Europe

Oct 14 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday Germany was unlikely to accept Russian gas from the one remaining undamaged line of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, two days after Berlin rejected his initial offer.

"A decision has not been made and it's unlikely to be made, but that's no longer our business, it's the business of our partners," he said.

BRUSSELS, Oct 14 (Reuters) - NATO said on Friday it would launch its annual nuclear exercise "Steadfast Noon" on Monday, with up to 60 aircraft taking part in training flights over Belgium, the North Sea and Britain to practise the use of U.S. nuclear bombs based in Europe.

The nuclear drills - which do not involve live bombs - are taking place amid heightened tensions after Russia repeatedly threatened nuclear strikes in Ukraine following major military setbacks on the battlefield there.

BERLIN, Oct 15 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday called for an expanded European Union, telling a gathering of European social democrats that it would then be able to better pull its weight in global affairs.

Since assuming office, Scholz has made European Union expansion to include the Balkans and others nations a major plank of his foreign policy. It has taken on more urgency since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which became a candidate for EU membership early this summer.

BERLIN, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Sweden has rejected plans to set up a formal joint investigation team with Denmark and Germany to look into the recent ruptures of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, a Swedish prosecutor investigating the leaks, said.

Mats Ljungqvist, the prosecutor involved in Sweden's criminal investigation into the Nord Stream leaks in the Swedish economic zone, said Sweden was already co-operating with Denmark and Germany on the matter.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A man drowned and there are reports of missing people as storms batter Crete, causing rivers to overflow and flooding locations across Greece’s biggest island on Saturday.

The worst damage seems to have been done in the seaside town of Agia Pelagia, about 25 kilometers (16 miles) northwest of Iraklio, Crete’s largest city. This is where firefighters found the 50-year-old man, whose car had been swept up by raging waters.

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s new Treasury chief on Saturday acknowledged mistakes made by his predecessor and suggested that he may reverse much of Conservative Prime Minister Liz Truss’ tax-cutting plans in order to bring stability to the country after weeks of economic and political turbulence.

Jeremy Hunt, who was brought in Friday to replace Kwasi Kwarteng as Treasury chief and restore order in Truss’ administration, warned of “difficult decisions” to come. He said taxes could rise and public spending budgets would likely be squeezed further in the coming months.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A missile strike seriously damaged a key energy facility in Ukraine’s capital region, the country’s grid operator said Saturday as the Russian military strove to cut power in far-flung populated areas while also defending against Ukrainian counterattacks in occupied regions.

Kyiv region Gov. Oleksiy Kuleba said the strike on the unidentified facility did not kill or wound anyone. Electricity transmission company Ukrenergo said repair crews were working to restore electricity service but warned residents about further possible outages.

14 October 2022; MEMO: European foreign ministers will, on Monday, discuss the transfer of Iranian drones to Russia and could come to a political agreement on future sanctions related to such activity, two diplomats said on Friday, Reuters reports.

Ukraine has reported a spate of Russian attacks using Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones in recent weeks. Iran denies supplying the drones to Russia, while the Kremlin has not commented.

14 October 2022; MEMO: British intelligence agencies were aware of their Canadian counterpart's involvement in trafficking Shamima Begum and other Britons to Syria only days after it took place, sources have reportedly revealed.

BERLIN, October 14. /TASS/: Germany, Sweden and Denmark gave up plans to jointly investigate the sabotage at the Nord Stream pipelines and will go it alone, Germany’s ARD television channel reported on Friday, citing sources in the German government.

The report said Sweden was the first to leave the joint investigation team, as it allegedly was wary of potential leaks. Denmark followed suit.

"Now each country is conducting its own investigation," ARD said.