Europe

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian shelling hit more civilian targets in Ukraine, starting a fire at a town’s hospital and damaging five apartment buildings, local officials said Tuesday, as Ukrainian authorities reported a Moscow troop buildup in eastern areas before what Kyiv suspected was an impending new offensive by Russia around the anniversary of its invasion.

A hospital in the northeastern town of Vovchansk caught fire late Monday as a result of the shelling, regional Ukrainian emergency services reported.

06 Feb 2023; MEMO: Russian rescue workers will fly to Syria and Turkiye after a huge earthquake killed about 1,700 people and injured thousands more, the Kremlin said on Monday, Reuters reports.

President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with Syrian leader, Bashar Al-Assad and Turkiye's Tayyip Erdogan to express his condolences over the death and destruction wrought by the magnitude 7.8 quake, the worst to strike Turkiye this century.

07 Feb 2023; MEMO: British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, is considering withdrawing the United Kingdom from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in order to implement a hard line immigration policy, amid warnings that 65,000 illegal migrants are expected to arrive in the country this year.

LONDON (AP) — British energy firm BP reported record annual earnings on Tuesday, fueling demands that the U.K. government boost taxes for companies benefiting from the high price of oil and natural gas after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

London-based BP said underlying replacement cost profit, which excludes one-time items and fluctuations in the value of inventories, jumped to $27.7 billion in 2022 from $12.8 billion a year earlier. That beat the $26.8 billion BP earned in 2008, when tensions in Iran and Nigeria pushed world oil prices to a record of more than $147 a barrel.

MADRID, Feb 6 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — Spain sent to Chile a contingent of the Military Emergency Unit (UME), to help in the tasks of fire extinction and control.    

The southern nation is currently suffering the scourge of a wave of forest fires that are keeping the Chilean population on edge.

In his Twitter account, the President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, said that it is his country’s duty to respond to Chile’s request for help in the face of this drama.

ATHENS, Feb 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Four children and a woman died Sunday after a boat carrying around 40 migrants from Turkiye sank off the Greek island of Leros, Greece’s coastguard said.

Three rescue boats and a helicopter were continuing with search operations but were being hampered by strong winds and choppy seas after the migrants’ inflatable boat sank in the Mediterranean.

The teams managed to rescue 41 people, including six children and two adults who were transferred to hospital in Leros, the coastguard said.

KYIV, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Ukraine sowed confusion on Monday about whether its defence minister would be replaced, creating doubts about the leadership of its war effort just as it braces for an expected Russian offensive.

The questions over Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov were the first public sign of serious disarray in Ukraine's wartime leadership.

A day after announcing that Reznikov would be sidelined, a top ally of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appeared to row back, saying no changes would be made this week.

PARIS, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- A mother and her seven children aged between 2 and 14 died in a house fire early on Monday in France's northern department of Aisne, the local prefecture confirmed in a press release.

Just after midnight, the blaze ripped through a two-story house in the city of Charly-sur-Marne.

A firefighter could rescue a severely burnt man, who was immediately taken to a nearby hospital, the prefecture said, adding that his condition was not life-threatening.

MOSCOW, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin offered his condolences to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after powerful earthquakes hit Türkiye and Syria on Monday.

According to the Kremlin, Putin said that Moscow is ready to provide all the necessary assistance to both countries.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov also told journalists that Russia is ready to provide both countries with necessary assistance, including technologies that can assess building conditions following earthquakes.

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular planned pension changes have prompted strikes and street demonstrations in recent weeks. Now, his government is facing a harsh political battle at parliament.

The National Assembly on Monday starts debating the contested bill, which would notably raise the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64. The parliamentary session comes a day before a third round of protests called by eight main workers’ unions. More demonstrations are planned for Saturday.