Europe

A wooden bridge over a river in southern Norway collapsed early Monday, with a car plunging into the water and a truck getting stuck on a raised section. The drivers of both vehicles were rescued and doing well, police said. Police were alerted shortly after 7:30 a.m. (0530 GMT; 1:30 …

France said on Monday that all of its troops battling the militants in Mali since 2013 have now left the country after a decision in February to withdraw over the deterioration of relations between Paris and Bamako. “Today at 13:00 (Paris time), the last military unit of the Barkhane force …

Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly committed to expanding the country’s “comprehensive and constructive bilateral relations” with North Korea. Putin made the remarks in a letter addressed to North Korea’s ruler Kim Jong-un on the occasion of the anniversary of the North’s liberation from Japanese rule, the official Korean Central …

Russia has registered a total of 820,307 COVID-related deaths since the start of the pandemic in the country in April 2020, the state statistics service Rosstat said on Friday. It said 4,991 people had died of COVID-19 or related causes in June, down from 7,098 in May. Russia recorded more …

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan agreed on Friday to boost cooperation in the transport, agriculture, finance, and construction industries, they said in a joint statement after a four-hour meeting. Turkey mediated a deal signed by Ukraine, Russia, and the United Nations in Istanbul last month under …

Russia’s energy giant Gazprom says the sanctions imposed by the West against Moscow have made it impossible for the company to receive a turbine needed to keep gas flowing to Europe. Gazprom said on Wednesday that the delivery of the turbine needed to stream gas to Europe via the Nord Stream …

An explosion and fire at a military plant in southwest France has left at least eight people injured, reports say. The Eurenco factory in the town of Bergerac specializes in making nitrocellulose, a highly flammable chemical compound, as well as propellants and fuels. Local officials said an investigation will be …

The first grain-carrying ship to leave Ukrainian ports in wartime safely anchored off Turkey’s coast on Tuesday. At the same time, a senior official said Ankara expects the roughly one-grain ship to depart from Ukraine every day as long as the export agreement holds. The first ship, the Razoni, carrying …

PM Pedro Sanchez said the breakaway region’s unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia violated international law

Hundreds of firefighters battled a blaze raging in a Portuguese municipality near the capital Lisbon on Sunday as high temperatures and strong winds made it harder to put out the flames.

Russia’s economy is doing better than expected despite Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over the war in Ukraine, the International Monetary Fund says in a new report. The sanctions were imposed to sever Russia from the global financial system and choke off funds available to Moscow to finance the war. …

The head of Britain’s armed forces strongly dismisses rumors that Russian President Vladimir Putin could be facing the threat of “assassination.” Speaking to the BBC on Sunday, Sir Tony Radakin said, “I think some of these comments that ‘he’s not well’ or ‘surely someone is going to assassinate him,’ they’re …

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has sacked the head of the country’s powerful domestic security service, the SBU, and the prosecutor general, accusing them of collaborating with Russia on security and military issues. The embattled president issued the executive orders late on Sunday, citing more than 650 alleged treason and collaboration cases and …

Russia is reportedly drafting a new bill allowing non-credit financial institutions to specialize in Islamic banking in the country in a bid to help the sanctions-hit state banks to lure investors from Muslim nations. The non-credit banking institutions would operate as financing partnership organizations (FPO) and offer Sharia-compliant financial products …

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has accused the West of fighting a world war against Russia by means of Ukrainians. In a TV interview, Vucic said the Ukraine conflict is a global one as the entire western world is fighting against Russia via Ukrainians. “The entire Western world is fighting against …

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the West of decades of aggression towards Moscow, warning that any attempt to beat Russia on the battlefield would bring tragedy for Ukraine. In televised remarks to parliamentary leaders on Thursday, Putin said that “the West wants to fight us until the last Ukrainian. …

A bipartisan pair of US war hawks, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal, on Thursday met with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who implored the lawmakers for more weapons. Blumenthal and Graham have been two of the most ardently anti-Russia voices in the US Congress. The Ukrainian president …

About 700 firefighters backed by aircraft have been pressed into service in France’s southern Gard region to battle a blaze that has so far burnt more than 600 hectares (1,500 acres) of forest area. People in the villages of Bordezac and other small settlements in the Besseges area were evacuated …

These are images from Saint-Lazare Station in Paris as traffic on the region’s L and J lines is “severely disrupted” by the strike of SNCF staff who demand wage increases to counter soaring inflation.

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has strongly warned the Western states against any attempts at “punishing” the country over its ongoing military operation in neighboring Ukraine. “The idea to punish a country that has the largest nuclear arsenal is absurd in and of itself,” Medvedev said on the Telegram messaging …