KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in remarks broadcast Thursday that Kyiv is delaying its long-awaited counteroffensive against Russia’s occupying forces because Ukraine lacks enough Western weapons to succeed without suffering too many casualties.
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — At one end of a long avenue leading through the western districts of Belgrade, there is a large and freshly painted mural that reads: Boulevard of Ratko Mladic.
It’s been there for months or even years, regularly renovated and kept in clean blue and white colors, never vandalized or painted over although thousands of people pass it by every day.
UK sending Ukraine long-range cruise missiles
May 11, 2023 GMTLONDON (AP) — The U.K. is sending Ukraine long-range cruise missiles to help push back Russian forces, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said Thursday. It's the first known shipment of the weaponry that Kyiv has long sought from its allies.
NEAR KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — By the time Kyiv residents hear the air-raid sirens signaling an imminent Russian attack, Ukraine’s air-defense units are already on the move. From camouflaged positions, they dart out by truck to farm fields around the capital, ready to take down enemy drones or missiles.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A candidate in Turkey's presidential election announced his withdrawal from the race Thursday, a move that's likely to benefit President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main challenger.
LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England raised interest rates to their highest level since late 2008 as it continues to combat stubbornly high inflation in the U.K.
The decision on Thursday by the bank’s nine-member Monetary Policy Committee to lift its main interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 4.5% was widely anticipated in financial markets.
Suspect detained after blast at residential building in Germany injures police, firefighters
May 11, 2023 GMTBERLIN (AP) — German police have detained a suspect in connection with an explosion at a residential building that injured dozens of first responders on Thursday, some of them seriously, officials said.
Russian woman who left note on grave of Putin’s parents convicted amid dissent crackdown
May 11, 2023 GMTA Russian court gave a two-year suspended sentence Thursday to a St. Petersburg woman who left a note on the grave of President Vladimir Putin's parents that said they had "raised a freak and a killer.”
Norway takes over presidency of Arctic Council from Russia
May 11, 2023 GMTCOPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Norway on Thursday took over the Arctic Council's rotating chairmanship from Russia amid questions about what role the eight-country intergovernmental body can play in protecting the polar region after the invasion of Ukraine prompted Western countries to suspend cooperation with Moscow.
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) — The Ukrainian government is seeking to extend a wartime deal that allowed the country's grain to get to nations in Africa, the Middle East and Asia where hunger is a growing threat, a top Ukrainian official said Thursday after the latest talks on prolonging the agreement.
BERLIN (AP) — A man opened fire at a Mercedes-Benz factory in southwestern Germany on Thursday, leaving two people dead, authorities and the company said.
The shooting occurred in Sindelfingen, a city near Stuttgart.
US approves $8.5 billion sale of Chinook helicopters to Germany
May 11, 2023 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Thursday approved an $8.5 billion sale of Chinook helicopters to NATO ally Germany.
The approval comes as the war in Ukraine continues to tax the military stocks of Western countries but is not directly related to the conflict.
US ambassador accuses South Africa of providing arms to Russia; president cites investigation
May 11, 2023 GMTCAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The U. S. ambassador to South Africa accused the country Thursday of providing weapons and ammunition to Russia for its war in Ukraine via a cargo ship that docked secretly at a naval base near the city of Cape Town for three days in December.
Latvia’s foreign minister to run in presidential election
May 11, 2023 GMTHELSINKI (AP) — Latvia’s long-serving and popular foreign minister, who is a staunch Ukraine-backer, said Thursday that he would be running as a candidate in the Baltic country’s presidential election later this month.
Mpox no longer a global emergency, WHO says
May 11, 2023 GMTLONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization said Thursday that the global outbreak of mpox, which initially baffled experts when the smallpox-related disease spread to more than 100 countries last year, is no longer an international emergency, after a dramatic drop in cases in recent months.
Spain announces exceptional drought measures worth $2.4B
May 11, 2023 GMTMADRID (AP) — The Spanish government announced 2.2 billion euros ($2.4 billion) worth of drought response measures Thursday, including funding for urban water reuse and further aid for struggling farmers.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A California peace activist who has worked to remove land mines from war-torn regions and replace them with grape vines, fruit trees and vegetables was named the 2023 World Food Prize laureate Thursday at a ceremony in Washington.
After house set on fire, French mayor resigns amid local battle over hosting asylum-seekers
May 11, 2023 GMTPARIS (AP) — The mayor of a small French town whose home was set on fire amid a bitter battle over bringing in migrants is resigning from his job of overseeing an increasingly divided community.
Yannick Morez, a doctor who became mayor of Saint Brevin-les-Pins in 2017, said in a letter to the prefect of western France's Loire-Atlantique region that he made the decision to step down because of the March 22 fire and a “lack of support from the state.”
Van carrying oxygen tanks explodes in Milan; driver injured
May 11, 2023 GMTMILAN (AP) — A van that was transporting oxygen tanks to a nearby medical facility exploded in the center of the Italian city of Milan on Thursday, forcing the evacuation of a school and residential apartment buildings.
How Europe is leading the world in building guardrails around AI
May 11, 2023 GMTLONDON (AP) — Authorities around the world are racing to draw up rules for artificial intelligence, including in the European Union, where draft legislation faced a pivotal moment on Thursday.
Serbians hand over thousands of weapons after mass shootings
May 11, 2023 GMTBELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbian citizens have handed over nearly 6,000 unregistered weapons in the first three days of a month-long amnesty period that is part of an anti-gun crackdown following two mass shootings last week, police said Thursday.
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Some 70% of migrants arriving in ethnically divided Cyprus this year have used a student visa they were issued by breakaway Turkish Cypriot authorities before seeking asylum in the internationally recognized south, the country's interior minister said Thursday.
HELSINKI (AP) — Two dozen people, many of them schoolchildren, were injured when a temporary pedestrian bridge collapsed in the southern Finnish city of Espoo on Thursday, police and media said.
Police said the bridge crossing a construction site in Espoo’s Tapiola region collapsed mid-morning.
German rail workers union announces 50-hour strike
May 11, 2023 GMTBERLIN (AP) — A German labor union is calling for railway workers to stage a 50-hour strike early next week to bolster its calls for an inflation-related pay raise.
The EVG rail workers union called for its 230,000 members to walk off the job from 10 p.m.
LONDON (AP) — The leader of Wales’ pro-independence political party has resigned after an inquiry found it was riddled with bullying and misogyny.
Adam Price said he was stepping down as leader of Plaid Cymru after a meeting of the party executive late Wednesday.
Domestic issues give Turkey’s Erdogan a tough election race
May 11, 2023 GMTANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has parlayed his country's NATO membership and location straddling Europe and the Middle East into international influence during two decades in power.
Turkey’s closely watched elections may stretch Erdogan’s rule or set country on new course
War, natural disasters left record 71 million people internally displaced in 2022, report says
May 11, 2023 GMTThe war in Ukraine helped push the global total of people left internally displaced by conflict or natural disasters to a record high of 71.1 million last year, according to a report released Thursday by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A special adviser to Brazil’s presidency on international affairs met with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday following comments by his Brazilian counterpart that have drawn rebukes from Kyiv, the U.S.
German leaders fail to reach breakthrough in dispute over growing cost of hosting migrants
May 10, 2023 GMTBERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised a further 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) Wednesday for communities struggling to provide housing, schools and other basic services to a growing number of migrants, but failed to reach a breakthrough in talks with state leaders on the underlying issue of federal funding.
Poland reverts to historic name for Russia’s Kaliningrad
May 10, 2023 GMTWARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland is reverting to using its historical name for Kaliningrad, the Russian city and administrative region that sits on its border.
From now on, it will be designated on Polish maps as Krolewiec, based on the recommendation of the government commission for geographic names abroad.
Swiss villagers told to evacuate over Alpine rockslide alert
May 10, 2023 GMTGENEVA (AP) — Authorities in eastern Switzerland ordered residents of the tiny village of Brienz to evacuate by Friday evening because geology experts say a mass of 2 million cubic meters of Alpine rock looming overhead could break loose and spill down in the coming weeks.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia intends to relocate around 3,100 Ukrainian staff from Europe’s largest nuclear plant, Ukraine’s atomic energy company claimed Wednesday, warning of a potential “catastrophic lack of qualified personnel” at the Zaporizhzhia facility in Russia-occupied southern Ukraine.
Tributes pour in for AFP journalist killed in Ukraine
May 10, 2023 GMTPARIS (AP) — Colleagues of Arman Soldin, the Agence France-Presse journalist slain in Ukraine, gathered solemnly at the press agency’s Paris headquarters on Wednesday, a day after his death, to remember the 32-year old.
LONDON (AP) — The British publisher of the Daily Mirror apologized for one instance of snooping on Prince Harry but denied his other claims Wednesday, as a trial for one of Harry's phone hacking lawsuits began with the prince's lawyer accusing the newspaper of unlawfully gathering information on “an industrial scale.”
2 mass shootings in 2 days plunge Serbia into shock, dismay
May 10, 2023 GMTBELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — The first shooting left Serbia weeping. The second set off waves of soul-searching in a deeply divided nation, awash in weaponry, where war criminals are glorified and memories run deep of years of civil war.
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s bonfire of European Union laws has been reduced to embers.
The U.K. government on Wednesday scrapped a plan to remove all remaining EU laws, about 4,000 in all, from British statute books by the end of this year — a post-Brexit goal that critics said was rash and unachievable.
Greenpeace sues Italian energy company ENI over climate change; ENI says lawsuit is ‘groundless’
May 10, 2023 GMTROME (AP) — Greenpeace and an environmental coalition including 12 Italian citizens are suing Italian energy company ENI, accusing it of knowingly contributing to climate change.
The complaint names ENI as well as its two biggest shareholders, the Italian Economy Ministry and the Italian state lender and public investment bank, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti.
WWI soldier finally finds resting place in Flanders Fields
May 10, 2023 GMTYPRES, Belgium (AP) — A World War I soldier finally found his resting place on Wednesday after he went missing at the height of the carnage in 1917 and his remains were found four years ago.
The brutality during the 1914-1918 war was such that hundreds of thousands of soldiers were killed in Belgium's sector on the Western Front but some were never accounted for.
Greek police rescue new group of migrants from border islet
May 10, 2023 GMTTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A group of 17 stranded migrants, including eight children, have been rescued from a tiny islet in the river that runs along Greece's northeastern land border with Turkey, police said Wednesday.
German lawmakers mull creating first citizen assembly
May 10, 2023 GMTBERLIN (AP) — German lawmakers considered Wednesday whether to create the country's first “citizen assembly’” to advise parliament on the issue of food and nutrition.
Germany's three governing parties back the idea of appointing consultative bodies made up of members of the public selected through a lottery system who would discuss specific topics and provide nonbinding feedback to legislators.
1st babies born in Britain using DNA from 3 people
May 10, 2023 GMTLONDON (AP) — Britain's fertility regulator on Wednesday confirmed the births of the U.K.'s first babies created using an experimental technique combining DNA from three people, an effort to prevent the children from inheriting rare genetic diseases.
Italy smashes cross-border migrant smuggling ring
May 10, 2023 GMTROME (AP) — Italian police on Wednesday arrested 29 suspected smugglers as they smashed a transnational operation that for years brought migrants illegally into Italy by sea and then moved them overland into northern Europe, authorities said.
Archbishop of Canterbury: UK migration bill is morally wrong
May 10, 2023 GMTLONDON (AP) — The head of the Church of England on Wednesday condemned a British government bill that would dramatically curb migrants’ ability to seek asylum in the U.K., calling the policy “isolationist, morally unacceptable and politically impractical.”
Spain plans to ban outdoor work in extreme heat
May 10, 2023 GMTMADRID (AP) — Spain says it plans to ban outdoor work during periods of extreme heat.
Second Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz told reporters Wednesday that the government will modify legislation covering occupational risks to prohibit outdoor work when the state weather agency, AEMET, issues red or orange alerts.
EU commissioner nominated to lead Bulgaria’s next government
May 10, 2023 GMTSOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — A European Union commissioner from Bulgaria was nominated Wednesday for the post of prime minister, as the Balkan country struggles to end a two-year period of political instability and economic hardship.
Catholic, Coptic Orthodox popes offer joint Vatican blessing
May 10, 2023 GMTVATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis and the Coptic Orthodox pope, Tawadros II, delivered a joint blessing Wednesday from St. Peter’s Square in a significant ecumenical gesture to commemorate the 50th anniversary of a historic meeting of their predecessors.
Italy begins to reckon with Fascist-era colonial collections
May 10, 2023 GMTROME (AP) — For decades, Italy has worked to recover ancient Roman-era statues, Etruscan vases and other treasures that were looted from its soil and sold to museums around the world. Now, the country is coming to terms with the fact that it, too, has stolen loot in its museum collections: the relics of a brutal colonial empire in North Africa that it hasn’t fully reckoned with.
Court annuls EU approval of billions for Lufthansa, SAS
May 10, 2023 GMTBRUSSELS (AP) — A top European Union court ruled Wednesday that EU competition authorities were wrong to approve massive bailouts designed to help German flag-carrier Lufthansa and Scandinavian airline SAS deal with the impact of COVID-19 restrictions.
Lawmakers pave way for EU to ratify treaty protecting women
May 10, 2023 GMTBRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is getting closer to ratifying a landmark European treaty protecting women from violence.
Lawmakers gathered in Strasbourg, France, on Wednesday approved by a large majority the EU’s endorsement of the Istanbul Convention.
Russia ends visa regime for Georgia, lifts flight ban
May 10, 2023 GMTMOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday abolished visas for Georgian nationals and lifted a 2019 ban on direct flights to the South Caucasus nation, a move that comes amid rocky relations between the two countries and that was quickly denounced by Georgia's president as a “provocation.”
Germany to allow audio recording of some criminal trials
May 10, 2023 GMTBERLIN (AP) — Germany plans to allow sound recording of some criminal trials, ending the decades-long practice of requiring judges, prosecutors and defense lawyers to rely on notes and their memory.
Germany calls China systemic rival, seeks clarity on Russia
May 10, 2023 GMTPARIS (AP) — Germany’s foreign minister described China on Wednesday as increasingly becoming a “systemic rival” on the world stage, and urged Beijing to call out Russia as the aggressor in the war in Ukraine.
Teen killed, 9 injured in knife attack in Polish orphanage
May 10, 2023 GMTWARSAW, Poland (AP) — A 16-year-old girl was killed and nine other people were injured in a knife attack in an orphanage in central Poland, authorities said Wednesday.
The attack in Tomislawice, near the town of Lodz, took place late Tuesday.