Europe

BERLIN, Feb 8 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday criticized the public competition among some countries over who can deliver more and better weapons to Ukraine, saying it harmed unity among allies.

"We preserve and strengthen this cohesion by first preparing decisions confidentially - and only then communicating them," Scholz told the Bundestag lower house of parliament according to a manuscript of his speech, citing his cooperation with U.S. President Joe Biden on the decision to supply tanks to Ukraine.

VILNIUS, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Estonia's Foreign Intelligence Service said it believed Russia still had the strength to exert "credible military pressure" on the Baltic region, where the security risk has risen for the medium and long-term.

NATO and the European Union members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - the so-called Baltic states - have sharply boosted defence spending in response to Russia's 2014 capture of Crimea from Ukraine and the invasion of Ukraine last year.

KYIV/LONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited Britain on Wednesday to drum up aid, winning a pledge to train Ukrainian pilots on advanced NATO fighter jets, a big symbolic step up in Western military support.

On just his second trip abroad since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, he met Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and addressed the British parliament, calling for "combat aircraft for Ukraine. Wings for freedom".

AMSTERDAM, Feb 8 (Reuters) - The international team investigating the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) by a missile has convincing evidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally signed off on a decision to allow the Russian missile system into Ukraine, Dutch prosecutors said on Wednesday.

The BUK-TELAR missile system was used to shot down MH17 on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, investigators said.

However, they said the evidence was not enough to lead to prosecution.

STOCKHOLM, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Sweden has moved into the spotlight for violent Islamic extremists globally after a number of incidents including the recent public burning of the Muslim holy book, the Koran, the security services said on Wednesday.

"Recent developments with threats targeted at Sweden and Swedish interests are serious and affect Sweden's security," the Swedish Security Service SAPO said in a statement.

"The developments mean that Sweden is deemed to be in greater focus than previously for violent Islamic extremists globally."

LONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Britain announced an immediate surge of military deliveries to Ukraine to help it fend off an intensifying Russian offensive and pledged to train its pilots as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on a rare visit abroad.

London was Zelenskiy's first stop on only his second trip abroad since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 after a visit to the United States in December. He is due to travel onto Brussels on Thursday where the European Union is holding a summit.

PARIS, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Tuesday expressed concerns over damage to Syrian and Turkish heritage sites, and vowed support for the two earthquake-devastated countries.

Following an initial survey of damage to heritage carried out alongside national authorities, UNESCO said: "In Syria, UNESCO is particularly concerned about the situation in the Ancient city of Aleppo, which is on the List of World Heritage in Danger."

STOCKHOLM (AP) — The Swedish domestic security agency warned Wednesday that the threat of attacks in the Scandinavian country has increased in the weeks since a far-right activist burned a Quran outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm.

The agency noted that international reactions to the events outside the embassy last month” have been extensive” and “the assessment is that the security situation has deteriorated.”

“Sweden is judged to be in greater focus than before for violent Islamism globally,” the security service, which is known by the Swedish acronym SAPO, said.

BERLIN (AP) — Asia will for the first time use half of the world’s electricity by 2025, even as Africa continues to consume far less than its share of the global population, according to a new forecast released Wednesday by the International Energy Agency.

Much of Asia’s electricity use will be in China, a nation of 1.4 billion people whose share of global consumption will rise from a quarter in 2015 to a third by the middle of this decade, the Paris-based body said.

07 Feb 2023; MEMO: French magazine, Charlie Hebdo, has sparked outrage with a new cartoon mocking Turkiye after the country was hit on Monday by two deadly earthquakes, Anadolu News Agency reports.

The cartoon, posted on Twitter under the heading "cartoon of the day", shows buildings near collapse and lying in rubble, a flipped-over car, and piles of debris in the quakes' aftermath.

"Earthquake in Turkiye," is written above the cartoon, and the words "No need to even send tanks" at the bottom.