Europe

MOSCOW, Sept 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the presence of foreign troops in Syria, a Kremlin statement said Tuesday, as he held unannounced talks in Moscow with the country’s embattled
President Bashar al-Assad.

   Moscow has been a key ally of the Assad regime throughout the Syrian conflict that erupted in 2011 with the repression of anti-government protests. Russia’s military intervention in 2015 helped turn the tide of the war in Assad’s favour and Moscow maintains military bases in the country.

BRUSSELS, Sept 14 (Reuters) - The European Union has no option but to talk to Afghanistan's new Taliban rulers and Brussels will try to coordinate with member governments to organise a diplomatic presence in Kabul, the top EU diplomat said on Tuesday.

"The Afghan crisis is not over," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told the European Parliament in Strasbourg. "To have any chance of influencing events, we have no other option but to engage with the Taliban."

MOSCOW, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday he was self-isolating after several members of his entourage fell ill with COVID-19, including someone he worked with in close proximity and had been in close contact with all of the previous day.

Putin, who has had two shots of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, explained the situation to a government meeting by video conference after the Kremlin said he was "absolutely" healthy and did not have the disease himself.

LONDON, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Britain will begin a broad-based COVID-19 vaccine booster programme for older and more vulnerable people soon as Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government relies on vaccines rather than further lockdowns to navigate a "bumpy" winter.

British officials said COVID-19 vaccines had saved more than 112,000 lives and averted 24 million infections as they proposed a third shot for frontline health workers and those aged over 50 or clinically vulnerable, starting with people most at risk.

MADRID (AP) — Authorities in southern Spain say that rain has helped to bring under control a major wildfire that ravaged 7,800 hectares (19,200 acres) of land despite more than five days of intense firefighting work by land and air.

Juan Manuel Moreno, the president of the Andalusia region, said in a tweet early on Tuesday that “the rain that has been falling for some hours has been the best ally of the intense and admirable work of the crews.”

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The leader of Norway’s Labor Party is to start talks Tuesday in an attempt to build a coalition after the center-left bloc beat the incumbent Conservatives and won Norway’s general elections.

With all votes now counted, the Labor Party and its two left-leaning allies — the Socialist Left and the euroskeptic Center Party — grabbed 100 seats in the 169-seat Stortinget assembly while the current government would get 68. The last seat is going to a northern Norway health-focused protest party, Pasientfokus.

MOSCOW (AP) — In the months before Sunday’s parliamentary election in Russia, authorities unleashed an unprecedented crackdown on the opposition, making sure that the best-known and loudest Kremlin critics didn’t run.

Some were barred from seeking public office under new, repressive laws. Some were forced to leave the country after threats of prosecution. Some were jailed.

MOSCOW, September 13. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin is not going to discuss the issues of war and peace in Donbass with his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky since Moscow is not a party to this conflict, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Monday.

MOSCOW, September 13. /TASS/: A visa-free travel agreement between Russia and San Marino is nearly ready and is expected to be signed soon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday after talks with visiting San Marino's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, International Economic Cooperation and Telecommunications Luca Beccari.

"We have an agreement in principle to speed up the work on an intergovernmental agreement on visa-free trips for the two countries’ citizens. The agreement is almost ready and I think we will organize its signing soon," he said.

MULINO PROVING GROUND /Nizhny Novgorod Region/, September 13. /TASS/: Russia used Uran-9 and Nerekhta combat robots in the regular ranks of formations for the first time during the Zapad-2021 drills, Russian Ministry of Defense announced Monday.

"Uran-9 and Nerekhta reconnaissance and fire support robots were used for the first time within regular forces formations during the staging of practical actions of forces at the Zapad-2021 military exercise," the Ministry said.