Europe

22 February 2024; MEMO: Twenty-six French lawmakers have asked the International Olympic Committee to bar Israel from competing in the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris.

In a letter to Thomas Bach, the head of the International Olympic Committee, the lawmakers condemned “the unprecedented war crimes committed by Israel” against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

23 February 2024; MEMO: Nestlé has seen “hesitancy among consumers and a preference for local brands” in the Middle East since the start of the Israeli devastating war on the besieged Gaza Strip, its CEO said in a call with journalists on Thursday, Reuters reports.

26 February 2024; MEMO: Jacob Rothschild, a British Jewish banker, passed away at the age of 87, his family announced on Monday, Anadolu Agency reports.

Jan 21 (Reuters) - The scale of NATO's Steadfast Defender 2024 exercises mark an "irrevocable return" of the alliance to Cold War schemes, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told the state RIA news agency in remarks published on Sunday.

NATO said on Thursday it was launching its largest exercise since the Cold War involving some 90,000 troops, rehearsing how U.S. troops could reinforce European allies in countries bordering Russia and on the alliance's eastern flank if a conflict were to flare up with a "near-peer" adversary.

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.