Europe

BURE, Switzerland, May 5 (Reuters) - In a sleepy village on the French border, Swiss soldiers rode down a dusty road on a Leopard 2 tank, an armoured vehicle that has spurred debate around Switzerland's role in European defence.

Switzerland has 134 Leopard 2 tanks in service, some of which were used in training exercises by the country's Tank School 21 in the northwestern canton of Jura this week.

But the Leopard 2 tanks that have drawn attention in Switzerland are, in fact, the 96 it keeps in storage.

LONDON, May 5 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservatives suffered steep losses in Friday's local election result, undermining his attempts to revive their fortunes and emboldening the opposition Labour Party before a national vote expected next year.

Sunak came to power in October following a year of political scandals, surging inflation and stagnant economic growth. In office he has faced a cost-of-living crisis, mounting concern about healthcare and widespread industrial action.

May 5 (Reuters) - Former Russian deputy defence minister Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev has joined the Wagner Group private militia as a deputy commander, Russian pro-war social media channels reported on Thursday.

In two videos posted by war correspondent Alexander Simonov on Telegram, Mizintsev - clad in Wagner-branded combat gear - was shown visiting a training camp and touring Russian positions in the east Ukrainian town of Bakhmut.

VLADIVOSTOK, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov warned on Thursday that Russia and the United States are on the verge of an open armed conflict over Ukraine, but Moscow is trying to prevent this.

Ryabkov said that Moscow knew that Kiev was acting under Washington's instructions when it chose to attack targets in Russia, including a drone strike on the Kremlin, adding that both Ukraine and the United States looked ridiculous when they denied their involvement in the attack.

MILAN (AP) — Former Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte has been physically attacked during an official appearance in Tuscany by a man protesting against Italy’s lockdowns and other measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic, Italian media reported Friday.

The man struck Conte in the face, and the assailant was immediately detained by law enforcement, the news agency LaPresse reported. Conte didn’t appear to have been seriously harmed.

“Dissent is legitimate, but this violent demonstration falls outside the democratic context,” Conte said in a statement.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The Polish Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador in protest Friday after a former Russian official suggested that it would be acceptable to assassinate Poland’s ambassador to Russia.

Pavel Astakhov, Russia’s children’s ombudsman from 2009 to 2016, spoke on a television program hosted by Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov. He was being interviewed after Polish authorities took over a school building in Warsaw on Saturday that was serving the children of Russian diplomats and the military.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s energy minister announced plans Friday to ease bureaucratic hurdles for solar power as the country set a new record for photovoltaic installations during the first quarter.

Europe’s biggest economy added 2.7 gigawatts of solar power capacity during the first three months of 2023, putting it on course to beat the target of 9 GW this year, compared with 7 GW in 2022.

GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization said Friday that COVID-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency, marking a symbolic end to the devastating coronavirus pandemic that triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies and killed millions of people worldwide.

The announcement, made more than three years after WHO declared the coronavirus an international crisis, offers a coda to a pandemic that stirred fear and suspicion, hand-wringing and finger-pointing across the globe.

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Conservative Party endured big losses Friday in results from local elections being viewed as a test of support for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ’s government as a national election approaches.

The left-of-center main opposition Labour Party made gains that raised its hopes of winning a national election that is due by the end of 2024. Labour leader Keir Starmer said “we are on course for a Labour majority at the next general election.”

The Conservatives acknowledged it had been “disappointing” election for the party.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — A gunman apparently firing at random killed eight people and wounded 14 in two villages in Serbia, authorities said, shaking a nation still in the throes of grief over a mass shooting a day earlier. Police arrested a suspect Friday after an all-night manhunt.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic called the shootings late Thursday an attack on the whole nation — and said the person arrested wore a T-shirt with a pro-Nazi slogan on it but did not shed light on the motive.