Europe

PARIS — Faith leaders gathered with Olympic officials Sunday morning in front of Notre Dame Cathedral to celebrate how “faith and sport can complement each other,” in the words of International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach. The 2024 Paris Games got off to a rocky start with many religious groups around the world, including the Vatican. They criticized a scene in the opening ceremony seen as …

rome — Italy’s coast guard said Sunday two migrants died after they were rescued along with more than 30 others in the Mediterranean off the eastern coast of Sicily. The coast guard said it received a distress call late Saturday from a boat located about 17 miles southeast of Syracuse carrying Syrian, Egyptian and Bangladeshi migrants. Search and rescue operations began after the coast guard dispatched …

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines and Germany on Sunday committed to signing a defense cooperation arrangement this year, vowing to stand for the international rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific region. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and his Philippine counterpart Gilberto Teodoro committed to establishing long-term relations between their armed forces to expand training and bilateral exchanges, explore opportunities to expand bilateral armaments cooperation and engage in …

Moscow — Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered condolences to North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un over devastating floods that caused untold casualties and damaged thousands of homes, the Kremlin said on Saturday. The North, in turn, said Sunday that Putin had also offered “immediate humanitarian support” to aid its recovery efforts, to which Kim responded that he “could deeply feel the special emotion towards a …

DAKAR, Senegal — Two men claiming to be Russian nationals and saying they were taken captive in Niger by militants linked to al-Qaida appeared in a video published on a media platform affiliated to the extremist group. The video, which appeared on the az-Zallaqa platform Friday night, showed two men who said they were seized by the militants while working in Baga in northeastern Niger. The …

Ukrainian tennis player Alex Dolgopolov was once ranked 13th in the world. But shortly after Russia invaded his homeland in 2022, he volunteered to fight on the front lines. Anna Kosstutschenko met with the tennis star turned drone operator. Camera: Pavel Suhodolskiy. …

KYIV, UKRAINE — Ukraine’s military said on Saturday it had attacked Russia’s Morozovsk airfield and several oil depots and fuel storage facilities in three Russian regions overnight. The attack on the airfield hit an ammunition depot where Russian forces stored guided aerial bombs among other equipment, the military said. “Russian combat aviation must be destroyed wherever it is, by all effective means. It is also quite …

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RABAT, Morocco — France has thrown its support behind Morocco’s autonomy plan for the disputed Western Sahara, shifting a decades-old position and adding itself to a growing list of countries to align with Morocco as a United Nations-mediated peace process remains stalled. In a letter to King Mohammed VI, France’s President Emmanuel Macron called the plan that Morocco proposed in 2007 to offer the region limited …

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london — Protesters attacked police and started fires in the northeast English city of Sunderland on Friday as violence spread to another northern city following Monday’s killing of three children in Southport.  Anti-immigrant demonstrators threw stones at police in riot gear near a mosque in the city before overturning vehicles, setting a car on fire and starting a fire next to a police office, the BBC …

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washington — American permanent resident Vladimir Kara-Murza told reporters on Friday he had expected to die in a Russian prison. The Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, who had been serving a 25-year prison sentence following a 2022 arrest, was freed Thursday in a historic prisoner swap negotiated by the U.S. and its allies with Russia. Kara-Murza spoke to the media in Bonn, Germany, with two of the seven …

PARIS — The stands at Champs de Mars filled up quickly. One fan dressed in a white martial arts uniform waved a French flag back and forth. A woman next to him held up a poster with the face of one of the biggest sports stars in France. Crowds of people bounced up and down so excitedly it shook the floor of the arena, where judo …

LONDON — Several suspects arrested in violent protests that erupted after the fatal stabbing of three children in northwest England were due in court Friday as officials braced for more clashes that Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned and blamed on “far-right hatred.” Starmer vowed to end the mayhem and said police across the United Kingdom would be given more resources to stop “a breakdown in law …

KYIV — A Russian drone hit a bus in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region early on Friday, injuring six construction workers, including one who was in a critical condition, the regional governor said. Governor Oleh Syniehubov said the incident took place near the town of Derhachi, about 40 km (25 miles) from Hlyboke one of the border settlements where Russia opened a new front in the war …

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s communications authority blocked access to the social media platform Instagram on Friday, the latest instance of a clampdown on websites in the country. The Information and Communication Technologies Authority, which regulates the internet, announced the block early Friday but did not provide a reason. Sabah newspaper, which is close to the government, said access was blocked in response to Instagram removing posts …

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Americans Paul Whelan, Alsu Kurmasheva, Evan Gershkovich, and others are freed from Russian prisons in a deal involving 16 political prisoners exchanged for eight individuals requested by the Kremlin. With Liam Scott and Cristina Caicedo Smit, Jessica Jerreat reports. Patsy Widakuswara contributed. Cameras: Martin Bubenik, Krystof Maixner, Hoshang Fahim. …

moscow — President Vladimir Putin gave Russian nationals freed in a historic prisoner exchange with the West a hero’s welcome on Thursday as they stepped off a plane in Moscow, promising them state awards and a conversation about their futures.  Eight people were returned to Russia as part of the biggest East-West prisoner exchange since the end of the Cold War, including Vadim Krasikov, a hitman …

washington — The historic prisoner swap with Russia that freed U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich and 15 other Westerners was the fruit of painstaking, secret talks — and one crucial phone call from President Joe Biden an hour before he dropped his reelection bid. Biden welcomed the families of the three U.S. citizens and one U.S. resident to the White House on Thursday, just as the release …

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SAINT-DENIS, France — The best high jumper in Ukraine, and maybe the world, hasn’t spent much time at home the last few years. Home for Yaroslava Mahuchikh is Dnipro, a city of 1 million located only about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the front lines of the war with Russia that shows no signs of ending. On Saturday, Mahuchikh begins her quest for an Olympic gold …

Solar panels, battery stations and generators have become allies for Ukrainian homeowners as they start getting ready for another winter of Russian attacks on their nation’s power grid. Lesia Bakalets reports from Kyiv. (Camera: Vladyslav Smilianets) …