Europe

Putin inspects troops readying to fight Ukraine in surprise trip to Chechnya

(Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov on Tuesday inspected Chechen troops and volunteers readying to fight Ukraine, the Kremlin said, in what was Putin’s first trip in 13 years to the North Caucasus republic. The previously unannounced trip to the mostly Muslim republic that is part of Russia comes as Moscow fights to push Ukrainian forces out of its Kursk region two weeks after they smashed through the border in the […]

Russia says third bridge damaged in Ukrainian incursion in Kursk region

By Dan Peleschuk KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine said on Monday it was achieving its goals in its two-week-old incursion into Russia’s Kursk region after Moscow confirmed Ukrainian forces had damaged a third bridge after striking two others used to supply troops. Kyiv says it has seized over 80 settlements in an area of more than 1,150 square km (444 square miles) in Kursk since launching a surprise strike on Aug. 6, the biggest invasion of […]

Analysis-How Russia looked the wrong way as Ukraine invaded

By Mark Trevelyan, Anastasiia Malenko and Gleb Stolyarov LONDON/KYIV (Reuters) -In the hours before Ukrainian soldiers stormed across Russia’s western border, there was no sign from Moscow that anything was amiss. At midnight at the start of Aug. 6, the Russian defence ministry posted good news: more than 2,500 members of the regiment responsible for the capture of a town in eastern Ukraine would receive state awards for heroism. Later that morning, as Ukraine began […]

Ukraine and Russia trade accusations over fire at occupied nuclear plant

(Reuters) – Moscow and Kyiv accused each other of starting a fire on the grounds of Europe’s largest and now Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine on Sunday, with both sides reporting no sign of elevated radiation. The U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear watchdog, which has a presence at the vast six-reactor facility, said its experts had seen strong, dark smoke coming from the northern area of the plant in southern Ukraine […]

French police probe ransomware attack on Grand Palais Olympic venue

PARIS (Reuters) -French cyber crime police are investigating a ransomware attack against the Grand Palais exhibition hall in Paris where Olympic events including fencing and Taekwondo are being held, Paris prosecutors said on Tuesday. They said cyber criminals had targeted the institution’s central computer system, but the incident had not caused any disruption to Olympic events taking place in the iconic glass-roofed exhibition hall in the centre of the French capital. The computer system at […]

Americans freed alongside Russian assassin in biggest post-Cold War prisoner swap

By Andrew Osborn, Filipp Lebedev, Lucy Papachristou and Trevor Hunnicutt MOSCOW/ANKARA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Russia freed U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich and ex-U.S. Marine Paul Whelan on Thursday as part of the biggest prisoner exchange of its kind since the end of the Cold War. The White House said the U.S. had negotiated the trade with Russia, Germany and three other countries. The deal, negotiated in secrecy for more than a year, involved 24 prisoners, including 16 moving […]

Violent crowd clashes with UK police after young girls killed

By Temilade Adelaja SOUTHPORT, England (Reuters) – A large crowd of anti-Muslim protesters clashed with police on Tuesday in a northern English town where three girls were stabbed to death and five other children critically wounded during an attack on a Taylor Swift-themed event on Monday. The horrific stabbing incident in Southport, a quiet seaside town north of Liverpool, has shocked the nation. Police have said it was not linked to terrorism and that the […]

UK police arrest man after at least eight stabbed in ‘deeply shocking’ incident

LONDON (Reuters) -British emergency services said a man had been arrested after at least eight people were stabbed in Southport, northwest England, on Monday, with a local children’s hospital declaring a major incident and the prime minister calling it “deeply shocking”. North West Ambulance Service said it had treated eight patients with stab injuries who had been taken to three different hospitals, including Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. Merseyside Police said armed police had arrested a […]

BREAKING: Fibre optic networks ‘sabotaged’ in parts of France: police

PARIS, July 29, 2024 (AFP) – The fibre optic networks of several telecommunications operators have been “sabotaged” in six areas of France but Paris is not affected, police said on Monday. The incident occurred three days after coordinated acts of sabotage paralysed high-speed train services hours before the Olympics opening ceremony, disrupting travel for hundreds of thousands of people.

Putin: U.S. missile plans in Germany could spark cold war-style crisis

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday warned the United States that if Washington deployed long-range missiles in Germany from 2026 then Russia would station similar missiles in striking distance of the West. The United States will start deploying long-range fire capabilities in Germany in 2026 in an effort to demonstrate its commitment to NATO and European defenсe, the United States and Germany said earlier this month. The United States’ “episodic deployments” are […]

France’s train network hit by arson attacks hours before Olympic ceremony

By Dominique Vidalon and Elizabeth Pineau July 26, 2024   PARIS, July 26 (Reuters) – Saboteurs struck France’s TGV high-speed train network in a series of pre-dawn attacks across the country, causing travel chaos and exposing security gaps ahead of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony later on Friday. The coordinated sabotage took place as France mounted a massive security operation involving tens of thousands of police and soldiers to safeguard the capital for the sporting […]

Humanity suffering from ‘extreme heat epidemic,’ UN chief warns

By Amélie BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS UNITED NATIONS, United States, July 25, 2024 (AFP) – Humanity is suffering from an “extreme heat epidemic,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Thursday, calling for action to limit the impacts of heat waves intensified by climate change. “Billions of people are facing an extreme heat epidemic — wilting under increasingly deadly heat waves, with temperatures topping 50 degrees Celsius around the world,” he said. “That’s 122 degrees Fahrenheit. And halfway to boiling.” […]