Europe

MOSCOW (AP) — Thousands of people attended the funerals Monday of five Russian nuclear engineers killed by an explosion as they tested a new rocket engine, a tragedy that fueled radiation fears and raised questions about a secretive weapons program.

MOSCOW, August 12. /TASS/: The Russian Navy’s team has won the Depth multi-discipline diving competition at the 2019 International Army Games in Iran, the Games’ press office told TASS on Monday.

"The board of referees has summed up the scores gained for fulfilling the competition’s exercises. The Russian Navy’s diving team has scored a convincing victory in the Depth contest, with 7,415.04 out of 8,000 possible points," the statement reads.

The Chinese team won the second place with 4,922.09 points followed by the frogmen from the Iranian Navy (4,754.88 points).

MOSOW, August 12. /TASS/: Russia’s State Duma (the lower house of parliament) Council will hold a special meeting on August 19 to discuss foreign interference in the country’s domestic affairs, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin told reporters on Monday following a meeting with State Duma Security and Anti-Corruption Committee Chairman Vasily Piskarev.

MOSCOW, August 12. /TASS/: Russia’s low-cost airline Pobeda said on Monday its website came under a DDoS-attack during a major sale of its flight tickets.

"A serious DDoS-attack has been recorded," a spokesman for the airline said, commenting on reports that its website was down on Monday. "At 14.15 our IT department registered a powerful DDoS-attack. But within an hour the website will resume operations. After the resumption, our specialists will carry out an investigation and find out who had masterminded the attack."

YAKUTSK, August 12. /TASS/: An incident at the Sarylakh-Surma company’s mine in Northeastern Yakutia, where an employee died in a rockfall, will not affect gold-antimony ore mining plans, the regional Ministry of Industry and Geology told TASS on Monday.

"A roof fall occurred in the unit where ore crushing was underway at the mine of Sarylakh-Surma. All the required activities will be implemented. The incident will not affect the company's mining plans," the ministry said.

NIZHNY TAGIL /Sverdlovsk Region/, August 12. /TASS/: Russia’s Defense Minister, Army General Sergei Shoigu inspected the latest models of heavily armed robotic vehicles based on the T-72B3 tank during his visit to Uralvagonzavod defense manufacturer on Monday.

The defense chief checked how Uralvagonzavod was fulfilling the defense procurement plan, visited the workshop for the assembly of tanks and listened to reports by the enterprise’s management during his working trip to the troops of the Central Military District.

MOSCOW, August 12. /TASS/: Russia’s latest Mil Mi-28NM attack helicopter has received the capability to strike two targets at a time with missiles, Air Force Commander, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Russia’s Aerospace Force Sergei Dronov said in an interview with the Defense Ministry’s newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda on Monday.

The interview comes as Russia is celebrating Air Force Day on August 12.

MOSCOW, August 12. /TASS/: Ankara expects the second S-400 squadron to be delivered to Turkey in August or September, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Monday, as cited by the Hurriyet newspaper.

"The second S-400 squadron is expected to be delivered in August or September," he said. According to Akar, "since the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty has been terminated, Turkey will have an increasing need for the S-400 systems."

12 August 2019; DW: The leader of Italy's far-right League, Matteo Salvini, has been met with defiance over his plans to hold a no-confidence vote. Salvini could become Italy's leader if the snap elections he wants are held in October.

12 August 2019; DW: A 31-year-old allegedly left a backpack full of fake bombs at a street festival. But police are mystifed by the man's motive.

Police arrested a German man on suspicion of leaving an orange backpack filled with fake bombs at an annual street parade in Zurich, Switzerland, they said on Monday.