Europe

MOSCOW, July 8. /TASS/: The lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, is set to decide in July on the draft law banning gender reassignment surgery, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said on Saturday.

"Traditional family values are of great importance for each of us," Volodin wrote on his Telegram channel. "Czech President [Petr Pavel] said yesterday that ‘if, God forbid, Russia wins, all Western values will be tarnished’."

MOSCOW, July 8. /TASS/: Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has visited shooting ranges in the Southern Military District to inspect the combat training of newly created military units, the Defense Ministry said.

"The defense minister inspected the training, driving lessons and live firing exercises by crews of T-90 tanks code-named Proryv. The crews are also trained on modern interactive simulators, which enable them to practice all elements of combat training," the ministry said.

MOSCOW, July 8 (Reuters) - Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has inspected troops and overseen training of newly formed units made up of contracted servicemen, his ministry said on Saturday.

The ministry released video footage on its Telegram channel showing Shoigu in khaki military fatigues inspecting soldiers at a shooting range, in his first public appearance with troops since last month's aborted mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group.

The ministry did not say when the video was filmed or when the inspection took place.

PARIS, July 8 (Reuters) - Paris police banned a protest on Saturday against violence by the force, a week after France was rocked by riots sparked by the killing of a teenager in a suburb of the French capital.

The Paris police department said in a decision published on its website that it had banned the planned demonstration on the Place de la Republique over risks to public order, citing a "context of tensions".

French authorities and politicians including President Emmanuel Macron have denied institutional racism within the country's law enforcement agencies.

AMSTERDAM, July 7 (Reuters) - The Dutch government collapsed on Friday after failing to reach a deal on restricting immigration, which will trigger new elections in the fall.

The crisis was triggered by a push by Prime Minister Mark Rutte's conservative VVD party to limit the flow of asylum seekers to the Netherlands, which two of his four-party government coalition refused to support.

STOCKHOLM, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Several organizations have stepped up to voice their objections to Sweden joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) just days ahead of the military bloc's summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.

The Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society told Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper on Friday that the country would be safer not belonging to a military alliance.

SONNEBERG, Germany (AP) — Mike Knoth is more than thrilled that a far-right populist party’s candidate recently won the county administration in his hometown in rural eastern Germany for the first time since the Nazi era.

The gardener despises the country’s established parties, he doesn’t trust the media and he feels there are too many migrants in the country. The far-right party Alternative for Germany, or AfD, he hopes, will improve everything that’s not going well in his eyes in Sonneberg, which is in the southeastern state of Thuringia.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch government collapsed Friday because of irreconcilable differences within the four-party coalition about how to rein in migration, a divisive issue that has split nations across Europe.

The resignation of Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the longest-serving premier of the nation, means the country will face a general election later this year. Rutte and his government will remain in office in a caretaker capacity until a new ruling coalition is chosen.

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — A pair of colorful children’s scooters rest against the yellow tracks of a battle tank, parked in the shade of skyscrapers in the Vilnius business district. The area, usually busy with cars, cyclists and pedestrians, is closed to traffic and packed with heavy armored vehicles.

PRAGUE, July 7 (Reuters) - The head of NATO said on Friday the military alliance would unite at a summit next week on how to bring Kyiv closer to joining, while Ukraine's president drummed up support for its membership bid on a tour of several NATO states.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited the Czech Republic and Slovakia a day after holding talks in Bulgaria, and was due to travel to Turkey later on Friday.