Europe

BARCELONA, June 17 (Reuters) - Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was given a last-minute consolation on Saturday when Barcelona's city council appointed a new Socialist mayor after a deal involving two rival parties.

Despite pro-independence parties appearing certain to run Spain's second city, Jaume Collboni, the Socialist candidate, became mayor after the far-left Barcelona en Comu of the outgoing mayor Ada Colau gave him its support in a move supported by the conservative People's Party.

June 16 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that his deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, something he confirmed for the first time had already happened, was a reminder to the West that it could not inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.

Speaking at Russia's flagship economic forum in St Petersburg, Putin said Russian tactical nuclear warheads had already been delivered to close ally Belarus, but stressed he saw no need for Russia to resort to nuclear weapons for now.

HELSINKI, June 17 (Xinhua) -- The new government of Finland unveiled its policy program and division of ministerial posts on Friday, highlighting a commitment to safeguarding the welfare society.

The new government will safeguard the welfare society, ensure adequate services for all, and promote the balanced development of the national economy, said the government's press release on Friday.

It will make adjustments to taxation, lowering personal income tax and increasing value-added tax on items such as pharmaceuticals, sports services, film screenings, etc, it said.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The United States ambassador held a U.S. flag high as he marched in the yearly Pride parade in Warsaw on Saturday, a clear message of Washington’s opposition to discrimination in a country where LGBTQ+ people are facing an uphill struggle.

“America embraces equality,” Ambassador Mark Brzezinski said, as he marched with more than 30 other members of the U.S. Embassy and alongside representatives from Canada, Austria and other Western countries in the Equality Parade.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday met with a group of leaders of African countries who traveled to Russia on a self-styled “peace mission” the day after they went to Ukraine.

Seven African leaders — the presidents of Comoros, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia, as well as Egypt’s prime minister and top envoys from the Republic of Congo and Uganda — visited Ukraine on Friday to try to help end the nearly 16-month-old war.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Authorities continued to search Saturday for victims and survivors of a trawler that sank off the coast of Greece with as many as 750 migrants on board, as conservative leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis blasted critics of the rescue operation.

Naysayers, Mitsotakis said at a campaign stop in the town of Sparta, should turn their ire against traffickers he called “human scum.” The vessel sank on Wednesday.

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialists received an unexpected boost from its main rival in next month’s national election on Saturday when his party won the mayor’s office of Barcelona following a tight vote at city hall.

Sánchez’s Socialists, or PSOE, took a beating in local and regional elections in May when the conservative Popular Party routed leftist mayors and regional chiefs in votes across the country.

16 June 2023; MEMO: A French citizen tore down a copy of the Quran at a mosque in Greece's Western Thrace, representatives of the region's local Turkish minority said Thursday, Anadolu Agency reports.

16 June 2023; MEMO: Hamas called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to ensure that a "legal remedy" is given to the Palestinian victims of the Israeli occupation's "terrorism", a statement issued on the movement's official website said.

On the occasion of the ICC's new strategic plans for the years 2023-2025, Hamas urged the court to "demonstrate progress in the Palestine case."

16 June 2023; MEMO: The Turkish Foreign Ministry yesterday summoned the Swiss ambassador in Ankara after protesters burned the Turkish flag and an effigy of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Swiss city of Zurich.

According to a statement by the Turkish presidency's Directorate of Communications, the Swiss authorities were asked to "launch an investigation without delay, identify the perpetrators, and take necessary steps swiftly."