Europe

Ukraine says strengthening defenses in battered frontline town

KYIV, Ukraine, April 14, 2024 (AFP) – Ukrainian troops defending the frontline town of Chasiv Yar under relentless Russian attack have received additional drones and weaponry, the commander-in-chief of Kyiv’s armed forces, Oleksandr Syrsky, said Sunday. Syrsky wrote on Facebook after visiting troops defending the battered town that “measures were taken to significantly strengthen the brigades with ammunition, drones, and electronic warfare equipment”. Russia is “concentrating its efforts to break through our defences west of […]

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About 2,000 foreign troops to help France secure Paris Olympics

PARIS (AFP) – Some 2,000 foreign troops and police will be sent to Paris to bolster security for this summer’s Olympic Games as France remains on high alert following attack threats, the French armed forces minister said Friday. “We have something like 2,000 foreign police officers, gendarmes and troops who will be joining the protection system for the Olympic Games,” Sebastien Lecornu told all-news television station LCI. France, which will host the games from July […]

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Passengers rescued from fatal Turkey cable car accident after 23 hours

ISTANBUL, April 13, 2024 (AFP) – Rescue workers finished evacuating dozens of passengers trapped for 23 hours mid-air Saturday after a cable car accident in southern Turkey that killed one person. Ten people were injured in the accident, which happened late Friday afternoon in the resort city of Antalya when a supporting pylon collapsed. One cable car in the Sarisu-Tunektepe system plummeted into a rocky area, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said. A total of 174 […]

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Kyiv says eastern front ‘deteriorated’ as Russia claims village

KYIV, Ukraine, April 13, 2024 (AFP) – Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrsky said Saturday the situation on the eastern front had worsened significantly as Russia claimed the capture of a village near the occupied industrial town of Avdiivka. “The situation on the eastern front has deteriorated significantly in recent days,” said Syrsky, who took over as commander-in-chief in February after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky fired his popular predecessor, Valery Zaluzhny. Zelensky said in his evening address […]

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Thousands flee flooding in Russian Urals region of Orenburg

ORENBURG, Russia, April 13, 2024 (AFP) – Russian emergency services on Saturday said they had evacuated thousands of people from the Orenburg region in the south of the Urals as flood water continued to rise. Fast-rising temperatures have melted snow and ice, and along with heavy rain have caused a number of major rivers that cross Russia and Kazakhstan to overflow this month. In the city of Orenburg, one of the worst affected areas in […]

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Germany to send additional Patriot system to Ukraine

FRANKFURT, Germany, April 13, 2024 (AFP) – Germany will send an additional Patriot air defence system to Ukraine to bolster its hard-pressed military and help it fend off increased Russian aerial attacks, Berlin said Saturday. “Russian terror against Ukrainian cities and the country’s infrastructure is causing immeasurable suffering,” said German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, announcing the move. “It is jeopardising people’s energy supply and destroying the operational readiness of the Ukrainian armed forces.” It will […]

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Ukraine starts building first US-design nuclear reactors

NETISHYN, Ukraine, April 13, 2024 (AFP) – Ukraine has started constructing two US-designed reactors at a nuclear power plant in the west of the country following devastating Russian attacks on its energy network. Workers at Khmelnytskyi nuclear power station on Thursday poured a symbolic cubic metre of concrete for the reactors, which will use US technology and fuel, as Ukrainian and US flags fluttered. The project is aimed at increasing Ukraine’s energy security and reducing […]

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US says China helping Moscow in biggest defense expansion since Soviet era

By Aurélia END WASHINGTON, April 12, 2024 (AFP) – China is helping Russia undertake its biggest military expansion since Soviet times, US officials said Friday, stepping up public pressure as concerns rise over Ukraine. US officials are hoping the release of the intelligence will encourage European allies to press China, as Chancellor Olaf Scholz heads to Beijing this weekend and Group of Seven foreign ministers meet next week in Italy. Unveiling US findings, officials said […]

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Lufthansa stops using Iran airspace and keeps halt on Tehran flights

FRANKFURT, Germany, April 12, 2024 (AFP) – German airline Lufthansa said Friday its planes would no longer use Iranian airspace as it extended a suspension on flights to and from Tehran amid soaring Middle East tensions. “Due to the current situation, Lufthansa is suspending its flights to and from Tehran up to and including Thursday, 18 April,” a company spokesperson said Friday. “The airline is also no longer using Iranian airspace.” Its subsidiary Austrian Airlines […]

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Four teenagers detained in Germany over ‘Islamist attack’ plot

By Hui Min NEO BERLIN, April 12, 2024 (AFP) – Police have detained two girls and two boys — all teenagers — in western Germany on suspicion they were planning an Islamist attack, prosecutors said on Friday, with churches or synagogues as possible targets. Three were arrested in North Rhine-Westphalia state, who are “strongly suspected of planning an Islamist-motivated terror attack and of having committed to carrying it out”, Duesseldorf prosecutors said in a statement. […]

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Outcry in Sweden after father gunned down by youth gang

STOCKHOLM, April 11, 2024 (AFP) – Swedes reacted with shock and anger on Thursday after a father was gunned down in broad daylight in front of his son in a Stockholm suburb, amid media reports he confronted a gang of youths. The Scandinavian country has seen a surge in violence in recent years as criminal gangs feud for control of drug markets, with bombings and shootings recorded weekly. The gangs often recruit young teens to […]

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Sweden sees earliest ‘summer’ on record

STOCKHOLM, April 11, 2024 (AFP) – Sweden has posted its earliest ever start to what it considers to be “summer”, with three southern towns posting average temperatures above 10 degrees C (50F) for five straight days, the country’s meteorological service said Thursday. “A Swedish weather record was broken on Saturday, April 6, 2024. Each day from April 6th to 10th, the average daily temperature was at least 10 degrees at SMHI’s stations in Malmo, Kristianstad […]

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