Europe

THE HAGUE, April 17. /TASS/: The Dutch intelligence agency AIVD believes that Russia and China pose the biggest threat to the interests of the country, the agency said in a statement on Monday.

According to Dutch experts "Russia does not hesitate to use a wide range of means to hurt the West in order to improve its own [geopolitical] position." Experts say in particular that "Moscow weaponizes its energy sector to inflict damage on Western economies."

BRUSSELS, April 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The European Commission has rejected bans introduced by Poland and Hungary on Ukrainian grain imports.

The two countries said the measures were necessary to protect their farming sectors from cheap imports.

The ban applies to grains, dairy products, sugar, fruit, vegetables and meats and will be in force until the end of June.

The Commission said it was not up to individual member states to make trade policy.

MOSCOW, April 17 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is off on a Latin American tour during which he will visit Brazil, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba between April 17 and 21 to strengthen bilateral cooperation in political, economic, commercial, educational, and humanitarian matters, according to Moscow.

The meetings will focus on “the international legal foundations of the modern world, whose basic framework is the Charter of the United Nations,” a statement from Russian diplomatic authorities read.

LONDON, April 17 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is being investigated by parliament's standards watchdog over whether he properly declared his wife's shareholding in a childcare company which stands to benefit from new government policy.

Parliament's Commissioner for Standards began the investigation over a "declaration of interest" on April 13, according to a list of open inquiries on its website on Monday.

KYIV, April 17 (Reuters) - Kyiv aims to re-open food and grain transit via Poland as "a first step" to ending import bans at talks that began in Warsaw on Monday as countries halted grain from Ukraine to protect their local agriculture markets.

The talks were likely to continue into Tuesday, a source close to the negotiations said in the afternoon.

Poland and Hungary announced bans on some imports from Ukraine on Saturday. Slovakia said on Monday it would do the same and other countries in central and eastern Europe said they were also considering action.

MOSCOW, April 17 (Reuters) - Outspoken Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza was jailed for 25 years by a Moscow court on Monday, the harshest sentence of its kind since Russia invaded Ukraine, after being found guilty of treason and other offences he denied committing.

Kara-Murza, 41, a father of three and an opposition politician who holds Russian and British passports, spent years speaking out against President Vladimir Putin and lobbied Western governments to impose sanctions on Russia and individual Russians for purported human rights violations.

STOCKHOLM, April 17 (Xinhua) -- The Swedish government has lowered its gross domestic product (GDP) forecast and declared the country to be in a state of recession in its spring amendment budget presented on Monday.

The Swedish GDP is now expected to shrink by 1 percent this year, which is worse than the previous forecast presented on December 22 last year, which projected a decrease of 0.7 percent in 2023.

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Slovakia has delivered the remaining nine of the 13 Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets that it promised to Ukraine, the Slovak Defense Ministry said on Monday.

The ministry said the warplanes were transported overland for security reasons in a “complicated logistics operation.” The first four were flown from Slovakia to Ukraine by Ukrainian pilots on March 23.

“We are doing the right thing,” Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad said in a statement

ROME (AP) — Italy’s right-wing government pressed ahead with plans to crack down on migrants as they arrived by the hundreds on Monday at a Sicilian port after a Coast Guard rescue. Dozens more were taken on board a charity boat from an unseaworthy vessel operated by smugglers, while others came ashore unaided.

This week, the Senate is due to take up proposed legislation put forward by the government of far-right Premier Giorgia Meloni that aims to make it harder for migrants to gain temporary permission to stay in Italy.

BERLIN (AP) — Former Chancellor Angela Merkel is to be decorated with Germany’s highest possible honor on Monday in recognition of her near-record 16 years at the helm of the country.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier plans to bestow the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit for special achievement on the four-term chancellor, who will become only the third ex-leader to receive that level of distinction. The other two were Konrad Adenauer, West Germany’s first leader, and Helmut Kohl, who led Germany to reunification.