Europe

PARIS (AP) — Emmanuel Macron calls it “combat diplomacy.” The French president has vowed to make every effort to support Ukraine — including by hosting an international conference Tuesday meant to help the country make it through winter.

In the longer term, he believes talks with Russia will be needed to find a path to peace.

BRUSSELS, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday that her institution is pushing for the creation of a European Union-wide (EU) ethics body after allegations that a vice president of the European Parliament (EP) was involved in a bribery scandal.

"The confidence entrusted to our institutions needs higher standards of independence and integrity," she said at a press conference. "It would be important to have an ethics body."

BERLIN (AP) — German lawmakers said Monday they are digging deeper into an alleged coup plot uncovered last week, when police detained dozens of people linked to the far-right Reich Citizens movement.

Prosecutors said the 24 Germans and one Russian detained last Wednesday are suspected of being members of, or of supporting, a “terrorist organization” that planned to topple the government.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s prime minister has appealed for Patriot missile batteries and other high-tech air defense systems to counter Russian attacks that knocked out electricity and water supplies for millions of Ukrainians, putting Europe on alert Monday to brace for more refugees.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told French broadcaster LCI that in addition to making Ukrainians suffer, Russia wants to swamp Europe with a new wave of Ukrainian refugees by continuing to strike power stations and other infrastructure.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s top official called for the creation of an independent ethics body covering all of the bloc’s institutions and said allegations of corruption targeting a vice president of the EU legislature were of “utmost concern” as police raided more European Parliament offices Monday.

LONDON (AP) — Three young boys who fell through ice covering a lake in central England have died and a fourth remains hospitalized as weather forecasters issued severe weather warnings for large parts of the United Kingdom.

Rescuers pulled the boys, aged 8, 10 and 11, from the icy waters Sunday afternoon and rushed them to the hospital in the West Midlands, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of London. But they could not be revived after suffering cardiac arrest.

BOYARKA, Ukraine (AP) — Bice is an American pit bull terrier with an important and sensitive job in Ukraine — comforting children traumatized by Russia’s war.

The playful 8-year-old gray dog arrived on time this week to a rehabilitation center on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, ready to start his duties.

As Bice waited in a hallway, inside of what looked like a school classroom with paintings and some books, a dozen children were seated around a table listening to Oksana Sliepova, a psychologist.

MOSCOW, December 11. /TASS/: Russia is boosting the production of the most powerful weapons, including based on new physical principles, for countering Western countries that support Kiev’s regime, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel Sunday.

MOSCOW, December 11. /TASS/: The failure to implement the Minsk accords by their other participants foreran the special military operation, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in the Moscow. Kremlin. Putin program on Rossiya-1 TV channel on Sunday.

This is how he answered Pavel Zarubin’s question whether Moscow understood that it was deceived regarding Minsk-2.

BELGRADE, December 11. /TASS/: Prime Minister of the unrecognized republic of Kosovo Albin Kurti has demanded the Serbs remove barricades in northern Kosovo by Sunday evening, the Vecherne Novosti (Evening News) newspaper reported.