Europe

MINSK, October 27. /TASS/: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has warned Israel and its allies against waging a war on Iran as it could potentially trigger a third world war.

"A third world war is not excluded. It may start from there [the Middle East]. How? If they [Israel and the United States] stage a war on Iran. It is not about Iran irritating them, but about them irritating Iran," the BelTA news agency quoted him as saying.

MOSCOW, October 27. /TASS/: Russian combat aircraft and air defense forces have destroyed 31 Ukrainian warplanes and three helicopters since October 1 in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Friday.

"Since October 1, fighter aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces and air defense capabilities have destroyed 31 Ukrainian Air Force planes and three helicopters, including 20 MiG-29 fighters, eight Su-25 ground attack aircraft, a Su-24 bomber, two L-39 combat training planes and three Mi-8 helicopters," the ministry said in a statement.

MOSCOW, October 27. /TASS/: Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed on Friday the appointment of Colonel-General Viktor Afzalov as chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces.

"In October 2023, he was appointed as commander-in-chief of the Aerospace Forces by a decree of the president of the Russian Federation," the ministry said on its website.

MOSCOW, October 27. /TASS/: Moscow is set for active and constructive work within the framework of the 'Caspian Five' (Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan) in order to strengthen the region's stance as a zone of profitable international cooperation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.

"Russia is determined for active and constructive work within the ‘Caspian Five’ in order to bolster the region’s position as a zone of peace, harmony, good-neighborliness and fruitful international cooperation," Lavrov said.

GENEVA, Oct 27 (Reuters) - A U.N. committee on racism voiced concern on Friday about a "sharp increase in racist hate speech and dehumanisation" directed at Palestinians by Israelis, including senior officials, since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.

Israel's diplomatic mission in Geneva criticised the statement which it said "failed all the victims of the October 7 massacre and the victims of antisemitic attacks worldwide".

VILNIUS/HELSINKI, Oct 27 (Reuters) - The three incidents that resulted in damage to a gas pipeline and two telecom cables between Estonia, Finland and Sweden "are related", Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said.

Finland on Friday said it had raised its risk assessment for gas supply security as a result of the damage to the Balticconnector Finland-Estonia pipeline, which operator Gasgrid has said could be out of commission until April or longer.

POZZUOLI, Italy, Oct 27 (Reuters) - The talk in shops and coffee bars in Pozzuoli, a port town outside Naples, is not about soccer or politics, but of the fear that has gripped residents since a supervolcano sparked a swarm of earthquakes.

Over the past weeks the government has been planning for a possible mass evacuation of tens of thousands of people who live around the vast volcanic area known as the Campi Flegrei, or Phlegraean Fields, from the ancient Greek word for burning.

VLADIVOSTOK, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the first module of the Russian Orbital Station could be launched into orbit by 2027, as the International Space Station (ISS) resources are exhausted.

Speaking at a meeting with young scientists and space industry specialists, Putin said that Russia aims to build a complete station, not just a single segment.

Tehran, IRNA - Member of the European Parliament Manu Pineda has described the Israeli regime as a war criminal, warning about a ‘Holocaust’ happening against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

Speaking in front of the Al-Khiam prison in southern Lebanon, Pineda, who is also President of the European Parliament's Delegation for relations with Palestine, said that Israel kills children, women, and journalists, and whatever it does today in Gaza amounts to a war crime; thus, the world must force Israel to pay a price for it.

26 October 2023; MEMO: The estimated number of Palestinians have been killed or are missing under the rubble as a result of the unprecedented Israeli military attack on the Gaza Strip now exceeds the number of people killed in the Srebrenica massacre, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said yesterday.

Some 6,734 Palestinians—including 2,812 children—have been killed since 7 October and about 1,755 more are missing beneath the rubble of their homes, the rights group said.