Joanna Kakissis

The teenagers on the Afghan girls national soccer team lean on each other as they adjust to a new life in Portugal, where they fled after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

Scientists are watching how Portugal and other highly vaccinated countries are faring against the coronavirus' new omicron variant.

Greece, where 62 percent of people are fully vaccinated, has started collecting monthly fines from those who refuse the shots. Austria is also taking similar measures.

People of the former Soviet bloc rejoiced when the Iron Curtain fell and embraced membership in the European Union. Hungary is an example of a growing culture clash in the conservative East.

Adults "can see us as serious or they can see us as a joke," one of the kids says. "A lawsuit is not a joke," her brother adds. The European Court of Human Rights has fast-tracked their 2020 lawsuit.

Anyone who refuses to get vaccinated will face monthly fines of 100 euros, or roughly $114. The monthly fine is substantial for retirees — the average pension is 730 euros a month.

The first of more than 20 volunteers who helped migrants in Greece are going on trial, in what rights groups say is a politically motivated attempt to criminalize humanitarian work.

Some Afghans evacuated by the U.S. are being held on a U.S. military base in Kosovo because of insufficient security vetting. Their future is unclear.

This summer has seen forest fires across southern Europe, which scientists say were worsened by climate change. Evia lost its forests, the island's source of livelihood and joy.

After catastrophic fires razed the forest that was the lifeblood of Greece's second largest island, residents are planning for a hotter, drier future — and demanding the government do the same.