Europe

BUDAPEST, Jun 20 (NNN-XINHUA) – A Boeing B787-9 Dreamliner of Shanghai Airlines, a subsidiary of China Eastern Airlines, was warmly received at Liszt Ferenc International Airport in Budapest, Hungary’s capital city, last night.

China Eastern Airlines commenced a direct flight service between east China’s Ningbo city and Budapest.

June 20 (Reuters) - Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday that Moscow had information that Ukraine was planning to strike Russian-controlled Crimea with longer-range U.S. and British missiles and warned Russia would retaliate if that happened.

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, but considers it to be outside the scope of what it calls its "special military operation" which is focused in eastern and southern Ukraine where Ukraine is fighting to retake territory.

NEAR KREMINNA, Ukraine, June 19 (Reuters) - The artillerymen of Ukraine's 67th infantry brigade are delighted with the U.S.-supplied M119 howitzer amid an increase in military exchanges south of the Russian-held town of Kreminna.

The men now stationed in Ukraine's northeast have been redeployed from positions around the devastated town of Bakhmut - encircled and locked in fierce fighting for more than nine months before it fell last month to Russian mercenaries.

KYIV, June 20 (Reuters) - Russia attacked military and infrastructure targets across Ukraine early on Tuesday, including in the capital Kyiv and the western city of Lviv, Ukrainian officials said.

Ukraine said it had shot down 32 of 35 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched from Russia's Bryansk region and the Azov Sea.

But a "critically important facility" was struck in Lviv, far from the front lines and around 70 km (43 miles) from the border with NATO member Poland, regional governor Maksym Kozytskiy said. He gave no other details of the facility.

LONDON (AP) — European Union consumer protection groups urged regulators on Tuesday to investigate the type of artificial intelligence underpinning systems like ChatGPT, citing risks that leave people vulnerable and the delay before the bloc’s groundbreaking AI regulations take effect.

In a coordinated effort, 13 watchdog groups wrote to their national consumer, data protection, competition and product safety authorities warning them about a range of concerns around generative artificial intelligence.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian air defenses downed 32 of 35 Shahed exploding drones launched by Russia early Tuesday, most of them in the Kyiv region, officials said, in a bombardment that exposed gaps in the country’s air protection after almost 16 months of war.

Russian forces mostly targeted the region around the Ukrainian capital in a nighttime drone attack lasting around three hours, officials said, but Ukrainian air defenses in the area shot down about two dozen of them.

BERLIN (AP) — Trade, climate change and the war in Ukraine are on the agenda Tuesday as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz meets Chinese Premier Li Qiang, who is on his first foreign trip since taking office.

The meeting in Berlin is the seventh time Germany and China have held high-level government consultations and comes a day after Chinese President Xi Jinping met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, indicating an effort by Beijing to reach out to the West and improve frosty relations.

19 June 2023; MEMO: A free trade zone agreement between Iran, Russia and several countries that cover the vast Eurasian region, spreading from the borders of Eastern Europe to Western China is possible by the end of the year, Russia's TASS news agency reported on Monday.

19 June 2023; MEMO: Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, and King Abdullah II of Jordan agreed on Monday to begin work towards forging a strategic partnership, setting a new course in bilateral relations, Anadolu Agency reports.

Meeting in Madrid, the leaders signed a joint declaration dedicated to enhancing bilateral ties and collaborating on international stability and prosperity.

19 June 2023; MEMO: Russia's deputy Foreign Minister said on Monday that, even if a deal allowing shipments of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea ends, Russia's agreement with the United Nations to ease its own exports will stay in force, Russian state news agency, RIA, reported on Monday.