Europe

April 11 (Reuters) - Authorities in four Russian regions bordering Ukraine and in Russian-controlled Crimea announced they were stepping up security measures on Monday over what they said were "possible provocations" from the Ukrainian side.

Moscow, which sent thousands of troops into Ukraine in what it calls a "special military operation", has accused Ukraine of targeting its border regions, including by striking a fuel depot in the city of Belgorod earlier this month.

BUCHAREST, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Romania's main ruling National Liberal Party (PNL) elected on Sunday incumbent Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca as its new chairman during the party's congress.

Ciuca, the sole candidate and the new party leader announced after his election that the party, together with its governing partners, would finalize a series of recently proposed economic and social measures during the coalition's session on Monday.

LONDON, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Britain's gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 0.1 percent in February, down from a 0.8 percent growth in January, the country's statistics office said on Monday.

Services, growing by 0.2 percent, was the main contributor to the GDP growth in February, while production and construction fell by 0.6 percent and 0.1 percent respectively, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Accommodation and food service activities increased by 8.6 percent in February, being the main driver of February's growth in services, ONS data showed.

BERLIN (AP) — A German Cabinet minister has apologized for taking a long vacation shortly after devastating floods last year in the state where she was then a senior official, but it isn’t clear whether the move will help relieve pressure on her.

Anne Spiegel became the minister for families and women in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Cabinet in December. Before that, she was the environment minister and deputy governor of Rhineland-Palatinate state — the region worst hit by floods in July that killed more than 180 people in Germany.

MILAN (AP) — Italian Premier Mario Draghi travels to Algeria on Monday to sign a deal for more natural gas, the latest push by a European Union country to acquire alternative energy sources to reduce dependence on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

Russia is Italy’s biggest supplier, representing 40% of total imports, followed by Algeria, which provides some 21 billion cubic meters of gas via the Trans-Mediterranean pipeline. The new deal would add an additional 9 billion cubic meters of gas from Algeria, just eclipsing Russia’s 29 billion cubic meters a year.

LONDON (AP) — The World Bank says Ukraine’s economy will shrink by 45.1% this year because of Russia’s invasion, which has shut down half of the country’s businesses, choked off imports and exports, and damaged a vast amount of critical infrastructure.

Unprecedented financial and export sanctions imposed by Western allies in response to the war, meanwhile, are plunging Russia into a deep recession, lopping off more than a tenth of its economic growth, the World Bank said in a report Sunday.

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron may be ahead in the presidential race so far, but he warned his supporters that “nothing is done” and his runoff battle with far-right challenger Marine Le Pen will be a hard fight. And she’s ready for it.

The duel is starting Monday, after the two came out on top in Sunday’s first-round vote. The centrist Macron is heading to an economically depressed area of northern France where a majority of voters chose Le Pen, close to her electoral stronghold of Henin-Beaumont.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia said Monday that it destroyed air defense systems in Ukraine over the weekend, in what appeared to be a renewed push to gain air superiority and take out weapons Kyiv has described as crucial ahead of a broad new offensive in the east.

Moscow’s initial invasion stalled on several fronts as it met with stiff resistance from Ukrainian forces, who prevented the Russians from taking the capital and other cities.

VIENNA, April 10. /TASS/: Ukraine has notified the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about the first rotation of the personnel of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in three weeks, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said on Sunday.

"Ukraine informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today that it had carried out the first staff rotation at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in three weeks and only the second since late February when Russian forces seized the site," he said.

MOSCOW, April 10. /TASS/: Juice Development software developers have launched the service for channels transfer from YouTube to the Russian social network VKontakte, the official community of developers in the social network said.

"We have developed a service whereby bloggers can conveniently copy their YouTube channels to the VKontakte platform. Make several simple steps and the service will place all the needed videos in the VKontakte community or on the personal page," Developers said in the group.