Europe

23 July 2023; MEMO: A century ago, on July 24, countries around the world acknowledged Turkiye as an independent and sovereign nation with the historic signing of the Lausanne Peace Treaty at the Rumine Palace in the lakeside Swiss city, Anadolu Agency reports.

Months of intense negotiations had led up to the momentous event under the Lausanne Peace Conference, held at the Beau-Rivage Palace Hotel, situated on the picturesque shores of Lake Leman in Lausanne.

MOSCOW, July 23. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko who is currently on a working visit to Russia.

The Belarusian head of state arrived in Russia on Saturday evening.

The Kremlin press service said earlier that the two leaders would discuss "pressing issues related to the further development of Russian-Belarusian relations of strategic partnership and alliance, as well as integration within the Union State."

ST. PETERSBURG, July 23. /TASS/: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said that he is "starting to get tense with the Wagner group because they want to march on Warsaw".

"Maybe I shouldn't say it, but I will. The Wagner group has started to stress us: ‘We want to go to the West. Let us go.’ I said, why do you want to go to the West? ‘Well, to go on a tour to Warsaw, to Rzeszow'," Lukashenko said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

ST. PETERSBURG, July 23. /TASS/: Russia will bring to the attention of the Western public information about the losses among mercenaries from these countries fighting on the side of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko.

"As for foreign mercenaries, they also suffer significant losses," the Russian leader said. "Big [losses] because of their tactics," Lukashenko added. "Yes," Putin nodded, "because of their stupidity.".

LONDON, July 23 (Reuters) - Britain's easyJet (EZJ.L) said on Sunday it was operating flights as normal to Rhodes but was closely monitoring the wildfires on the Greek island.

"We advise customers travelling to and from Rhodes to check the status of their flights on Flight Tracker," it said in a statement.

It said it was working to comply with the requests of the local authorities and is in contact with its customers there.

July 23 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine's counteroffensive "has failed" as he hosted Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, his close ally, for talks in St Petersburg on Sunday.

"There is no counteroffensive," Russian news agencies quoted Lukashenko as saying.

Putin replied: "It exists, but it has failed."

Ukraine began its long-anticipated counter-offensive last month but has so far made only small gains against well entrenched Russian forces who control more than a sixth of its territory after nearly 17 months of war.

ROME, July 23 (Reuters) - Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who will visit the White House on Thursday, said that U.S. President Joe Biden had never challenged her on the issue of Rome being part of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Meloni leads the only major Western country to have joined China's BRI scheme, which envisions rebuilding the old Silk Road to connect China with Asia, Europe and beyond with large infrastructure spending.

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, July 23 (Reuters) - The Treaty of Lausanne that formed modern Turkey is still cherished by some but remains a disappointment for others including Kurds and Armenians who hoped for autonomous regions and justice for Ottoman-era crimes.

Some of those voices are included in an exhibit called "Borders" - put on by the Swiss city's history museum to look at the significance of the post-World War One deal 100 years after it was signed between Turkey and allied powers like Britain and France on July 24, 1923.

LONDON (AP) — Environmentalists cautioned Britain’s main political parties on Sunday not to water down their climate change promises after a special election result widely seen as a thumbs-down from voters to a tax on polluting cars.

The governing Conservatives suffered two heavy defeats in a trio of by-elections for House of Commons seats on Thursday. But they managed to win the third contest, for a suburban London district, by focusing on a divisive green levy imposed by London’s Labour Party mayor.

ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni on Sunday called for new, more equal relationships between Europe and migrants’ countries of origin and transit as she convened a summit of some 20 nations, EU officials and international organizations aimed at stanching flows of illegal migration.