Europe

BERLIN, Oct 20 (NNN-NEWVISION) — World leaders have thrown more weight behind the campaign to end polio by confirming $2.6b funding toward the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s (GPEI) 2022-2026 Strategy.

This timely commitment happened on Tuesday at the World Health Summit in Berlin, Germany.

The funds will bolster global efforts to eradicate polio, a disabling and life-threatening disease caused by the poliovirus.

LONDON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - When Liz Truss was asked to come to parliament to explain the sacking of her good friend and finance minister, she sent Penny Mordaunt in her place, offering her potential successor a primetime opportunity to flex her political muscle.

In what only underlined the dwindling fortunes of Truss, Mordaunt took the lead role on Monday to explain why her boss had sacked Kwasi Kwarteng and replaced him with former health minister Jeremy Hunt who ripped up much of her economic plan.

Oct 20 (Reuters) - Russia's foreign ministry on Thursday welcomed the departure of British Prime Minister Liz Truss, saying she was a disgrace of a leader who would be remembered for her "catastrophic illiteracy".

"Britain has never known such a disgrace of a prime minister," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a social media post.

LONDON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - A Russian fighter jet released a missile near an unarmed British spy plane patrolling in international airspace over the Black Sea on Sept. 29, UK defence minister Ben Wallace said, in an apparent accident and not a deliberate escalation of tensions.

Britain has condemned Russia for invading Ukraine and hit Moscow with punitive sanctions while giving military and civil support to Kyiv, and relations between the two countries are at historic lows.

LONDON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Former British prime minister Boris Johnson is expected to stand in the Conservative Party leadership contest to replace Liz Truss, who said earlier on Thursday she would resign, the Times reported.

"He's taking soundings but is said to believe it is a matter of national interest," Times Political Editor Steven Swinford said on Twitter.

BUDAPEST, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- The government of Hungary rejects all proposals that would damage economic cooperation between the European Union (EU) and China, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said here on Thursday.

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders opened a two-day summit Thursday divided on whether, and how, the bloc could impose a gas price cap to contain the energy crisis fueled by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and his strategy to choke off gas supplies to the bloc at will.

And, for once, the traditional driving duo of the EU — Germany and France — were in opposing camps, with Germany expressing doubts and holding off plans for the price cap, while most others want to push on.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — When a missile struck a power station less than a mile from his apartment on the outskirts of Kyiv, Oleksander Maystrenko didn’t panic, run to a bomb shelter or consider evacuating, even though he lives close to what suddenly has become the Russian military’s main target in the war: anything related to Ukraine’s vital infrastructure.

LONDON (AP) — Staffers at the World Health Organization’s Syrian office have alleged that their boss mismanaged millions of dollars, plied government officials with gifts -- including computers, gold coins and cars -- and acted frivolously as COVID-19 swept the country.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Liz Truss quit Thursday after a tumultuous and historically brief term marred by economic policies that roiled financial markets and a rebellion in her political party that obliterated her authority.

Truss became the third Conservative prime minister to be toppled in as many years, extending the instability that has shaken Britain since it broke off from the European Union and leaving its leadership in limbo as the country faces a cost-of-living crisis and looming recession.