Europe

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Authorities battling a major wildfire in northeastern Greece that has been described as the European Union’s largest single recorded fire recovered another body, the fire department said Friday, bringing the total death toll from wildfires in Greece this week to 21.

The fire department said firefighters recovered the body of a man from the Dadia-Lefkimi-Soufli Forest National Park, which lies near the border with Turkey, on Thursday.

Russia (AP) —The Kremlin on Friday rejected allegations it was behind a plane crash that is presumed to have killed mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose brutal fighters were feared in Ukraine, Africa and Syria and conducted a brief but shocking mutiny in Russia two months ago.

Prigozhin, who was listed among those on board the plane, was eulogized Thursday by President Vladimir Putin, even as suspicions grew that the Russian leader was behind a crash that many saw as an assassination.

LONDON (AP) — British police said Friday they are investigating the deaths of 88 people in the U.K. who bought products from Canada-based websites allegedly offering lethal substances to people at risk of self harm.

The probe is part of international inquiries sparked by the arrest in Canada earlier this year of Kenneth Law, who has been charged with two counts of counseling and aiding suicide. Canadian police say Law, from the Toronto area, used a series of websites to market and sell sodium nitrite, a substance commonly used to cure meats that can be deadly if ingested.

MINSK, August 24. /TASS/: Belarus is set to play host to the Combat Brotherhood-2023 joint strategic military exercise on September 1-6, as participating military contingents from Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member states will start redeploying to Belarusian soil on August 25, the Belarusian Defense Ministry’s press service said.

"Joint and special drills are planned in the general concept of the Combat Brotherhood-2023 exercise, bringing together the training of various combat parts of the CSTO (Collective Forces)," the Defense Ministry statement said.

MOSCOW, August 24. /TASS/: The results of the BRICS summit have been stellar and US attempts to weaponize "isolation" via sanctions have been vanquished once and for all, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"The results are brilliant. The weaponization of 'isolation' by the Americans has been vanquished forever," she wrote on her Telegram channel about the results of the 15th BRICS summit.

MOSCOW, August 24. /TASS/: Russian forces delivered a multiple-launch strike by high-precision weapons, destroying a Ukrainian military command center over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Thursday.

"Last night, the Russian Armed Forces delivered a multiple-launch strike by seaborne and ground-based long-range precision weapons against a Ukrainian military command center," the spokesman said.

GENEVA, Aug 24 (NNN-KBC) — The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is grappling with a dire humanitarian crisis fuelled by ongoing political instability and armed conflicts, severely impacting the entire food supply, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said.

The situation is particularly alarming in the east, where malnutrition has taken hold among 4.4 million people, exacerbated by compromised health services, lack of clean water, and an uptick in gender-based violence, highlighted Peter Musoko, WFP Country Director, during a press briefing in Geneva.

MADRID, Aug 24 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Europol has supported the Spanish Civil Guard (Guardia Civil) in dismantling a criminal organization smuggling large quantities of cocaine from South America to the European Union via the Canary Islands.

The operation also involved law enforcement authorities from Croatia, Italy and Serbia.

BELGRADE, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Serbia on Wednesday joined a Ukraine-led platform on the reintegration of Crimea, signalling a swing away from Russia, a historical ally and its sole supplier of natural gas.

The move comes a day after a meeting of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic in Athens, described by both leaders as good and open.

In an online address to the forum, Serbia's Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said Serbia "sincerely regrets the suffering of Ukraine and Ukrainian people."

Aug 23 (Reuters) - Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was believed dead after a private jet on which he was listed as a passenger crashed north of Moscow with no survivors.

Prigozhin, 62, spearheaded a mutiny against Russia's top army brass on June 23-24, which President Vladimir Putin said could have tipped Russia into civil war.

Others who have opposed Putin or his interests have also died under unclear circumstances or come close to death.

Here are some details about these mysterious incidents: