Europe

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — An international team is presenting an update Wednesday on its investigation into the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine.

The announcement comes nearly three months after a Dutch court convicted two Russians and a Ukrainian rebel for their roles in shooting down the Boeing 777 and killing all 298 people on board on July 17, 2014. One Russian was acquitted by the court.

LONDON (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit Britain on Wednesday, his first trip to the U.K. since Russia’s invasion began nearly a year ago and only his second confirmed journey outside Ukraine during the war.

The British government says Zelenskyy will hold talks with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, address Parliament and meet with U.K. military chiefs.

The U.K. is one of the biggest military backers of Ukraine and has sent the country more than 2 billion pounds ($2.5 billion) in weapons and equipment.

YEREVAN, February 7. /TASS/: Armenia has received new peace proposals from Azerbaijan and is studying them, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said at a joint news conference with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Tuesday.

BUDAPEST, February 7. /TASS/: Prime Minister Viktor Orban urged leaders of the European Union and its member-states to start consultations for reconsideration of sanctions against Russia, press secretary to the Prime Minister Bertalan Havasi said.

GROZNY, February 7. /TASS/: Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine may end before late this year, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said an in interview with the North Caucasian republic’s National Policy, Foreign Relations, Press and Information Minister Akhmed Dudyaev.

MINSK, February 7. /TASS/: Belarus believes that discussions of Ukraine in the OSCE’s Parliamentary Assembly should be based on Russian position, rather than some "contrived simulacrums," Andrey Savinykh, chairman of the permanent commission on foreign affairs at the Belarusian legislature, told TASS on Tuesday.

STOCKHOLM, Feb 7 (NNN-XINHUA) – Inflation continues to hover at lofty levels in Sweden, with food prices registering the largest monthly increases in a year, according to a report.

In a survey, covering around 44,000 items, price comparison site, Matpriskollen, found that food prices increased by 1.3 percent in Jan, which is one of the largest monthly increases, since inflation took off sharply in Jan, 2022, Swedish Television (SVT) reported.

LONDON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reshuffled his cabinet on Tuesday, breaking up two departments to better suit his pledges to spur the economy and turn around his party's fortunes before an election expected next year.

Sunak created a new energy security and net zero department, to be led by minister Grant Shapps, and three other departments, with one focusing on science and innovation, a personal passion for Sunak.

Feb 7 (Reuters) - Russia's defence minister said on Tuesday that Western arms supplies to Ukraine were effectively dragging NATO into the conflict, warning this could lead to an "unpredictable" escalation.

"The U.S. and its allies are trying to prolong the conflict as much as possible," Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a conference call with military officials.

KYIV, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Ukraine said on Tuesday the last 24 hours were the deadliest of the war so far for Russian troops, as Moscow hurls tens of thousands of freshly mobilised soldiers and mercenaries into relentless winter assaults in the east.

The Ukrainian military increased its running tally of Russian military dead by 1,030 overnight to 133,190, and described the increase as the highest of the war so far. It also said its troops destroyed 25 Russian tanks in the last two days.