Europe

MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian military on Sunday reported a successful test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile designed to carry nuclear warheads from a new nuclear submarine.

The report comes as tensions are soaring between Russia and the West over the fighting in Ukraine. Adding to those tensions, President Vladimir Putin last week signed a bill revoking Russia’s ratification of a global nuclear test ban in a move that Moscow said was needed to establish parity with the United States.

CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — Moldovans are casting ballots in nationwide local elections on Sunday as authorities say that Russia has been conducting “hybrid warfare” to undermine the vote in the European Union candidate country.

While local elections in Moldova, a country of about 2.5 million people situated between Romania and Ukraine, wouldn’t usually garner much international attention, ongoing accusations of Russian meddling add a geopolitical dimension to the vote.

BERLIN (AP) — The hostage situation at Hamburg Airport ended Sunday afternoon, around 18 hours after a man drove his vehicle through the gates of the airport with his 4-year-old daughter inside, authorities said. The man was arrested and the girl appears to be unharmed.

Hamburg police posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, that “the hostage situation is over. The suspect has left the car with his daughter. ... The child appears to be unharmed.”

Police also said that “the man was arrested by the emergency services without resistance.”

PARIS (AP) — French power network operator Enedis said Sunday that one of its technicians was killed as it battles to restore electricity to hundreds of thousands of homes in the wake of major storms.

The 46-year-old man killed Saturday was working in a rapid-reaction force deployed in the Brittany region of northwest France that was battered Thursday by Storm Ciarán. Packing record-breaking winds and rain, the storm killed 14 people across Europe.

(AP) --- The Russian military said a Ukrainian missile strike on a shipyard in annexed Crimea had damaged a Russian ship.

The Russian Defense Ministry said late Saturday that Ukrainian forces fired 15 cruise missiles at the Zaliv shipyard in Kerch, a city in the east of the Crimean Peninsula. Air defenses shot down 13 missiles but others hit the shipyard and damaged a vessel, a statement from the ministry said.

The ministry didn’t give details about the ship or the extent of the damage.

MOSCOW, November 4. /TASS/:The ruble exchange rate has stabilized and will remain within existing norms, Russia’s Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said.

"We can now see that the exchange rate has stabilized. We believe it will remain somewhere within these parameters. So, the budget rule, fiscal stability, and control over the operations of foreign economic activity agents all have an impact on the currency rate," he said.

KYIV, Nov 4 (Reuters) - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Saturday that Ukraine had made "excellent progress" towards EU accession, days ahead of a key report on Kyiv's membership bid.

Standing next to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, she said Ukraine had reached many milestones despite the war with Russia, highlighting Kyiv's judicial reforms.

"I must say you have made excellent progress," she told a joint news conference in Kyiv.

Nov 3 (Reuters) - Several U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drones have been orbiting over Gaza amid Israeli strikes and military activity there, U.S. officials and a source have told Reuters, and the flights are part of an effort to help locate hostages, 10 of whom are said to be from the United States.

Below is a description of the MQ-9 drone based on information from the Air Force and its maker, General Atomics.

WHAT IT DOES AND WHO OWNS IT:

BEIRUT, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Lebanon's Hezbollah said it carried out simultaneous attacks on Israeli positions at the Lebanese border on Saturday, as residents of south Lebanon reported some of the fiercest Israeli strikes yet during weeks of cross-border clashes.

The Israeli army said its warplanes had struck Hezbollah targets in response to an earlier attack from Lebanese territory, and was accompanying the air strikes with artillery and tank shelling.

ROME, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- At least six people died and one went missing in Italy on Friday, as Storm Ciaran battered the country's northern and central regions with heavy rainfalls and flooding.

The government declared a state of emergency for several areas in Tuscany, which has seen the worst flooding so far, and allocated 5 million euros (5.3 million U.S. dollars) to rescue and aid activities.

The provinces included in the emergency scheme are Florence, Livorno, Pisa, Pistoia, and Prato, the cabinet said in a statement.