Cyprus has rescinded citizenship briefly bestowed upon a Syrian billionaire suspected by the European Union of helping to bankroll President Bashar al-Assad's government, authorities said on Saturday.

Germany's population is not only ageing and shrinking — a key challenge for Europe's biggest economy — but also 1.5 million smaller than previously thought, the first census since before the country's 1990 reunification showed Friday.

Turkish riot police used tear gas and water cannon Friday to end a peaceful sit-in by hundreds of people trying to prevent trees from being uprooted in an Istanbul park.

Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannon on Friday at protesters occupying a park in central Istanbul, injuring scores in the latest violent crackdown on anti-government demonstrations.

The British soldier killed by suspected Islamic extremists in London last week was run over before being attacked by two men armed with a cleaver and a knife, an inquest heard on Friday.

Germany managed to lose about 1.5 million people in one day after a new census Friday showed that officials had overestimated the country's population for years.

Italy's long-term borrowing costs edged up at an auction on Thursday for the first time in three months, adding to signs that a 10-month-long rally in vulnerable eurozone bonds may be faltering.

Switzerland said Wednesday it will allow its banks to skirt the country's strict client secrecy laws in order to end a long-running dispute with the United States over tax evasion by American clients with hidden accounts.

President Francois Hollande has been accused of selling off France's national heritage with an auction of hundreds of bottles of fine wine from the cellars of his Elysee Palace.

A prime suspect in the slaying last week of a British soldier sat handcuffed in court Thursday, given permission not to stand up before a judge because of wounds suffered when he was gunned down by police.