Europe

HELSINKI, April 15 (Reuters) - Finland's much-delayed Olkiluoto 3 (OL3) nuclear reactor, Europe's largest, began regular output early on Sunday, its operator said, boosting energy security in a region to which Russia has cut gas and power supplies.

Nuclear power remains controversial in Europe, primarily due to safety concerns, and news of OL3's start-up comes as Germany on Saturday switches off its last three remaining reactors, while Sweden, France, Britain and others plan new developments.

WARSAW, April 16 (Reuters) - Unilateral action on trade by European Union member states is unacceptable, a European Commission spokesperson said on Sunday, after Poland and Hungary announced bans on grain and other food imports from Ukraine to protect the local agricultural sector.

After Russia's invasion blocked some Black Sea ports, large quantities of Ukrainian grain, which is cheaper than that produced in the European Union, ended up staying in Central European states due to logistical bottlenecks, hitting prices and sales for local farmers.

BERLIN (AP) — The chief executive and co-owner of media company Axel Springer apologized Sunday for making crude remarks about “East Germans” in text messages leaked to a rival newspaper.

German weekly Die Zeit quoted Mathias Doepfner as saying that “the Ossis (a derogatory term for East Germans) are either communists or fascists.” The comments prompted sharp rebukes from officials in the east and calls for Doepfner to resign.

In a short article for tabloid Bild am Sonntag, Doepfner expressed regret “that I have offended, unsettled or hurt many with my words.”

LONDON (AP) — More than 6,000 British military personnel will take part in the coronation of King Charles III, the U.K. forces’ biggest ceremonial deployment in seven decades, the government said Sunday.

The Ministry of Defense said thousands of soldiers, sailors and aviators will escort the king and Camilla, the queen consort, between Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey on their way to and from the May 6 ceremony.

IMATRA, Finland (AP) — The construction of barbed-wired fence along Finland’s long border with Russia - primarily meant to curb illegal migration - has broken ground near the southeastern town of Imatra less than two weeks after the Nordic country joined NATO as the 31st member of the military alliance.

The Finnish Border Guard on Friday showcased the building of the initial three kilometer (1.8 mile) stretch of the fence to be erected in Pelkola near a crossing point off Imatra, a quiet lakeside town of some 25,000 people.

13 Apr 2023; MEMO: Russia, on Thursday, accused the UN of distorting facts about the implementation of the Black Sea grain deal, Anadolu News Agency reports.

NALCHIK, April 13. /TASS/: Anglo-Saxons and their accomplices are inciting mass protests and terrorist attacks in the North Caucasus, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev said on Thursday.

"Today, in order to provoke extremist behavior in the North Caucasus, they are spreading calls for mass riots, illegal actions and terrorist acts," Patrushev said, speaking in Nalchik at a security meeting in the North Caucasian Federal District.

BERLIN, April 13. /TASS/: Lawyers of the European Commission (EC) have arrived at a conclusion that assets of the Bank of Russia frozen in the EU will have to be returned to Russia after the end of the conflict in Ukraine, Die Welt newspaper said on Thursday, citing an unpublished EC document.

OSLO, April 13 (Reuters) - Norway is expelling 15 Russian embassy officials that the foreign ministry said on Thursday were intelligence officers operating under the cover of diplomatic positions, the latest such expulsion by a Western nation since Moscow invaded Ukraine.

The Russian embassy in Oslo told Reuters Norway's decision was "another extremely unfriendly step, which will see a response".

Some 40 Russian diplomats are currently accredited in Oslo, so the expulsions amount to more than a third of their number.

PARIS, April 13 (Reuters) - Union activists barged into the Paris headquarters of luxury goods company LVMH (LVMH.PA) on Thursday, saying the French government should shelve plans to make people work longer for their pension and tax the rich more instead.

In a 12th day of nationwide protests since mid-January, striking workers also disrupted garbage collection in Paris and blocked river traffic on part of the Rhine river in eastern France.