Europe

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — United Nations judges have declared an 88-year-old Rwandan genocide suspect unfit to continue standing trial because he has dementia and said they would establish a procedure to go on hearing evidence without the possibility of convicting him.

The majority decision published Wednesday by judges at the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals means no guilty verdict can be reached in the trial of Félicien Kabuga, one of the last fugitives charged in connection with the 1994 genocide.

BERLIN (AP) — German and Indian companies signed an agreement Wednesday that envisions the possible building of six military submarines for India.

The memorandum of understanding was signed in the presence of German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, who was in India on a visit.

The agreement calls for Germany’s Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems to engineer and design six non-nuclear submarines that would be built and delivered by India’s Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders with “significant local content.”

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis underwent surgery Wednesday to repair a hernia in his abdominal wall, the latest malady to befall the 86-year-old pontiff who had part of his colon removed two years ago.

The Vatican said there were no complications during the three-hour surgery, which required Francis to be under general anesthesia. The 86-year-old pontiff was expected to remain at Rome’s Gemelli hospital for several days. As a precaution, all papal audiences were canceled through June 18, the Vatican said.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The fallout from the breach of a river dam along a front line of Russia’s war in Ukraine continued to wreak havoc on lives, livelihoods and the environment on Wednesday.

When the Kakhovka dam ruptured on Tuesday, it sent a torrent of water from Ukraine’s largest reservoir into streets and homes downstream on the Dnieper River where tens of thousands of people live — in the thick of a combat zone where shelling regularly takes place.

It’s not clear what caused the breach: the structure had already been damaged in the war.

06 June 2023; MEMO: At 4am on 26 February 2023 at least 94 people died when the boat Summer Love crashed onto the rocks near the Italian village of Steccato di Cutro.

The 25-metre wooden vessel had launched from Cesme in Turkiye and was carrying mainly Afghan refugees, many crammed below deck whilst the smugglers were up top.

06 June 2023; MEMO: Some European lawmakers have condemned the European Commission's silence on Greece's illegal pushback of migrants and refugees, accusing it of complicity and lack of action to rectify the situation.

MOSCOW, June 6. /TASS/: The Kiev regime is unable to achieve the aims of its counterattack, with its army sustaining enormous losses, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said on his Telegram account on Tuesday.

"It is a second day of the Kiev regime’s counteroffensive," he wrote. "No successes. The aims and objectives are unachieved. The losses are huge. The Barbarossa-2 plan has collapsed."

Volodin stressed that this topic was not raised publicly by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, or US President Joe Biden.

MOSCOW, June 6. /TASS/: Russia's chairing term at the Arctic Council is over, but the work to develop the Northern territories continues at a new level. Russia's Minister for Development of the Far East and Arctic Alexey Chekunov said in an interview with TASS about the Northern Sea Route, the development of tourism, about "eyes from the space," and about strategic initiatives from India and China, about the challenge to compete with the Cheburashka movie, and about why no occupation is more exciting than to develop the Arctic.

MOSCOW, June 6. /TASS/: The number of people who died from poisoning by a cider beverage in the Ulyanovsk Region has increased to 20, the regional Health Ministry reported Tuesday.

"Ulyanovsk Region medics do everything they can to save the lives and health of the people who suffered from poisoning. According to the most recent information, a total of 51 cases of poisoning by alcoholic beverages have been registered in the region so far. Unfortunately, 20 people could not have been saved," the report says.

BUDAPEST, June 6. /TASS/: The "sanctions hysteria" in the European Union is undermining its competitiveness with respect to the United States, which has felt the consequences of the conflict in Ukraine to a much lesser extent than Europe.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations of Hungary, Peter Szijjarto said this speaking at the international Budapest Peace Forum on Tuesday.