Europe

MOSCOW, October 4. /TASS/: Russia hopes that Turkey will be guided by the principles of respect to Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity it has repeatedly declared, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday after talks with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry.

MOSCOW, October 4. /TASS/: Nord Stream 2 AG has started filling with gas the first string of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, the pipeline operator said on Monday.

"This string will be gradually filled to build the required inventory and pressure as a prerequisite for the later technical tests," the company said.

MADRID, Oct 4 (NNN-Xinhua) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez promised an aid package of 206 million euros to help the island of La Palma overcome the effects of the ongoing eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano.

The aid package, which is aimed at supporting infrastructure, tourism and water supplies, would be approved at Tuesday’s cabinet meeting and passed by a royal decree as quickly as possible, Sanchez said.

This “potent aid package” will be added to the 10.5 million euros in aid approved last week to be granted to help people displaced by the eruption.

LONDON, Oct 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United Kingdom will not return to “uncontrolled immigration” to solve fuel, gas and food crises, officials have said, suggesting such strains were part of a period of post-Brexit adjustment.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson defended his country’s choice to leave the European Union on Sunday, after shortages of foreign workers have sown disarray in some sectors of the economy.

LA PALMA, Spain, Oct 4 (Reuters) - A river of red-hot lava gushing from the Cumbre Vieja volcano on Spain's La Palma thickened on Monday, after the north side of the crater collapsed the previous night causing spectacular explosions, but authorities ruled out further evacuations.

Despite the heightened activity, the lava appeared to be following a similar trajectory to previous flows and avoiding areas that have so far been spared, Canary Islands' regional president Angel Victor Torres said.

ROME, Oct 4 (Reuters) - The leader of Italy's centre-left Democratic Party (PD) Enrico Letta is on track to win a parliamentary by-election in Siena, early results showed on Monday, strengthening his position as party leader.

Letta had said he would resign from the PD leadership if he lost, so the outcome has political repercussions far outside the Tuscan city, home of troubled lender Monte dei Paschi (MPS) (BMPS.MI).

GENEVA, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Russian mercenaries in Libya killed detainees, among the possible war crimes committed by multiple sides in the conflict, U.N. human rights investigators said on Monday, adding that they had drawn up a confidential list of suspects.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — With oil prices near three-year highs, OPEC and allied countries are deciding whether to stay with their plans to gradually restoring production that was cut back during the pandemic recession — or to pump more oil to a recovering global economy that’s increasingly thirsty for it.

Analyst say OPEC and its allies, known as OPEC+, will likely stick with their existing road map at an online meeting Monday. That would mean agreeing to add 400,000 barrels per day to output next month.

LONDON (AP) — British military personnel have begun delivering fuel to gas stations after a shortage of truck drivers disrupted supplies for more than a week, leading to long lines at the pumps as anxious drivers scrambled to fill their tanks.

About 200 service personnel were deployed Monday to boost deliveries after undergoing training at commercial fuel depots last week, the government said.

MOSCOW (AP) — A prospective Russian hypersonic missile has been successfully test-fired from a nuclear submarine for the first time, the military said Monday.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the Zircon missile was launched from the Severodvinsk submarine and hit a designated mock target in the Barents Sea.

The launch marked Zircon’s first launch from a submarine. It previously has been repeatedly test-fired from a navy frigate, most recently in July.