Europe

MOSCOW, September 29. /TASS/: The Kremlin expects that Belarus will make an independent and timely decision on recognizing Crimea as part of Russia, Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

The spokesman said that this issue was not on the agenda of the recent bilateral talks in Sochi between Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus.

LONDON, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Britain's opposition Labour party has surged to a 33-point lead over the ruling Conservatives, according to a YouGov poll on Thursday, after days of chaos in financial markets triggered by the government's planned tax cuts.

The lead was a record high share for Labour in any YouGov poll as well as the highest figure the party has ever recorded in any published survey since the late 1990s, YouGov said.

HELSINKI/VAALIMAA, Finland, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Finland said on Thursday it would close its border to Russian tourists at midnight, shutting off the last remaining direct land route to the European Union for them as thousands of Russians seek to avoid conscription into the war in Ukraine.

The government said the move would lead to a significant drop in cross-border traffic after almost 17,000 Russians crossed the border into Finland during the weekend.

KYIV, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will hold an emergency meeting with top security, political and defence officials on Friday, following the Kremlin's announcement of plans by Russia to annex four Ukrainian regions.

The Kremlin said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin would sign documents on Friday proclaiming Moscow's annexation of regions where Russia organised what Kyiv and the West said were sham referendums staged at gunpoint on Russian-held Ukrainian territory.

MOSCOW, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Russia said on Thursday it was studying the possibility of a face-to-face meeting between Russian and U.S. negotiators on a landmark nuclear arms control treaty.

In a briefing in Moscow, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia was open to reviving inspections under the New START treaty and considering the possibility of in-person meetings of a joint commission of representatives from the United States and Russia.

MOSCOW/BRUSSELS, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Russia said on Thursday that leaks spewing gas into the Baltic Sea from pipelines to Germany appeared to be the result of state-sponsored "terrorism", as an EU official said the incident had fundamentally changed the nature of the conflict in Ukraine.

The European Union is investigating the cause of the leaks in the Gazprom-led (GAZP.MM) Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines and has said it suspects sabotage was behind the damage off the coasts of Denmark and Sweden.

ATHENS, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called for resolving differences between states through dialogue based on international law.

ROME (AP) — Making his second visit to Rome in two weeks, IOC president Thomas Bach met with Giorgia Meloni, whose far-right party won the most votes in Italy’s election, as concerns rise over delays in organizing the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.

Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party won Sunday’s general election, setting her up to become the country’s first female premier.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The NATO military alliance warned Thursday it would retaliate for any attacks on the critical infrastructure of its 30 member countries and joined other Western officials in citing sabotage as the likely cause of damage to two natural gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Catholic Church’s decades-long sex abuse scandal caught up with a Nobel Peace Prize winner Thursday, with the Vatican confirming that it had sanctioned the East Timor independence hero, Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, following allegations that he sexually abused boys there during the 1990s.