A man armed with a knife attacked people inside a French church and killed three Thursday, prompting the government to raise its security alert status to the maximum level hours before a nationwide coronavirus lockdown.

Turkey and Greece vowed Wednesday to defend their competing claims in the eastern Mediterranean as the NATO allies remained locked in a tense dispute over offshore energy exploration rights.

As parts of Spain set record temperatures during a heatwave, people in Britain sweltered and flocked to beaches Friday on the country's hottest day so far this year.

PARIS — France announced Wednesday that it is suspending its involvement in a NATO naval operation in the Mediterranean Sea after a standoff with a Turkish warship, amid growing tensions within the military alliance over the conflict in Libya.

The Mediterranean resort town of Ayia Napa is known for its boisterous parties. Each summer, thousands of young foreign tourists pack the dance floors of its nightlife district after a day at the beach.

Turkey on Tuesday accused Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, France and the United Arab Emirates of seeking to form an “alliance of evil” after these countries issued a joint declaration denouncing Ankara’s policies in the eastern Mediterranean and Libya.

A Russian submarine has moored at Russia’s base in Syria after a patrol mission while another one is getting ready to sail off after replenishing supplies – the rotation that underlines Moscow’s growing military foothold in the Mediterranean Sea.

Five European Union nations agreed on Monday to a temporary arrangement for disembarkation and relocation of migrants rescued in the central Mediterranean from human traffickers’ unseaworthy boats, with officials pushing for a wider deal involving more EU countries.

A boat carrying dozens of migrants bound for Europe capsized Tuesday in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya, with at least 40 people missing and presumed drowned, U.N. officials said, as a support group reported it had gotten a call from someone on the vessel “crying and shouting” that passengers had died already.

Libya’s coast guard recovered dozens of bodies of Europe-bound migrants who perished at sea as search operations continued Friday, a day after up to 150 people, including women and children, went missing and were feared drowned after their boats capsized in the Mediterranean Sea.

Up to 150 Europe-bound migrants were missing and feared drowned on Thursday after the boats they were traveling in capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya, the coast guard and the U.N. refugee agency said.

A boat from Libya carrying 86 migrants sank in the Mediterranean and left only three survivors, authorities said Thursday, after an airstrike on a detention center near the Libyan capital killed dozens of others.

Three survivors of a rubber dinghy that sank in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya say up to 117 other migrants were aboard at the time of the capsizing, a U.N. migration official said Saturday.

Spain’s Foreign Ministry says it has given permission to an aid boat carrying 311 rescued migrants to set course for Spain after Italy and other Mediterranean countries did not answer its request to dock.

Spanish authorities say they have rescued 223 migrants attempting the perilous crossing of the Mediterranean Sea.

Spain’s maritime rescue service says it has saved nearly 1,000 migrants attempting the perilous crossing of the Mediterranean to Europe from North Africa over the last two days.

A Spanish rescue boat plucked 60 migrants Saturday from a patched-up rubber dinghy in the Mediterranean Sea near Libya, igniting another political row between Italy and Malta over who should let the aid boat dock.

Spain’s maritime rescue service said it has saved 933 people and recovered four bodies from dozens of migrant boats attempting the perilous crossing of the Mediterranean Sea over the past two days.

The number of migrants trying to reach Europe through the Mediterranean will remain high this year, with more expected to arrive through Spain, the head of European Union border agency Frontex warned Tuesday.