Europe

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s executive branch recommended Sunday that the bloc suspend around 7.5 billion euros (dollars) in funding to Hungary over concerns about democratic backsliding and the possible mismanagement of EU money.

The European Commission, which proposes the bloc’s laws and ensures that they are respected, said it was acting “to ensure the protection of the EU budget and the financial interests of the EU against breaches of the principles of the rule of law in Hungary.”

LONDON (AP) — In retrospect, it seems as if she was preparing us all along.

Whether it was due to age, ill health or a sense that the end was near, Queen Elizabeth II spent much of the last two years tying up loose ends, trying to make sure the family firm would keep ticking along after her death.

LONDON (AP) — Thousands of police, hundreds of British troops and an army of officials made final preparations Sunday for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II — a spectacular display of national mourning that will also be the biggest gathering of world leaders for years.

U.S. President Joe Biden and other world leaders have flown into London for the funeral, to which around 500 royals, heads of state and heads of government from around the globe have been invited.

KOZACHA LOPAN, Ukraine (AP) — In a dank basement behind the local supermarket, metal bars cordon off a corner of the room to form a large cell. Dirty sleeping bags and duvets show three sleeping spots on top of sheets of Styrofoam for insulation from the damp earth floor. In the corner, two black buckets served as toilets.

A few meters (yards) outside the barred cell, three dilapidated chairs stand around a table, cigarette butts and empty husks of pumpkin seeds littering the floor around them.

17 Sep 2022; MEMO: President of the European Council Charles Michel announced on Friday that the European Union (EU) should negotiate energy issues with Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Algeria, Al Khaleej Online reported.

MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin in a conversation with Uzbekistan’s leader Shavkat Mirziyoyev voiced support for the Uzbek authorities in their efforts to stabilize the situation in Karakalpakstan, the Kremlin said in a news release on Saturday.

MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/: Russia recorded 58,305 coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, the anti-coronavirus crisis center said on Saturday. The total number of cases has reached 20,382,344.

As many as 4,216 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, up from 4,178 the day before. Hospitalizations declined in 44 regions of the country and rose in 36 regions.

Moscow’s COVID-19 cases surged by 7,077 to 3,141,079 in the past day and St. Petersburg’s cases increased by 4,152 to 1,715,663

MINSK, September 17. /TASS/: The United States has been pushing Europe towards an armed confrontation with Russia in Ukraine with the aim of weakening Russia and destroying Belarus, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko told the audience at the patriotic forum This is Our History on the occasion of Popular Unity Day, marked on Saturday.

VIENNA, Sept 17 (Reuters) - One of the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant's four main power lines has been repaired and is once again supplying the plant with electricity from the Ukrainian grid two weeks after it went down, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Saturday.

Even though the six reactors at Zaporizhzhia, Europe's biggest nuclear power plant, have been shut down, the fuel in them still needs cooling to avoid a potentially catastrophic meltdown. That means the plant needs electricity to pump water through the core of the reactors. 

KYIV, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday he would only back the idea of reopening Russian ammonia exports through Ukraine if Moscow handed back prisoners of war (POWs), an idea the Kremlin quickly rejected.

In an interview, Zelenskiy told Reuters he had proposed the arrangement to the United Nations, which has suggested resuming Russian ammonia across Ukraine to ease a global shortage of fertiliser.