Europe

MOSCOW, Dec 23 (Reuters) - A senior Russian diplomat said on Friday that talks on security guarantees for Russia cannot take place while NATO instructors and "mercenaries" remain in Ukraine, and while Western arms supplies to the country continue.

KYIV, Dec 23 (Reuters) - To an outsider, it may seem an unlikely time for Ukraine to double down on the battle against corruption, as missiles rain down on cities and citizens fight for their lives.

Nonetheless, anti-graft agencies have revived a years-old investigation into an official scheme they say led to electricity customers overpaying by more than $1 billion, plus a case that stalled in 2020 into the alleged theft of over $350 million in assets and funds from a state-controlled oil company.

Dec 22 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia wants an end to the war in Ukraine and that this would inevitably involve a diplomatic solution.

Putin made the comments a day after U.S. President Joe Biden hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in the White House and promised him continued and unwavering U.S. support.

"Our goal is not to spin the flywheel of military conflict, but, on the contrary, to end this war," Putin said. "We will strive for an end to this, and the sooner the better, of course."

LONDON, Dec 23 (Reuters) - A St Petersburg politician has asked prosecutors to investigate Russian President Vladimir Putin for using the word "war" to describe the conflict in Ukraine, accusing the Kremlin chief of breaking his own law.

Putin has for months described his invasion as a "special military operation". He signed laws in March that prescribe steep fines and jail terms for discrediting or spreading "deliberately false information" about the armed forces, putting people at risk of prosecution if they call the war by its name.

LONDON, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- With the year-end holidays just around the corner, the pre-Christmas shopping frenzy is quieter than usual across Europe, as the soaring prices of energy and food have taken a heavy toll on consumer confidence, disrupting people's spending plans.

"It affects us a lot, the Christmas dinners, the gifts, their number and cost. This year we are particularly careful about all of these," Sedjkin, a United Kingdom (UK) resident, told Xinhua.

LONDON (AP) — Air travelers faced possible delays at U.K. airports Friday as government employees who check passports went on strike in the latest of a spate of walkouts over pay amid a cost-of-living crisis.

France braced for similar Christmas travel disruption, with a weekend rail strike starting to bite on Friday.

The strike by Border Force staff was due to continue through the end of the year, with the exception of next Tuesday.

LYKOFI, Greece (AP) — Accompanied by a cloud of mosquitos, Police Capt. Konstantinos Tsolakidis and three other border guards set out on a boat patrol along the Evros River that forms a natural frontier between Greece and Turkey.

The route takes them through a maze formed by tall reeds, past clusters of flamingos and boat trippers visiting a nature reserve where the river fans out to meet the Mediterranean.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sounded another defiant note on his return to his nation’s capital Friday following his wartime visit to the United States, saying his forces are “working toward victory” even as Russia warned that there would be no end to the war until it achieved its military aims.

PARIS (AP) — A shooting targeting a Kurdish cultural center in Paris on Friday left two people dead and four others wounded, authorities said. A 69-year-old suspect was wounded and arrested.

The reason for the shooting wasn’t immediately clear. The Paris prosecutor’s office opened a murder investigation and was working to confirm the identity of the suspect.

22 Dec 2022; MEMO: The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday rejected the appeal of far-right French politician, Eric Zemmour, against his conviction in 2017 for inciting discrimination and religious hatred against Muslims in France.

On Twitter, the EU court said that it found the far-right Zemmour had made claims that could inflame tensions surrounding the Muslim community in France.