Europe

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The fallout from the breach of a river dam along a front line of Russia’s war in Ukraine continued to wreak havoc on lives, livelihoods and the environment on Wednesday.

When the Kakhovka dam ruptured on Tuesday, it sent a torrent of water from Ukraine’s largest reservoir into streets and homes downstream on the Dnieper River where tens of thousands of people live — in the thick of a combat zone where shelling regularly takes place.

It’s not clear what caused the breach: the structure had already been damaged in the war.

06 June 2023; MEMO: At 4am on 26 February 2023 at least 94 people died when the boat Summer Love crashed onto the rocks near the Italian village of Steccato di Cutro.

The 25-metre wooden vessel had launched from Cesme in Turkiye and was carrying mainly Afghan refugees, many crammed below deck whilst the smugglers were up top.

06 June 2023; MEMO: Some European lawmakers have condemned the European Commission's silence on Greece's illegal pushback of migrants and refugees, accusing it of complicity and lack of action to rectify the situation.

MOSCOW, June 6. /TASS/: The Kiev regime is unable to achieve the aims of its counterattack, with its army sustaining enormous losses, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said on his Telegram account on Tuesday.

"It is a second day of the Kiev regime’s counteroffensive," he wrote. "No successes. The aims and objectives are unachieved. The losses are huge. The Barbarossa-2 plan has collapsed."

Volodin stressed that this topic was not raised publicly by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, or US President Joe Biden.

MOSCOW, June 6. /TASS/: Russia's chairing term at the Arctic Council is over, but the work to develop the Northern territories continues at a new level. Russia's Minister for Development of the Far East and Arctic Alexey Chekunov said in an interview with TASS about the Northern Sea Route, the development of tourism, about "eyes from the space," and about strategic initiatives from India and China, about the challenge to compete with the Cheburashka movie, and about why no occupation is more exciting than to develop the Arctic.

MOSCOW, June 6. /TASS/: The number of people who died from poisoning by a cider beverage in the Ulyanovsk Region has increased to 20, the regional Health Ministry reported Tuesday.

"Ulyanovsk Region medics do everything they can to save the lives and health of the people who suffered from poisoning. According to the most recent information, a total of 51 cases of poisoning by alcoholic beverages have been registered in the region so far. Unfortunately, 20 people could not have been saved," the report says.

BUDAPEST, June 6. /TASS/: The "sanctions hysteria" in the European Union is undermining its competitiveness with respect to the United States, which has felt the consequences of the conflict in Ukraine to a much lesser extent than Europe.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations of Hungary, Peter Szijjarto said this speaking at the international Budapest Peace Forum on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, June 6. /TASS/: The Russian military has in recent days repelled all of Ukraine’s attempts to launch its "long-promised offensive," Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Tuesday.

The way he sees it, Kiev, in a move of desperation, decided to redeploy forces from Kherson and staged a diversionary terrorist attack against the Kakhovka dam. TASS has summarized Shoigu’s perspective on the situation.

PARIS, June 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — France is ploughing 2.9 billion euros of public money into a factory to make microchips, officials said, heating up a global race for the lucrative market.

Europe and the United States have both passed so-called Chips Acts to boost investment in the sector as fears grow that China could gain a stranglehold on global supply.

Chips, also known as semiconductors, are vital for every electronic device, from smartphones to electric cars, and control of supply chains has become a major priority for the world’s biggest trading blocs.

LONDON, June 6 (Reuters) - Prince Harry launched a fierce attack on the "vile" press on Tuesday, blaming tabloids for destroying his adolescence and later relationships, as he gave evidence for almost five hours in his lawsuit against a tabloid publisher.

As he became the first senior British royal to appear in a witness box in more than a century, Harry also said the thought of people unlawfully intruding into the private life of his late mother Princess Diana made him "feel physically sick".