Europe

The UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Monday that the death toll of civilians killed in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24 had exceeded 3,000 people. The toll of 3,153 killed so far represents an increase of 254 from Friday. OHCHR said that the …

Spanish authorities have detected “Pegasus” spyware in the mobile phones of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Defence Minister Margarita Robles, the government minister for the presidency, Felix Bolanos, said on Monday. Bolanos told a news conference Sanchez’s phone was infected in May 2021 and at least one data leak occurred …

Apple faces a possible hefty fine and may have to open its mobile payment system to competitors after EU antitrust regulators charged the iPhone maker with restricting rivals’ access to its technology used for mobile wallets. This marks the second EU charge against Apple after EU regulators last year accused …

Two powerful blasts were heard in the Russian city of Belgorod in the early hours of Monday morning, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram. “I woke up to the sound of two powerful explosions half an hour ago. According to the anti-crisis center, there were no reports of casualties …

Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie visited the Ukrainian city of Lviv on Saturday, going to the station to meet people displaced by the war with Russia before later leaving after air-raid sirens sounded. Jolie, 46, is a special envoy for the United Nations refugee agency, which says more than 12.7 million …

Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday it had struck at weapons supplied to Ukraine by the United States and European countries and destroyed a runway at a military airfield near the Ukrainian city of Odesa. The ministry said it used high-precision Onyx missiles to strike the airfield after Ukraine accused …

Greece lifted COVID-19 restrictions on Sunday for foreign and domestic flights, its civil aviation authority said, ahead of the summer tourism season that officials hope will see revenues bouncing back from the pandemic slump. To fly in or out of the country, travelers were previously required to show either a …

Thousands of opposition supporters rallied Sunday in the Armenian capital Yerevan to warn the government against concessions to arch-foe Azerbaijan over the long-disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Opposition parties have accused Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of plans to give away all of Karabakh to Azerbaijan after he told lawmakers last month that …

Citizens and trade unions in cities around Europe were taking to the streets on Sunday for May Day marches and put out protest messages to their governments, notably in France where the holiday to honor workers was being used as a rallying cry against newly re-elected President Emmanuel Macron. In …

A Russian defence ministry facility in the southern Belgorod region bordering Ukraine has caught fire, the Belgorod region governor said on Sunday. Looks like something is on fire in Belgorod. https://t.co/IqO7geGV4b pic.twitter.com/axtaKJQVWA — Rob Lee (@RALee85) May 1, 2022 There was no immediate information about damage or casualties, the governor …

A group of 40 civilians was evacuated on Sunday from Mariupol’s Azovstal steelworks in a convoy with vehicles bearing United Nations symbols, signalling a deal had been struck to ease the ordeal of the most destructive siege in the Ukraine conflict. In one of the first major signs of an …

Russia says it struck at weapons supplied to Ukraine by the West as US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi meets President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv during an unannounced visit. Pelosi, the highest-ranking American leader to visit Ukraine since the start of the war, arrived on Saturday, leading a Congressional delegation. She …

The European Union has demanded a “proper answer” from Chinese authorities over the arrest of a local employee at its Beijing mission who has been held for eight months. The EU Delegation in China staffer was detained by police in September 2021, the bloc confirmed in an emailed statement. “Despite …

Ukraine carried out a prisoner exchange with Russia on Saturday, with seven soldiers and seven civilians coming home, deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in an online posting. One of the soldiers was a woman who is five months pregnant, she added. She did not say how many Russians had …

Russia believes the risks of nuclear war should be kept to a minimum and that any armed conflict between nuclear powers should be prevented, the TASS news agency quoted a foreign ministry official as saying on Saturday. Vladimir Yermakov, the foreign ministry’s head of nuclear non-proliferation, said all nuclear powers …

The governor of Russia’s western Kursk region said several shells were fired on Saturday at a checkpoint near its border from the direction of Ukraine. Speaking in a video posted on his Telegram channel, governor Roman Starovoit said that there were no casualties or damage.

French authorities say half of nuclear power plants are now offline for maintenance or defects, at a time of soaring demand for electricity amid the energy crisis in Europe. Energy supplier Electricité de France (EDF) said some 28 of the country’s 56 reactors were shut down due to routine maintenance …

Sergey Lavrov, in an interview with Xinhua, says the US and NATO should stop arming Ukraine if they are interested in resolving the crisis. Russia’s foreign minister has again urged the United States and NATO to stop supplying Kyiv with arms if they are “really interested in resolving the Ukraine …

Russia said on Saturday that its artillery units had struck 389 Ukrainian targets overnight, including 35 control points, 15 arms and ammunition depots, and several areas where Ukrainian troops and equipment were concentrated. Russia’s defense ministry said that its missiles had hit four ammunition and fuel depots.

Germany is considering sending long-ranged howitzers to Ukraine, a security source told Reuters on Friday, confirming a report published by Welt am Sonntag newspaper only days after Berlin first decided to supply heavy weapons to Kyiv. The move follows warnings by the Kremlin that Western arms supplies to Ukraine posed …