Europe

BERLIN, October 22. /TASS/: All the available capacities for natural gas supplies from Russia to Europe are used, spokesperson of the German Ministry of Economy Beate Baron said on Friday.

"According to my data, pipeline capacities are used properly," she said. "You need to check with market players how high capacities are," Baron added.

"Various routes [of gas supplies] to Germany exist. There are two lines of the Nord Stream, supplies over Yamal (the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline - TASS). Volumes are available on the market," she said.

MOSCOW, October 22. /TASS/: Moscow is aware of the ongoing process of the deployment of armaments by NATO countries near Russia’s borders, Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Alexander Grushko said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV Channel on Friday.

"The process is ongoing. We are aware of what is taking place," the senior Russian diplomat said in response to a corresponding question.

NATO has decided to expel eight Russian diplomats from Brussels "so that no one impedes the process of demonizing Russia," Grushko pointed out.

MOSCOW, October 22. /TASS/: Search and rescue operations in the village of Lesnoi, the Ryazan Region, where an explosion took place inside a munitions disposal workshop on Friday, have been completed after the body of the last, 17th victim has been recovered from the ruins, emergency services said. 

GENEVA, Oct 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The World Health Organization’s chief promised a “profound transformation” of the global body following allegations of rape and other sexual abuse by its staff in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
 
  An independent commission of enquiry released a devastating report on Sept 28 that found that 21 of the WHO’s employees at the time committed abuses against dozens of people in the DRC during the 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak.
 
  Since then, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has apologised to the victims.
 

MOSCOW, Oct 22 (NNN-TASS) — At least 15 people have been killed in a blast and a following blaze that hit a plant in Russia’s Ryazan region on Friday.

At the time of the incident, there were 17 people in the one-story workshop of the “Razryad” company that produces industrial explosives, and rescuers have found 15 bodies.

The fire that covered an area of 160 square meters has been extinguished. The workshop building was completely destroyed in the blast.

The reason for the incident has not yet been officially announced. 

HODMEZOVASARHELY, Hungary, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Peter Marki-Zay, the new leader of Hungary's opposition alliance, has done the maths: he needs to win over the young, the undecided, and disenchanted supporters of veteran Prime Minister Viktor Orban to secure victory in next year's election.

The 49-year-old Catholic conservative and father of seven knows it will be a tough task ousting Orban and his nationalist, socially conservative Fidesz party, which has won three consecutive parliamentary landslides in the past 12 years.

BRUSSELS, Oct 22 (Reuters) - European Union leaders made a fresh effort on Friday to overcome their differences on how to handle immigrants, but disagreed on the best way forward, with the head of the bloc's executive saying there would be no EU funds for 'barbed wire and walls'.

While total immigration numbers are low compared to the bloc's population of some 450 million people, the issue feeds support for nationalist and populist groups across the EU, making it hard to reach a compromise among its 27 members.

BRUSSELS, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- The leaders of the European Union (EU) member states have endorsed a package of measures to deal with the immediate effects of the spike in energy prices, the European Council said on Friday.

In the conclusions of the two-day EU summit that started on Thursday, the leaders called for medium- and long-term measures that would contribute to affordable energy prices for households and companies.

The toolbox, which the European Commission launched last week, contains measures to tackle the rising energy prices in the short and longer term.

22 Oct 2021; MEMO: Less than a third of Brits support UK trade deals with Saudi Arabia, according to recently released government figures on public attitudes which were revealed as the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, meets senior figures in the oil-rich kingdom.

A survey carried out by the Department for International Trade (DIT) earlier this year showed just 27 per cent of the public would support a trade deal with Saudi Arabia compared with 64 per cent for both Australia and New Zealand, for example, and 57 per cent for the US.

SOCHI, October 21. /TASS/: No one should impose their own values or principles of order on any country, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the plenary session of the Valdai International Discussion Club.

"One should not impose anything on anyone, either the principles of social political system or values, which someone has declared universal due to their own considerations. It’s evident that when a real crisis breaks out, just one universal value remains — this is human life," the Russian leader said.