Europe

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian rocket and artillery strikes hit areas across the Dnieper River from Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, Ukrainian officials said Sunday, as fears persisted that fighting in the vicinity could damage the plant and cause a radiation leak.

Russian forces took control of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant soon after the war began and hold adjacent territory along the left bank of the wide river. Ukraine controls the right bank, including the cities of Nikopol and Marhanets, each of them about 10 kilometers (six miles) from the plant.

27 August 2022; AA: Anders Breivik, who killed nearly 80 people in Norway in 2011, is again suing the Norwegian government for human rights violations to end his solitary confinement in prison.

His lawyer, Oystein Storrvik, announced Thursday that a notice that states that no one must be subjected to "torture" or "inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" was sent to the Norwegian Justice Ministry.

27 August 2022; AA: Shale gas production may be brought back on the table to alleviate the European energy crisis similar to coal and nuclear power, which had long been shelved due to mounting reactions from environmentalists. 

Shale gas is extracted through a combination of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, which has been criticized for its damage to the environment by contaminating ground and surface water.

27 August 2022; AA: More than a million tons of grain have been safely shipped from Ukrainian ports since the beginning of August under a historic deal, the Turkish National Defense Ministry said on Saturday.

In July, Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine signed a deal in Istanbul to reopen three Ukrainian ports for the export of Ukraine grain, which had been stuck for months due to the Russia-Ukraine war, now in its seventh month.

DONETSK, August 27. /TASS/: People’s militia officers in the Donetsk People’s Republic killed a US national, Alan Joshua, who had been fighting for Ukraine, in combat on August 23, the DPR’s ombudsperson Darya Morozova said on Telegram on Saturday.

The DPR has notified US officials and the head of the UN monitoring mission in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner, of his death, she added.

MOSCOW, August 27. /TASS/: Russia registered 47,093 coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Saturday. The total number of cases has reached 19,359,066.

As many as 4,354 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 over the past day, up from 3,912 the day before. Hospitalizations increased in 49 regions of the country and declined in 34 regions.

Moscow’s COVID-19 cases surged by 6,915, down from 7,602 the day before, to 3,004,574 in the past day and St. Petersburg’s cases increased by 4,214 to 1,643,570.

MOSCOW, August 27. /TASS/: US diplomats abroad have been focusing on moves to ignite new hotspots around the world, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on her Telegram channel on Saturday.

MOSCOW, August 27. /TASS/: Russia is ready to discuss the negotiations option with Ukraine, if it capitulates, qualitatively reduces its armed forces and get denazified, says head of the Russian State Duma Committee on international affairs, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party Leonid Slutsky.

"We are ready to consider a negotiations process, if the Ukrainian side is ready for an unconditional capitulation, qualitative reduction of its armed forces, as well as total, absolute and unconditional denazification," Slutsky said in a video, posted on his Telegram channel.

MOSCOW, August 27. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin decreed to give people evacuating to Russia from the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republic as well as from Ukraine monthly and one-off payments.

Certain categories of people, including disabled persons and elders above the age of 80, will be given 10,000 ($166) in monthly payments. Pregnant women will be entitled to one-off payments in a similar amount.

KYIV, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Moscow and Kyiv traded fresh accusations on Saturday of shelling around the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, which has been a focus of international concern that fighting in the area could trigger a disaster.

Zaporizhzhia, Europe's largest nuclear power plant, has been controlled by Russian forces since early March, soon after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Ukrainian staff continue to operate it and in recent weeks the two sides have traded blame for shelling near the plant.