Europe

ST. PETERSBURG, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Russia's airlines carried 78,800 passengers to China in the first five months of 2023, which was almost 10 times the volume in the previous year, said Russia's Ministry of Transport on Friday.

During the same period last year, Russia's airlines transported 7,500 passengers to China. As the Ministry of Transport clarified, the growth was associated with the lifting of coronavirus restrictions in China and an increase in the number of flights.

MOSCOW, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Defense Ministry will continue studying U.S. biological activities in Ukraine, and has data confirming Washington's work aimed at developing biological weapons, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday.

"Our defense ministry is continuing to provide the global community with evidence ... proving that the Pentagon was developing biological weapons in Ukraine," Lavrov said at an online briefing.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis met Friday with imprisoned WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s wife Stella, who said the pope’s gesture in receiving her was evidence of his “ongoing show of support for our family’s plight” and concern over her husband’s suffering.

In an interview with The Associated Press after the audience, Stella Assange recalled that Francis had sent a letter to her husband in March 2021, during a particularly difficult period.

CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — A Tajikistan national who was denied entry into Moldova at its main international airport grabbed a guard’s weapon and fatally shot two security officers Friday, officials said. One traveler also was wounded.

The suspect was being escorted by officials at Chisinau International Airport when he “took the gun of a border guard” and opened fire, authorities said. The individual was then neutralized and handcuffed by special forces who intervened. All passengers were evacuated from the airport.

LONDON (AP) — Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey got a thrill preying on other men and escalated his behavior from touchy-feely advances to hostile fondling and worse, a prosecutor told jurors Friday during Spacey’s sexual assault trial in London.

Spacey is “a man who does not respect personal boundaries or space, a man who it would seem delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable — a sexual bully,” prosecutor Christine Agnew said in her opening statement. “His preferred method of assault is, it appears, to grab aggressively other men in the crotch.”

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Inflation in Europe slid again in June but fell too slowly to offer much relief to shoppers grumbling over price tags or to stop more interest rate hikes that will raise the cost of borrowing across the economy.

The annual rate of 5.5% was down from 6.1% in May in the 20 countries that use the euro currency, the European Union statistics agency Eurostat said Friday.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The ambush had been postponed three times before Ukrainian commanders decided one recent night that conditions were finally right. Cloaked in darkness, a battalion of Kyiv’s 129th brigade pressed ahead, advancing stealthily on unsuspecting Russian soldiers.

By the time the Russians situated along the front line realized they were under attack, it was too late.

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron urged parents Friday to keep teenagers at home and proposed restrictions on social media to quell rioting spreading across France over the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old driver that has resulted so far in the arrests of 875 people.

After a second crisis meeting with senior ministers, Macron maintained that social media platforms such as Snapchat and TikTok played a “considerable role” in fueling copycat acts of violence during this week’s unrest.

NOVOSIBIRSK, June 29. /TASS/: Developing the Northern Sea Route (NSR) and North-South transport corridor will be a priority for Russia over the coming ten years, Russian Presidential Aide and State Council Secretary Igor Levitin told a forum on Thursday.

"We face a lack of access to the Northern Sea Route now. Our task [on cargo transportation] is 80 mln tons, with 36 [mln tons] today. However, I would say that the Northern Sea Route and North-South [corridor] are two priority tasks for the coming ten years. <…> The Eastern polygon will take its 180 mln [tons]," he said.

MOSCOW, June 29. /TASS/: Two Ukrainian generals and up to 50 officers along with about 20 foreign mercenaries and military advisers were eliminated in Russia’s strike on the Kiev forces’ deployment site in Kramatorsk, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Thursday.