Europe

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Authorities in Bulgaria have detained seven people in connection with an abandoned truck in which 18 people believed to be migrants were found dead, police said Saturday.

The bodies were discovered Friday in a secret compartment below a load of lumber in the truck, which was left on a highway not far from Bulgaria’s capital, Sofia.

Borislav Sarafov, director of Bulgaria’s National Investigation Service, confirmed that all the victims had died of suffocation. He called the case the country’s deadliest involving smuggled migrants.

MUNICH (AP) — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called on world leaders Saturday to “double down” on support for Ukraine, saying additional arms and security guarantees are needed to protect the country and the rest of Europe from Russian aggressio n now and in the future.

Sunak delivered the message in a speech to the Munich Security Conference, an annual meeting of heads of state, defense ministers and other world leaders. This year’s conference is focused on threats to the accepted rules of international relations nearly a year after Russian troops invaded Ukraine.

GENEVA (AP) — China came in for a grilling Wednesday over its human rights record as a two-day hearing opened at the United Nations human rights office, with rights advocates raising issues like relocations from Tibet, COVID-19, reprisals against human rights defenders and a security law that crushed dissidents in Hong Kong.

PARIS (AP) — The lower house of France’s parliament debated a contested pension bill aimed at raising the country’s retirement age from 62 to 64 during what was expected to be lawmakers’ last discussion on the proposal before sending the legislation to the Senate.

President Emmanuel Macron’s government has vowed to go ahead with the reform despite nationwide protests and strikes and opinion polls consistently showing a majority of French people oppose the change.

MUNICH (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy planned to give the opening address Friday at a major annual conference on international security policy, where Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was expected to dominate the event after almost a year of war that has produced worldwide repercussions.

About 40 heads of state and government, as well as politicians and security experts from almost 100 countries, including the United States, Europe and China, were expected to attend the three-day Munich Security Conference in Germany. Zelenskyy is participating by video link.

16 Feb 2023; MEMO: German power company, RWE, on Wednesday announced the delivery of the first shipment of liquefied natural gas from the UAE to Germany, the Abu Dhabi-based energy company, ADNOC, published on its official webpage.

A shipment of 137,000 cubic metres of the supercooled fuel was delivered to the Elbehafen floating LNG terminal in Brunsbuttel, and is the "first ever LNG cargo to be shipped to Germany from the Middle East", the company said.

MOSCOW, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Moscow has declared four employees of the Austrian Embassy in Russia "personae non gratae" in a retaliatory move, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

The ministry summoned Austrian Ambassador to Russia Werner Almhofer on Thursday in protest over a decision of the Austrian authorities to expel four employees from Russia's foreign missions, it said, adding that the Austrian diplomats must leave Russia by Feb. 23.

Austria's unfriendly and unjustified move causes serious damage to bilateral ties, said the ministry.

CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — Moldova’s pro-Western Prime Minister-designate Dorin Recean will propose a new government to lawmakers on Thursday for a confidence vote, as the small country signals a shift to security concerns amid Russia’s ongoing war in neighboring Ukraine.

Recean, a 48-year-old economist who served for a year as President Maia Sandu’s defense and security adviser, was appointed by her last week after Natalia Gavrilita suddenly quit the premiership.

BERLIN (AP) — Tens of thousands of revelers danced in the streets of Cologne, Duesseldorf, Bonn and other cities and towns across the Rhineland Thursday as they celebrated the traditional start of Carnival in Germany.

Dressed up in bright colors and creative costumes, they sang loudly and swayed to familiar tunes of brass bands and folklore music, and drank lots of beer.

It is the first time since the start of the pandemic that Carnival is being celebrated in Germany without any coronavirus restrictions.

MOSCOW, February 14. /TASS/: Kiev, backed by the US, is preparing a provocation ("a great event") ahead of the 11th special session of the UN General Assembly to accuse Russia of violating nuclear safety during the special military operation in Ukraine, the Joint Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response said in a statement on Tuesday.