Europe

BUDAPEST, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff signalled on Saturday a possible further delay in Budapest's ratification of Finland and Sweden joining NATO, saying a vote may take place only in the second half of March.

Sweden and Finland applied last year to join the transatlantic defence pact after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But all 30 NATO members need to back the applications and Sweden has faced objections from Turkey for harbouring what Ankara considers to be members of terrorist groups.

Feb 25 (Reuters) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he held a long conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Friday, the one-year anniversary of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. "I'll tell you a secret, last night he and I spoke for a long time on various topics," a social media channel linked to Lukashenko's press service quoted him as telling reporters, without giving details.

The Kremlin has yet to provide any statement about the conversation.

MADRID, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Spain has detected its first suspected case of Marburg disease, a deadly infectious disease that has led to the quarantining of more than 200 people in Equatorial Guinea, health authorities in the Spanish region of the Valencia said on Saturday.

A 34-year-old man, who had recently been in Equatorial Guinea, has been transferred from a private hospital to an isolation unit at the Hospital La Fe in Valencia while tests are carried out, the regional health authorities said.

STOCKHOLM, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) has agreed on the 10th package of sanctions against Russia, said the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU on Twitter Friday night.

"The package includes, e.g. tighter export restrictions regarding dual-use goods and technologies," the Swedish Presidency said.

It said the package also includes "targeted restricted measures against individuals and entities" that have supported Russia's special military operation in Ukraine and delivered drones for Russia to be used in the military operation.

WARSAW, February 24. /TASS/: Poland has already sent to Ukraine the first Leopard 2 tanks out of the 14 promised, Polish Deputy Prime Minister and National Defense Minister Mariusz B·aszczak said on Friday, speaking at the opening of the country’s National Security Council.

"Today Polish [Leopard] tanks have already reached Ukraine," he said, speaking at the opening of the country’s National Security Council.

MOSCOW, February 24. /TASS/: Russian and Turkish Presidents, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, discussed the situation around Ukraine and the implementation of the Istanbul agreements, the Kremlin press service said on Friday after their telephone conversation.

BUDAPEST, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday that more parliamentary group talks were needed before lawmakers vote on the ratification of Finland and Sweden's NATO membership bids which they will begin debating on Wednesday.

Sweden and Finland applied last year to join the trans-Atlantic defence pact after Russia invaded Ukraine, but Sweden faced unexpected objections from Turkey for harbouring what Ankara considers to be members of terrorist groups.

LONDON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization is working with Cambodian authorities after two confirmed human cases of H5N1 bird flu were found among one family in the country.

Describing the situation as "worrying" due to the recent rise in cases in birds and mammals, Dr Sylvie Briand, the director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, told reporters in a virtual briefing that WHO was reviewing its global risk assessment in light of the recent developments.

Feb 24 (Reuters) - Russia told the West on Friday that it would view as an attack on itself any actions that threatened Russian peacekeepers in Moldova's breakaway Transdniestria region, one day after Moscow accused Ukraine of deploying troops near the region's border.

The warning comes amid increased concerns in Moldova, a small ex-Soviet republic bordering Ukraine, of a possible Russian threat to its own independence. Its pro-European president, Maia Sandu, this month accused Moscow of plotting to overthrow Moldova's government.

LONDON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday that the only way for Moscow to ensure a lasting peace with Ukraine was to push back the borders of hostile states as far as possible, even if that meant the frontiers of NATO member Poland.

Medvedev, who is now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, made the comments in a message on his Telegram account exactly a year after Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in what it called a "special military operation" to protect Russian speakers and ensure its own security.