Reuters

Russians began voting on Friday in a three-day parliamentary election which President Vladimir Putin has said will show that millions of people back his army fighting in Ukraine, even though most anti-war candidates were not allowed to run.   

The US government has approved up to $414 million in financing for a uranium project in Niger, according to the project's developer, in what sources described as a win for Washington two years after the West African nation expelled all US forces.

France has been urging the EU to lift sanctions on Russian-Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov after coming under what it says is pressure from Azerbaijan as Baku holds two French nationals, three European diplomats familiar with the matter said.

Police in Democratic Republic of Congo dispersed opposition protests in several cities on Tuesday against proposed constitutional changes that critics say could allow President Felix Tshisekedi to seek a third term, with Reuters witnesses reporting tear gas and warning shots in Kinshasa.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen maintained her lead ahead of the presidential election and far-left rival Jean-Luc Melenchon was second in most tested scenarios, a poll showed on Monday, stressing the electorate's growing polarisation as Emmanuel Macron's era ends.  

Sweden's centre-left parties, which back Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson for prime minister, held an early lead with 51.3% of the vote in a parliamentary election on Sunday, an exit poll by broadcaster SVT showed.

Hungary's government will change legislation passed in 2020 by Viktor Orban's former government that had effectively banned gay adoption, Prime Minister Peter Magyar said on Saturday.

Sweden's centre-left opposition was polling just ahead of the ruling right-wing bloc ahead of Sunday's parliamentary election, indicating that voters may reject the government's alliance with the far-right.

After its triumph in Sunday's state election in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany's far-right AfD needs to attract defectors from other parties or reach an agreement with the small far-left BSW party that is setting difficult conditions in return for its support.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Wednesday accused the Alternative for Germany of supporting Russia against Germany's interests and advocating anti-migration policies that were tantamount to "ethnic cleansing".

Thousands of people gathered in front of a church in Belgrade to pay respects to former Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic who died last week while serving a life sentence for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.  

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) surged into first place in state elections in Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday, exit polls showed, putting a far-right party on the cusp of power at state level for the first time since World War Two.