Europe

MOSCOW, November 9. /TASS/: Moscow is not prejudiced against Armenia’s external partners, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Rossiya-1 television.

"We are for Armenia, as a member of the CSTO, as our close ally, strategic partner, deciding on its own how it should build relations with external partners. We have absolutely no prejudice against the circle of its foreign partners, friends, whatever you want to call it," he said.

The minister also said Western countries are "courting" Armenia as they want to have it as an ally against Russia.

MOSCOW, November 10. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated employees of the internal affairs agencies on their professional holiday, noting their courage in performing dangerous work.

MOSCOW, November 10. /TASS/: After his visit to Kazakhstan, Russian President Vladimir Putin stopped in Rostov-on-Don, where he visited the headquarters of the Southern Military District, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reported.

"Having completed his official visit to Astana, Vladimir Putin, flew to Rostov, where he visited the headquarters of the Southern Military District," he said.

Putin was accompanied at the headquarters by Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Defense Ministry Valery Gerasimov and other military leaders.

WARSAW, Nov 10 (NNN-XINHUA) – The European Parliament voted yesterday, to lift the immunity of four Polish members (MEPs), who are accused in their country of violating hate crime laws.

The four – Beata Kempa, Beata Mazurek, Patryk Jaki and Tomasz Poreba – are members of Poland’s conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party. They face allegations lodged by Rafal Gawel, a left-wing Polish activist, who was previously convicted of embezzlement in his home country, but claimed that he was the victim of a politicised justice system.

BERLIN, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Germany will strengthen its military to make it the backbone of deterrence and collective defence in Europe, its defence minister pledged on Thursday as Berlin issued new defence policy guidelines for the first time in over a decade.

The 19-page document details what the "Zeitenwende" - the major shift of policy German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 - means for the workings of the Bundeswehr.

DONETSK REGION, Ukraine, Nov 9 (Reuters) - The soldiers piloting Ukraine's fleet of small, cheap assault drones are voicing concerns that, despite pioneering their use, they are now being leapfrogged by their adversary as Moscow pumps money and resources into its drone sector.

The use of agile First Person View (FPV) drones in battle has been one of the most successful of the various low-cost strategies Ukraine has used to defend itself from a full-scale invasion by Russia, its much richer and more powerful neighbour.

LISBON, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- Portugal's President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on Thursday announced snap parliamentary elections for March 10, 2024, following Tuesday's resignation of Prime Minister Antonio Costa who is under corruption investigation.

In a televised national address after a meeting with the Council of State, Rebelo de Sousa said the call for early elections comes from the need for "clarity and direction to overcome an unexpected void that surprised the Portuguese."

BERLIN (AP) — German police said Thursday evening that a student with a handgun is suspected of having killed another student at a high school in the country’s southwest, German news agency dpa reported.

The suspect, a teenager, was detained as part of a large-scale police operation earlier in the day in the town of Offenburg.

He had allegedly entered a classroom at the high school for children with special needs, and fired at least one shot from a handgun at a classmate, police said.

PARIS (AP) — Western and Arab nations, international agencies and nongovernmental groups stressed the urgent need for aid for Gaza civilians at a Paris conference Thursday, held as the humanitarian crisis in the besieged territory worsens amid Israel’s massive air and ground campaign against Hamas.

The gathering ended a few hours before the White House said Israel has agreed to put in place four-hour daily humanitarian pauses in Gaza, starting on Thursday.

MADRID (AP) — Veteran Spanish right-wing politician Alejandro Vidal-Quadras was shot in the face in broad daylight on a central Madrid street on Thursday. His life was not in danger, according to the hospital where he was rushed for treatment.

Police said Vidal-Quadras was attacked at around 1:30 p.m. local time near his home and that he was conscious when taken to a hospital by emergency crews. A motive for the shooting wasn’t immediately disclosed.