Europe

MOSCOW, December 30. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has been informed about Ukraine’s shelling attack on the Russian city of Belgorod, Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said.

"President Vladimir Putin has been briefed about Ukraine’s strike on residential quarters in Belgorod," he said, adding that the president ordered to send a Russian health ministry team led by Minister Mikhail Murashko and emergencies ministry’s rescuers to the city to help those affected.

BAKU, December 30. /TASS/: Azerbaijan’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has registered incumbent President Ilham Aliyev as a candidate for president.

"To register Ilham Aliyev, who was nominated by the Eni Azerbaijan (New Azerbaijan - TASS) party, as a candidate for president at the February 7 extraordinary presidential election," it said in a resolution.

As many as 50,000 signatures have been collected in support of Aliyev’s candidacy, whereas at least 40,000 are required under law.

MOSCOW, December 30. /TASS/: Ukraine’s armed forces have lost up to 350 personnel in the Donetsk area over 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

According to its statement, the Ukrainian losses amounted to 350 troops killed and wounded, two armored vehicles and six pick-up trucks. Counterbattery work has wiped out a M777 artillery system and a US-made Paladin self-propelled howitzer.

PARIS, Dec 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The French government said it will deploy more than 95,000 police and military personnel for New Year’s Eve celebrations, adding that a heightened “terrorist threat” required tight security.

Paris alone, where up to one million revellers are expected on the Champs-Elysees Sunday night – twice as many as last year – will get 6,000 security forces to keep order.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told reporters that Sunday’s deployment was motivated by “a context of a heightened terrorist threat due to the conflict in Israel and Palestine”.

PRISTINA, Dec 30 (Reuters) - A court in Albania on Saturday ordered that former president and prime minister Sali Berisha be placed under house arrest following corruption charges relating to his time in office.

Prosecutors accuse Berisha, 79, of using his influence while premier between 2005 and 2009 to favor his daughter's husband in the privatization of a state land. Berisha has denied any wrongdoing.

Berisha now heads Albania's largest opposition party, the Democratic Party.

BELGRADE, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Thousands gathered in a square in in central Belgrade on Saturday in the biggest protest yet over parliamentary and municipal elections on Dec. 17, results of which the demonstrators want anulled.

Protesters waving Serbian flags and holding a banner reading "We do not accept" cheered Marinika Tepic, a leader of the opposition Serbia Against Violence alliance, who has been on hunger strike since Dec. 18.

WARSAW, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Poland ended a ground search on Saturday after finding no parts of a suspected Russian rocket which it said had violated the country's airspace on Friday morning, the Polish army said.

"At 3:00 pm (1400 GMT), the inspection of the designated area was completed... The search result was negative," the Polish army's operational command wrote on social media platform X.

"Military activities have been completed and we do not plan any further field verification."

KYIV, Dec 30 (Reuters) - The death toll from Russia's largest air attack on Ukraine rose to 39 on Saturday as rescuers continued to clear debris and rubble from the bombardment, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.

Russia launched 158 missiles and drones on cities and towns across Ukraine on Friday in what Ukrainian officials described as the worst aerial bombardment since the start of the war in February 2022.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Thousands of people rallied in Serbia’s capital on Saturday, chanting “Thieves!” and accusing the populist authorities of President Aleksandar Vucic of orchestrating a fraud during a recent general election.

The big rally in central Belgrade capped nearly two weeks of street protests against reported widespread irregularities during the Dec. 17 parliamentary and local ballot that were also noted by international election observers.

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Climate activists blocked part of the main highway around Amsterdam near the former headquarters of ING bank on Saturday to protest its financing of fossil fuels.

Amsterdam Municipality said in a message on X, formerly Twitter, that traffic authorities closed part of the road and diverted traffic “to prevent a life-threatening situation.”