Europe

KALININGRAD, September 11. /TASS/: Voting at various elections in Russia is over as polling stations were closed in Russia’s westernmost Kaliningrad region.

"At 20:00 local time (21:00 Moscow time), 558 permanent and six temporary polling stations closed in the Kaliningrad region. Remote electronic voting was finished as well," the press service of the Kaliningrad region election commission told TASS on Sunday.

GENEVA, Sept 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Austrian lawyer Volker Türk has been appointed to succeed former two-time Chilean President Michelle Bachelet as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, it was announced.

Türk’s appointment by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres meant a diplomatic defeat for the government of Argentine, which had secretly endorsed the candidacy of Federico Villegas Beltrán in a move to capitalize on rivalries stemming from the conflictive global scenario, according to Buenos Aires media reports.

GENEVA, Sept 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board (EB) approved the creation of an Olympic Forest Network to step up the fight against climate change.

The project, inspired by the IOC’s Olympic Forest project set to plant around 590,000 native trees in Mali and Senegal, is an initiative driven by National Olympic Committees to create forest network in their own countries and regions.

The IOC announced its commitment to be climate positive in 2024 in alignment with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change in April 2021.

ATHENS, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Sunday that Athens would try to keep communication channels with Ankara open despite recent "unacceptable" comments from Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan accused Greece of occupying demilitarised islands in the Aegean Sea and saying Turkey was ready to "do what is necessary" when the time came.

"I consider recent statements by the Turkish president unacceptable," Mitsotakis told a news conference in the northern city of Thessaloniki.

GENEVA, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Western countries face a dilemma as the U.N. Human Rights Council opens on Monday: confront China over human rights violations in its Xinjiang region and risk failing or miss the biggest opportunity to bring accountability in years.

A report by the U.N. rights office on Aug. 31 found that China's "arbitrary and discriminatory detention" of Uyghurs and other Muslims there may constitute crimes against humanity. China vigorously denies any abuse. 

Sept 10 (Reuters) - Ukraine will look into whether it can urgently supply neighbouring Poland with 100,000 tonnes of thermal coal to help it get through the coming winter, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday.

In an evening address, Zelenskiy also said he had ordered that work be speeded up on upgrading a power transmission line from Ukraine's Khmelnytskyi nuclear plant to Poland.

Sept 11 (Reuters) - The presidents of Russia and France held talks on Sunday regarding safety at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine, with Vladimir Putin blaming Ukrainian forces while Emmanuel Macron pointed the finger at Russian troops.

Conditions at Europe's biggest nuclear power plant continue to cause global concern. Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of shelling around the Zaporizhzhia plant and thereby risking a catastrophic release of radiation.

ZANFLEURON PATH, Switzerland, Sept 11 (Reuters) - A rocky Alpine path between two glaciers in Switzerland is emerging for what the local ski resort says is the first time in at least 2,000 years after the hottest European summer on record.

The ski resort of Glacier 3000 in western Switzerland said this year's ice melt was around three times the 10-year average, meaning bare rock can now be seen between the Scex Rouge and the Zanfleuron glaciers at an altitude of 2,800 metres and the pass will be completely exposed by the end of this month.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Europe’s largest nuclear plant has been reconnected to Ukraine’s electricity grid, allowing engineers to shut down its last operational reactor in an attempt to avoid a radiation disaster as fighting rages in the area.

The six-reactor Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant lost its outside source of power a week ago after all its power lines were disconnected because of shelling. It was operating in “island mode” for several days, generating electricity for crucial cooling systems from its only remaining operational reactor.

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden is holding an election Sunday expected to boost a populist anti-immigration party that promises to crack down on shootings and other gang violence that have shaken many people’s sense of security.

The Sweden Democrats entered parliament in 2010 and have steadily gained more votes with each election. The party’s fortunes have risen following massive migration in recent years, particularly in Europe’s crisis year of 2015, and as crime has grown in segregated neighborhoods.