Provides an overview of France, including key events and facts about this European country.

Provides an overview of Macedonia, including key events and facts about this European country

The EU warns it may investigate claims that Chinese telecom firms have been paid subsidies, allowing them to flood markets with cheap equipment.

The thousands of Britons who have made Bulgaria their home

Queens Park Rangers striker Loic Remy is arrested along with two other men on suspicion of rape.

A flawless diamond has set a world auction record, selling for $26.7m (£17.5m).

Dramatic pictures have emerged of St Petersburg television tower being struck during a lightning storm on Monday.

Germany's love of life in the fast lane of the autobahn

Andy Sowray runs a shop selling British food for the expat community in the capital Sofia.

Dozens of UK MPs back a motion "expressing regret" that plans for an EU membership referendum were not included in the government's plans for the year ahead.

Exactly one year after Francois Hollande took office as French President, the country has entered its second recession in four years.

Branislav Ivanovic scores a late winner to secure the Europa League trophy for Chelsea at the expense of Benfica.

Convicts in Russia team up to play a chess tournament via Skype with inmates at the biggest jail in the US, Chicago's Cook County Jail.

Donors pledge more than $4bn (£2.6bn) to help rebuild Mali, where French-led forces have been fighting Islamist militants in the north.

Leonardo DiCaprio and director Baz Luhrmann take to the red carpet in Cannes as their new film The Great Gatsby opens the annual film festival.

France has entered its second recession in four years after the economy shrank by 0.2% in the first quarter of the year, official figures show.

Vladimir Lenin's tomb in Red Square in Moscow has reopened to the public after a major renovation.

Angry Bulgarians unappeased by inconclusive poll result

French agriculture starts to feel pinch from deteriorating economy

The mausoleum containing the body of communist leader Vladimir Lenin is reopened in Moscow's Red Square after months of renovation work.