CNN – Europe/Mideast/Africa

By Ivan Watson, CNN On the banks of the Dnieper River, parents sunbathe on the beach as their children splash in the cool, refreshing water. A girl dances, twisting and twirling in the sand as a busker on the boardwalk beats his drum to the rhythm of a pop tune. With bars and cafes humming

By Aqeel Najim, Hamdi Alkhshali, Eyad Kourdi, Obaida Nafaa, Alex Stambaugh and Ivana Kottasová, CNN More than 100 people have been injured in clashes in Baghdad on Saturday after protesters rallying against the nomination of a new prime minister managed to breach the Iraqi capital’s heavily fortified Green Zone for the second time this week.

By Ivana Kottasová, Josh Pennington, Martin Goillandeau and Anna Cooban, CNN Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom said on Saturday it had stopped supplying gas to Latvia, accusing the Baltic country of “violating conditions for gas withdrawal,” without giving any further details. The announcement is the latest escalation in the energy dispute between Russia and the

By Tim Lister and Josh Pennington, CNN Across Russia, volunteer battalions are being formed to deploy to the war in Ukraine, joining the so-called “special military operation” declared by President Vladimir Putin in February. From Murmansk in the Arctic Circle to Perm in the Urals and Primorsky Krai in the Russian Far East, the call

By Tim Lister, Julia Kesaieva and Josh Pennington, CNN Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday the attack on a prison in separatist-held eastern Ukraine, which resulted in the deaths of at least 40 prisoners, was “a deliberate war crime by the Russians.” Russia, meanwhile, blamed Ukraine for the attack. The Olenivka prison near Donetsk has

By Jessie Yeung, Sana Noor Haq and Adrienne Vogt, CNN The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

By Larry Madowo and Bethlehem Feleke, CNN On August 9, Kenyans head to the polls and with soaring food and fuel prices, high unemployment and post-pandemic stagnation, a change in leadership could not come at a more critical time for East Africa’s largest economy. Who are the candidates? Deputy President William Ruto, 55 and veteran

By Travis Caldwell and Anna Chernova, CNN This week’s trial proceedings in Russia over WNBA star Brittney Griner’s detention have shed more light on the details of her arrest, including her testimony that she wasn’t provided key information on her rights granted under Russian law. Seated in a courtroom near Moscow Wednesday, Griner denied accusations

By Angus Watson, Ivan Watson, Olha Konovalova, Dan Hodge and Tim Lister, CNN A Ukrainian reconnaissance team squats in a modest home in a village near Mykolaiv. Machine guns and army knapsacks line the walls, sleeping bags lie rolled out on the floor, and a pot of soup warms on the stove. Outside, the garden

By Hamdi Alkhshali and Aqeel Najim, CNN Hundreds of angry protesters loyal to the powerful cleric Muqtada al-Sadr broke into Baghdad’s heavily protected Green Zone on Wednesday, denouncing the nomination of a new prime minister. Mohammed Shiya al-Sudani was formally nominated to lead the country on Monday by the Coordination Framework, the largest Shiite alliance

By Saskya Vandoorne and Tina Burnside, CNN Despite growing pleas from climate change activists, the Democratic Republic of Congo says it is moving forward with its plans to auction off a vast majority of oil and gas drilling blocks located in the country’s rainforest and peatland. In a statement, the Ministry of Hydrocarbon said 27

By Kathleen Magramo, Jack Guy and Adrienne Vogt, CNN The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

By Dakin Andone and Anna Chernova, CNN US basketball star Brittney Griner testified in a Russian courtroom Wednesday as part of her ongoing trial on drug charges, telling the court she had no intention of smuggling drugs into the country. “I still don’t understand to this day how they ended up in my bags,” said

By Kathleen Magramo, Adrienne Vogt, Mike Hayes and Maureen Chowdhury, CNN The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

By Tara John and Anna Chernova, CNN WNBA star Brittney Griner will testify as part of her drug trial in Russia on Wednesday, her lawyers said, as her defense team claimed that cannabis oil found in her luggage was for medicinal purposes. “Griner will testify tomorrow, and after that, it’s her decision whether she answers

By Peter Taggart, CNN Tributes are being paid following the death of Nobel Peace Prize winner David Trimble, an architect of the Good Friday agreement that largely ended three decades of conflict in Northern Ireland. He was 77. Trimble had been leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, which issued a short statement Monday: “It is

By Nadeen Ebrahim, CNN Once regarded as the sole democracy to have emerged from the mass protests of the Arab Spring in 2011, Tunisia on Tuesday passed a newly minted constitution that analysts fear could be the final nail in the coffin of its democratic era. With no minimum voter threshold, only 30.5% of eligible

By Toyin Owoseje, CNN British socialite Tamara Ecclestone is offering a £6 million ($7.2 million) reward for information that leads to the recovery of jewelry worth tens of millions of dollars which was stolen from her London home. In December 2019, thieves raided the house of the 38-year-old socialite, who is the daughter of ex-Formula

By Masha Angelova and Mitchell McCluskey, CNN A chess-playing robot broke a boy’s finger during a match in Russia last week, the president of the Moscow Chess Federation told state news agency TASS media. Sergey Lazarev said the incident occurred at the Moscow Chess Open after the boy rushed the robot. “A robot broke a

By Kathleen Magramo, Tara Subramaniam, Aditi Sangal, Mike Hayes, Meg Wagner and Maureen Chowdhury, CNN The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

By Sara Mazloumsaki, Alex Stambaugh and Chris Liakos, CNN Hundreds of residents and tourists have been evacuated on the Greek island of Lesbos after a wildfire broke out, burning houses and threatening villages. Fifty firefighters with 17 firetrucks and nine firefighting aircraft were working to extinguish the fire alongside volunteers and water tankers provided by

By Scott McLean, Sarah Dean, Dennis Lapin and Cristiana Moisescu, CNN By late morning, a line has already formed outside the nondescript registration office on the western edge of Kyiv. Some of those waiting are wearing casual clothes, but a few of the women are dressed up in white and carrying bouquets of flowers. This

By Rob Picheta, Radina Gigova, Gul Tuysuz, Alex Stambaugh and Jake Kwon, CNN Russian missile strikes have hit the southern Ukrainian port of Odesa, just one day after Ukraine and Russia agreed on a deal that would allow the resumption of vital grain exports from the region. Serhii Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odessa military

By Rob Picheta, Jomana Karadsheh, Radina Gigova and Tim Lister, CNN Ukraine and Russia have agreed a deal that would allow the resumption of vital grain exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports, a major diplomatic breakthrough aimed at easing a global food crisis sparked by the war. Ministers from both countries signed an agreement brokered

By Kathleen Magramo, Aditi Sangal, Meg Wagner, Sana Noor Haq and Hannah Strange, CNN The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

By David McKenzie and Ghazi Balkiz, CNN A photograph of Fadi’s smiling face is emblazoned on his mother’s t-shirt. The then-20-year-old is pictured standing near the shores of the Mediterranean Sea in Tunisia. Above her son’s image, 53-year-old Samia Jabloun has written the words “Dove Sei?” — “Where are you?” in Italian — in permanent

By Yusuf Gezer, Jomana Karadsheh, Richard Roth and Hande Atay Alam, CNN Turkey says a deal is close to being agreed upon to resume crucial global grain exports from Ukrainian ports, which have been blocked by Russia as its war on Ukraine continues. Details of the emerging deal, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey

By Jack Guy, CNN Spanish police have detained a pair of professional thieves accused of stealing more than $1.6 million worth of wine from a hotel in the south of the country. The man and woman evaded capture for almost nine months before being arrested on the Montenegro-Croatia border on Tuesday for stealing 45 bottles

By Kara Fox, Barbie Latza Nadeau Nicola Ruotolo, Sharon Braithwaite and Livia Borghese, CNN Italy’s President Sergio Mattarella dissolved parliament on Thursday, triggering a snap election following the resignation of the country’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi earlier in the day. The national election will take place on September 25. Mattarella branded the developments as “inevitable”

By Angus Watson, Ivan Watson, Olha Konovalova and Dan Hodge, CNN Soldiers toting guns and grenades while drunk, looting private property, and squabbling with fellow fighters to the point of armed stand-offs: Civilians who have escaped the Russian-controlled city of Kherson in Ukraine’s south say their home has become unrecognizable since Moscow’s troops began their

By Kathleen Magramo, Aditi Sangal, Meg Wagner and Sana Noor Haq, CNN The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

By Zahra Ullah, Matthew Chance and Katharina Krebs, CNN On a sweltering summer day in July, hundreds of Ukrainians try to rest on metal beds lined up in a basketball court-turned-shelter. Their tales of horror and hardship along with a few belongings are all they have left. But with this safe haven being inside Russia,

By Sharon Braithwaite, Livia Borghese, Tara John and Jack Guy, CNN Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi won a confidence vote in the country’s Senate on Wednesday, but emerged badly bruised. Despite his calls for unity, lawmakers from three parties boycotted the vote: the powerful 5-Star movement, which is the largest party in the country’s coalition

By Radina Gigova, Sana Noor Haq and Jack Guy, CNN Russia’s objectives in Ukraine now extend beyond the eastern Donbas region into the country’s south, a senior government minister has said. As the war in Ukraine approaches its fifth month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told state media that the “geography is different.” “It is

By Nadeen Ebrahim, CNN One image distributed by Iranian media on Tuesday of Russia and Iran’s leaders meeting stood out. Russian President Vladimir Putin is shown clasping palms with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the two rulers — both heads of oil-rich countries grappling with grueling Western sanctions — boast about their tight

By Nimi Princewill, CNN Police in Malawi have charged a Chinese man with child trafficking after a BBC documentary accused him of filming children chanting racist phrases mocking themselves in Chinese, according to authorities in the southeast African country. Deputy spokesperson for the Malawi Police Service, Harry Namwaza, told CNN the man, identified as Lu

By Rob Picheta, CNN Hundreds of millions of people around the world were sweltering in extreme heat on Wednesday, as record-breaking heat waves set swathes of Europe’s countryside on fire, scorched the US and put dozens of Chinese cities under alert. Five separate high-pressure weather systems across the northern hemisphere, which are linked by atmospheric

By Jessie Yeung, Aditi Sangal, Sana Noor Haq and Hannah Strange, CNN The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

By Rob Picheta, Anna Chernova, Uliana Pavlova and Chris Liakos, CNN Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Iran on Tuesday for his first international trip beyond the borders of the former Soviet Union since launching his invasion of Ukraine, which effectively ruptured ties with the West. Putin met with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran,

By Scott McLean, Sarah Dean and Dennis Lapin, CNN On the outskirts of Kyiv, past endless rows of Soviet-style apartment blocks, there’s a sterile rehabilitation center filled with Ukrainian troops injured on the front lines. There are patients with nerve damage, burns, breaks, even an amputated leg — and it seems almost everyone’s inked arms

By Kathleen Magramo, Rob Picheta and Aditi Sangal, CNN The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

By Irene Nasser and Nimi Princewill, CNN Ghana has confirmed its first two cases of the highly infectious Marburg virus disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Sunday in a statement. The announcement comes after two unrelated patients from the southern Ashanti region of Ghana, both of whom later died, tested positive for the virus.

By Andrew Raine, Kathleen Magramo, Aditi Sangal, Mike Hayes, Elise Hammond and Maureen Chowdhury, CNN The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

By CNN’s Tim Lister and Mariya Knight Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has suspended two important figures in his government, questioning their leadership qualities and accusing many of their subordinates of treason and collaborating with Russia. The two high-ranking officials — Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova and State Security Service (SBU) head Ivan Bakanov, a long-time associate

By Julia Kesaieva, Tim Lister, Darya Tarasova and Sana Noor Haq, CNN The Ukrainian military rebuffed Russian advances in Donetsk over the weekend, as the bloody battle for control in the eastern Donbas region grinds on. At least eight settlements in the eastern part of Donetsk came under fire Saturday through Sunday. Most of the

By Talia Kayali, Chris Liakos and Teele Rebane, CNN A cargo plane crashed in northern Greece on Saturday, killing all eight people on board and raising concerns about the Serbian military equipment it was carrying. The plane had been transporting equipment including illuminating mortar shells and training shells to Bangladesh when it crashed near Eleftheroupoli

By Nic Robertson, Sarah El Sirgany and Tara Subramaniam, CNN Joe Biden’s controversial fist bump with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was “a win” for the US President, the Saudi foreign minister told CNN in an exclusive interview on Saturday. The US President has faced a backlash over the informal way he greeted the

By Phil Mattingly, Allie Malloy, Tamara Qiblawi and Celine Alkhaldi, CNN Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, hit back at Joe Biden after the US President confronted him about the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi during a meeting between the two leaders on Friday. In the meeting, Bin Salman,

By Nadine Schmidt, CNN One of postwar Germany’s most publicized terrorism trials concluded Friday as a former German soldier was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison for plotting a far-right attack on senior politicians while posing as a Syrian refugee. The 33-year-old former army officer — identified as Franco A. in accordance with German privacy

By Kyle Blaine and Eliza Mackintosh, CNN Saudi Arabia on Friday opened its airspace to all civilian carriers, including all flights to and from Israel, in a step toward normalizing relations between the two nations as US President Joe Biden tours the Middle East. In a statement shared hours before he was due to fly

By Aditi Sangal, Adrienne Vogt, Sana Noor Haq and Hafsa Khalil, CNN The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

By Livia Borghese and Sharon Braithwaite, CNN Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said Thursday that he would resign, after the 5-Star movement — the largest party in the country’s coalition government — withdrew its support in a parliamentary confidence vote. Draghi’s measures — a package designed to tackle Italy’s cost-of-living crisis — passed by 172

CNN Editorial Research Here is a look at the life of J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter book series. Personal Birth date: July 31, 1965 Birth place: Gloucestershire, England Birth name: Joanne Rowling Father: Peter Rowling, aircraft factory manager Mother: Anne (Volant) Rowling, lab technician Marriages: Neil Murray (December 26, 2001-present); Jorge Arantes (1992-1995,

By Tim Lister and Oren Liebermann, CNN There’s a new and potentially very significant factor in the Ukrainian conflict: the Ukrainians’ ability to use recently supplied Western systems to hit Russian command posts, logistical hubs and ammunition dumps a long way beyond the front lines. In the past week, there have been enormous explosions in

By Aditi Sangal, Adrienne Vogt, Kathleen Magramo, Elise Hammond and Maureen Chowdhury, CNN The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.