Europe

25 June 2019; DW: The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has voted in favor of restoring Russia's voting rights, five years after they were revoked over its illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula.

In a statement late Monday, the Council of Europe said the assembly affirmed its members' rights "to vote, to speak and to be represented in the assembly and its bodies." The assembly voted 118 in favor and 62 against, with 10 abstentions.

25 June 2019; DW: A loud explosion in a field startled residents in the town of Limburg in western Germany on Sunday. The blast occurred in the middle of the night and was large enough to register a minor tremor of 1.7 on the Richter scale, according to local media.

No injuries were reported, but the mystery explosion left a crater that measured 10 meters (33 feet) wide and 4 meters deep.

25 June 2019; DW: A searing heat wave has begun to spread across Europe, with Germany, France and Belgium likely to experience extreme temperatures in the coming days.

In Germany, temperatures are expected to exceed 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) on Wednesday, topping the country's previous June record of 38.2 degrees Celsius set in Frankfurt in 1947.

Fire fighters braced for busy week

Patna, June 24 (PTI) Super 30 founder and noted mathematician Anand Kumar told a gathering at Cambridge University on Tuesday that education is the best bet to beat poverty and help build an egalitarian society by giving the deserving their due and rewarding merit.

Speaking at the UK-Asia Summit organised at Cambridge University, where he once dreamt of studying but could not make it due to poverty, Anand said it was an occasion that had overwhelmed him, as it had brought back the old memories as a young student aspiring to be there.

MOSCOW, June 24. /TASS/: Eleven settlements in Syria’s Latakia, Hama and Aleppo governorates came under shelling by militants from illegal armed groups during the past day, Major General Alexei Bakin, chief of the Russian Center for reconciliation of the conflicting sides in Syria, said on Monday.

LAUSANNE, June 24. /TASS/: According to a preliminary plan, the 2026 Winter Olympic Games will be held on February 6-22, and Paralympic Games - on March 6-15, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Monday.

The vote to determine the host of the 2026 Winter Olympics was held at the 134th session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne earlier on Monday. The Italian cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo were chosen as the hosts for the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

STRASBOURG, June 25. /TASS/: The Russian delegation is ready to return to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) but it will not tolerate any new restrictions, chairman of the Russian State Duma's International Affairs Committee Leonid Slutsky said on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, June 25. /TASS/: Common sense has prevailed in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe where for the first time over the past five years the aggressive anti-Russian minority has failed to impose its viewpoint, Russian Senator Konstantin Kosachev wrote on his Facebook page, commenting on a resolution enabling Russian legislators to return to PACE and take part in the summer session.

PARIS (AP) — The sunset had an orange glow. So did the extreme weather warning for Paris.

Meteorologists placed more than half of France, including around the capital, on alert for high temperatures Monday as a heatwave was expected to spread across continental Europe this week.

National weather agency Meteo France predicted the hot weather could produce temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius (104 Ft) across the country just as the summer tourist season shifts into high gear.

MOSCOW (AP) — Three astronauts safely returned to Earth on Tuesday after spending more than six months aboard the International Space Station.

The Soyuz capsule with astronauts from Canada, Russia and the United States landed in the steppes of Kazakhstan at 8:47 a.m. (0247GMT), less than a minute ahead of the scheduled time, on Tuesday after a 3 ½ hour flight from the orbiting lab.