Europe

MOSCOW, May 23 (Reuters) - Yevgeny Prigozhin on Saturday delivered Vladimir Putin one of the few battlefield victories of the president's 15-month war in Ukraine.

Even then, Russia's most powerful mercenary could not resist breaking the taboos of Putin's tightly controlled political system.

Holding a Russian flag and with an automatic weapon slung over his shoulder, Prigozhin announced the fall of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut surrounded by heavily armed mercenaries, the black standards of his Wagner group and charred ruins where tens of thousands have perished.

LONDON, May 23 (Reuters) - Prince Harry on Tuesday lost his legal bid to challenge the British government's refusal to let him pay for his own police protection when he is in the United Kingdom.

Harry, King Charles' younger son, was stripped of the police security usually afforded to royal figures in the United Kingdom after he and his American wife Meghan stepped down from their official roles in 2020 to move to the United States.

COPENHAGEN, May 23 (Xinhua) -- The Danish Parliament (Folketing) agreed on Tuesday on the terms of ownership and operation of pipelines used for transporting hydrogen from PtX (Power-to-X) plants to consumers both domestically and internationally, the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities said in a press release.

The country's state-owned companies Energinet, controller of energy infrastructure, and Evida, an energy supply company, will own the pipelines and the two companies will leverage their expertise in existing gas infrastructure.

PARIS, May 23 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) adopted a decision concerning the establishment of a Category I Institute on STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education in Shanghai, China on Monday, during the 216th session of its executive board here.

BERLIN (AP) — Scores of members of Congress and the European Parliament called Tuesday for the designated chair of the next United Nations climate summit to be replaced over his ties to the fossil fuel sector and for the industry’s influence at the upcoming talks to be sharply limited.

The United Arab Emirates has been strongly criticized by environmental advocates for nominating Sultan al-Jaber, the head of the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, to preside over the Nov. 30 - Dec. 12 meeting in Dubai known as COP28.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia’s military said Tuesday it quashed what appeared to be one of the most serious cross-border attacks from Ukraine since the war began, claiming to have killed more than 70 attackers in a battle that lasted around 24 hours.

Moscow blamed the raid that began Monday on Ukrainian military saboteurs. Kyiv portrayed it as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans. It was impossible to reconcile the two versions, to say with certainty who was behind the attack or to ascertain its aims.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece is heading toward a new general election, two days after Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ center-right New Democracy party won a victory in a national vote but failed to clinch a majority in parliament.

A power-sharing deal was put mathematically out of reach Tuesday, after the main opposition party formally received — and summarily rejected — an invitation to try and form the country’s next government.

LONDON (AP) — Several dozen youths pelted police with objects and set cars and trash bins ablaze in Cardiff in local unrest that erupted after two teenagers died in a road crash, officials said Tuesday.

Police said they were supporting the bereaved families and arresting the rioters — but faced questions about whether officers’ actions contributed to the fatal crash. Two teenage boys, ages 15 and 16, died in a crash involving an electronic bicycle in the Ely district of the Welsh capital on Monday evening, police said.

(AP) --- Organizers of the Paris Olympics said they have sold 6.8 million tickets out of 10 million available with 14 months left before the opening ceremony and on Tuesday brushed off criticism that prices are too high.

Tony Estanguet, the organizing committee president, said the second ticketing phase that ended last week exceeded expectations despite some fans — and athletes — complaining about hefty prices.

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian court on Tuesday extended the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich by three months, Russian news agencies reported.

Gershkovich, an American citizen, was ordered held until Aug. 30. He had been arrested in March on espionage charges on a reporting trip in Russia. He, his employer and the U.S. government have denied the charges.

Tuesday’s court hearing wasn’t announced in advance, and the entire case has been wrapped in secrecy.