Europe

Update: Russia will change nuclear doctrine due to West’s actions in Ukraine, official says

LONDON (Reuters) -Russia will make changes to its doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons in response to what it regards as Western escalation in the war in Ukraine, state media quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Sunday. The existing nuclear doctrine, set out in a decree by President Vladimir Putin in 2020, says Russia may use nuclear weapons in the event of a nuclear attack by an enemy or a conventional […]

Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region is legitimate, says NATO’s Stoltenberg

BERLIN (Reuters) – Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region is legitimate and covered by Kyiv’s right to self-defence, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told German weekly Welt am Sonntag in his first reaction to the advance into Russian territory. “Ukraine has a right to defend itself. And according to international law, this right does not stop at the border,” Stoltenberg told the paper, adding that NATO had not been informed about Ukraine’s plans beforehand and did […]

French authorities charge Telegram’s Durov in probe into organized crime on app

By Gabriel Stargardter and Tassilo Hummel PARIS (Reuters) -A French judge put Telegram boss Pavel Durov under formal investigation on Wednesday in a probe into organized crime on the messaging app, but granted the entrepreneur bail on condition he pays 5 million euros, reports twice a week to police and does not leave French territory. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement the judge found there were grounds to formally investigate Durov on all […]

UN watchdog says fighting poses serious risk to Russian nuclear plant

KURCHATOV, Russia (Reuters) -The head of the U.N.’s nuclear agency on Tuesday warned of the risk of a serious accident at a Russian nuclear plant because of fighting nearby between Russian and Ukrainian forces. Rafael Grossi, director general at the International Atomic Energy Agency, spoke after visiting the plant in Russia’s western Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces broke across the border three weeks ago and Russia is battling to eject them. “The danger or possibility […]

Russia warns the United States of the risks of World War Three

By Guy Faulconbridge and Vladimir Soldatkin MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia said the West was playing with fire by considering allowing Ukraine to strike deep into Russia with Western missiles and cautioned the United States on Tuesday that World War Three would not be confined to Europe. Ukraine attacked Russia’s western Kursk region on Aug. 6 and has carved out a slice of territory in the biggest foreign attack on Russia since World War Two. President […]

French police arrest man suspected of attempted arson against synagogue

  LA GRANDE-MOTTE, France (Reuters) -French police have arrested a man suspected of trying to set a synagogue ablaze in the southern French city of la Grande-Motte on Saturday, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said. About 200 police officers had been hunting for the suspect, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said earlier, adding that the attacker had set fire to several entry doors to the synagogue and several cars nearby. BFM TV said the suspect was a […]

German police arrest suspect in stabbing rampage, official says

By Matthias Inverardi, Petra Wischgoll and Tom Sims SOLINGEN, Germany (Reuters) -A man suspected of a stabbing rampage in the western German town of Solingen has been taken into police custody, a state official told German television on Saturday, some 24 hours after the attack that killed three people. North Rhine-Westphalia’s interior minister Herbert Reul told the ARD broadcaster that he was “a bit relieved” after authorities spent the day following a “hot lead” that […]

Telegram messaging app CEO Durov arrested in France, French media say

  PARIS (Reuters) – Pavel Durov, billionaire founder and CEO of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at the Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday evening, TF1 TV and BFM TV said, citing unnamed sources. Telegram, particularly influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union, is ranked as one of the major social media platforms after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and Wechat. It aims to hit one billion users in […]

In Spain’s drought-hit Costa Blanca, people queue for bottled water

  By Eva Manez TEULADA-MORAIRA, Spain (Reuters) – A severe drought has rendered tap water undrinkable in several towns along Spain’s Costa Blanca, forcing holidaymakers and locals to queue at distribution points for bottled water to cover their basic needs. As water levels have dropped, salinity has increased, prompting authorities in some areas to deem tap water unsafe for drinking or cooking. Bottled water is being distributed free of charge. Overdevelopment, climate change and mass […]

Ukraine attacks Moscow in one of largest ever drone strikes on Russian capital

  By Guy Faulconbridge and Lidia Kelly MOSCOW (Reuters) -Ukraine attacked Moscow on Wednesday with at least 11 drones that were shot down by air defences in what Russian officials called one of the biggest drone strikes on the capital since the war in Ukraine began in February 2022. The war, largely a grinding artillery and drone battle across the fields, forests and villages of eastern Ukraine, escalated on Aug. 6 when Ukraine sent thousands […]

Three staff killed in shooting in school in Bosnia

  SARAJEVO (Reuters) -Three members of staff at a high school in western Bosnian were killed on Wednesday when a cleaner opened fire with an automatic rifle before trying to take his own life, police said. The gunman killed the dean, the secretary and an English teacher who had just retired and gone back to help her replacement at the school in the town of Sanski Most, police said. No children were killed or injured. […]

Russia says DDoS attack disrupts Telegram, WhatsApp

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian users of Telegram and WhatsApp had trouble accessing the messaging apps on Wednesday due to disruption the state communications monitoring service said was caused by a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. The service said the attack had been repelled and that the messaging networks were working normally again. Russian media said other sites, including Wikipedia, Skype and the social media platform Discord had also been affected. “The disruption is related to a DDoS […]