Europe

MOSCOW, July 24. /TASS/: Moscow should select non-standard targets for its retaliatory strikes in response to Kiev’s attacks on civilian facilities, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said.

MOSCOW, July 24. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law on the introduction of the digital ruble and the creation of a corresponding electronic platform. The document is published on the official portal of legal information.

It implies an additional form of the Russian national currency, which will be issued along with existing forms of money. That means that the Russian ruble will have three forms: cash, non-cash and digital.

RHODES, Greece, July 24 (Reuters) - Tour operators flew more than 2,000 holidaymakers home on Monday as wildfires raged on the island of Rhodes in what the Greek government said was the largest evacuation ever undertaken in the country.

More repatriation flights were due on Monday and Tuesday as the fires remained out of control and the Civil Protection authority warned the threat of further fires was high in almost every part of Greece, gripped by a heatwave.

July 24 (Reuters) - The head of Russia's space agency on Monday suggested Moscow's partners in the BRICS group - Brazil, India, China and South Africa - could build a module for its planned orbital station, the Interfax news agency reported.

Reporting from a BRICS meeting on space cooperation in Hermanus, South Africa, Interfax said it was "assumed" that the first module of the Russian Orbital Station (ROS) would be launched in 2027, with construction completed by 2032.

COPENHAGEN, July 24 (Reuters) - Two protesters set fire to a copy of the Koran, Islam's holy book, in front of the Iraqi embassy in the Danish capital on Monday, risking a further deterioration of relations between the two countries.

Protests have raged across Iran and Iraq after Denmark and Sweden allowed the burning of the Koran under rules protecting free speech. Protesters in Iraq set alight the Swedish embassy in Baghdad on Thursday.

AMSTERDAM, July 24 (Reuters) - Law enforcement from five countries have disrupted an intercontinental criminal network that was smuggling migrants from Cuba to the European Union, with the move leading to the arrest of 62 people, Europol and Interpol, who coordinated the international investigation, said on Monday.

A Europol statement said the criminal network focused on Cubans in vulnerable situations, and that for 9,000 euros ($9,969.30), it would organise their journey to Europe and provide false documentation.

July 24 (Reuters) - An ammunition depot was hit during a Ukrainian drone attack on Dzhankoi in Crimea early on Monday, with Russian air defence forces shooting down or electronically jamming 11 drones over the area, a Russian-installed official said.

Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-installed governor of the Crimean Peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, also said that a residential building was damaged in the area.

He said there was no indication of any casualties, but people within a 5 km (3 mile) radius of the incident were being evacuated.

July 24 (Reuters) - Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Monday that it had found traces of explosives on a ship travelling from Turkey to the port of Rostov-on-Don in Russia to pick up grain.

The FSB said the ship had been docked in the Ukrainian port of Kiliia in May, and that it may have been used to deliver explosives to Ukraine.

It said the ship had changed its name while in the Turkish port of Tuzla earlier this month and replaced its crew, which had consisted of 12 Ukrainian nationals.

KYIV, July 24 (Reuters) - The Ukrainian military has retaken over 12 square km (4.6 square miles) of territory in southern Ukraine in the past week in their counteroffensive against Russian forces, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said on Monday.

Maliar said the advances brought the territory recaptured since the counteroffensive began in early June to more than 192 square km in the southern sector.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbian police said Monday they have arrested two people suspected of helping smuggle Cubans toward Spain as part of an international crime group.

The two Serbian citizens were arrested in a monthslong investigation in cooperation with Spain, the Interpol and Europol, police said in a statement. They said 18 more suspects have been arrested in Spain.

The suspects in Serbia are accused of organizing the illegal transfer of at least 53 people to neighboring countries — North Macedonia or Bosnia — and on to Spain, said the statement.