Europe

BERLIN (AP) — The German government is considering whether it can make former Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer foot at least part of the quarter-billion euro compensation it has to pay a private company over a failed plan to introduce highway tolls.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Sunday announced he has chosen 21 new cardinals, including prelates from Jerusalem and Hong Kong — places where Catholics are a small minority — as he continues to leave his mark on the body of churchmen who will select his successor.

The pope announced his picks during his customary weekly appearance to the public in St. Peter’s Square, saying the ceremony to formally install the churchmen as cardinals will be held on Sept. 30.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy marked the 500th day of the war Saturday by hailing the country’s soldiers in a video from a Black Sea island that became the symbol of Ukraine’s resilience in the face of the Russian invasion.

Speaking from Snake Island, Zelenskyy honored the Ukrainian soldiers who fought for the island and all other defenders of the country, saying that reclaiming control of the island “is a great proof that Ukraine will regain every bit of its territory.”

LONDON (AP) — A dash of pomp and a dose of politics are on the agenda during a stopover visit to the U.K. where President Joe Biden will discuss the environment with King Charles III and the war in Ukraine with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Biden flies to London on Sunday on his way to a NATO summit in Lithuania. He is scheduled to hold talks with Sunak at 10 Downing St. on Monday before heading to Windsor Castle to meet Charles for the first time since the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in September.

07 July 2023; MEMO: The Swedish government is examining whether it could change the law to stop people setting the Quran on fire in public, as recent burnings of the Muslim Holy Book have damaged Sweden's security, Justice Minister, Gunnar Strommer, told Aftonbladet paper on Thursday.

07July 2023; MEMO: A Swedish court, on Thursday, found a man guilty of attempting to finance the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), in a ruling that could help end Turkiye's veto of Sweden's application to join the NATO military alliance, Reuters reports.

09 July 2023; MEMO: A German town has sworn in a former Syrian refugee as its mayor, in the first case of a German municipality voting in someone who had arrived in the country as a refugee.

At a municipal council meeting on Friday evening, former Syrian refugee Ryyan Alshebl took the oath as mayor of Ostelsheim, a town 30 kilometres from the southern city of Stuttgart.

GENEVA, Jul 07 (APP):Pakistan, on behalf of the OIC, has said that the reason for seeking an urgent debate in the UN Human Rights Council on the burning of a Holy Quran outside a mosque in Sweden was to underscore the need for adoption of effective national legal measures to put an end to such provocative acts.

The desecration of the holy book, which took place outside the Swedish capital Stockholm’s main mosque last week, was carried out by a man during a protest authorized by the police, sparking off a global outrage and diplomatic backlash.

MOSCOW, July 8. /TASS/: US President Joe Biden on Friday said the US had completed the destruction of its chemical weapons stockpile.

"Today, I am proud to announce that the United States has safely destroyed the final munition in that stockpile—bringing us one step closer to a world free from the horrors of chemical weapons," he said in a statement released by the White House.

MOSCOW, July 8. /TASS/: A one-on-one meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is possible, but the exact dates for such meeting have not been defined as of yet, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday.

Turkish President Erdogan announced on Friday said that his Russian counterpart Putin could visit Turkey next month.

"Such contact is possible. No exact dates set as of yet," Peskov said.