Europe

MOSCOW, October 6. /TASS/: Moscow and Tashkent are dynamically developing relations in all spheres, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during talks with his Uzbek counterpart Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

"Our ties are developing quite successfully. We confirm both the high level and allied nature of our relations. We continue working in this direction," he noted.

Putin thanked his colleague for personally participating in the fostering of the Russian-Uzbek ties. "This development has good dynamics, in all directions at that," the Russian leader noted.

PARIS, Oct 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Global sugar prices soared to their highest level in almost 13 years in September as the El Nino weather phenomenon hit production in India and Thailand, the Food and Agriculture Organization said Friday.

While world food prices steadied as a whole last month, the FAO’s Sugar Price Index jumped by 9.8 percent compared to August, the highest point since November 2010, the UN agency said.

Russia Oct 5 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Thursday reiterated his position that Russia did not start the war in Ukraine but launched what it calls a "special military operation" to try to stop it.

In his yearly speech to the Valdai Discussion Club, being held in Sochi, Putin said Russia, the world's largest country by area, had no need to take territory from Ukraine.

ROME, Oct 5 (Reuters) - The Italian government is planning for a possible mass evacuation of tens of thousands of people who live around the Campi Flegrei super volcano near Naples, officials said on Thursday.

The new measures, which include a scheme to check on the strength of buildings in the area after months of repeated earthquakes, will be discussed at a cabinet meeting later in the day, a government statement said.

MOSCOW, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Russia indicated on Friday that it was moving swiftly towards revoking its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) after President Vladimir Putin held out the possibility of resuming nuclear testing.

Putin said on Thursday Russia's nuclear doctrine - which sets out the conditions under which he would press the nuclear button - did not need updating but that he was not yet ready to say whether or not Moscow needed to resume nuclear tests.

LONDON, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Dengue fever will become a major threat in the southern United States, southern Europe and new parts of Africa this decade, the WHO's chief scientist said, as warmer temperatures create the conditions for the mosquitoes carrying the infection to spread.

The illness has long been a scourge in much of Asia and Latin America, causing an estimated 20,000 deaths each year. Rates of the disease have already risen eight-fold globally since 2000, driven largely by climate change as well as the increased movement of people and urbanization.

GRANADA, Spain, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of the European Union (EU) member states met here on Friday for an informal summit to discuss the bloc's future strategy and enlargement.

Discussions include the future Strategic Agenda 2024-2029 and preparation for the bloc's next enlargement, according to the Spanish presidency of the EU Council.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian lawmakers will consider revoking the ratification of a global nuclear test ban, the parliament speaker said Friday.

The statement from Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the lower house, the State Duma, followed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s warning that Moscow could consider rescinding the ratification of the international pact banning nuclear tests since the United States has never ratified it.

KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian missile attack killed a 10-year-old boy and his grandmother Friday in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, officials said, a day after a strike in the same region killed at least 51 civilians in one of the deadliest attacks in the war in months.

Associated Press reporters saw emergency crews pulling the boy’s body from the rubble of a building after the early morning attack. He was wearing pajamas with a Spider-Man design.

MOSCOW, October 5. /TASS/: Russian forces struck Ukrainian army units in the Kupyansk area, killing and wounding roughly 170 enemy troops and destroying four pickup trucks and two US-made howitzers over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Thursday.