The UN rights chief was set to release a long-awaited report on alleged violations in China’s Xinjiang region before leaving office later yesterday, despite strong

Mikhail Gorbachev, who as the last leader of the Soviet Union waged a losing battle to salvage a crumbling empire but produced extraordinary reforms that led to the end of the Cold War, has died at 91, Russian media reported Tuesday.

A 75-year-old Austrian citizen of Iranian origin, jailed in Iran on charges of espionage, has been given a five-day release from prison, his daughter told AFP yesterday.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz yesterday pledged emphatic backing for Ukraine and other hopefuls to join the European Union, underlining however that enlarging the bloc to “30 or 36” would require reforms.

Russia said Monday it will launch sweeping military drills in the country’s east that will involve forces from China — a show of increasingly close defense ties between Moscow and Beijing amid tensions with the West over the Kremlin’s action in Ukraine.

Europe could face several winters of gas shortage as a result of the cuts to Russian supplies, Shell Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said.

Dutch police yesterday said six people were killed and seven other people hurt after a truck ran off the top of a dike road and ploughed into revellers at a neighbourhood barbecue.

The death toll from an accident when a truck drove off a dike and slammed into a community barbecue in a village south of Rotterdam rose to six Sunday and police said a further seven people are in hospital, including one in critical condition.

Russia has blocked the adoption of a joint declaration on the United Nations’ nuclear disarmament treaty, which criticised Moscow’s military takeover of Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine.

Pope Francis will create 20 new cardinals picked from the four corners of the world, most of whom could one day end up choosing the pontiff’s successor.

French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday said the fate of a revived nuclear deal is up to Iran, and that an agreement would be “useful” even if it doesn’t settle everything.

Moderna yesterday sued Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech for patent infringement in the development of the first Covid-19 vaccine approved in the United States, alleging they copied technology that Moderna developed years before the pandemic.

Russia is wasting large volumes of natural gas by burning it in a huge orange flare near the Finnish border at a time when it has sharply cut deliveries to the European Union, scientists and analysts said on Friday.

The UN human rights chief said yesterday that she is still aiming to release a long-anticipated report on China’s treatment of its Uyghur minority in Xinjiang by the end of her four-year mandate next week amid “tremendous pressure” from all sides.

Finland’s prime minister yesterday gave a forceful defence of her work record and her right to a private life after criticism sparked by a video of the 36-year-old partying.

Swiss glaciers have shed half their volume since 1931, Swiss researchers said yesterday, following the first reconstruction of the country’s ice loss in the 20th century.

In a leaked video, Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin is seen dancing and singing with friends at a private party. The 36-year-old leader poses for the camera. She sits on her knees, hands behind her head. She is entangled in a group hug. She is having a good time.

Weeks of baking drought across Europe have seen water levels in rivers and lakes fall to levels few can remember, exposing long-submerged treasures - and some unwanted hazards.

Russian fertilisers and agricultural products must be able to reach world markets “unimpeded” or a global food crisis could strike as early as next year, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Saturday.

The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo failed to resolve differences fuelling tension between the estranged Balkan neighbours during talks yesterday, but they agreed to resume discussions ahead of a Sept. 1 deadline that could stoke further unrest.