Europe

BERLIN, July 17 (Reuters) - The European Union can no longer afford to keep national vetoes when deciding on European Union foreign and security policy if it wants to maintain a leading role in global politics, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said.

Moscow's war in Ukraine makes unity in Europe ever more urgent and increases pressure for an end to "selfish blockades" of European decisions by individual member states, Scholz said in an article published by the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper on Sunday.

MOSCOW, July 17 (Reuters) - The refusal of Ukraine and Western powers to recognise Moscow's control of Crimea poses a "systemic threat" for Russia and any outside attack on the region will prompt a "Judgment Day" response, former president Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday.

Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 after a pro-Moscow president in Kyiv was toppled amid mass street protests. Moscow then also backed pro-Russian armed separatists in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

LONDON, July 17 (Xinhua) -- As Britain issued its first-ever "Red Extreme" heat warning, the highest-level alert, a leading climate scientist has said the country is ill-prepared for the record scorchers.

"The record high temperatures we're expecting and experiencing is not surprising. Climate change is leading to changes in extreme temperatures, changes in the number of heat waves around the world," Corinne Le Quere, professor of Climate Change Science at Britain's University of East Anglia, told Xinhua on Friday.

LONDON, July 17 (Xinhua) -- As political risk, volatility and social divisions increase in the United States, public trust hits a record low, which makes the country start to look less like a developed economy, a recent Financial Times opinion piece said.

ROME (AP) — Pleas were piling up Sunday in Italy aimed at persuading Premier Mario Draghi to stay in office instead of resigning as he tried to do last week after being let down by a populist coalition partner.

Hundreds of mayors have signed an open letter. Union leaders and industrialists, who often have opposing agendas, have been united in pressing Draghi to keep on governing. Italy and other European nations are facing soaring energy costs, steep inflation, surging COVID-19 cases and the war in Ukraine. In addition, a severe drought is parching Italy.

PARIS (AP) — Firefighters battled wildfires raging out of control in France and Spain on Sunday as Europe wilted under an unusually extreme heat wave that authorities in Madrid blamed for hundreds of deaths.

LONDON (AP) — The candidates to become the next British prime minister burnished their right-wing credentials Sunday, as they looked to remain in the race to succeed Boris Johnson.

Many of the five remaining hopefuls highlighted issues linked to Brexit and immigration as they attempted to woo fellow Conservative lawmakers ahead of a third round of voting on Monday, when another contender will drop out.

PALAIOCHORI, Greece (AP) — Experts were investigating the site of a plane crash in northern Greece Sunday to determine whether any dangerous chemicals or explosive cargo remains.

When they finish their job later in the day, they will clear a path for forensics experts to collect the bodies of the crew, authorities said.

The An-12 cargo plane smashed into fields between two villages late Saturday. Its fuselage dragged on the ground for some 170 meters before it disintegrated, authorities said.

VINNYTSIA, Ukraine (AP) — Beautiful and serene in a crown of white flowers, 4-year-old Liza who was killed by a Russian missile strike, was buried Sunday in central Ukraine as an Orthodox priest burst into tears and told weeping relatives that “evil cannot win.”

Liza, who had Down syndrome, was en route to see a speech therapist with her mother when Russian missiles struck the city of Vinnytsia on Thursday, far from the front lines. At least 24 people were killed, including Liza and two boys aged 7 and 8, and more than 200 were wounded, including Liza’s mother.

Kramatorsk (Ukraine), Jul 16 (AP-PTI) Russian forces fired missiles and shells at cities and towns across Ukraine on Saturday after Russia's military announced it was stepping up its onslaught against its neighbour. Ukraine reported at least 17 more civilians killed.