Europe

LONDON, April 21 (Reuters) - British Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab resigned from the government on Friday following an independent investigation into complaints that he bullied colleagues, the latest scandal to force out one of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's top ministers.

The loss of the third senior minister over their personal conduct in the last six months will damage Sunak's efforts to revive the governing Conservative Party's fortunes and is a major embarrassment as he had entered Downing Street in October promising a government of integrity.

MOSCOW, April 20 (Xinhua) -- The global trend towards multipolarity will intensify, and those who choose to resist this shift will ultimately lose and face new challenges, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday.

"The global trend ... towards multipolarity is inevitable, and will only intensify," Putin said during a videoconference of the Council for Local Self-Government Development.

"Those, who do not understand this, and who will choose not to follow this trend, will lose," he said.

GANGES, France (AP) — Hundreds of people opposed to the new law raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 demonstrated Thursday in a small town in southern France during a visit by President Emmanuel Macron, while scattered protests were staged elsewhere.

Macron’s trip to Ganges comes amid a concerted new effort by him and his government to move on from the furor caused by the pension reform.

Demonstrators sang what has become the anthem of the retirement protests: “We are here, we are here, even if Macron doesn’t want (us to be here), we are here.”

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg defiantly declared Thursday that Ukraine’s “rightful place” is in the military alliance and pledged more support for the country on his first visit to Kyiv since Russia’s invasion just over a year ago.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Stoltenberg, who has been instrumental in marshaling support from NATO members, to push for even more from them, including warplanes, artillery and armored equipment.

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sought Friday to tamp down any discord between the U.S. and its allies over the massive U.S. leak of classified documents, as he met with defense leaders from around the globe to coordinate additional military aid to Ukraine.

KYIV, April 20 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told visiting NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday it was time for the military alliance to offer his country membership and that Kyiv needed more weapons to fight Russia.

Zelenskiy made his comments at a joint news conference after talks with Stoltenberg, who offered NATO's solidarity with Ukraine on his first trip to Kyiv since Russia's full-scale invasion nearly 14 months ago.

PARIS, April 20 (Reuters) - A group of protesters briefly invaded offices of stockmarket operator Euronext in Paris' La Defense business district on Thursday, saying big companies must pay up to finance pensions, as part of wider protests against a rise in the retirement age.

"We are told that there is no money to finance pensions," said Sud-Rail unionist Fabien Villedieu. But there is "no need to get the money from the pockets of workers, there is some in the pockets of billionaires."

BRUSSELS, April 20 (Reuters) - The world could breach a new average temperature record in 2023 or 2024, fuelled by climate change and the anticipated return of the El Nino weather phenomenon, climate scientists say.

Climate models suggest that after three years of the La Nina weather pattern in the Pacific Ocean, which generally lowers global temperatures slightly, the world will experience a return to El Nino, the warmer counterpart, later this year.

VIENNA, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The growth in consumer prices in Austria slowed down between January and March amid falling energy prices, but overall, inflation was still high, according to data released by Statistics Austria on Wednesday.

The central European country's inflation in March stood at 9.2 percent, down from 10.9 percent in February and 11.2 percent in January, as "fuel and heating oil prices had fallen sharply" compared to March 2022, Statistics Austria said in a statement.

19 Apr 2023; MEMO: Russia, on Wednesday, accused Ukraine of sabotaging the Black Sea grain deal by demanding bribes from ship owners to register new vessels and carry out inspections under the cover of a deal the United Nations hopes could ease a global food crisis, Reuters reports.