Europe

GENEVA, August 16. /TASS/: Switzerland sided with the eleventh package of anti-Russian sanctions adopted by the European Union, the Federal Council - the Swiss government said.

"On 16 August, the Federal Council decided to enact further sanctions against Russia. This aligns Switzerland with the EU, which adopted these latest measures as part of its eleventh package of sanctions," the government said. New measures will become effective since August 16 of this year, it added.

MOSCOW, August 16. /TASS/: Global sports organizations are degrading due to their politicization and commercialization, therefore, an emergence of parallel structures in the sphere of international sports is inevitable, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

"As a result of the politicization of international sports structures and further commercialization of the international Olympic Movement we unfortunately witness a certain degradation evolving there," the Russian president said.

BERLIN, Aug 16 (Reuters) - The German government has retreated from a plan to legally commit itself to meeting NATO's 2% military spending target on an annual basis, a government source told Reuters on Wednesday.

A corresponding clause in a draft of the budget financing law passed by the cabinet of Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday was deleted at short notice, the source said.

The change means that Germany will be able to stick to its current pledge of meeting the 2% target on average over a five-year period.

MOSCOW, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Russia's lunar spacecraft entered the moon's orbit on Wednesday, a major step towards the country's ambition of being the first to land on the moon's south pole in the search for frozen water.

The Luna-25 entered the moon's orbit at 11:57 a.m. (0857 GMT), Russia's space corporate Roskosmos said.

Luna-25 will circle the moon, the earth's only natural satellite, for around 5 days, then change course for a soft landing on the lunar south pole planned for Aug. 21.

KYIV/KUPIANSK, Ukraine, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Ukraine announced the recapture of the village of Urozhaine from Russian troops in the southeast on Wednesday, but warned the situation on the northeastern front was deteriorating amid Russian counter-attacks.

Urozhaine, on the edge of Donetsk region, is the first village Kyiv says it has retaken since July 27, a sign of the challenge Ukraine faces advancing through heavily mined Russian defensive lines without powerful air support.

KYIV, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Ukraine said Russia had attacked its grain storage facilities overnight, but a container ship left the Black Sea port of Odesa on Wednesday despite Moscow's threat to target shipping after it abandoned an export deal.

In the Russian capital, five sources said authorities were considering reimposing stringent capital controls as the rouble showed the strains of Russia's invasion of its neighbour, which has brought huge military spending and Western sanctions.

PRAGUE (AP) — The Czech Republic on Wednesday completed the ratification of a defense treaty with the United States that deepens military cooperation and makes it easier to deploy U.S. troops in Czech territory.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala’s signature was the final step in the ratification process of the Defense Cooperation Agreement, which had been endorsed by both houses of Parliament in July and by President Petr Pavel on Aug 1.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s Cabinet on Wednesday approved a plan to liberalize rules on cannabis, setting the scene for the European Union’s most populous member to decriminalize possession of limited amounts and allow members of “cannabis clubs” to buy the substance for recreational purposes.

The legislation is billed as the first step in a two-part plan and still needs approval by parliament. But the government’s approval is a stride forward for a prominent reform project of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s socially liberal coalition, though significantly short of its original ambitions.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia pounded grain terminals in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region Wednesday, local officials said, hitting storage facilities and ports along the Danube River that Kyiv has increasingly used for grain transport to Europe after Moscow broke off a key wartime export deal through the Black Sea.

At the same time, a loaded container ship stuck at the port of Odesa since Russia’s full-scale invasion more than 17 months ago set sail and was heading through the Black Sea to the Bosporus along a temporary corridor established by Ukraine for merchant shipping.

16 August 2023; MEMO: The owners of Manchester United are reportedly set to announce a 7.2-7.3 billion pound ($9.15 billion) sale of the club to Qatari Royal, Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, after a nine-month protracted sale process, the BBC reports.