Europe

BRUSSELS, Aug 1 (Reuters) - EU nuclear agency Euratom said on Tuesday it saw no immediate risk to nuclear power production in Europe should Niger cut its deliveries of uranium.

Euratom told Reuters that Niger - a West African country where a junta seized power last week - was the second-largest supplier of natural uranium to the European Union last year.

It said utilities in the bloc had enough uranium inventories to fuel its nuclear power reactors for three years.

Aug 1 (Reuters) - Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday taunted Poland over the presence of Russian Wagner mercenaries near the NATO country's border, saying Warsaw should thank him for keeping them in check.

An unspecified number of the Wagner fighters who staged a brief mutiny in Russia in June have since moved to Belarus and have begun training Lukashenko's army, prompting Poland to start moving more than 1,000 of its own troops closer to the border.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A fire that had been raging on board a cargo ship carrying thousands of new cars appears to have burnt itself out after nearly a week, the Dutch ministry coordinating salvage efforts said Tuesday.

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden plans to step up border controls and identity checks at crossing points as its security situation deteriorates during a Quran burning crisis that has shaken both Sweden and neighboring Denmark in recent weeks.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said the measure is expected to be approved by his government on Thursday.

It is meant to prevent “people with very weak connections to Sweden” to come to the country “to commit crimes or to act in conflict with Swedish security interests,” he said at a news conference in Stockholm on Tuesday.

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The United States imposed new travel restrictions on citizens of Hungary on Tuesday over concerns that the identities of nearly 1 million foreigners granted Hungarian passports over nine years weren’t sufficiently verified, according to the U.S. Embassy and a government official.

The restrictions apply to the U.S. Visa Waiver Program, which allows passport holders from 40 countries to enter the United States for business or tourism without a visa for up to 90 days.

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Russian authorities accused Kyiv early Tuesday of yet another attack on Moscow and its surroundings with drones, one of which hit the same building in the capital that was damaged by a drone just days ago in a similar attack.

Russian officials have claimed that the intensified attacks on the capital region reflect failures in Ukraine’s counteroffensive, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said over the weekend that “the war is gradually coming back to Russian territory,” but stopped short of taking responsibility for the attacks.

MOSCOW, July 31. /TASS/: Russian air defense forces downed a Ukrainian Su-25 ground attack plane, destroyed 23 enemy drones and intercepted 12 rockets of the US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Monday.

MOSCOW, July 31. /TASS/: The Ukrainian military lost over 20,800 troops and more than 2,200 items of military hardware, including 10 Leopard tanks over the past month, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu told a conference call with military commanders on Monday.

MOSCOW, July 31. /TASS/: Development of the economy is the basis to solve all tasks Russia is facing, President Vladimir Putin said at the meeting with Vyacheslav Volodin, the Speaker of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian legislative assembly.

"In issues of social nature, economic development, the economy is the basis to solve generally all the tasks our country is facing," the head of state said.

PETROZAVODSK, July 31. /TASS/: Ukraine’s attacks on the Crimean Bridge confirm that in aiding the Kiev regime, the US and its allies are in fact sponsors of terrorism, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev said.