Europe

Ukraine says three villages retaken in fresh offensive

KYIV, Ukraine, June 12, 2023 (AFP) – Ukraine announced that its forces have retaken three villages in the eastern region of Donetsk, the first reported gains of their new offensive. But three people were killed and at least another 23 wounded as Russia shelled a rescue boat evacuating civilians from Russian-controlled territory, the Kherson region prosecutors’ office said on Sunday. Analysts at Washington-based think tank the Institute for the Study of War say that Kyiv’s […]

NATO begins unprecedented air drill in ‘show of strength’

By Deborah COLE Agence France-Presse BERLIN, June 12, 2023 (AFP) — NATO will begin the largest air force deployment exercise in Europe in the alliance’s history on Monday in a display of unity toward partners and potential threats such as Russia. The German-led “Air Defender 23” will run until June 23 and include some 250 military aircraft from 25 NATO and partner countries including Japan and Sweden, which is bidding to join the alliance. Up […]

President Macron says ‘positive’ news on children hurt in France knife attack

ANNECY, France, June 9, 2023 (AFP) – French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday said the health of the preschool children badly wounded in a mass knife attack by a Syrian refugee was “heading in the right direction”, as police questioned the attacker. Four children — aged between 22 months and three years old — were stabbed Thursday in a playground in the Alpine town of Annecy, a normally idyllic lakeside spot popular with tourists. While […]

Iceland to suspend embassy operations in Russia in August

REYKJAVIK, June 9, 2023 (AFP) – Iceland said Friday it would suspend work at its embassy in Russia as of August 1, the first country to do so, and asked Russia to limit its operations in Reykjavik. “The current situation simply does not make it viable for the small foreign service of Iceland to operate an embassy in Russia,” Foreign Minister Thordis Gylfadottir said. AFP’s bureau in Moscow said Iceland was the first country to […]

Seismological institute says detected Ukraine dam blast

OSLO, June 9, 2023 (AFP) – Norway’s seismological institute said Friday it had detected “an explosion” at the site and time a dam was breached in Ukraine that caused major flooding. Norsar’s announcement, which did not provide any information about the cause of the blast, supports suggestions that the hydroelectric dam, located in a Russian-held zone, did not burst as a result of damage incurred during months of heavy bombing. Russia and Ukraine have been […]

Russia says military ties with China provide global ‘stability’

MOSCOW, June 9, 2023 (AFP) – Russian armed forces chief of staff Valery Gerasimov said on Friday his country’s strong military partnership with China provides stability around the world. Gerasimov, who is commander of Russia’s military operations in Ukraine, made the remark during a videoconference with his Chinese counterpart, Liu Zhenli. “The coordination of Russian and Chinese efforts on the international stage has a stabilising effect on the global situation,” Gerasimov told Liu, according to […]

Smoke from Canadian wildfires detected in Norway

OSLO, June 9, 2023 (AFP) – Smoke from Canadian wildfires has been detected thousands of kilometres away in Norway this week, the Scandinavian country’s Climate and Environmental Research Institute NILU said on Friday. “Very weak” concentrations of smoke particles have been detected since Monday, in particular at the Birkenes observatory in southern Norway, researcher Nikolaos Evangeliou told AFP. Measurements have varied depending on the fires’ intensity, wind direction and precipitation. “We don’t see serious peaks […]

Fighting in southern Ukraine as offensive expectations build

MOSCOW, June 9, 2023 (AFP) – Fighting raged Friday in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region, a Russian official said, with observers seeing the combat as the possible start of Kyiv’s long-expected offensive. Ukraine has not offered any confirmation but expectations have built for months over when its forces, bolstered with Western weapons and training, would launch a counter-offensive in a bid to reclaim land occupied by Russian forces. The fighting comes as the humanitarian and environmental […]

Two children ‘still critical’ after France knife attack

PARIS, June 9, 2023 (AFP) – Two children were fighting for their lives a day after being stabbed by a man in a park in the French Alps, the government said Friday. “There are still two children considered to be in critical condition,” government spokesman Olivier Veran said in an interview with French media, adding that the children had undergone “surgical interventions”. He also cautioned against jumping to conclusions in the case, in which the […]

Developing story: Drone hits residential building in Russian city of Voronezh: governor

  MOSCOW, June 9, 2023 (AFP) – A drone hit a residential building in Russia’s southern city of Voronezh Friday injuring two people, the local governor said. Drone attacks have hit Russian cities — including the capital Moscow — often in recent months as Kyiv says it is preparing for a major counteroffensive. Friday’s attack was the first in Voronezh, a city of some one million people that lies in a region deeper inside Russia […]

Anger as pre-historic stones destroyed for French DIY store

RENNES, France (AFP) — Around 40 standing stones thought to have been erected by prehistoric humans 7,000 years ago have been destroyed near a famed archaeological site in northwest France to make way for a DIY store, an angry local historian has revealed. The stones in Carnac were between 50-100 centimeters (20-40 inches) high and stood close to the main highly protected areas of one of Europe’s largest and most mysterious pre-historic tourist attractions. “The […]

World warming at record 0.2C per decade, scientists warn

PARIS, June 8, 2023 (AFP) – Record-high greenhouse gas emissions and diminishing air pollution have caused an unparalleled acceleration in global warming, 50 top scientists warned Thursday in a sweeping climate science update. From 2013 to 2022, “human-induced warming has been increasing at an unprecedented rate of over 0.2 degrees Celsius per decade,” they reported in a peer-reviewed study aimed at policymakers. Average annual emissions over the same period hit an all-time high of 54 […]