Europe

LISBON, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- Portugal is set to build a new airport in its capital Lisbon as the country's tourism industry is expected to gradually recover to pre-pandemic levels, said Prime Minister Antonio Costa here on Tuesday.

The government will approve the decision to formally launch the new Lisbon airport project on Thursday, Costa said in his opening speech at the 6th Portuguese Tourism Summit marking World Tourism Day.

He said it is a "decision for the good of the whole country," representing "a unique and irreversible window of opportunity."

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — About 98,000 Russians have crossed into Kazakhstan in the week since President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization of reservists to fight in Ukraine, Kazakh officials said Tuesday, as men seeking to avoid the call-up continued to flee by land and air into neighboring countries.

Kazakhstan and Georgia, both part of the former Soviet Union, appeared to be the most popular destinations for those crossing by car, bicycle or on foot.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Explosions rattled the Baltic Sea before unusual leaks were discovered on two natural gas pipelines running underwater from Russia to Germany, seismologists said Tuesday. Some European leaders and experts are pointing to possible sabotage during an energy standoff with Russia provoked by the war in Ukraine.

MOSCOW, September 26. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin is deeply saddened by today’s inhumane act of terror in a school in Izhevsk, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"The president expressed his deepest condolences to all those who lost their loved ones, their children in this tragic incident, and wished the soonest recovery to those wounded in the inhumane terrorist attack," Peskov said.

"Putin is deeply saddened by the death of people, children in the terrorist attack on the school seemingly committed by a member of a neo-Nazi group," he added.

MOSCOW, September 26. /TASS/: The US denies any alternative view of the situation in the Donetsk and the Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as in the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions, where referendums on joining Russia are held, and only replicates threats, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said during a Channel One TV broadcast on Monday.

VIENNA, September 26. /TASS/: Russia is ready to continue talks to establish a safety zone around the Zaporozhye NPP and expects a non-politicized approach from the International Atomic Energy Agency, Alexey Likhachev, director general at Rosatom, has said.

"We are ready for cooperation on the technical aspects of the protection zone and physical nuclear safety of the Zaporozhye NPP. We are ready to agree on its establishment as quickly as possible," he said at the 66th Session of the IAEA’s General Conference.

SOCHI, September 26. /TASS/: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko believes that joint import substitution projects of Russia and Belarus will make it possible to replace products previously supplied from unfriendly countries.

"We are doing well with import substitution. We will fly our own planes - both military and civilian. We will travel in our own cars. There is no fear," Lukashenko said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday.

MOSCOW, September 26. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 case tally rose by 40,188 over the past day to 20,833,109, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Monday.

In absolute terms, the number of daily COVID cases has been the lowest since September 6, when 38,500 cases were recorded. A day earlier, 46,758 daily cases were recorded.

KYIV, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he doesn't think Vladimir Putin is bluffing when he says Moscow would be ready to use nuclear weapons to defend Russia.

The Russian president said in a televised address last week that Moscow would use "all available means" to protect Russia and its people if its territorial integrity were threatened. 

"Look, maybe yesterday it was bluff. Now, it could be a reality," Zelenskiy, who had previously played down such warnings as nuclear blackmail, told CBS News on Sunday.

BRUSSELS, Sept 26 (Reuters) - The EU on Monday denounced a decision by Serbia to hold foreign policy consultations with Russia, saying it raised questions at a time when Brussels has told countries seeking to join the bloc not to carry on with business as usual with Moscow.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Serbian counterpart Nikola Selakovic signed a document on Friday dubbed a "plan on consultations".