Europe

LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England projected Thursday that the United Kingdom’s economy will enter a recession at the end of the year as it hiked interest rates by the largest amount in more than 27 years, pushing to tame accelerating inflation driven by the fallout from Russia’s war in Ukraine.

KHIMKI, Russia (AP) — An emotional Brittney Griner apologized in a Russian court Thursday as her drug possession trial drew to a close, and a prosecutor urged that the American basketball star be convicted and sentenced to 9 1/2 years in prison in a case that reached the highest levels of U.S.-Russian diplomacy.

03 August 2022; MEMO: OPEC+ is set to raise its oil output goal by 100,000 barrels per day, an amount analysts said was an insult to US President Joe Biden after his trip to Saudi Arabia to ask the producer group's leader to pump more to help the United States and the global economy, Reuters reports.

MOSCOW, August 3. /TASS/: Moscow welcomes the decision by the parties to the Yemen conflict to extend a ceasefire for another two months, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"This creates an opportunity to further stabilize the situation in the country and facilitates movement to full-fledged talks between political forces involved in the Yemen conflict," the statement reads.

MOSCOW, August 3. /TASS/: One person was killed in a major fire that engulfed the warehouse of the Ozon online retailer in Istra outside Moscow, the Center for Disaster Medicine told TASS on Wednesday.

"According to updated information, one person was killed and 13 more were injured," the spokesperson said.

The fire is being extinguished by 150 firefighters, three helicopters and more than 30 pieces of equipment. According to latest reports, the blaze has spread to 50,000 square meters.

VIENNA, August 3. /TASS/: Russian Permanent Representative to international organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov confirmed that the talks on restoration of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) will resume soon.

"The delegations plan to come back to Vienna after a break of almost 5 months," Ulyanov tweeted Wednesday. "The Russian negotiators stand ready for constructive talks in order to finalize the agreement."

Earlier, Politico reported citing its sources that the new round of talks with take place in Vienna on August 4.

MOSCOW, Aug 3 (NNN-TASS) — Russia backs the Myanmar junta’s efforts to “stabilise” the crisis-wracked country, its foreign minister said on Wednesday during talks with top generals, according to Russian state media.

Myanmar has been in chaos since the military’s power grab last year, with more than 2,100 people killed in a crackdown on dissent, according to a local monitor.

ROME, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Italy's parliament on Wednesday gave its final approval to a bill ratifying the accession of Finland and Sweden to the NATO alliance.

The Senate voted by 202 to 13 in favour of the bill, a day after the lower house approved it by a large majority.

The accession needs to be ratified by the parliaments of all 30 North Atlantic Treaty Organization members before Finland and Sweden can be protected by the NATO defence clause that states that an attack on one member is an attack against all. 

ROME, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Italy's tax police have seized assets worth over 141 million euros ($144 million) from an architect who designed a luxury estate on the Black Sea which has been dubbed "Putin's palace" by opponents of the Russian president.

The tax police sent a statement earlier on Wednesday saying it had seized the assets from a "well-known professional" in Brescia, a town in northern Italy, citing alleged tax offences.

BELGRADE/PRISTINA, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Ukraine isto start the pullout of its peacekeepers from the NATO-led mission in Kosovo, the RBK-Ukraine news portal reported on Wednesday, citing sources from Ukraine's military command.

Ukraine currently maintains a contingent of 40 peacekeepers in Kosovo as part of the 3,800-strong NATO-led KFOR mission, but in March President Volodymyr Zelenskiy issued a decree ordering all missions to return home to help in the war with Russia.