Europe

STOCKHOLM, May 12 (Reuters) - The European Union needs to be prepared for the fallout from a potential deterioration in relations with China, such as might happen if conflict were to erupt over Taiwan, Lithuania's Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said on Friday.

Landsbergis said he was not advocating a "de-coupling" from China, but pointed to the break with Moscow over Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 as the type of risk for which the bloc needed to be prepared.

Nobody had called for a decoupling from Russia, yet "here were are", he said.

KYIV, May 12 (Reuters) - Russia said on Friday that Ukrainian forces had attacked Russian positions along almost 100 km (60 miles) of the front line near Soledar, a small mining town near Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine that Moscow's forces seized in January.

As anticipation grows of a Ukrainian counteroffensive aiming to drive Moscow's forces out of the land they have seized in the last 15 months, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar confirmed earlier reports that Ukraine had made some gains near Bakhmut, but appeared to play down suggestions of a wider push.

MOSCOW, May 12 (Reuters) - The commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet has said its defences are being tightened amid a flurry of Ukrainian drone strikes targeting its home base, the Crimean port of Sevastopol.

Vice Admiral Viktor Sokolov told Friday's edition of the military newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda ("Red Star"): "In connection with the threat of attacks by robotic surface and underwater systems, we have increased the technical defences of the fleet's main base and of the ships' anchorages."

NYON, Switzerland (AP) — UEFA insisted Friday that the Champions League final will be played in Istanbul, hitting back at a newspaper report that claims the European soccer body has explored Lisbon as a standby option if there is turmoil in Turkey after this weeekend’s elections.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is in a close race to extend his 20-year grip on power. He is seeking a third term in Sunday’s election.

BERLIN (AP) — A man opened fire at a Mercedes-Benz factory in southwestern Germany on Thursday, leaving two people dead, authorities and the company said.

The shooting occurred in Sindelfingen, a city near Stuttgart. The suspect, a 53-year-old Turkish citizen, was taken into custody, the Stuttgart prosecutor’s office said.

Police received the first emergency calls around 7:45 a.m. (0545 GMT; 1:45 a.m. EDT) on Thursday, prosecutors said in a statement.

ZURICH (AP) — A FIFA fund to compensate for unpaid wages helped 225 players in the latest round of payments, including 61 in Portugal and 50 in Greece, the governing body of soccer said Friday.

The $16 million FIFA Fund for Football Players was created in 2020 with the FIFPRO player union. Some clubs were suspected of closing down to avoid paying salaries and then re-started anew as a “phoenix” operation.

FIFA allocated $4 million to applications for financial help from the 2021 calendar year.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s populist leader has sharply denounced opposition plans to block a key bridge and motorway in Belgrade on Friday to press their demands in the wake of last week’s mass shootings in the Balkan country that left 17 people dead, including many children.

President Aleksandar Vucic said that the planned opposition protest later on Friday amounted to “violence in politics” and “harassment” of citizens. But, Vucic said, police would not intervene to prevent it “unless people’s lives are in danger.”

VOLOS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s prime minister says his government is exploring a “win-win” solution to one of the world’s most intractable cultural heritage disputes: The fate of the Parthenon Sculptures in the British Museum. But he rules out any deal that would include the word “loan.”

MOSCOW, May 11. /TASS/: The Bank of Russia may consider an increase in the key rate at its next board meetings if it notices signs of accelerating price pressure that threatens reaching the targeted inflation of 4%, according to the regulator’s Governor Elvira Nabiullina.

LONDON, May 11. /TASS/: British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has confirmed that London is sending Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles to Kiev.

While addressing the House of Commons on Thursday, Wallace described the move as "a calibrated and proportionate response to Russia’s escalations." "The use of Storm Shadow will allow Ukraine to push back Russian forces based within Ukrainian sovereign territory," the British defense chief stated.