Europe

21 July 2019; AFP: Boris Johnson is expected to become Britain's next prime minister this week, vowing to deliver Brexit on October 31 come what may, in the face of fierce opposition in parliament.

The former London mayor is the runaway favourite to win the governing Conservative Party's leadership contest and replace Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday.

21 July 2019; DW: Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said Greece will ease taxes on its citizens while upholding austerity targets set by foreign lenders. The new premier vowed growth plans would be a "pleasant surprise for Europe."

21 July 2019; DW: Anti-Brexit campaigners have marched through central London in a show of opposition to Britain's exit from the EU. Among the attractions was a giant balloon effigy of Britain's likely next prime minister, Boris Johnson.

Thousands of people gathered in London on Saturday in a show of defiance to Brexit just days ahead of the selection of Britain's next prime minister.

21 July 2019; DW: Thousands of people have turned out in Moscow to protest the non-registration of independent candidates for local elections. This issue is one of the rare cases that has united Russia's usually divided opposition.

21 July 2019; DW: Several firefighters have been injured while working to contain wildfires in central Portugal, with the blazes exacerbated by strong wind. Authorities have deployed a small army contingent to help combat the fires.

Portuguese authorities have used helicopters and planes to fight three blazes which were sparked Saturday in the country's central region. Over 700 firefighters have been deployed to the scene. Several of them were hurt, with one person sustaining serious injuries.

21 July 2019; DW: Thousands of people have staged a counterprotest against a planned demonstration by a neo-Nazi party in Kassel. The rally comes several weeks after the killing of one of the city's prominent pro-migrant politicians.

Some 8,000 people took to the streets of Kassel to protest against a neo-Nazi rally in the western German city.

21 July 2019; DW: Italy's Mount Etna began spewing hot ash and lava overnight, forcing authorities to close two airports in eastern Sicily. Experts detected "lively spattering" at the volcano last month.

Europe's biggest active volcano, Mount Etna, erupted early Saturday with fiery explosions and lava flows, the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) said.

LONDON, July 20 (Xinhua) -- UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt confirmed on Saturday that British tanker Stena Impero has been seized by Iran "in clear contravention of international law", but reaffirmed his country's desire to de-escalate.

He made the remarks on his Twitter account after government emergency committee met on Saturday afternoon, discussing on how to secure the safety of UK and international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Hunt added that the UK Parliament will be updated on Monday.

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainians are voting in a snap parliamentary election in which the party of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is set to take the largest share of votes.

Polls ahead of Sunday’s balloting showed Zelenskiy’s Servant of the People party getting the support from a little more than half of those who intended to vote. But only 225 of the 424 seats to be filled in the Verkhovna Rada are being chosen by party list; the rest are single-mandate seats, whose distribution could differ from nationwide sentiment.

LONDON (AP) — British Airways and Lufthansa both said Saturday they were suspending flights to Cairo for unspecified reasons related to safety and security.

The British carrier said it was canceling flights to the Egyptian capital for a week. The German airline said normal operations would resume Sunday.

Both carriers delivered two-sentence statements via email.

British Airways attributed its cancellations to what it called its constant review of security arrangements at all airports, calling them “a precaution to allow for further assessment.”