Europe

Wagner says Russia promises enough ammo to stay in Bakhmut

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — The head of the Wagner mercenary group said on Sunday that Russia had promised his fighters enough ammunition to stay in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, after threatening to pull out in scathing videos. Rivalries between Yevgeny Prigozhin and the conventional army had boiled over during the battle for the now-devastated flashpoint, where Wagner is leading the assault. “Overnight we received a combat order… they promised to give us all […]

Stars take centre stage as UK steps up coronation celebrations

Windsor, United Kingdom By Justin TALLIS in Windsor and Joe JACKSON in London Britain revelled in the coronation of King Charles III on Sunday as it staged a star-studded concert watched by 20,000 people at Windsor Castle and millions more across the country and world. Charles, 74, and Queen Camilla, 75, watched on from a royal box in the grounds of the castle west of London, as Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and British band Take […]

Evacuations spur UN watchdog concern over Ukraine nuclear plant

MOSCOW, May 7, 2023 (AFP) – Evacuations from the front line around Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant prompted safety warnings from the UN nuclear watchdog on Saturday, as a string of recent strikes escalate predictions of a looming spring counteroffensive. Moscow has blamed Kyiv — and its Western supporters — for an escalating number of long-range attacks and sabotage operations, including on the Kremlin. A car bomb on Saturday wounded prominent nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin […]

King Charles III crowned in UK’s first coronation since 1953

LONDON, May 6, 2023 (AFP) – Charles III was crowned monarch of the United Kingdom and 14 Commonwealth realms on Saturday at Britain’s first coronation for 70 years, during a ceremony steeped in a millennium of ritual and spectacle. Charles, 74, became the oldest sovereign yet to be crowned at London’s Westminster Abbey, after a lifetime as heir to his late mother Queen Elizabeth II. At 12:02 pm (1102 GMT), Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby […]

Covid no longer a global health emergency: WHO

GENEVA, May 5, 2023 (AFP) – The Covid-19 pandemic, which for over three years has killed millions of people, wreaked economic havoc and deepened inequalities, no longer constitutes a global health emergency, the WHO said Friday. It is “with great hope that I declare Covid-19 over as a global health emergency”, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters, estimating that the pandemic had killed “at least 20 million” people — nearly three times the under […]

Serbian president vows to ‘disarm’ country after mass shootings

  BELGRADE, May 5, 2023 (AFP) – Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic vowed on Friday to launch a large-scale disarmament plan to remove hundreds of thousands of guns from the country, following back-to-back mass shootings in the Balkan country this week. “We will do an almost complete disarming of Serbia,” Vucic said during a live broadcast, hours after the latest shooting killed eight people. The president said the plan aimed to remove hundreds of thousands of […]

Peace deal ‘within reach’ in Armenia-Azerbaijan talks

By Paul HANDLEY Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A peace deal to end Armenia and Azerbaijan’s three-decade-old dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave is “within reach” after four days of talks in Washington, US top diplomat Antony Blinken said Thursday. The discussions between Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov did not result in a deal to end the territorial conflict between the two ex-Soviet republics, but Blinken said progress […]

‘I cried all day’: Serbia reels after deadly school shooting

By Miodrag SOVILJ Agence France-Presse BELGRADE, Serbia (AFP) — Serbia was in mourning on Thursday a day after a 13-year-old suspect shot dead eight fellow students and a security guard after allegedly drawing up a kill list. The tragedy has left the Balkan nation reeling. Gun violence at schools is extremely rare in Serbia and the country’s president called Wednesday’s shooting “one of the most difficult days” in recent history. On Thursday, schools across Serbia […]

Record sea surface heat sparks fears of warming surge

PARIS, May 4, 2023 (AFP) – With sea surface temperatures swelling to new highs in recent weeks, scientists warn that humanity’s carbon pollution has the potential to turn oceans into a global warming “time bomb”. Oceans absorb most of the heat caused by planet-warming gases, causing heatwaves that harm aquatic life, altering weather patterns and disrupting crucial planet-regulating systems. While sea surface temperatures normally recede relatively quickly from annual peaks, this year they stayed high, […]

Zelensky was not warned of US secret docs leak: report

WASHINGTON, May 3, 2023 (AFP) – Washington did not warn Kyiv about the top-secret documents leaked to internet chat rooms — containing sensitive information about Ukraine’s war effort — before the news broke in the media last month, President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Washington Post. The embarrassing security breach revealed US unease about a coming counteroffensive by Kyiv’s forces against Russian troops as well as concerns about Ukrainian air defenses. “I did not receive information […]

Scientists use brain scans and AI to ‘decode’ thoughts

PARIS, May 1, 2023 (AFP) – Scientists said Monday they have found a way to use brain scans and artificial intelligence modelling to transcribe “the gist” of what people are thinking, in what was described as a step towards mind reading. While the main goal of the language decoder is to help people who have the lost the ability to communicate, the US scientists acknowledged that the technology raised questions about “mental privacy”. Aiming to […]

Russian freight train derailed by ‘explosive device’

  MOSCOW, May 1, 2023 (AFP) – A Russian freight train derailed Monday in the western region of Bryansk bordering Ukraine after an “explosive device” detonated on the tracks but there were no casualties, the local governor said. On the same day, officials said power lines had been blown up in northern Russia, which the FSB security service called an “act of sabotage.” The apparent attacks came a day after a Ukrainian strike killed four […]