Europe

PARIS, July 2 (Xinhua) -- At least 719 people were arrested overnight from Saturday to Sunday in France, the fifth night of nationwide violence sparked by the killing of a teen by a police officer, France's Interior Ministry said on Sunday.

According to the ministry, 45 police officers and gendarmes were injured, while 577 vehicles and 74 buildings were burnt.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that Saturday night was "calmer" than Friday night when 1,311 people were arrested and 1,350 vehicles burnt.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — An international center opened Monday at the Hague to support those building cases against senior Russian leaders for the crime of aggression resulting from the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

The International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine is the latest step in concerted worldwide efforts to hold the Russian leadership criminally responsible for its war against Ukraine last year, triggering Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.

LONDON (AP) — The head of the United Nations called Monday for maritime nations to agree on a course for the shipping industry to reduce its climate-harming emissions to net zero by the middle of the century at the latest.

The appeal by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres came at the start of a meeting of the International Maritime Organization in London that’s seen as key for helping achieve the international goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit).

PARIS (AP) — The grandmother of the French teenager shot dead by police during a traffic stop pleaded Sunday for rioters to stop after five nights of unrest, while authorities expressed outrage at an attack on a suburban mayor’s home that injured family members.

The grandmother of 17-year-old Nahel, identified only as Nadia, said in a telephone interview with French news broadcaster BFM TV, “Don’t break windows, buses ... schools. We want to calm things down.”

MOSCOW, July 1. /TASS/: The government in Kiev will be ready to hold talks to end the conflict in Ukraine if its armed forces gain control of the borders that the country believes are recognized internationally, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said at a joint news conference with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Saturday.

MOSCOW, July 2. /TASS/: Poland’s authorities intend to convince NATO partners over time of the need to deploy nuclear weapons in the country within the framework of the Nuclear Sharing program, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at a briefing.

"Constant dropping wears away a stone," the prime minister said, commenting on the question that the US has not yet confirmed talks on nuclear weapons deployment with Poland.

MINSK, July 2. /TASS/: Belarus’ embassy in the Hague said on Sunday it was attacked by unidentified persons.

"The incident occurred in the early hours on July 2," the embassy said, adding that the attackers broke windows and stained the facade.

"The attackers were detained by the Dutch police," it noted.

According to the Dutch broadcaster, the attackers tossed stones at the embassy building breaking several windows and wrote various slogans on its walls, including whose accusing Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of terrorism.

MOSCOW, July 2. /TASS/: Eugeniusz Czykwin of Poland has been elected President of the Interparliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy (IAO) to replace Sergey Gavrilov of Russia, a source in the IAO told TASS on Sunday, adding that delegations from Russia, Belarus, and Syria were not allowed to take part in the meeting of the IAO General Assembly.

July 2 (Reuters) - A Russian arms dealer freed last December in a prisoner swap for U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner has been chosen as the candidate of a far-right party for a seat in a Russian regional legislature, state news agency RIA reported on Sunday.

Viktor Bout, once dubbed "the merchant of death" by the United States, served 10 years of a 25-year sentence in U.S. prisons on arms dealing charges until his release in the prisoner exchange with Griner, an Olympic gold medallist.

BERLIN, July 2 (Reuters) - Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Sunday that Germany was watching the unrest in France "with concern".

French President Emmanuel Macron postponed a state visit to Germany that was set to begin Sunday because of turmoil on French streets in the wake of the police shooting of a teenager of North African descent.

Scholz, in an interview with Germany's ARD television, said that, while watching with concern, he was confident that Macron would successfully calm the situation.