Europe

LONDON, April 22 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak chaired a meeting of the government's emergency response committee on Saturday to discuss the situation in Sudan, with defence minister Ben Wallace among those attending.

Sudan's army said on Saturday it had agreed to help evacuate foreign nationals, as gunfire and air strikes echoed across Khartoum despite promises by warring sides to cease fire for three days after a week of strife that has killed hundreds.

MADRID, April 22 (Reuters) - Two men died and 10 others were injured after a fire at a restaurant in the Spanish capital Madrid, emergency services said on Saturday.

The blaze started late on Friday night at Burro Canaglia Bar&Resto, an Italian restaurant in the central neighbourhood of Salamanca.

An eyewitness told El Pais newspaper that the fire started after a waiter was flambeing a dish and the flames set fire to the ceiling and walls.

Diners struggled to flee as the blaze started near the main exit, emergency services said.

LISBON, April 22 (Reuters) - Twice a year, a hatch in a busy Lisbon street opens to reveal steps leading to one of the Portuguese capital's most ancient sites: a 2,000-year-old Roman structure that still holds the buildings above it together.

Dating back to the first century AD, the "cryptoportico" subterranean maze of tunnels and passageways was built by the Romans, who occupied the city then known as Olissipo beginning around 200 BC. The city remained under Roman control for several centuries.

LISBON, April 22 (Reuters) - Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he does not want to "please anyone" with his views about Russia's invasion of Ukraine after he provoked criticism in the West for suggesting Kyiv was in part to blame for the war.

Speaking in Lisbon on Saturday at the start of his first visit to Europe since being elected president, Lula said his aim was to "build a way to bring both of them (Russia and Ukraine) to the table."

"I want to find a third alternative (to solve the conflict), which is the construction of peace," he told a news conference.

MOSCOW, April 22 (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday that Moscow was expelling more than 20 German diplomats, the RIA Novosti news agency said, as Berlin said some Russian diplomats had left Germany.

A German Foreign Ministry official said Berlin and Moscow had been in contact about their respective representations in the last few weeks with the aim of reducing Russia's intelligence presence in Germany.

April 22 (Reuters) - Russia said it was expelling a number of German diplomats in a tit-for-tat move. Germany did not immediately confirm any expulsions of its own, but said the arrival of a Russian government plane in Berlin was connected to the issue. Russia's RIA Novosti news agency said Germany had decided to expel more than 20 Russians.

TANKS, BATTLE

* Russia's Defence Ministry said Russian forces had captured three more blocks in the western part of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

KIEV, April 21 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged visiting President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Odile Renaud-Basso to accelerate the implementation of the bank's projects in Ukraine, Zelensky's press service reported Friday.

"Today, in the conditions of war and urgent reconstruction, speed is a critically important element," Zelensky said during the talks with Renaud-Basso in Kiev.

ATHENS, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis requested on Saturday the dissolution of the parliament ahead of the May 21 general elections.

He announced the news in a televised address to the nation, after making the formal request during a visit to President Katerina Sakellaropoulou.

The relevant presidential decree will be issued within the day and Greece will officially enter pre-election period, Greek national broadcaster ERT reported.

Russia (AP) —Seventeen apartment buildings were evacuated Saturday in a Russian city near the Ukrainian border after an explosive device was found at the site where a bomb accidentally dropped by a Russian warplane caused a powerful blast this week, authorities said.

The bomb blast late Thursday rocked part of Belgorod, leaving a large crater and three people injured. The Russian Defense Ministry quickly acknowledged that a weapon accidentally released by one of its own Su-34 bombers caused the explosion.

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AP) — The United States will begin training Ukrainian forces on how to use and maintain Abrams tanks in the coming weeks, as it continues to speed up its effort to get them onto the battlefield as quickly as possible, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Friday.

The decision comes as defense leaders from around Europe and the world are meeting at Ramstein Air Base, in the effort to coordinate the delivery of weapons and other equipment to Ukraine.