Europe

BERLIN (AP) — The U.N. nuclear watchdog harshly criticized Iran on Saturday for effectively barring several of its most experienced inspectors from monitoring the country’s disputed program.

The strongly worded statement came amid longstanding tensions between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is tasked with monitoring a nuclear program that Western nations have long suspected is aimed at eventually developing a nuclear weapon. Iran insists the program is peaceful.

OSLO, Norway (AP) — North Korea may be able to boost Russia’s supply of artillery munitions for the war in Ukraine, but that is not likely to make a big difference, the top American military officer said as he arrived in Norway for NATO meetings that began Saturday and will focus in part on the conflict.

MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/: Russia is systematically discussing with the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides various solutions for the Lachin corridor, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/: The West is resorting to outright deception in its efforts to entice the countries of the global majority to back Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s so-called "peace formula," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.

MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/: Cash will not disappear from circulation and the demand for it does not go away, Governor of the Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina said at a press conference following a meeting of the regulator's board of directors.

"Our fundamental position is that people should be able to choose how to make payments. We are presenting choices. We are still developing cash, and we are even creating a new series of banknotes with a fresh design. So cash is not going away, there was and still is a demand for cash," she said.

SOCHI, September 15. /TASS/: As many as 300,000 volunteers have signed contracts with the Russian army since the beginning of this year, so Russia doesn’t need to recruit foreign mercenaries, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday during his meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

He reiterated Moscow’s readiness for talks with Ukraine and called on the Kiev authorities to "stop dancing to the tune of others."

Below are Putin’s key remarks.

KYIV, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Kyiv said on Friday a Russian drone attack overnight on a region that hosts a Ukrainian military airfield showed Moscow was searching for warplanes involved in strikes this week on Russian-occupied Crimea.

Ukraine's air force said Russia had fired 17 "kamikadze" drones at the central Khmelnytskyi region that is home to the Starokostiantyniv air base, which has been attacked repeatedly during the war. In a statement, it said it downed all of them.

KYIV, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Ukraine said on Friday it had recaptured the devastated eastern village of Andriivka, setting the stage for further advances on the southern flank of Bakhmut, the city that fell into Russian hands in May after months of heavy fighting.

Kyiv's troops were securing their foothold in the area, while Russian forces suffered significant casualties and lost equipment, the Ukrainian General Staff said in a morning report. There was no immediate comment from Russia.

BERLIN, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- The environmental activist group Fridays for Future (FFF) called for a global day of strikes on Friday, with climate protests planned in nearly 250 locations in Germany alone.

"We are in the midst of a climate crisis," the group said in a statement. "That's why we need to get out of coal, oil and gas now. We need a real change in transport and a fresh start at all levels."

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted a meeting Friday with his Belarusian ally, who suggested that Minsk could could join Moscow’s efforts to revive an old alliance with Pyongyang after this week’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko made the proposal as he met with Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, where the Russian leader said he would brief him about the talks with Kim on Wednesday at the Vostochny spaceport in Russia’s Far East.