Europe

11 Jan 2023; MEMO: Britain's Minister for the Middle East, on Wednesday reiterated the UK's "continued support" for the Palestinian people and the commitment to two-state solution, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Minister Tariq Ahmad will visit the Occupied Palestinian Territories and have talks with the Palestinian Authority leadership, the Palestinian public, faith leaders and young people.

WARSAW, January 11. /TASS/: Poland will provide Ukraine with a company of tanks as part of support from an international coalition, Polish President Andrzej Duda said at a joint news conference with his Ukrainian and Lithuanian counterparts in Lvov.

"We have decided that such support will be provided by Poland to Ukraine," Duda said, when asked about supplying tanks, in remarks broadcast by Polish Television. "A company of Leopard tanks will be transferred as part of an international coalition."

MOSCOW, January 11. /TASS/: The Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft will launch in unpiloted mode to the International Space Station (ISS) on February 20 to return the crew to Earth, Roscosmos Chief Yury Borisov said on Wednesday, following the results of a state commission meeting.

"The state commission has made a decision to launch the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft in unpiloted mode on February 20, 2023 with the delivery of supplies to the International Space Station," Borisov said.

GENEVA, January 11. /TASS/: Switzerland has joined the decision by the European Union not to recognize foreign passports issued to residents of the four new Russian regions, the Swiss Federal Council (government) said in a statement on Wednesday.

NOVO-OGAREVO, January 11. /TASS/:  Extra 200 bln rubles ($3 bln) of non-oil and gas revenues of Russia enable the country to solve required issues, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday at the first meeting with Cabinet members in this year.

"We know additional budget revenues, associated exactly with non-oil and gas revenues and not with oil or with gas ones, [stand] at 200 bln rubles provisionally. This provides us with an opportunity to solve all tasks we set for development and for matters being current yet very serious and important," the head of state said.

WARSAW, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Poland has decided to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine as part of an international coalition, the Polish president said on Wednesday, as Warsaw seeks to play a leading role in reaching a consensus among Western allies on such support.

Kyiv has been requesting heavy military vehicles such as the German-made Leopard 2, which would represent a significant step-up in Western support to Ukraine.

Jan 11 (Reuters) - Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu appointed Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov on Wednesday to oversee the military campaign in Ukraine, in the latest shake-up of Moscow's military leadership.

Gerasimov, like Shoigu, has faced sharp criticism from Russia's hawkish military bloggers for multiple setbacks on the battlefield and Moscow's failure to secure victory in a campaign the Kremlin had expected to take just a short time.

MOSCOW, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Russia will focus on its development despite any external pressures, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday during his first meeting with government members this year.

"In the near future, we certainly need to find (solutions) to issues related to sovereign and independent development, despite any external pressure or threats," Putin said, according to a statement published by the Kremlin.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Constantine, the former and last king of Greece, who won an Olympic gold medal before becoming entangled in his country’s volatile politics in the 1960s as king and spent decades in exile, has died. He was 82.

Doctors at the private Hygeia Hospital in Athens confirmed to The Associated Press that Constantine died late Tuesday after treatment in an intensive care unit but had no further details pending an official announcement.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian space corporation Roscosmos said Wednesday that it will launch a new spacecraft to take some of the International Space Station’s crew back to Earth after their capsule was damaged and leaked coolant.

Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio arrived at the station in September on board a Soyuz MS-22 and planned to use the capsule to return to Earth. But it leaked coolant last month, resulting in higher cabin temperatures.