Europe

MOSCOW, October 25. /TASS/: Russia has been and still is in favor of creating a genuine system of international security based on fair principles, but if the United States takes no steps to fulfill its obligations, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) will remain window dressing, and there is no point in Russia's participation in this toothless travesty, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said.

BRATISLAVA, October 25. /TASS/: Slovakia’s President Zuzana Caputova has formally appointed a new government headed by Robert Fico, leader of the Direction - Social Democracy (Smer) party, as prime minister.

The gala ceremony held at the presidential palace in Bratislava was broadcast by the TA3 channel.

"The republic’s president, Zuzana Chaputova, has appointed a new Slovak government headed by Prime Minister Robert Fico," the head of the presidential administration’s protocol department said.

MOSCOW, October 25. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin watched an exercise of the country’s strategic deterrence forces via video conferencing on Wednesday.

The Russian president joined the exercise from the Kremlin’s situational center and listened to the reports by Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.

The exercise was carried out with the forces and capabilities of the ground-based, naval and airborne components of the Russian nuclear deterrence forces, the Kremlin press office said on its website.

MOSCOW Oct 25 (Reuters) - Russia has successfully tested its ability to deliver a massive retaliatory nuclear strike by land, sea and air, a Kremlin statement said on Wednesday, a display of force which coincides with Moscow de-ratifying a landmark nuclear test ban treaty.

The exercise, which involved the test launch of missiles from a land-based silo, a nuclear submarine, and from long-range bomber aircraft, comes as Moscow is locked in what it casts as an existential standoff with the West over Ukraine.

BERLIN, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- Faced with a steep increase in the number of migrants and refugees arriving in the country, the German government approved a draft law on Wednesday which aims to accelerate the deportation of rejected asylum seekers.

In order to give authorities more time to prepare for deportations, the maximum duration of pre-deportation custody is to be increased from 10 days to 28 days. The draft law still needs to be approved by the lower house of the German Parliament (Bundestag).

(AP) --- Russia has issued carefully calibrated criticism of both sides in the war between Israel and Hamas. But the conflict also is giving Moscow bold new opportunities — to advance its role as a global power broker and challenge Western efforts to isolate it over Ukraine.

While Moscow lacks leverage to mediate a settlement in the Middle East, it could try to play on some perceived credibility problems with the West’s response to the crisis.

It also expects the Israel-Hamas war to distract attention from the fighting in Ukraine and erode support for Kyiv.

MOSCOW, October 24. /TASS/: Russia has its own hypersonic missiles, so it did not steal any secrets of "super-duper" weapons from the United States, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has told the media.

Former US President Donald Trump earlier claimed that Moscow had allegedly obtained secret information about what he described as the US "super-duper" missile during the Barack Obama presidency.

STOCKHOLM, October 24. /TASS/: Sweden has fulfilled its commitments to Turkey and is now ready to join the North Atlantic Alliance, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.

"Sweden has fulfilled its commitments. Sweden has amended its constitution, changed its laws, expanded counter-terrorism cooperation, and resumed arms exports to Turkey," he pointed out at a press conference in Stockholm. "I look forward to welcoming Sweden as a full NATO Ally in the very near future," Stoltenberg added.

ROME, Oct 23 (Reuters) - All of the three people with dual Italian-Israeli citizenship who went missing after the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the Hamas militant group have died, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Monday.

"Unfortunately Nir Forti has also died. He was the last of the 3 missing Italian-Israelis," Tajani said on X, the social media platform. "Dying at the age of 29, brutally killed by terrorists, is profoundly unjust," he added.

HELSINKI, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Damage to a Baltic Sea gas pipeline earlier this month is believed to have been caused by a ship dragging a large anchor along the seabed, but it was too early to tell if this was an accident or a deliberate act, Finnish police said on Tuesday.

Investigators said they had now retrieved a lost anchor from the seabed location where the pipeline ruptured on Oct. 8, and were investigating whether it belonged to a Chinese container vessel.