Europe

Icelandic volcano erupts for the fourth time on Reykjanes peninsula

REYKJAVIK, March 17, 2024 (AFP) – Icelandic police declared a state of emergency Saturday as lava spewed from a new volcanic fissure on the Reykjanes peninsula, the fourth eruption to hit the area since December. A “volcanic eruption has started between stora Skogfell and Hagafell on the Reykjanes Peninsula,” said a statement from the Icelandic Met Office (IMO). Live video images showed glowing lava and billowing smoke. Iceland’s Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management […]

Finland seeks to block asylum seekers from Russia

HELSINKI, March 15, 2024 (AFP) – Finland’s government on Friday said that it wanted to adopt a temporary law to curb “instrumentalised migration”, following a spike in migrant crossings that Helsinki labelled a Russian hybrid attack. A draft of the legislation, which would enable the government “to restrict the reception of applications for international protection in a limited area on Finland’s national border and in its immediate vicinity”, was sent out for comments on Friday, […]

Polls open in Russian vote to extend Putin’s reign

MOSCOW, March 15, 2024 (AFP) – Russians started voting on Friday in a three-day presidential election that is set to hand veteran leader Vladimir Putin another six-year term as the raging conflict in Ukraine spreads further into Russian territory. In power as president or prime minister since the final day of 1999, the former KGB agent is casting the election as a show of Russians’ loyalty and support for his military assault on Ukraine, now […]

Russia says three children killed in eastern Ukraine shelling

MOSCOW, March 15, 2024 (AFP) – A Moscow-installed official on Friday said Ukrainian shelling of the Russian-held city of Donetsk killed three children. Russia claims to have annexed the Donetsk region, even though it does not have full control of it and the frontline regional capital comes under frequent shelling attacks. “As a result of barbaric overnight shelling … a direct hit was recorded on a house in the residential sector,” Alexey Kulemzin, the Russian-appointed […]

German defence firm Rheinmetall plans Ukraine arms factories

German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall said Thursday it plans to set up at least four factories in Ukraine, as it targets a record 10 billion euros ($10.9 billion) in sales this year. The Ukraine war has boosted Germany’s weapons industry as countries seek to re-arm in the face of the growing threat from Russia, and soaring demand last year propelled Rheinmetall onto the blue-chip DAX index. The company said the factories in Ukraine — which has […]

5.4 Magnitude quake hits Bosnia-Montenegro border region

PODGORICA, Montenegro, March 14, 2024 (AFP) – A 5.4 magnitude quake struck the border region between Montenegro and Bosnia early on Thursday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said. The quake’s epicentre was around 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the town of Niksic in western Montenegro, and 25 kilometres from the Bosnian town of Bileca. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The tremor had a depth of about 7.6 kilometres and was felt […]

Putin says Russian nuclear weapons ‘more advanced’ than in US

MOSCOW, March 13, 2024 (AFP) – President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday lauded Moscow’s nuclear arsenal and warned that he was ready to deploy the weapons if Russia’s sovereignty was threatened. The Kremlin has touted its nuclear prowess throughout its two-year offensive in Ukraine, last month warning Western countries there was a “real” risk of nuclear catastrophe if they escalated the conflict. The United States, however, said it had seen no sign Russia was planning to […]

Romania detains Andrew Tate over UK sex offence charges

By Ani SANDU BUCHAREST, March 12, 2024 (AFP) – Controversial British-American influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan appeared in a Bucharest court on Tuesday after Romanian police detained them over UK sex offence charges. The brothers were arrested on Monday evening at their home near the capital Bucharest, where they are under judicial supervision in a separate case, and appeared at an appeals court on Tuesday, dressed in black. Romanian authorities said in a […]

Russia shuts schools in city of Kursk after border incursions

MOSCOW, March 12, 2024 (AFP) – Russia on Tuesday shut schools temporarily in the city of Kursk near the Ukraine border, after attacks on the region by pro-Kyiv militias and an increase in Ukrainian drone strikes. The news that schools would close until the end of the week followed an announcement by Moscow that it had deployed warplanes, rockets and artillery to fend off an attack on its territory from Ukraine. “In connection with recent […]

Pro-Ukraine militias attack Russian border regions

By Stanislav DOSHCHITSYN KYIV, Ukraine, March 12, 2024 (AFP) – Pro-Ukrainian militias staged a brazen cross-border raid on Tuesday, claiming to take control of a Russian village, as Kyiv launched one of its largest drone attacks since the start of the war. Groups of pro-Kyiv volunteer fighters, made up of Russians who oppose the Kremlin, said that they had broken into the Kursk and Belgorod regions, while Moscow said it had fired rockets and artillery […]

Russia says Ukrainian drone hit Belgorod city hall

MOSCOW, March 12, 2024 (AFP) – A Ukrainian drone hit city hall in the Russian border city of Belgorod, injuring two people and blowing out the building’s windows, the regional governor said on Tuesday. The strike came amid a wave of attacks on Russia’s border regions and an announcement by Moscow that it had foiled multiple attempted cross-border raids by pro-Ukrainian paramilitaries. “In Belgorod, an enemy drone crashed into the city administration building,” governor Vyacheslav […]

Covid lowered life expectancy by 1.6 years worldwide: study

By Daniel Lawler PARIS, March 11, 2024 (AFP) – Covid-19 caused the average life expectancy of people worldwide to fall by 1.6 years during the first two years of the pandemic, a more dramatic decline than previously thought, a major study said Tuesday. This marked a sharp reversal during a decades-long rise in global life expectancy, according to hundreds of researchers sifting through data for the US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). “For […]