Nearly 30 years after the world’s worst nuclear accident, Chernobyl’s fallout continues to cast a long shadow over Europe. A new study says that wildfires could release radiation that remains in the upper layers of soil in the dense forests near the former nuclear plant in Ukraine and Belarus, New …

SKOPJE, Macedonia – Macedonia’s rival political leaders have spent 12 hours in overnight talks in Strasbourg in efforts to resolve one of the country’s deepest political crises since its independence in 1991. Conservative Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and leftist opposition leader Zoran Zaev began talks late Tuesday along with several …

BUCHAREST, Romania – A Romanian court has sentenced a former Bucharest district mayor to eight years in prison for illegally selling the city’s real estate at a price far below its market value. The Bucharest Court of Appeal announced the sentence Friday against Cristian Poteras and four town hall employees, …

LISBON, Portugal – Portuguese labor groups are vowing to keep up their fight against the government’s privatization plans for public transport, as Lisbon subway staff walked off the job for the 43rd time in four years. Workers at the Lisbon bus company Carris and national railroad company Comboios de Portugal, …

ZURICH – The Latest on FIFA developments: ___ 9 a.m. (0700 GMT, 3 a.m. EDT) FIFA President Sepp Blatter has cancelled another speaking engagement as he avoids appearing in public for a second day. FIFA says Blatter will not give a scheduled speech to open Thursday’s session of a soccer …

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine police say at least 15 people have been wounded in two separate blasts that hit a police camp in a restive southern province where Muslim militants operate. According to a police report, the first explosion was caused by a grenade near a mosque at the police …

MADRID – Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is trumpeting news of a big drop in the number of unemployed citizens as a reason for voters to support his party in general elections he must call by the end of the year. The number of registered unemployed dropped by nearly 118,000 …

NEW YORK – In these uncertain financial times, one thing remains certain — the ever-expanding national debt. But it’s growing at such an accelerated rate, the clock that has kept track of the deficit since 1989 has had to add a digit. The National Debt Clock switched its digital dollar …

‘Gossip Girl’ Stars in Obama Ad | Katie Holmes: First Broadway Report | Beyonce’s ‘Stolen’ New Hit Record ‘Gossip Girl’ Stars in Obama Ad Penn Badgley and Blake Lively, stars of the popular TV show “Gossip Girl,” have made an ad for Barack Obama. The ad was produced by Moveon.org …

LOS ANGELES – While most Americans spent Tuesday night either smiling or sobbing over Obama’s election as the 44th president of the United States, Hulk Hogan was taking his 18-year-old son Nick (and one of his male pals) out and about in Las Vegas. Nick Hogan recently spent 166 days …