Europe

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis said Wednesday he was feeling “much better” after a two-week bout of bronchitis but again asked an aide to read his remarks.

Francis, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, told his weekly general audience that he still gets tired if he speaks too much.

Francis, who turns 87 on Dec. 17, came down with the flu on Nov. 25 and was forced to cancel a planned trip to Dubai to participate in the U.N. climate conference. He later revealed he had been diagnosed with an acute case of infectious bronchitis that made breathing difficult.

5 December 2023; MEMO: The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), a major global rights group operating in Palestine, said Tuesday that civilian deaths in Gaza are a stain on Israel and its allies, Anadolu Agency reports.

“The pulverising of Gaza now ranks amongst the worst assaults on any civilian population in our time and age. Each day we see more dead children and new depths of suffering for the innocent people enduring this hell,” NRC’s Secretary-General, Jan Egeland, said in a statement.

5 December 2023; MEMO: The head of the UN Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA), on Monday, said the Israeli resumption and expansion of its military operation across Gaza repeats “the horrors from past weeks”, Anadolu Agency reports.

“The resumption of the military operation and its expansion further in southern Gaza is repeating horrors from past weeks,” UNRWA Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazzarini, said in a statement.

KIEV, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Dutch Foreign Minister Hanke Bruins Slot on Tuesday met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, pledging further support for Ukraine's efforts toward integration into the European Union (EU).

After the talks with Kuleba, Slot said that Kiev made progress in the EU-required reforms and voiced support for launching membership talks between Ukraine and the bloc.

BRUSSELS (AP) — Europe faces a “huge risk of terrorist attacks” over the Christmas holiday period due to the fallout from the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, the European Union’s home affairs commissioner warned Tuesday.

The warning came as French investigators probe a fatal weekend attack near the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Questions were raised about the mental health of the suspect, who swore allegiance to the extremist Islamic State group before stabbing a tourist to death and injuring two other people with a hammer.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — A man in Bosnia killed his wife and streamed the murder live on Instagram. In neighboring Serbia, 27 women were killed in gender-based attacks this year, despite efforts to raise awareness and reverse the trend. Activists in Kosovo say violence against women there is a “national emergency.”

BERLIN, December 4. /TASS/: Germany’s arms manufacturer Rheinmetall will supply Ukraine with artillery ammunition worth 142 mln euros in 2025, the company said in a statement.

"Rheinmetall has won a large-volume order for supporting Ukraine with artillery ammunition <...> worth around 142 million euros," the statement reads. "The ammunition will be delivered in 2025," Rheinmetall said.

MOSCOW, December 4. /TASS/: Russian forces struck Ukrainian troops and military hardware in 107 areas over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Monday.

"Operational/tactical and army aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, missile troops and artillery of the Russian groupings of forces inflicted damage on Ukrainian manpower and military equipment in 107 areas," the ministry said in a statement.

SOFIA, December 4. /TASS/: Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has vetoed an agreement for the donation of the Bulgarian Interior Ministry’s surplus armored personnel carriers to Ukraine, which had been approved by the Bulgarian parliament on November 22, the presidential press service reported.

MOSCOW, December 4. /TASS/: The "frozen" state of relations between Russia and Germany benefits neither country, but it is Germany who suffers most here, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a ceremony ushering in new ambassadors of foreign states.

"The current ‘frozen’ state of relations with Russia, and not on our initiative, I want to stress this, is not beneficial, it is not beneficial either to us or to you. But first of all, in my opinion, to Germany," the Russian President said.