Europe

MOSCOW, March 24 (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Friday said it was important to identify an object discovered next to one of the Nord Stream pipelines, and said the ongoing investigation into blasts that struck the pipelines last September must be conducted with full transparency.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also told reporters it was a positive sign that Denmark had invited the Russian-controlled operator of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to help salvage an unidentified object found close to the Baltic Sea pipelines.

KYIV, March 24 (Reuters) - At an unassuming industrial estate in northern Ukraine, two former Microsoft executives and a team of engineers are producing military drones that can travel over long distances and carry large payloads.

AeroDrone, which made crop-dusting drones prior to the war and now supplies Ukraine’s armed forces, makes unmanned aircraft that can carry up to 300 kilograms or fly up to several thousand kilometres in certain configurations.

HELSINKI, March 24 (Xinhua) -- The Finnish Foreign Ministry has authorized a ship loaded with Russian fertilizers anchored in the Port of Kotka to continue its voyage, according to its Thursday press release.

The ship was previously unable to depart as the cargo was confirmed to be connected with a person on an EU sanctions list.

Departure is permitted on the condition that the fertilizers are exported to a third country to address food security.

The ministry says that the ship may leave the port within the next few days and no later than a week.

LONDON (AP) — King Charles III’s state visit to France has been postponed indefinitely amid widespread protests over President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms, putting a damper on the new monarch’s debut on the international stage.

Charles and his wife, Camilla, will still travel to Germany on Wednesday in what was scheduled to be the second leg of his first overseas trip since ascending the throne in September.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian long-range strikes killed at least 10 civilians and wounded 20 others in several areas of Ukraine on Friday, Ukraine’s presidential office said, as a senior Moscow official warned that the Kremlin’s forces were prepared for an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive in the coming weeks.

PARIS (AP) — French citizens angry at President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms engaged in scattered protest actions Friday, as the ongoing unrest across the country persuaded officials to postpone a planned state visit by Britain’s King Charles III.

Demonstrators had demanded that Charles cancel his trip, which was scheduled to start Sunday. The protests and labor strikes against Macron’s decision to raise France’s retirement age from 62 to 64 already had promised to impact his visit, with workers refusing to roll out the red carpet for the king’s arrival.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak welcomed Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu to London on Friday while demonstrators gathered nearby to protest against the Israeli government’s right-wing policies.

Israel faces a national crisis over the government’s plans to overhaul the judicial system. They have ignited Israel’s biggest protests in history and sparked rare dissent from across Israeli society, including military reservists, navy veterans, high-tech businesspeople and former officials.

DONETSK REGION, Ukraine (AP) — Skimming the treetops, three Soviet-era attack helicopters bank and swoop down on a field after an early-morning mission to the front lines in the fight against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Each day, they might fly three or four sorties, says the commander, whose two-crew Mi-24 helicopter, built about 40 years ago, is older than he is.

23 Mar 2023; MEMO: The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) has called on the UK government to refer Israel to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes committed in Palestine, and to recognise the court's jurisdiction over the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Efforts to resume the stalled talks in Vienna aimed at the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal have gathered momentum again amid geopolitical shifts spurred by the Tehran-Riyadh rapprochement, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Iran's deputy Foreign Minister and lead nuclear negotiator, Ali Bagheri, on Wednesday night confirmed reports about his meeting with senior European diplomats in Oslo last week.