Europe

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy came out swinging Tuesday against Russian leader Vladimir Putin at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos and even had a harsh tone for his allies as war fatigue grows, pressing political and corporate leaders to enforce sanctions, help rebuild his country and advance the peace process.

ABOARD A FRENCH AIR FORCE AWACS (AP) — Off in the distance, Ukraine, fighting for its survival. Seen from up here, in the cockpit of a French air force surveillance plane flying over neighboring Romania, the snow-dusted landscapes look deceptively peaceful.

The dead from Russia’s war, the shattered Ukrainian towns and mangled battlefields, aren’t visible to the naked eye through the clouds.

BERN, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Switzerland on Monday agreed to host a global peace summit on Ukraine at the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Neutral Switzerland has previously acted as a broker to resolve conflicts and could now help find a resolution for the war that began when Russia sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

"At the request of the Ukrainian president, Switzerland has agreed to host a summit on the peace formula," the Swiss government said. "Further details are now being worked out."

BERLIN, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Germany's Finance Minister Christian Lindner took to the stage on Monday in front of thousands of jeering farmers protesting against tax rises and told them there was no money for further subsidies.

Berlin has been brought to a near standstill by the demonstration, which filled one of its central avenues with trucks and tractors as some 10,000 farmers arrived to cap a week of protests that have become a flashpoint for anti-government anger.

BRUSSELS, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Belgium has taken over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) for a challenging six-month term in 2024. The road ahead is no easy feat, with the European Parliament entering an election period in June, intensifying the urgency for the presidency to conclude numerous legislative dossiers.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo revealed in December that around 150 legislative dossiers are on the table, a point reiterated at the official presentation of the program for the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Ukrainian air force shot down a Russian Beriev A-50 early warning and control plane and an IL-22 command center aircraft in a significant blow for the Kremlin’s forces, Ukraine’s military chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi claimed Monday.

The planes are key tools in helping orchestrate Russian battlefield movements. Shooting them down is a landmark feat for Ukraine in the almost two-year war, as fighting along the front line is largely bogged down in trench and artillery warfare.

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — The world could have its first trillionaire within a decade, anti-poverty organization Oxfam International said Monday in its annual assessment of global inequalities timed to the gathering of political and business elites at the Swiss ski resort of Davos.

Oxfam, which for years has been trying to highlight the growing disparities between the super-rich and the bulk of the global population during the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, reckons the gap has been “supercharged” since the coronavirus pandemic.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Denmark’s new King Frederik X visited the Danish parliament Monday, on his first formal day on the job, a day after his mother, Queen Margrethe, abdicated after 52 years on the throne.

REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — Iceland’s president said the country is battling “tremendous forces of nature,” after molten lava from a volcano in the island’s southwest consumed several houses in the evacuated town of Grindavik.

President Gudni Th. Johannesson said in a televised address late Sunday that “a daunting period of upheaval has begun on the Reykjanes peninsula,” where a long-dormant volcanic system has awakened.

MOSCOW, January 14. /TASS/: The development of Russia’s Far East has advanced, the most difficult initial stage has been passed, now it is necessary to increase the pace, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

"At the first stage it was quite difficult to implement a lot of things that had been frozen for decades. In my opinion, the work has continued, we have advanced, the most difficult stage is over, now we just need to increase the pace," he said, answering reporters’ questions.