WASHINGTON, June 17 — A shooting at a church in the US state of Alabama left one person dead and two wounded today, police said.

It happened outside St Stephen’s Episcopal Church in the town of Vestavia Hills and a suspect is in custody, the town’s police department said on Facebook.

The shooting took place as the church was holding a potluck dinner, the church said on its website.

The United States is in the midst of a particularly gruesome chapter of its epidemic of gun violence. The worst case in this stretch was a shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas that left 19 children and two teachers dead on May 24.

Since the start of the year more than 20,000 people have died of firearm violence in the United States, according to an NGO called the Gun Violence Archive. This includes deaths by suicide. — AFP

KYIV, June 16 — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said today his government supported granting Ukraine and Moldova official status as candidates for European Union membership while still stressing that candidates had to fulfill clear criteria for accession.

"Ukraine belongs to the European family," he said during a visit to Kyiv alongside the leaders of Italy and France. — Reuters

LONDON, June 16 — Britain "wholeheartedly" supports Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said as she urged Russia to release him, after reports that he was moved to a high-security prison camp further away from Moscow.

"We wholeheartedly support Navalny and we are very, very concerned about the reports we have heard and we urge Russia to release him as soon as possible," Truss told parliament today.

Earlier this week, Navalny was abruptly moved to a high-security penal colony further from Moscow from the prison where he was serving an 11-1/2 year sentence. — Reuters