Europe

UMAN, Ukraine (AP) — Russia fired more than 20 cruise missiles and two drones at Ukraine early Friday, killing at least 17 people, most of them when two missiles slammed into an apartment building in the center of the country, officials said. Three children were among the dead.

The missile attacks included the first one against Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, in nearly two months, although there were no reports of any targets hit. The city government said Ukraine’s air force intercepted 11 cruise missiles and two unmanned aerial vehicles over Kyiv.

27 Apr 2023; MEMO: Sweden's foreign minister said the activities of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)'s operations in the country are hindering Stockholm's efforts to join the NATO military alliance.

"The reason why Turkiye has yet to approve our accession is due to the widespread activity of the PKK  terror group," Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said in an interview with Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter yesterday.

27 Apr 2023; MEMO: Only its full implementation can save the Black Sea grain deal from collapse, Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, reaffirming Moscow's dissatisfaction with an accord that aims to prevent a global food crisis, Reuters reports.

MOSCOW, April 27. /TASS/: Turkey’s Akkuyu NPP has all components to be called the safest nuclear power plant in the world, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi said.

MOSCOW, April 27. /TASS/: The West is no longer hiding that it is really behind the planning for Ukraine’s much-vaunted counteroffensive, and will pull out all the stops to ensure its success, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing on Thursday.

MOSCOW, April 27. /TASS/: Russia is calling on the sides of the conflict in Sudan to reach a national consensus and cooperate, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on RT television on Thursday.

Bogdanov, who is also the presidential special envoy for the Middle East and Africa, said Russia and Sudan always had friendly relations.

LONDON, April 27 (Reuters) - Television personality Jerry Springer, known for a long-running talk show that featured raucous audiences, controversial topics and fist-fighting guests and who briefly served as Cincinnati mayor, died at age 79 on Thursday, his family said.

Springer died peacefully after a brief illness at his home in suburban Chicago, his family said in a statement. The cause of death was not specified.

WARSAW, April 27 (Reuters) - The military object which was found in a northern Polish forest is surface-to-air missile which is several metres long, private radio station RMF FM reported on Thursday citing 'unofficial information'.

On Thursday Polish authorities said that the remains of a military object were found in northern Poland near the city of Bydgoszcz, confirming earlier media reports of the discovery of some kind of object in the area.

LONDON, April 27 (Reuters) - Microsoft's (MSFT.O) president Brad Smith said the UK regulator's decision to prevent its acquisition of 'Call of Duty' maker Activision Blizzard "had shaken confidence" in Britain as a destination for tech businesses.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which operates independently from government, blocked the deal on Wednesday, saying it could hit competition in the nascent cloud gaming market.

April 27 (Reuters) - The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group said on Thursday he had been joking when he said his men would suspend artillery fire in Bakhmut to allow Ukrainian forces on the other side of the frontline to show the city to visiting U.S. journalists.

Wagner has been spearheading Russia's assault on Bakhmut since last summer in the longest and bloodiest battle of the war, but Ukrainian forces have so far thwarted its attempts to take full control of the city.