Europe

15 Sep 2021; MEMO: The United Kingdom banned China's ambassador from Parliament in response to Beijing placing sanctions on MPs who spoke up about its treatment of Uyghurs in the Xinjiang province, the BBC reports.

Ambassador Zheng Zeguang was prevented from joining the British Parliament by Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker of the House of Commons, and John McFall, the speaker of the House of Lords.

TIRANA, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Germany and the European Union (EU) encourage the Western Balkan (WB) countries to strengthen their regional cooperation, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said here on Tuesday.

"Germany has its own interest in the membership of the WB countries in the EU, but another cooperation at a regional level is an idea that has been accepted by the EU and Germany," Merkel told a joint press conference with Prime Minister Edi Rama during her official visit to Albania.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is committing 200 million more coronavirus vaccine doses to Africa to help curb the COVID-19 pandemic on a global scale.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday that the new donation to be fully delivered by the middle of next year comes on top of 250 million already pledged and underscores the EU resolve to boost the challenge low-income nations are facing.

Von der Leyen called it an “investment in solidarity and it is an investment also in global health.”

PARIS (AP) — Health care workers in France face suspension from their jobs starting Wednesday if they haven’t been vaccinated against COVID-19. With about 300,000 workers still not vaccinated, some hospitals fear staff shortages will add to their strain.

Vaccines are now compulsory for medical care, home care and emergency workers in France, and Wednesday is the deadline for such staff to have had at least one shot. Failing that, they face having pay suspended or not being able to work. But a top court has forbidden staff to be fired outright.

GENEVA, Sep 14 (APP): Pakistan Tuesday denounced India's "unlawful" measures to deprive the Kashmiri people of their right to self-determination, warning that the Indian state machinery has turned into a "veritable arm of oppression" in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

MOSCOW, September 14. /TASS/: A meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi has been postponed "until the next opportunity" due to the Russian leader’s self-isolation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.

"No, bilateral meetings won’t be conducted over conference calls. It is postponed until the next opportunity," the Kremlin official said.

MOSCOW, September 14. / TASS /: One tourist has been killed and two more have been injured during the descent of a glacier in the Karachay-Cherkessia mountains, located on Russia’s North Caucasus, the emergency services told TASS on Tuesday.

"In the Alibek gorge in the Dombay village, a part of the glacier collapsed at an altitude of 2,200 meters. A group of six tourists got hit by it. One of them died and two were injured," the source said.

MOSCOW, September 14. /TASS/: The West needs Ukraine as a springboard for its "anti-Russia" project, so it is essential for Kiev to restore neighborly relations with Russia and Belarus, the chairman of the State Duma's committee on international affairs, Leonid Slutsky, said in his Telegram channel while commenting on a statement by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba.

MOSCOW, September 14. /TASS/: The situation in Afghanistan was the focus of a telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Kremlin press service said on Tuesday.

"The sides exchanged views on the situation in Afghanistan and expressed interest in coordinating their countries’ approaches to its stabilization," it said.

Putin and Khan also discussed prospects for the development of bilateral relations in various spheres.

ATHENS, Sept 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Two people died Monday when the private plane they were travelling in crash in the sea near the island of Samos, a Greek navy source said.

   State TV ERT said a man and a woman were on board the Cessna aircraft.

   Local media said the single-engine plane had been flying from Israel to Samos, and that there was an explosion shortly before landing at the island’s airport.

   The bodies were taken to the Samos port town of Pythagoreio, the reports added.