Europe

VILNIUS, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Latvia and Estonia withdrew from a cooperation group between China and over a dozen Central and Eastern European countries on Thursday, following in the footsteps of Baltic neighbour Lithuania which withdrew last year.

The move comes amid Western criticism towards China over escalating military pressure on democratically ruled Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, and Beijing's strengthening of ties with Russia during the invasion of Ukraine.

PARIS, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Five European countries -- Germany, Greece, Poland, Romania and Austria -- are sending reinforcements to France to combat the wildfires in the southwest of the country, French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Thursday.

"Germany, Greece, Poland, and in the next few hours Romania and Austria: our partners are coming to the aid of France in the face of the fires," the French president tweeted. "Across the territory, more than 10,000 firefighters and civil security personnel are mobilized against the flames."

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A man was convicted Thursday of dumping straw on a Dutch road last month and sentenced to 80 hours of unpaid community service work, one of the first cases stemming from widespread protests by Dutch farmers against government plans to slash nitrogen emissions.

The 42-year-old man, whose identity wasn’t released by the court in the eastern city of Arnhem, was also ordered to pay 3,600 euros (about $3,700) in damages to cover the costs of the cleanup operation.

LONDON (AP) — Heathrow Airport in London said Thursday that its limit on the number of passengers is easing a travel crunch that has led to flight cancellations and lost luggage as soaring demand for summer trips runs up against pandemic-era staffing shortages.

Britain’s busiest airport has capped the daily number of departing passengers at 100,000 until Sept. 11 and asked airlines to stop selling tickets and cut flights, stirring criticism. The cap has cut down on last-minute flight cancellations and improved baggage delivery and on-time planes, Heathrow said in a statement.

(AP) --- The prisoners at the penal colony in St. Petersburg were expecting a visit by officials, thinking it would be some sort of inspection. Instead, men in uniform arrived and offered them amnesty — if they agreed to fight alongside the Russian army in Ukraine.

11 August 2022; MEMO: The Russian Embassy in Egypt on Tuesday slammed Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid's hypocrisy for attacking Gaza while condemning Moscow's alleged crimes in Ukraine, stressing that Lapid disregards the lives of Palestinians.

MOSCOW, August 10. /TASS/: NATO will be eagerly fighting against Russia on the territory of Ukraine "to the last Ukrainian," the first deputy chief of the Russian presidential staff, Sergey Kiriyenko, said on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, August 10. /TASS/: The United States has not learned a lesson from its failed line in Ukraine and tried to do the same in Taiwan; Washington will suffer a crushing defeat here, Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui said in an exclusive interview with TASS.

BERLIN, August 10. /TASS/: The G7 Foreign Ministers called on Russia to immediately transfer the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant and all nuclear facilities in Ukraine to Kiev's control, according to the joint statement issued on Wednesday by the German Foreign Ministry, which holds the G7 presidency.

PRAGUE, August 10. /TASS/: The pumping of Russian oil through Ukraine via the southern line of the Druzhba oil pipeline may resume in the next 24 hours, Slovakian Deputy Prime Minister, Economy Minister Richard Sulik said in an address broadcast by the country’s TV channels on Wednesday.

"The pumping of oil via Druzhba may resume in the next 24 hours," he said.