Europe

MOSCOW, Dec 25 (NNN-TASS) – The latest poll showed that 74.3 percent of Russians approved of Vladimir Putin’s work as the Russian president.

The survey, conducted by the government-owned research centre, VTSIOM, found that, 78.1 percent of the respondents trusted Putin.

According to the results, 59.6 percent of the polled trusted Russian Prime Minister, Mikhail Mishustin, while 37.3 percent supported the country’s ruling United Russia party.

PARIS, Dec 25 (NNN-XINHUA) – France’s national railway company, SNCF, said, it reached an agreement on Friday, with the country’s labour unions, to avoid further strikes over the New Year’s weekend.

However, travel will still remain disrupted this weekend, with roughly one in three high-speed TGV trains cancelled.

According to local media, SNCF’s management has agreed to “strong” measures, to improve the recognition of the profession of conductors, the creation of more jobs and future promotions.

MOSCOW, Dec 25 (NNN-XINHUA) – The Russian Defence Ministry, disclosed yesterday, information of U.S. high-ranking participants in the military biological studies in Ukraine, many of whom are associated with U.S. intelligence services or pharmaceutical companies.

The ministry has a document with names of all the key U.S. officials supervising Ukraine’s military biological programmes, Igor Kirillov, chief of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defence Forces of the Russian Armed Forces, said during a briefing.

KYIV, Dec 25 (Reuters) - Air raid sirens wailed in Kyiv and across all Ukrainian regions on Sunday morning but no new Russian attacks were reported, officials said. The all-clear was later given.

Unconfirmed Ukrainian social media reports suggested the sirens may have been triggered after Russian jets took to the skies in Belarus and that the all-clear was sounded after the planes returned to their bases.

Reuters was unable to verify those reports.

Dec 24 (Reuters) - A major Russian shipyard that specialises in building non-nuclear submarines said its general director had died suddenly on Saturday after 11 years in the job, but gave no details.

Admiralty Shipyards, based in the western port of St Petersburg, announced the death of Alexander Buzakov in a statement. He had been in the job since August 2012.

His main achievement, it said, had been preserving and strengthening the shipyard's order books for modern non-nuclear submarines, surface ships and deep water vehicles.

MADRID, Dec 25 (Reuters) - At least three people died and four were missing after a passenger bus careened off a bridge and plunged into a river in northwestern Spain, local emergency services said on Sunday.

Two survivors - the vehicle's driver and a passenger - have been rescued so far from the river Lerez, where a strong current and high flow due to heavy rains sweeping the Galicia region were hampering search-and-rescue efforts, authorities said.

The survivors were taken to nearby hospitals with varying degrees of injury, they added.

PARIS, Dec 25 (Reuters) - The suspect detained over the killing of three Kurdish people in Paris told investigators of his "hatred of foreigners", the Paris prosecutor said on Sunday.

The 69-year-old man was arrested on Friday after shooting dead two men and a woman at a Kurdish cultural centre and nearby Kurdish cafe in the 10th district of Paris.

The killings stunned a community preparing to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the unresolved murder of three activists and prompted protests that led to clashes with police.

MOSCOW, Dec 25 (Reuters) - Russia is ready to negotiate with all parties involved in the war in Ukraine but Kyiv and its Western backers have refused to engage in talks, President Vladimir Putin said in an interview aired on Sunday.

Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine has triggered the most deadly conflict in Europe since World War Two and the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

There is, thus far, little end in sight to the war.

MOSCOW, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Defense Ministry disclosed on Saturday information of U.S. high-ranking participants in the military biological studies in Ukraine, many of whom are associated with U.S. intelligence services or pharmaceutical companies.

The ministry has a document with names of all the key U.S. officials supervising Ukraine's military biological programs, Igor Kirillov, chief of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Forces of the Russian Armed Forces, said during a briefing.

LONDON, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- From scorching sun and drying rivers to devastating floods, another year of extreme weather gripped Europe in 2022, warning about the impact of climate change and sending a cautionary note that more human efforts are needed for a greener future.

"LIVE PICTURE OF A WARMING WORLD"