right Israeli minister for suggesting it would be "justified and moral" to starve two million Gazans to free scores of captives held in the Palestinian territory.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) warns that COVID-19 is surging worldwide and is unlikely to decline in the immediate future. Dr Van Kerkhove warns that in Europe, percent of test positivity is above 20 per cent.

European Union and South American negotiators will meet on 4-6 September in Brasilia in the first in-person talks since April, raising hopes an EU-Mercosur trade deal can be concluded this year, diplomats said.

Lisbon's Administrative Court ruled on Wednesday (7 August) that Lisbon City Hall will have to pay one million euros for revealing data on anti-Putin demonstrators in a case from 2021.

German opposition parties and parts of the government coalition are calling for more border checks to tackle irregular migration, questioning the consensus on Schengen that has long been taken for granted in the country that borders most EU member states.

A Danish court on Wednesday handed a Polish man a four-month prison sentence and ordered him deported for punching the country's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in June.

The French capital’s mayor, Anne Hidalgo is now using the 33rd Olympiad’s success in order to restore her image, before 2026’s municipal elections.

The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) initiated court proceedings against the social media platform X on Tuesday (6 August), according to Ireland's High Court website.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) met for its 61st plenary session to discuss the timeline of all its next reports but failed to reach an agreement on this issue.

Denmark's Minister of Justice, Peter Hummelgaard declared on Wednesday that he "does not rule out anything" when it comes to preventing Swedish criminal teenagers from entering Denmark.

Hamas named its Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar as successor to former political chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran last week, the group said on Tuesday (6 August).

A jailed Kurdish leader and a Turkish writer on the other side of the bars have used their penpal exchanges to write one of Turkey's highest-selling books.

Bangladesh's Nobel-winning microfinance pioneer Muhammad Yunus has been tapped to lead an interim government after mass protests forced longtime prime minister Sheikh Hasina to flee, the presidency announced early Wednesday (7 August).

A Chinese academic was convicted on Tuesday (7 August) of illegally acting as a foreign agent in the United States by collecting information about New York-based activists supporting democracy in China and sharing his findings with Beijing.

Despite being on holiday, German chancellor Olaf Scholz weighted in on a looming new crisis over the government’s budget, arguing that a legal assessment shows that additional loans can be used for infrastructure investment while circumventing the country’s strict ‘debt brake’.

The parliament of Spain's Catalonia region is set to elect a new leader this week, although the event may be upstaged by the return of its former leader from self-imposed exile, despite a pending warrant for his arrest.