Europe

ROME (AP) — With the help of a high-leaping dog with a fine nose for cocaine, Italian police seized more than 2,700 kilos (about 3 tons) of the drug hidden in 70 tons of boxed bananas shipped from Ecuador, authorities said Tuesday.

Police estimated that the cocaine, which they described as of the finest quality, could have brought traffickers more than 800 million euros ($900 million) in street sales if it had reached its ultimate destination in Armenia.

GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations is racing to extend a deal that has allowed shipments of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea to parts of the world struggling with hunger, helping ease a global food crisis exacerbated by the war Russia launched more than a year ago.

The breakthrough accord that the U.N. and Turkey brokered with the warring sides last summer came with a separate agreement to ease shipments of Russian food and fertilizer that Moscow insists hasn’t been applied.

MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/: Western countries have reacted to Russia’s withdrawal from the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) with some measure of alarm, but there is nothing to discuss here, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/: After denouncing the no longer relevant treaty on conventional armed forces in Europe (CFE Treaty), Russia is free to deploy weapons wherever necessary to protect its national interests, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, said on his Telegram account on Tuesday.

GENEVA, May 16. /TASS/: The threat to Russia resulting from NATO, US and Britain’s military policies in Ukraine was real, Gennady Gatilov, Russia's permanent representative to the UN headquarters in Geneva, said at the plenary session of the Conference on Disarmament on Tuesday.

"The threat to Russia's security from the military development of Ukraine's territory was real and acute and similar to what the US itself experienced during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis," he said.

MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/: The United States has repeatedly failed to find any signs of Russian interference in its affairs, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.

When asked to comment on Monday’s report by US Special Counsel John Durham who concluded that the FBI should never have launched a probe into ties between former US President Donald Trump and Russia, Peskov said, "This is not the first time that the Americans have launched a thorough, large-scale investigation only to find a lack of any Russian interference [in US affairs]."

GENEVA, May 16 (NNN-XINHUA) – The World Health Organisation (WHO), yesterday issued a recommendation, against the use of non-sugar sweeteners (NSS) for weight control or for reducing the risk of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).

KYIV, May 16 (Reuters) - Anti-corruption authorities in Ukraine said on Tuesday they had detained the head of the country's Supreme Court in an investigation they cast as an important step in Kyiv's fight against high-level graft.

Kyiv has redoubled efforts to clamp down on corruption despite Russia's invasion, and doing so is vital to meet the conditions for joining the European Union.

May 15 (Reuters) - Ukrainian anti-graft authorities said on Monday they were investigating large-scale corruption in the country's Supreme Court system and shared a photograph of piles of dollars neatly lined up on a sofa.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) did not name anyone accused of corruption, but two local media organizations reported Supreme Court Chief Justice Vsevolod Kniaziev had been detained on suspicion of receiving a $3 million bribe.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports.

KIEV, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has reached agreements with the leaders of Italy, Germany, France and Britain on providing fresh defense aid for Kiev, Zelensky's press service reported Monday.

Recently, the Ukrainian leader visited the four European countries as a part of the preparations for the "active actions" of the Ukrainian army at the frontline, said a statement on the presidential website.