France

The energy union, Greece and how to boost the economy were all hotly debated during a discussion on last week's Council summit and during the European Parliament's plenary session on March 25. MEPs welcomed plans for closer collaboration on energy issues, but also called attention to the situation in Greece.

The co-pilot of the Germanwings airliner that crashed in the French Alps killing all 150 people aboard appears to have brought the A320 Airbus down deliberately, the Marseille prosecutor said on March 26.
   

Diplomats from Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, made up by five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany, are racing against time in an effort to sketch up an acceptable framework for a comprehensive agreement on Iran's nuclear program ahead of the scheduled deadline of March 31, 2015.

France's BEA (Bureau of Investigations and Analyses) said it has successfully extracted recordings from the cockpit voice recorder of the Germanwings plane that crashed in the French Alps on Tuesday.

BEA Director Remi Jouty said at a news conference at its headquarters outside Paris on Wednesday it could take days to get "usable" information from the voice recordings.

Large group of smugglers of migrants from Kosovo arrested

THE HAGUE -- European police forces have dismantled a large international criminal network that smuggled irregular migrants to Western European countries for money.

The announcement was made by Europol on Wednesday.

THE HAGUE - European police forces have dismantled a large international criminal network that smuggled irregular migrants to Western European countries for money, Europol said on Wednesday.

According to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, no Bulgarian citizens were featured on the list of passengers, who were on board of the Germanwings plane, which crashed on Tuesday.

At present the same information is being confirmed by the German Foreign Ministry, the press service of Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry informs.

Turkey?s current $11,000 GDP per capita will rise to $25,000 by 2023 if the country swiftly adopts the presidential system, President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an has said, claiming the development pace of the country has slowed down because of the plurivocality in the administrative system.

New information has come to light on Wednesday with regard to the horrible tragedy that occurred yesterday, when an Airbus A320 crashed at the Digne Region, south of France, resulting in the death of 150 people.

According to new evidence that emerged today, the aircraft's gradual dive took at least 18 minutes and not 8, as it was originally estimated.

Turkey?s Banvit Band?rma defeated Paris Levallois 75-71 in the quarterfinals of the Eurocup Basketball knock-out stage on March 24, punching the club?s ticket to the semi-final.

Paris Levallois had won the first game of the two-game series 65-67 in France last week, but Banvit Band?rma was able to advance on aggregate.