Europe

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has revealed in an interview published Sunday that shortly after being elected pontiff in 2013 he wrote a resignation letter in case medical problems impede him from carrying out his duties.

Speaking to the Spanish newspaper ABC, Francis said he gave the note to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who then was the Vatican secretary of state. The pontiff added that he presumes that the prelate currently in that Vatican No. 2 role, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, now has the written instruction.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Jews in Ukraine waging a “war between darkness and light” lit a giant menorah on Sunday night to start the eight-day Hanukkah holiday as tens of thousands remained without electricity and Russia’s nearly 10-month war produced new victims.

KHERSON, Ukraine (AP) — When about 100 Russian troops rolled into Kherson’s Lilac Park on the morning of March 1, Oleh Shornik was one of about 20 lightly armed Ukrainian volunteers who didn’t stand a chance against them.

MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/: The Russian Armed Forces hit a base of foreign mercenaries in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday.

"A temporary base of foreign mercenaries was hit near Krasny Liman in the Donetsk People’s Republic," he specified.

MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/: Dialogue between Russia and NATO is out of the question amid the current developments, a source in Moscow told TASS.

"Any dialogue with NATO as an organization is out of the question now, given the current developments," the source said.

MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/: Moscow considers the suspension of broadcasting licenses of six Russian-language television channels in Moldova as an unprecedented act of political censorship, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement on Saturday.

"We view this ban as an unprecedented act of political censorship, as the abuse of the principle of media pluralism and as a blatant breach of the right to free access to information, the adherence to which the republic’s political leadership regularly reiterates," the diplomat said.

MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/: The Central African Republic at the highest level announced its intention to cooperate with Russia in investigating the terrorist attack on Dmitry Sytyi, head of the Russian House, the Russian embassy in Bangui told TASS on Saturday.

"The Central African authorities at the highest level pledged their readiness to cooperate," the diplomatic mission said. "The embassy is in constant contact with the CAR’s law enforcement agencies. The investigation is underway; no details have been disclosed yet."

MOSCOW, Dec 17 (Reuters) - A shield is being set up over a storage site for spent nuclear waste at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine to protect it from shelling and drones, a Russian-installed official said on Saturday.

Video footage published by Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-appointed official in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia province, showed workers mounting a screen of what appeared to be some kind of transparent sheeting on wires above dozens of concrete cylinders about 5 metres (16 feet) high.

MOSCOW, Dec 17 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin has sought proposals from his armed forces commanders on how they think Russia's military campaign in Ukraine should proceed, during a visit to the operation's headquarters, the Kremlin said on Saturday.

A series of defeats in 10 months of fighting, resulting in Russian withdrawals from areas around the capital Kyiv and Ukraine's second city Kharkiv and most recently from the city of Kherson, have forced Putin to call up reservists and generated rare public criticism from military bloggers and some allies.

BUCHAREST, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- Romania, Hungary, Azerbaijan and Georgia signed on Saturday an agreement on the Black Sea submarine cable for the transport of electricity from the Caspian area to Romania.

"Azerbaijan needs outlets for the huge resources it has. Today we are starting to build a new 'bridge' from Azerbaijan to Europe. Our country will become an important supplier of electricity to Europe, especially green energy," said Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev at the signing ceremony.