Europe

MOSCOW, July 9. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent greetings to participants, organizers and guests of the Future Technologies Forum that is taking place under the motto ‘Ahead of Time’, according to a statement released on the Kremlin’s website on Sunday.

ROSTOV-ON-DON, July 9. /TASS/: The air defense forces in the Rostov Region have shot down a Ukrainian missile in the area between Rostov’s Donetsk and Kamensk, the region’s governor Vasily Golubev reported on Sunday, adding that no casualties were reported.

"Our air defense system worked swiftly today around midday. A Ukrainian missile was shot down in the area between Kamensk and Donetsk. No casualties. Fragments partially damaged the roofs of several buildings," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

MOSCOW, July 9. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has told his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, that the course toward continuing weapons supplies to Kiev is destructive, the Russian foreign ministry said on Sunday after their telephone conversation.

"Ankara’s attention was drawn to the destructiveness of the course toward continuing weapons supplies to the Kiev regime. It was stressed that such steps could only lead to negative consequences," the ministry said.

STOCKHOLM, July 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A Swedish court has jailed a Kurdish man for four-and-a-half years for crimes including attempting to finance terrorism.

It is the first time Sweden’s updated terror laws have been used in a case involving the Kurdish militant PKK.

Turkiye has long called on Stockholm to crack down on Kurdish separatists.

Sweden’s bid to join Nato has been delayed principally by Turkiye’s demand that it extradites dozens of people it views as terrorists.

LONDON, July 9 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden was due to arrive in Britain on Sunday evening for a brief visit during which he will meet Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and discuss climate change with King Charles ahead of the upcoming NATO summit in Lithuania.

The White House said the trip was designed "to further strengthen the close relationship between our nations".

MADRID, July 9 (Reuters) - At least 300 people who were traveling on three migrant boats from Senegal to Spain's Canary Islands have disappeared, migrant aid group Walking Borders said on Sunday.

Two boats, one carrying about 65 people and the other with between 50 and 60 on board, have been missing for 15 days since they left Senegal to try to reach Spain, Helena Maleno of Walking Borders told Reuters.

A third boat left Senegal on June 27 with about 200 people aboard.

The families of those on board have not heard from them since they left, Maleno said.

July 9 (Reuters) - The foreign ministers of Russia and Turkey spoke by telephone on Sunday, a day after Ankara angered Moscow by sending five Ukrainian commanders home with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in what Russia called a violation of a prisoner exchange agreement.

The Russian and Turkish foreign ministries said Sergei Lavrov and Hakan Fidan discussed the situation in Ukraine, as well as a Black Sea grain export agreement that lifted a Russian de facto blockade of Ukrainian ports last year.

LONDON, July 9 (Reuters) - Britain's BBC suspended a male member of staff on Sunday following an allegation that one of its star presenters paid a teenager thousands of pounds to pose for sexually explicit photos, beginning when they were 17 years old.

The broadcaster said it first became aware of a complaint in May, but new allegations of a different nature were made to it on Thursday, and it had informed "external authorities".

London's Metropolitan Police said it had received initial contact from the BBC but no formal referral or allegation had been made.

BRUSSELS, July 9 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) and New Zealand signed their free trade agreement (FTA) here on Sunday to boost bilateral trade.

The deal will cut some 140 million euro (154 million U.S. dollars) a year in duties for EU companies from the first year of application; bilateral trade is expected to grow by up to 30 percent within a decade, and EU's annual exports could potentially grow by up to 4.5 billion euros, according to a press release from the European Commission (EC).

06 July 2023; MEMO: EU lawmakers today urged Greece and the European Commission to launch an international and independent probe into last month's deadly migrant boat shipwreck off the coast of Greece.