Europe

MARSEILLE, April 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — At least three people died and another eight were injured after a flare up in gang violence in the crime-plagued French port of Marseille overnight on Sunday-Monday, police said.

Three separate shooting incidents have increased fears that tit-for-tat violence between rival drugs gangs is spiralling higher after a spate of fatal shootings over the last month.

MOSCOW, April 3 (NNN-XINHUA) — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday called Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov over Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been detained in Russia on espionage charges.

During the phone conversation, Lavrov underscored the need to respect the decision of Russian authorities made under Russia’s law and international obligations, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

BRUSSELS/HELSINKI, April 3 (Reuters) - Finland will join NATO on Tuesday, marking the completion of a swift journey into the military alliance for the Nordic nation following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, officials said.

Finland has a 1,300-km (810-mile) border with Russia, meaning NATO's frontier with Russia will roughly double in length, and the move drew a pledge from Moscow that it will beef up its forces in border regions.

MONTE CIMONE, Italy, April 3 (Reuters) - Monte Cimone, a popular ski resort in Italy's Apennine Mountains, invested 5 million euros in artificial snowmaking before the winter season in an attempt to stave off the impact of global warming. The money was largely wasted.

The snow cannon proved useless because the water droplets they fire into the air need freezing weather for them to fall to the ground as snow, and until mid-January the temperature never fell below zero Celsius (32 Fahrenheit).

PARIS, April 3(Reuters) - President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday France must improve the availability of palliative care and there would be a draft bill by the end of the summer on whether some form of assisted dying should be allowed.

He said the bill would build on the work of a group of 184 randomly appointed French citizens who have debated the issue since December. They concluded their work this weekend with 76% of them saying they favoured allowing some form of assistance to die, for those who want it.

KYIV, April 3 (Reuters) - Ukraine scorned Russian claims to have captured the eastern city of Bakhmut on Monday, saying its foes had raised a victory flag over "some kind of toilet" while combat was raging.

The battle for Bakhmut, a mining city and logistics hub, has been one of the bloodiest of the conflict, now in its second year, with many casualties on both sides and the city largely destroyed by bombardments.

HELSINKI, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Finland's opposition National Coalition Party emerged as the largest party in the parliamentary election held on Sunday, according to the preliminary result reported by Finnish national broadcaster Yle.

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Monday Finland will become the 31st member of the world’s biggest military alliance on Tuesday, and that he hopes its neighbor Sweden can join in coming months.

“This is a historic week,” Stoltenberg told reporters on the eve of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels. “From tomorrow, Finland will be a full member of the alliance.”

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will pay a visit to Warsaw this week that will include talks with political leaders and a meeting with regular Ukrainians and Poles, Polish officials announced on Monday.

Zelenskyy will be accompanied by his wife, Olena Zelenska, for the visit, scheduled for Wednesday. It will begin with an official meeting at the Royal Castle between Zelenskyy and his host, Polish President Andrzej Duda.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — An international prosecutor declared Monday that “nobody is above the law,” as the trial opened for Kosovo’s former president and three other defendants on charges including murder and torture in a case that their supporters claim is unjustly targeting revered freedom fighters.

Hashim Thaci resigned from office in 2020 to defend himself against the charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during his country’s 1998-99 war for independence from Serbia.