Europe

Ukraine alters counter-offensive plans after document leak - CNN

KYIV, April 10 (Reuters) - Ukraine has been forced to amend some of its military plans ahead of a much-vaunted counter-offensive due to a leak of classified U.S. documents, CNN reported on Monday citing a source close to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Ukrainian officials told Reuters on Friday the allegedly leaked documents contained fictitious information and looked like a Russian disinformation campaign.

UK: Petrol bombs thrown at Northern Irish police on eve of Biden visit

LONDONDERRY, Northern Ireland, April 10 (Reuters) - A number of masked people attacked police with petrol bombs and other objects at a parade opposing the Good Friday peace accord in Londonderry, police said on Monday, a day before U.S. President Joe Biden visits Belfast.

A Reuters photograph showed four young people in the mainly Irish nationalist area of Creggan throwing petrol bombs at an armoured police vehicles, which was covered in flames on one side. Police said nobody was injured and appealed for calm.

Belarus leader says he wants guarantees that Russia will defend his country if it is attacked

MOSCOW, April 10 (Reuters) - Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, told Russia's defence minister on Monday that he wanted guarantees that Moscow would defend his country if it was attacked, the state-owned BelTA news agency reported.

BelTA cited Lukashenko as making the remarks to Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu during a meeting in the Belarusian capital Minsk.

Ukraine battles rage, report says Kyiv rethinking counter-offensive after leak

KYIV, April 10 (Reuters) - Russian forces pressed attacks on frontline cities in eastern Ukraine on Monday, while Ukrainian officials played down a report that Kyiv is amending some plans for a counter-offensive due to a leak of classified U.S. documents.

The Russians were pounding Ukrainian positions around besieged Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region and other cities and towns with air strikes and artillery barrages, Kyiv said.

Italian rice producer to attend consumer expo in China

ROME, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Piero Rondolino, founder of Italy's high-end rice producer Acquerello, is looking forward to participating in the upcoming China International Consumer Products Expo (CICPE). He hopes that his products will bring the peoples of China and Italy closer together as both boast outstanding food traditions.

The third edition of CICPE will take place between April 10 and April 15 in Haikou, the capital of the southern province of Hainan. Acquerello will join the exhibition along with 146 other Italian brands as Italy is the guest of honor this year.

Avalanche kills 6, including mountain guides, in French Alps

PARIS (AP) — The death toll from Sunday’s avalanche in the French Alps rose to six, including two mountain guides, local authorities said Monday.

The prosecutor’s office in Bonneville, in the Haute-Savoie region, said the body of a sixth person was found after searches resumed on Monday morning.

The prefecture of Haute-Savoie said one person was sent to the hospital with minor injuries. Eight other people were found unharmed.

No details have been provided on the identity of the victims.

Romanian prosecutors search devices in Andrew Tate case

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Andrew Tate, the divisive internet personality who is under house arrest in Romania on suspicion of organized crime and human trafficking, appeared at prosecutors’ offices on Monday for forensic searches of electronic equipment confiscated during investigations, his lawyer said.

Tate, 36, a British-U.S. citizen who has six million Twitter followers, was initially detained in late December in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, along with his brother Tristan and two Romanian women. None of the four has yet been formally indicted.

In Ukrainian village, a family lives under cloud of shelling

BOHOYAVLENKA, Ukraine (AP) — In a small village in eastern Ukraine the sounds of war echo in the distance while 10-year old Khrystyna Ksenofontova plays. She pets the neighborhood cats, paints and, like everyone else here, hopes the fighting will end soon.

The small village of Bohoyavlenka, in Donetsk province, lies 20 kilometers (13 miles) from the active front line. Khrystyna’s days are spent scrounging the bits of childhood she still can. Her family refuses to evacuate and lives under a cloud of constant shelling. She wears headphones to block out the booms of the explosions.

France: 8 people missing in fiery collapse of Marseille building

MARSEILLE, France (AP) — Eight people remained missing after the building they lived in exploded and collapsed early Sunday near the port of Marseille, leaving mounds of burning debris hampering rescue operations, officials said.

More than 100 firefighters worked against a ticking clock to extinguish flames deep within the rubble of the five-story building, but more than 17 hours later “the situation is not yet stabilized,” Marseille Prosecutor Dominique Laurens said at an evening news conference.

Subscribe to Europe