Europe

MOSCOW, July 31 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Armed Forces will obtain Zircon hypersonic missile systems in the coming months, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sunday.

"The capabilities of the Navy ... are constantly improving. Suffice it to mention the latest Zircon hypersonic missile systems, which are unstoppable and have no analogues in the world. Dear comrades, their delivery to the Russian Armed Forces will begin in the coming months," Putin said during the Navy Day parade.

MOSCOW, July 31 (Xinhua) -- The United States' quest for the dominance of world oceans and the expansion of NATO are the main threats to Russia's national maritime security, according to the new Russian naval doctrine adopted Sunday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the Executive Order on Approving the Naval Doctrine of the Russian Federation and the Executive Order on Approving the Russian Navy Regulations earlier in the day before the central part of the Main Naval Parade.

BERLIN (AP) — Rising concern over the impact of a potential Russian gas cutoff is fueling the debate in Germany over whether the country should switch off its last three nuclear power plants as planned at the end of this year.

The door to some kind of extension appeared to open a crack after the Economy Ministry in mid-July announced a new “stress test” on the security of electricity supplies. It’s supposed to take into account a tougher scenario than a previous test, concluded in May, that found supplies were assured.

30 July 2022; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid announced on Thursday that the comments of Miloon Kothari, a member of the United Nations (UN) Commission of Inquiry into the Israeli offensive on Gaza in 2021, "echo the darkest days of antisemitism".

The Times of Israel reported Lapid's spokesperson calling for the UN committee to be disbanded.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A drone-borne explosive device detonated Sunday at the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, injuring six people, officials said.

The explosion at the headquarters in the city of Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014 caused cancellation of observances of Russia’s Navy Day holiday.

The Black Sea Fleet’s press service said the drone appeared to be homemade. It described the explosive device as “low-power” but Sevastopol mayor Mikhail Razvozhaev said six people were injured in the blast.

LONDON (AP) — Two people are running to be Britain’s next prime minister, but a third presence looms over the contest: Margaret Thatcher.

The late former prime minister dominated Britain in the 1980s, and has left a large and contested legacy. Critics see her as an intransigent ideologue whose free-market policies frayed social bonds and gutted the country’s industrial communities. But for the governing Conservative Party, Thatcher is an icon, an inspiration and the presiding spirit who made Britain fit for the modern era.

MOSCOW, July 30. /TASS/: Russian armed forces destroyed two US M777 howitzers near Stepnogorsk, Zaporozhye region, official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday.

"Two American M777 howitzers were destroyed in the area of Stepnogorsk, Zaporozhye region. A battery of Uragan multiple launch rocket systems around the settlement of Kurdyumovka and two artillery batteries of Giatsint-B howitzers were hit," he said.

MOSCOW, July 30. /TASS/: Russia imposed sanctions on 32 citizens of New Zealand, including representatives of the command of the country's armed forces and journalists, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

MOSCOW, July 30. /TASS/: Outgoing UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson could identify as a woman to take part in the race for NATO Secretary Generals’ office, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on her Telegram channel Saturday.

Earlier, a TASS source in Brussels international institutions said that Johnson does not have a single chance to become a new NATO Secretary General, in particular, because he is not a woman and does not represent a new NATO member state.

STOCKHOLM, July 30. /TASS/: Norwegian Foreign Ministry regrets the incident involving an employee of the Norwegian consulate in Murmansk Elisabeth Ellingsen that took place in a Russian hotel, the Ministry told TASS Saturday.

The Ministry deeply regrets the incident, Ministry spokeswoman Tuva Raanes Bogsnes said, adding that the emotions expressed by the consulate employee does not reflect the Norwegian policy or attitude of Norwegians towards the Russian people in any way. She added that the Ministry is working on the incident via corresponding channels.