Europe

Kyiv — Five people died in Ukrainian shelling in Russia’s border region of Belgorod, officials said Sunday, while Russian forces struck a hotel in eastern Ukraine, leaving one journalist missing and two others injured. Twelve other people were wounded in the Russian village of Rakitone, 38 kilometers (23 miles) from the Ukrainian border, including a 16-year-old girl reported to be in critical condition, said regional Gov. …

Ukraine and Russia conducted their first prisoner-of-war exchange since the beginning of Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. The swap bore symbolism for Ukraine as the country marked its 33rd Independence Day. Anna Chernikova reports from Kyiv. Camera: Vladyslav Smilianets. …

KYIV — Russia launched several missiles and drones overnight targeting northern and eastern Ukraine, injuring at least 29 people, Ukrainian military and local authorities said on Sunday. The attack targeted Ukraine’s frontline regions of Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Donetsk, Ukraine’s air force said on the Telegram messaging app. Russia has been pummeling Ukrainian border regions with strikes, and Kyiv said its surprise incursion earlier this month …

FRANKFURT, Germany — The suspect in custody for a stabbing rampage in the western German city of Solingen that killed three people and injured eight is a 26-year-old Syrian man, authorities said early Sunday. The suspect turned himself in and admitted to the crime, Duesseldorf police and prosecutors said in a joint statement. “The involvement of this person is currently under intensive investigation,” they said. The …

madrid — Sunflower oil has dethroned olive oil as king of the kitchen in Spain, the world´s largest olive oil producer, as rising prices force consumers to switch to cheaper options.  Spaniards bought 107 million liters (28.3 million gallons) of all types of olive oil in the first half of 2024 compared with 179 million liters of sunflower oil, according to Spain’s biggest olive oil bottling …

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paris — 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 …

London — Prime Minister Keir Starmer will warn Britons next week that the changes needed to fix Britain’s many problems will take time, saying “things will get worse before we get better” in a speech he describes as a chance to level with the public.  After being elected as prime minister at a July landslide election, Starmer has repeatedly blamed the former Conservative government for leaving …

BUDAPEST, hungary — Hungary’s foreign minister said Saturday the European Commission’s decision not to mediate in a dispute over a blockage of oil supplies from Russia via Ukraine into his country suggested that Brussels was behind the stoppage.  Hungary and its neighbor Slovakia have been protesting since Ukraine put Russian oil producer Lukoil on a sanctions list in June, stopping that company’s oil from passing through …

PARIS — French authorities opened a terrorism investigation Saturday after an arson attack on a synagogue in a southwestern Mediterranean town injured a police officer. Security forces were searching for a suspect. Two cars parked at the Beth Yaacov synagogue complex in the seaside resort town of La Grande Motte near Montpellier were set ablaze just after 8 a.m. Saturday, antiterrorism prosecutors said in a statement. …

SOLINGEN, Germany — Special police units on Saturday joined the search for an unknown man who carried out a stabbing attack at a crowded festival in the western German city of Solingen, killing three people and wounding at least eight others, five of them seriously. “The police are currently conducting a large-scale search for the perpetrator,” police said in a statement. “Both victims and witnesses are …

ROME — Prosecutors in Italy said Saturday they have opened an investigation into culpable shipwreck and multiple manslaughter after a superyacht capsized during a storm off the coast of Sicily, killing seven people onboard. They include British tech magnate Mike Lynch and his daughter. Termini Imerese prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio confirmed the investigation has been launched but said no suspect has been identified. “We are only in …

Washington — China and Russia agreed to expand their economic cooperation using a planned banking system, which analysts say is aimed at supporting their militaries and undermining U.S.-led global order. The two countries issued a joint communiqué agreeing “to strengthen and develop the payment and settlement infrastructure,” including “opening corresponding accounts and establishing branches and subsidiary banks in two countries” to facilitate “smooth” payment in trade. …

SOLINGEN, Germany — An attacker with a knife killed three people and seriously wounded at least five late on Friday at a festival in the western German city of Solingen, authorities said. Witnesses alerted police shortly after 9:30 p.m. local time to an unknown perpetrator who had wounded several people indiscriminately with a knife on a central square. Police said have no one in custody and …

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As the war in Ukraine drags on, Ukrainian civilians are coping the best they can. For hundreds, that means attending special military centers to learn how to fight. Anna Kosstutschenko has the story. Videographer: Pavel Suhodolskiy …

Berlin — Germany’s next national election has been set for Sept. 28, 2025. Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he will run for a second term, but his party and the others in his three-party coalition have seen their popularity decline sharply as a result of constant infighting.  President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s office said Friday that the head of state has signed off on the government’s recommendation and formally …

BERLIN — The Berlin Zoo announced Friday that longtime resident giant panda Meng Meng has given birth to twins — for a second time. The cubs were born on Thursday, the zoo said in a statement. They were born only 11 days after ultrasound scans showed that Meng Meng, 11, was pregnant. Their sex has not yet been determined “with certainty.” “Now it’s time to keep …

moscow — Russia accused Ukraine on Friday of trying to attack the Kursk nuclear power station overnight in what it called an act of “nuclear terrorism,” days before the head of the U.N. atomic watchdog is due to visit the site. The Ukrainian defense ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the allegation, the second that Moscow has made in two days. …

berlin — The NATO air base in the German town of Geilenkirchen has raised its security level “based on intelligence information indicating a potential threat,” it said late Thursday. “All non-mission essential staff have been sent home as a precautionary measure,” the base said in a statement on the social media platform X, without giving details. “The safety of our staff is our top priority. Operations …

COPENHAGEN, denmark — A volcano in southwestern Iceland erupted on Thursday, the meteorological office said, spraying red-hot lava and smoke in its sixth outbreak since December. “An eruption has begun. Work is under way to find out the location of the recordings,” the Icelandic Met Office, which is tasked with monitoring volcanoes, said in a statement. The total length of the fissure was about 3.9 kilometers …

brussels — Talks on forming a Belgian coalition government were thrown into turmoil Thursday when the chief negotiator handed his resignation to King Philippe, threatening further political limbo for the country two months after elections.  With its linguistic divide between French and Dutch and a highly complex political system, Belgium has a record of painfully protracted coalition discussions, reaching 541 days back in 2010-11.   Five …

The International Atomic Energy Agency said on August 12 that its representatives inspected a damaged cooling tower at the Russia-controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant in Ukraine.  But the question remains: Who did the damage? Mariia Prus has the story. …