Europe

BERLIN (AP) — German investigators on Monday searched two garages used by an Iranian man arrested on suspicion that he could be planning an attack with deadly chemicals.

The 32-year-old suspect and his 25-year-old brother were detained on Saturday night in Castrop-Rauxel, in western Germany, following a tip from U.S. security officials. Authorities say the men are suspected of planning a serious attack motivated by Islamic extremism, for which at least one of them had allegedly sought to obtain the potent toxins cyanide and ricin.

GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations hosted a conference on Monday to help Pakistan cope with the fallout of last summer’s devastating flooding, which the U.N. chief called a “climate disaster of monumental scale” that killed more than 1,700 people in the immediate aftermath. Millions are still living near contaminated and stagnant flood waters.

08 Jan 2023; MEMO: Sweden is confident that Turkey will approve its application to join the NATO military alliance, but cannot fulfil all the conditions Ankara has set for its support, Sweden's prime minister said on Sunday, reports Reuters.

"Turkey both confirms that we have done what we said we would do, but they also say that they want things that we cannot or do not want to give them," Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told a defence think-tank conference in Sweden.

MOSCOW, January 7. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova branded Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s decision revoking Ukrainian citizenship of 13 priests of the canonic Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) as Satanism.

"And this is on Orthodox Christmas! This is pure Satanism," she wrote on her Telegram channel on Saturday commenting on information on the relevant decree by the Ukrainian leader.

MOSCOW, January 8. /TASS/: The Western aid to Ukraine is a working money laundering scheme, Head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov said on his Telegram channel Sunday.

"I see that some are worried about the foreign aid to Ukraine. Do not worry! This is a working money laundering scheme. Western and Ukrainian officials will embezzle these funds, and no more than 15% of the entire aid will reach the trenches," he said.

Kadyrov also noted that there is no need to worry about hostilities currently happening on Russian territory.

DONETSK, January 8. /TASS/: Donetsk People’s Republic officials told TASS on Sunday that the Starobeshevskaya thermal electric power plant sustained damage in a Ukrainian strike that happened a few hours earlier and two people could be trapped under the debris.

"First responders are working at the scene of the shelling, clearing the debris. Tentatively, at least two people - the plant’s employees - could be trapped under the debris," officials at the Starobeshevsky District told TASS.

MOSCOW, January 8. /TASS/: Many investors have already expressed their interest in investing in the development and infrastructure of the new city in Kherson Region’s Arabat Spit, says First Deputy Chairman of the Russian Presidential Administration Sergey Kiriyenko.

"The Arabat Spit territory is, in my opinion, unique in terms of combination of natural and therapeutic factors. There will definitely be a resort area, but, I think, not only that. There are many opportunities for development: agriculture and modern scientific technologies," Kiriyenko told reporters.

GROZNY, January 8. /TASS/: About 300 fighters of the Special Purpose Mobile Unit (OMON) from Chechnya have been deployed to the zone of the special military operation, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov wrote on his Telegram channel on Saturday.

"Today, to help their brothers on the frontline, about 300 OMON Akhmat-1 fighters of the National Guard directorate for the Chechen Republic have been deployed from Grozny International Airport named after Hero of Russia Akhmad-Khadzhi Kadyrov," he wrote.

BANJA LUKA, Bosnia Jan 8 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin was awarded in absentia by Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik on Sunday, during a ceremony marking the Bosnian autonomous Serb Republic's national holiday.

Putin was awarded the medal for the "particular patriotic care and love towards Republika Srpska" and merits in developing and strengthening cooperation and political relations between "friendly states of Republika Srpska and the Russian Federation", moderators said.

KRAMATORSK, Ukraine, Jan 8 (Reuters) - A Russian rocket strike on the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk caused damage but did not destroy buildings and there were no obvious signs of casualties, a Reuters witness said on Sunday, after Russia said the attack killed 600 Ukrainian soldiers.