Europe

MOSCOW, November 20. /TASS/: The 2022 FIFA World Cup is set to start in Qatar on Sunday, marking the 22nd edition of the global football tournament supervised by FIFA.

The opening match of the championship in Qatar is scheduled to start tonight at 7:00 p.m. local time [19:00 Moscow time] between Group A teams Qatar and the national squad of Ecuador. The match will be played at the 60,000-seat capacity Al-Bayt Stadium.

PARIS, Nov 20 (Reuters) - President Emmanuel Macron accused Russia of feeding anti-French propaganda in Africa to serve "predatory" ambitions in troubled African nations, where France has suffered military setbacks and a wider loss of influence over recent years.

Speaking on the sidelines of a summit of French-speaking nations in Tunisia, Macron was asked to respond to critics who say France exploits historic economic and political ties in its former colonies to serve its own interests.

ROME, Nov 20 (Reuters) - The United Nations' Security Council needs to take "significant measures" in response to the latest intercontinental ballistic missile launch by North Korea, foreign ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) major industrialised nations said on Sunday.

The Security Council is set to discuss North Korea in a meeting on Monday at the request of the United States, following the latest in a series of missile test launches this year.

MOSCOW, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- China and Russia kicked off the "audio-visual communication week-2022," a major cultural exchange program, via video link on Sunday.

Deputy head of China's National Radio and Television Administration Le Yucheng, Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of Russia Bella Cherkesova, and Russian Ambassador to China Igor Morgulov delivered video messages during a ceremony.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Powerful explosions shook Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, the site of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, the global nuclear watchdog said Sunday, calling for “urgent measures to help prevent a nuclear accident” in the Russian-occupied facility.

MOSCOW (AP) — Towering clouds of ash and glowing lava are spewing from two volcanoes on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula and scientists say major eruptions could be on the way.

The peninsula, which extends into the Pacific Ocean about 6,600 kilometers (4,000 miles) east of Moscow, is one of the world’s most concentrated areas of geothermal activity, with about 30 active volcanoes.

The sudden new activity followed a strong earthquake on Saturday, news reports said.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine says it will investigate video footage circulated on Russian social media which Moscow alleged shows that Ukrainian forces killed Russian troops who may have been trying to surrender, after one of the men seemingly refused to lay down his weapon and opened fire.

“Of course Ukrainian authorities will investigate this video,” Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister overseeing the country’s push to join the European Union, said on the sidelines of a security forum in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The body armor propped against a radiator, ready for use, the spent shell casing adding to clutter on his desk, the boxing memorabilia and the sign asking visitors to leave firearms at his door: All shout that this is the office of an extraordinary mayor, in extraordinarily difficult times.

Other, more personal touches fill out the picture: The book on a sideboard about British wartime leader Winston Churchill is signed “With best wishes” by the author, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

19 Nov 2022; MEMO: A proposed visit by controversial Israeli politician Dan Meridor has provoked outrage at the University of Cambridge and the wider community. Meridor who served as deputy Israel prime minister to Benyamin Netanyahu during Israel's military assault on the Gaza Strip in 2012, is among a growing list of Israeli war crimes suspects who have, in the past, avoided visits to Britain for fear of arrest.

MOSCOW, November 19. /TASS/: Confirmed novel coronavirus cases in Russia grew by 5,445 in the past day with 62 fatalities, the federal anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Saturday.

A day before, Russia registered 5,546 new daily COVID-19 cases and 60 fatalities, totaling 21,531,012 and 391,395, respectively, the latest data suggest.

Russia’s COVID-19 recoveries increased by 6,621 in the past day compared to 6,888 a day before, totaling 20,939,481, the crisis center reported.