Europe

Ukraine’s Zelensky vows ‘victory’ on visit to liberated Kharkiv region

by Emmanuel PARISSE with Ania TSOUKANOVA in Kyiv Agence France-Presse KHARKIV REGION, Ukraine (AFP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday promised “victory” on a visit to the strategic city of Izyum that was recently recaptured from Russia by Kyiv’s army in a lightning counter-offensive. The visit came at a decisive moment in Russia’s six-month-old invasion, with Ukraine expelling Moscow’s forces from swathes of the east and seriously challenging the Kremlin’s ambition to capture the […]

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Flood risk in central Ukraine city after Russian strike: Kyiv

KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) – Floods could hit the city of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine after a Russian strike damaged infrastructure causing the Inhulets River to flood, the Ukrainian presidency warned Wednesday. “At the point of impact, we have observed a water flow of 100 cubic meters per second, which is a large volume,” said Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president’s office. “The water level of the Inhulets River is changing every hour,” he […]

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Jimmie Akesson leads Sweden’s soaring far right

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AFP) – As leader of the far-right Sweden Democrats, Jimmie Akesson has steered his party from “pariah” to heavyweight whose support is indispensable if the right-wing bloc wants to govern after Sunday’s election. The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats soared to become the country’s second-biggest party in the legislative vote, garnering 20.6 percent with more than 99 percent of electoral districts counted. With his impeccably coiffed brown hair, glasses and neatly trimmed beard, the casually […]

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Zelensky vows ‘victory’ on frontline visit to liberated Kharkiv region

KHARKIV REGION, Ukraine (AFP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday promised “victory” on a visit to the strategic city of Izyum that was recently recaptured from Russia by Kyiv’s army in a lightning counter-offensive. The visit comes at a decisive moment in Russia’s six-month invasion, with Ukraine routing Moscow’s forces from swathes of the east and seriously undermining the Kremlin’s ambitions to capture the entire Donbas region of Ukraine. “Our blue-yellow flag is already […]

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Japan emperor, empress to attend Queen Elizabeth’s funeral

  TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako will attend Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, the Japanese government said Wednesday, in their first overseas trip since assuming the throne in 2019. Top government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters that the royal couple would be present but Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other government officials would not attend. Queen Elizabeth met three generations of Japanese royals and had invited Emperor Naruhito and his wife to […]

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Health groups calls for fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty

PARIS, France (AFP) – Around 200 health organizations and more than 1,400 health professionals on Wednesday called for governments to establish a binding international treaty on phasing out fossil fuels, which they said pose “a grave and escalating threat to human health”. A letter proposing the “fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty” said it could work similarly to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control — except this time the harmful controlled substances would be […]

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Nearly 100 killed in Armenia-Azerbaijan border clashes

by Mariam HARUTYUNYAN with Emil GULIYEV in Baku Agence France-Presse YEREVAN, Armenia (AFP) — Armenia and Azerbaijan reported nearly 100 troop deaths Tuesday in their worst fighting since a 2020 war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. The last wave of fighting over Azerbaijan’s tense Armenian-populated enclave ended in a fragile truce brokered by Russia. But on Tuesday, the defense ministry in Baku said “50 Azerbaijani servicemen died as a result of Armenia’s large-scale provocation,” while […]

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EU presidency calls new round of energy crisis talks

  PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AFP) — The European Union presidency said Tuesday it would convene another round of talks for the bloc’s energy ministers to discuss the energy crisis linked to the Ukraine war. “I am calling another extraordinary meeting of the energy ministers’ council for September 30,” Czech Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Sikela, whose country now holds the rotating presidency, said in a tweet. At the meeting, EU ministers pledged “unprecedented measures” to […]

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Ukraine recaptures more ground as Russia strikes back

by Emmanuel PARISSE, with Ania TSOUKANOVA in Kyiv Agence France-Presse KRAMATORSK, Ukraine (AFP) — Ukraine said Monday that its forces regained yet more ground in the past 24 hours and retook an area seven times the size of Kyiv this month, as Russia responded with strikes on some recaptured areas. The territorial shifts marked one of Russia’s biggest reversals since its troops were turned back from Kyiv in the earliest days of the nearly seven […]

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Ukraine, Russia ‘interested’ in securing nuclear plant: IAEA

VIENNA, Austria (AFP) — Kyiv and Moscow have shown “signs that they are interested” in creating a security zone around Europe’s largest nuclear plant in Ukraine threatened by shelling since Russia invaded its neighbor, the UN atomic watchdog said Monday. Shelling around the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia power plant in southern Ukraine has raised fears of a nuclear disaster. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has two experts at the plant since a mission there early […]

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Queen’s coffin arrives in Edinburgh on solemn final journey in UK

  by Anna MALPAS / Sylvain PEUCHMAURD Agence France Presse EDINBURGH, United Kingdom (AFP) — Tens of thousands of mourners lined the route of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral cortege on Sunday as it left the Scottish retreat where she died, to bid farewell to their longest serving monarch. The hearse carrying the 96-year-old’s oak coffin, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, was driven from the Balmoral estate through Aberdeen and Dundee to the capital […]

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Ukraine says Russia strikes power grid as more ground regained

by Emmanuel PARISSE with Anna KORIAGINA in Kyiv Agence France-Presse KRAMATORSK, Ukraine (AFP) — Ukraine has announced fresh gains in its counter-offensive, including the recapture of the strategic city of Izyum in the country’s east, where Kyiv accused Russia of carrying out reprisal strikes against electricity infrastructure. Throughout the weekend Ukraine claimed new military successes against Russia’s army in the east and south, the latest coming Sunday night when President Volodymyr Zelensky declared Izyum “liberated”. […]

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