Europe

FRANKFURT/BERLIN, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets across towns and cities in Germany this weekend as the country enters a second week of nationwide protests against the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Demonstrations have gained momentum after reports emerged from investigative news website Correctiv of a meeting of right-wing extremists in Potsdam at which migration policies including mass deportations of people of foreign origin were discussed.

DUBLIN, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Airlines cancelled 102 flights in and out of Dublin airport on Sunday due to a storm that was forecast to rage for the rest of the day, the airport operator said.

Storm Isha had also forced 24 aborted landings by 1700 GMT, while 27 flights opted to divert to other airports, Dublin Airport said in a post on social media platform X.

MOSCOW, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- A Russian charter jet with six people onboard crashed in Afghanistan on its way to Moscow from India via Uzbekistan, Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency confirmed on Sunday.

Russia's Investigation Commission on Sunday launched an investigation into the accident, while Russia's foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the Russian embassy in Afghanistan is now cooperating with local authorities on the aftermath of the crash.

MOSCOW, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said on Sunday that NATO's Steadfast Defender 2024 exercises signify a final and irrevocable return to the Cold War schemes.

NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Christopher Cavoli, announced earlier that the exercises, scheduled for next week, will be the largest in decades and will last for several months.

"These exercises are another component of the hybrid war that the West has waged against Russia," Grushko said.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Moscow-installed officials said Ukrainian shelling killed at least 27 people and wounded 25 on Sunday at a market on the outskirts of Donetsk, a Russian-occupied city in the eastern part of the country.

Among the injured in the suburb of Tekstilshchik were two children, said Denis Pushilin, the local leader.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — At least 25 people were killed Sunday by shelling at a market on the outskirts of the city of Donetsk in Russian-occupied Ukraine, local officials reported Sunday.

A further 20 people were injured in the strike on the suburb of Tekstilshchik, including two children, said Denis Pushilin, head of the Russian-installed authorities in Donetsk. He said that the shells had been fired by the Ukrainian military.

Kyiv has not commented on the event and the claims could not be independently verified by The Associated Press.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was worried at the prospect of Donald Trump returning to the White House, branding Trump’s claim that he could stop Ukraine’s war with Russia in 24 hours as “very dangerous.”

In an interview with the U.K.'s Channel 4 News that aired Friday, Zelenskyy invited the former president and front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination to visit Kyiv, but only if Trump delivers on his promise.

England (AP) — When Nikki Haley was a South Carolina legislator, she backed budgets boosted by federal aid. Running for governor, she criticized a “bailout culture” and dependence on Washington.

She once called the Confederate battle flag a heritage symbol and sidestepped calls to remove it from statehouse grounds. After a racist massacre in Charleston, Haley moved to take it down.

MOSCOW, January 19. /TASS/: The Russian Armed Forces carried out 17 group strikes, with weapons including Kinzhal missiles, on Ukrainian defense enterprises from January 6-12, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a daily bulletin of the special military operation.

BRUSSELS, January 19. /TASS/: The European Union intends to introduce new sanctions against Russia by the second anniversary of the start of the special military operation in Ukraine, a EU spokesperson told reporters.

"Yes, I can confirm that member-countries and the top diplomat intend to mark the second anniversary with new sanctions against Russia," he said, stressing that the EU is working on this matter.

"We are working on them and hope to achieve the result," the spokesperson added.