Europe

BUDAPEST, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Sweden has not done anything to boost confidence in its suitability for NATO membership, and has given the impression that joining the alliance is not a priority for the country, an aide to Hungary's prime minister said on Thursday.

Sweden applied to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in May 2022 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine but the accession process, which requires the approval of all existing members, has been held up by Turkey and Hungary.

BRUSSELS, Jan 18 (Reuters) - The European Parliament on Thursday endorsed a call to punish Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban for damaging democracy at home by moving one step closer to suspending Budapest's vote in the bloc.

The lawmakers voted 345 for and 104 against on a resolution condemning the "deliberate, continuous and systematic efforts of the Hungarian government to undermine the founding values of the EU".

Russia Jan 18 (Reuters) - The head of one of Russia's biggest ethnically mixed republics accused what he called extremists and traitors on Thursday of trying to bring about its secession, a day after police used tear gas and batons to break up a rare demonstration.

The clashes took place in a small town in Bashkortostan, a republic of 4.1 million people in the Urals Mountains, where a leading rights activist was sentenced on Wednesday to four years in a penal colony.

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is still considering an invitation to become a member of the BRICS bloc of countries after being asked to join by the group last year, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Thursday.

The group in August invited Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Iran, Argentina, and Ethiopia to join starting Jan. 1, although Argentina signalled it would not take up the invitation in November.

BRUSSELS, Jan 18 (Reuters) - NATO is launching its largest exercise since the Cold War, rehearsing how U.S. troops could reinforce European allies in countries bordering Russia and on the alliance's eastern flank if a conflict were to flare up with a "near-peer" adversary.

Some 90,000 troops are due to join the Steadfast Defender 2024 drills that will run through May, the alliance's top commander Chris Cavoli said on Thursday.

ST. PETERSBURG, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Electric vehicles can continue to drive free of charge on federal toll highways in 2024, the Russian government's press service said Thursday.

Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov, who supervises the federal project "Electric and hydrogen car," said that the privilege for electric vehicles will resume on Jan. 19.

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Iran's foreign minister said on Wednesday that attacks against Israel and its interests by the "Axis of Resistance" will stop if the Gaza war ends, warning that the conflict could heighten tensions across the Middle East.

The Islamic Republic backs Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in its war with Israel, which has devastated Gaza in an aerial and ground offensive, and Tehran accuses the United States of backing what it calls Israeli crimes in Gaza.

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Western officials said in Davos on Wednesday they were open to the idea of confiscating $300 billion of Russian assets to help Ukraine, but cautioned that the devil was in the legal detail and that, even if it could be done, it would be no panacea for Kyiv.

After President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, the United States and its allies prohibited transactions with Russia's central bank and finance ministry, blocking around $300 billion of sovereign Russian assets in the West.

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron made a point of showing his leadership hasn’t faded in more than two hours of answering questions at a news conference in which he promised a stronger France to face the world’s challenges.

“I still have three years and a half in office,” he said, describing an ambition to both change the daily life of the French and tackle global crises.

Macron’s wide-ranging news conference followed the appointment last week of France’s youngest-ever prime minister.

LONDON (AP) — U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faces a test of his authority and his nerve on Wednesday as he tries to subdue a Conservative Party rebellion and win parliamentary approval for his stalled plan to send some asylum-seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda.