Rick Santorum has completed a clean sweep in the race to become the Republican presidential candidate. He has won the Minnesota and Colorado caucuses and taken the Missouri primary. It is a major boost for the former Pennsylvannia Senator who has only previously won one of the five contests. The result is a setback for the former governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney. He was expec... more.

Britain's deployment of a warship to the Falkland Islands has angered Argentina which says it now intends to complain to the United Nations. Buenos Aires has accused Britain of militarising the South Atlantic by sending the ship. It is also highly critical of the posting of Prince William as a military search-and-rescue pilot to the islands. Tensions between the two countries have... more.

A keynote speech to parliament by Ukraine's president has been disrupted by supporters of the jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, who is serving seven years for abuse of office. As Viktor Yanukovich tried to speak, the protest continued for half an hour. The EU and the US back opposition claims that Tymoshenko's trial was politically motivated. ... more.

European figures have been commemorating the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, which led to the creation of the euro, in spite of many questions stemming from it with a bearing on the current debt crisis and the situation in Greece. A former advisor to the German government attending the event in Brussels suggested there had been unfortunate oversights. ... more.

As Europe shivers, Iceland is positively sweltering with temperatures of four degrees celsius in the capital on Wednesday. The sparsely-populated island is enjoying a spell of unusually mild winter weather after a snowy December and January. Nearly ten degrees celsius was recorded in Reykjavik on Monday! Mild air from the Tropics has headed up to the North Atlantic, meaning Icelan... more.

Giacomo, in Italy, asks: Why can Europe not adopt a confederal political system, flexible and central, as in Switzerland? Pascal Delwit, political science professor at the Free University of Brussels, responds: Confederalism in general is transitory. Looking at Switzerland, although it is called the Helvetic Confederation, it is a federal state. ... more.

Clashes have erupted in Cairo amid demands for answers and justice for the dozens killed in Wednesday's football violence. Security forces fired tear gas amid protests against Egypt's army-led government, near the Interior Ministry. The building and Tahrir Square were focal points for anger after the stadium riot, Egypt's deadliest event since Hosni Mubarak was overthrown. Securit... more.

Spain has won a lengthy legal battle with US treasure hunters over ownership of one the largest hauls of gold and silver ever recovered from the sea. The collection of 19th century coins, worth close to an estimated 400m euros, was recovered from a sunken galleon of the Spanish coast in 2007. The salvage company involved, Odyssey Marine Exploration, shipped them to America. But a ... more.

With German Chancellor Angela Merkel in China seeking support for the ailing euro, Premier Wen Jiabao has said Beijing is considering upping its participation in the rescue funds aimed at resolving the European debt crisis. However Wen did not make any explicit financial commitments for the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) or the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) that... more.

Freezing weather continues to grip Europe, with countries in the eastern part of the continent hit especially hard, causing more than 120 deaths. Snow has stranded 11000 villagers and killed six in Serbia's mountains regions. Polish authorities are responding to the danger the weather poses to homeless people with special patrols handing out hot food in Warsaw. Twenty-nine people ... more.