Europe

Sept 5 (Reuters) - A Russian court on Monday sentenced a former journalist to 22 years in prison for treason after prosecutors said he disclosed state secrets, a ruling his supporters said was a harsh punishment that showed the absence of media freedom in Russia.

Ivan Safronov, a former defence reporter for the Kommersant and Vedomosti newspapers turned adviser to the head of Russia's space agency, was arrested in 2020 and accused of disclosing classified information.

LONDON, Sept 5 (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Monday blamed the West for triggering the worst European gas supply crisis ever and warned the Group of Seven advanced economies that Moscow would retaliate over its plan to impose a price cap on Russian oil.

Since he ordered the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin says the United States and its allies have embarked on economic war on Russia with the most severe sanctions in modern history, warning that they will face a energy crisis as a result.

KYIV, Sept 5 (Reuters) - The final working reactor at the vast Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was disconnected from Ukraine's grid on Monday after Russian shelling disrupted power lines, state nuclear company Energoatom said.

The imperilled six-reactor facility in southern Ukraine, which is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, was captured by Moscow in March, but is still run by Ukrainian staff.

"Today, as a result of a fire caused by shelling, the (last working) transmission line was disconnected," Energoatom said in a statement on Telegram.

KYIV, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Ukraine made its boldest claim yet of success on the battlefield in its week-old counter-offensive against Russian forces in the south, while European markets went into free-fall on Monday after Russia kept its main gas pipeline to Germany shut.

Following days of silence about their new offensive, Ukrainian officials posted an image online of three soldiers raising a flag over a town in Kherson province, a southern region occupied by Russia since the war's early days.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — OPEC and allied oil-producing countries, including Russia, made a small trim in their supplies to the global economy Monday, underlining their unhappiness as recession fears help drive down crude prices — along with the cost of gasoline, to drivers’ delight.

The decision for October rolls back a mostly symbolic increase of 100,000 barrels per day in September. It follows a statement last month from Saudi Arabia’s energy minister that the OPEC+ coalition could reduce output at any time.

PARIS (AP) — A special French terrorism court on Monday opened the trial of eight people accused of helping a man who, on Bastille Day six years ago, plowed a heavy truck through crowds in a southern French resort town leaving 86 dead.

During the planned three and a half months of court proceedings in Paris, survivors and those mourning loved ones will recount the horrors inflicted along the beachfront of Nice on the night of July 14, 2016.

Veronique Marchand, whose husband was killed, said she’s still haunted by the attack.

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Slovakia’s political crisis has deepened after a junior partner completed its withdrawal from the governing four-party coalition, leaving Prime Minister Eduard Heger without a parliamentary majority.

Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok, Justice Minister Maria Kolikova and Education Minister Branislav Gröhling, all from the liberal Freedom and Solidarity party, submitted their resignations on Monday. They followed the example of the party leader and former Economy Minister Richard Sulik, who resigned from his government post last week.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s president apologized Monday for multiple failures by his country before, during and after the 1972 attack on the Munich OIympics as he joined his Israeli counterpart and relatives of the 11 Israeli athletes killed by Palestinian militants at the games 50 years ago.

LONDON (AP) — Liz Truss has been elected as the Conservative Party’s new leader, the party announced Monday, and she will take office Tuesday as Britain’s new prime minister to steer the country through an acute cost-of-living crisis.

The 47-year-old Truss, who is currently foreign secretary, beat former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak after a leadership contest in which only about 170,000 dues-paying members of the Conservative Party were allowed to vote. Truss received 81,326 votes, compared with Sunak’s 60,399.

MOSCOW, September 4. /TASS/: Russia and the United State bear special responsibility for maintain strategic stability by the United States is not ready for such a dialogue, Alexey Drobinin, director of the Russian foreign ministry’s foreign policy planning department, said in an interview with the International Affairs magazine.

"Russia, along with the United States, is one of the two biggest nuclear powers. And we believe that together with the United States we have special responsibility for maintaining strategic stability and international security," he said.