Europe

MOSCOW, July 14. /TASS/: Additional measures to ensure the protection of critically important facilities were the focus of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with permanent members of the Russian Security Council on Friday.

"Our agenda today has several issues. The first one is extra measures of protection of critically important facilities," Putin said at the beginning of the meeting.

MOSCOW, July 14. /TASS/: Paris has knowingly taken another step towards escalation of the conflict in Ukraine with its decision to supply long-range missiles to Kiev, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a commentary circulated on Friday.

"Paris has knowingly taken another step towards escalation of the Ukrainian conflict, confirmed its gamble on the systematic and uninterrupted pumping of Kiev terrorists with increasingly deadly weapons systems aimed at the new Russian territories, civilians and civilian infrastructure," the diplomat said.

MOSCOW, July 14. /TASS/: Kiev’s district court has granted the motion of the Ukrainian Security Service and changed detention conditions for Metropolitan Pavel, the abbot of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra monastery, from round-the-clock house arrest to detention in custody with the possibility of bail worth over 33 million hryvnas (over $900,000), the Ukrainian online newspaper Strana reported on Friday.

The RBC Ukraine agency said that he court put the archbishop under arrest until August 14.

BRUSSELS, July 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Sultan Al Jaber, Emirates oil executive and president of the most important climate summit since the Paris Agreement in 2015, has a quick answer when asked when the world will stop burning fossil fuels: when there’s enough clean energy to replace them.

“We cannot shut down the energy system of today before we build the new energy system of tomorrow that is equipped with zero-carbon emission sources,” said Jaber, head of the United Arab Emirates national oil company ADNOC.

“We don’t want to create an energy crisis.”

LONDON, July 14 (Reuters) - Workers at Britain's No.2 airport Gatwick will strike for eight days at the end of July and in early August, potentially causing cancellations and travel misery for thousands of passengers at the busiest time of year for summer holidays.

European travellers are already on high alert over worries about air traffic control problems arising from both the reduced air space available due to the Ukraine war, plus staffing issues and industrial action at some locations.

KYIV, July 14 (Reuters) - He wears a pistol to interviews with foreign journalists and discusses wartime intelligence. Weapons and military gear are strewn on the floor of his Kyiv office. He says he has "sources" close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

For an intelligence chief running Ukraine's spy operations during war with Russia, Kyrylo Budanov, 37, has built up an unusually public profile that he has used to get his message out and to menace Russia from afar.

These days, a spy boss cannot stay in the shadows, he says.

(AP) --- Russian President Vladimir Putin said he offered the Wagner private military company the option of continuing to serve as a single unit under their same commander after their short-lived rebellion, while some of the mercenaries were shown Friday in Belarus, possibly heralding the group’s relocation there.

Putin’s comments appeared to reflect his efforts to secure the loyalty of Wagner mercenaries, some of the most capable Russian forces in Ukraine, after the group’s brief revolt last month that posed the most serious threat to his 23-year rule.

Paris, Jul 14 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become the first Indian premier to have been conferred with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, France's highest civilian and military honour, by French President Emmanuel Macron.

14 July 2023; MEMO: Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that anyone found guilty of burning the Quran will have to serve their sentence in the Federation's predominantly Muslim regions.

Putin was quoted by Russia's TASS news agency yesterday as stating: "They will serve their sentences, as stated by the Minister of Justice, in places of deprivation of liberty located in one of the regions of Russia with a predominantly Muslim population."

MOSCOW, July 13. /TASS/: Russia became the top oil supplier to India and China as of the end of May 2023 for the fourth month in a row, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said in its July report.

According to OPEC, Russia provided for almost 19% of total Chinese oil imports in May. Saudi Arabia accounted for 14% of supplies and the share of Malaysia was close to 11%. China’s oil imports in total gained 17% monthly in May and totaled 12.1 mln barrels daily.