Europe

MOSCOW June 29 (Reuters) - Russia hinted on Wednesday that it had not dropped the idea of seizing Western-owned assets and businesses in the country, as a top official sharply criticised governments that have hit Moscow with sanctions.

In a combative media briefing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova warned that Russia was prepared to "act accordingly" if the West decided to use Russia's frozen state assets - chief among them being around $300 billion of central bank foreign currency reserves.

WARSAW, June 29 (Reuters) - Poland on Wednesday hailed U.S. President Joe Biden's commitment to establish the 5th Army's Headquarters in Poland as the realisation of a long-held dream that would send a clear signal of deterrence to Russia.

Biden told a NATO summit in Madrid earlier on Wednesday that the United States will ramp up its forces and equipment across Europe and set up a new permanent army headquarters in Poland in response to potential new threats from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

MADRID, June 29 (Reuters) - NATO invited Sweden and Finland on Wednesday to join the military alliance in one of the biggest shifts in European security in decades after Russia's invasion of Ukraine pushed Helsinki and Stockholm to drop their traditional of neutrality.

NATO's 30 allies took the decision at their summit in Madrid and also agreed to formally treat Russia as the "most significant and direct threat to the allies' security", according to a summit statement.

PARIS, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Yael Braun-Pivet was elected on Tuesday as the new speaker of the French National Assembly, France's lower house of parliament.

The French National Assembly's 577 members kicked off its first session on Tuesday by electing its first female speaker with 242 votes in her favor out of 462 voters, according to French media.

MADRID (AP) — President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the U.S. will significantly increase its military presence in Europe for the long haul, including by establishing its first permanent presence in Poland, to bolster regional security after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

BERLIN (AP) — A spokeswoman for Olaf Scholz says the German Chancellor doesn’t feel the need to apologize to a reporter for curtly dismissing her question at the end of the Group of Seven summit he hosted this week, prompting widespread criticism.

Rosalia Romaniec, a Polish-born journalist for German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, had asked Scholz on Tuesday whether he “could elaborate” on the security guarantees for Ukraine discussed by G-7 leaders during their summit.

“Yes, I could,” Scholz replied. After a moment’s pause, he added: “That’s it.”

PARIS (AP) — Over the course of an extraordinary nine-month trial, the lone survivor of the Islamic State extremist team that attacked Paris in 2015 has proclaimed his radicalism, wept, apologized to victims and pleaded with judges to forgive his “mistakes.”

For victims’ families and survivors of the attacks, the trial for Salah Abdeslam and suspected accomplices has been excruciating yet crucial in their quest for justice and closure. At long last, the court will hand down its verdict Wednesday.

MADRID (AP) — Ukraine’s president chided NATO for not embracing his embattled country more fully and asked for more weapons to fight Russia’s invasion, as the leaders of the alliance met amid what its chief called its biggest crisis since World War II.

Russia’s invasion of its neighbor shattered Europe’s peace, drove NATO to pour troops and weapons into eastern Europe on a scale not seen since the Cold War and is set to give the defense organization two new members in Sweden and Finland.

28 June 2022; MEMO: Greece's coast guard, on Monday, said it had prevented more than a thousand migrants and refugees from crossing its islands in boats from the nearby coast of Turkiye over the past three days, AP reports.

According to the report, it had turned back boats in 24 separate incidents, involving an estimated 1,130 people, near five Greek eastern Aegean Sea islands, with most of the interceptions occurring off Lesbos.

MOSCOW, June 28. /TASS/: The activities of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and the Swedish Institute in Russia are undesirable and should be stopped immediately, the Russian Foreign Ministry told the Swedish Charge d'Affaires in Russia on Tuesday.