RUSSIA: The Kremlin on Friday rejected allegations that it was behind a plane crash that is presumed to have killed mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “Right now, of course, there are lots of speculations around this plane crash and the tragic deaths of the passengers of the plane, including Yevgeny Prigozhin.”

He said: “Of course, in the West those speculations are put out under a certain angle, and all of it is a complete lie.”

DENMARK: The Danish government said yesterday that it will propose a law that would make it illegal to desecrate any holy book in Denmark, where a recent string of public desecrations of the Koran by anti-Islam activists has sparked angry demonstrations in Muslim countries.

The right-wing government also said that it would extend Denmark’s existing ban on burning foreign flags.

FRANCE: Investigative magistrates yesterday ordered former president Nicolas Sarkozy and 12 others to go on trial on charges that his 2007 presidential campaign received millions in illegal financing from the government of late Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi.

The national financial prosecutor, Jean-Francois Bohnert, said that the trial will run from January to April 2025.

GREECE: Authorities battling a major wildfire in north-eastern Greece, described as the European Union’s largest single recorded fire, have recovered another body, the fire department said yesterday, bringing the total death toll from wildfires in Greece this week to 21.

The fire department said firefighters recovered the body of a man from the Dadia forest national park, which lies near the border with Turkey, on Thursday.