Europe

MOSCOW, September 11. /TASS/: A record in construction and new housing supply may be set in Russia in 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a meeting with Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on Saturday.

"In general, we may have a countrywide record," the president said commenting on the mayor’s report that Moscow may set a record this year in housing construction in its entire history. The president also noted that "the country’s economy on the whole has been restored."

PANTELLERIA (Italy), Sept 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — At least two people have been killed after a tornado swept through an Italian island on Friday.

Nine others were injured as the whirlwind overturned cars and ripped off roofs on the tourist hotspot of Pantelleria on Friday, according to Italy’s civil protection agency.

Four of the wounded remain in a critical condition.

One rescue worker who spoke to Italy’s Ansa news agency described the scene as “apocalyptic”.

Local media report that the tornado ripped down a coastal road.

PARIS, Sept 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Former French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn has been put under formal investigation over her handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, reported BFM TV and Agence France Presse.

The development marks one of first cases worldwide where a leading public sector official has been held legally accountable for the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

COPENHAGEN, Sept 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Denmark has become the only European country with no coronavirus-related restrictions in place, as vaccine rates have reached more than 70 percent of the population.

The return to normality has been gradual, but as of Friday, the digital pass proof of having been vaccinated is no longer required when entering nightclubs, making it the last COVID-19 safeguard to fall.

“It’s quite liberating that Denmark no longer has restrictions.”

WARSAW, Sept 11 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to Poland on Saturday, part of a goodbye tour of Europe for the continent's longest serving leader, risks being overshadowed by tensions over a gas pipeline and questions over her legacy in central Europe.

Having grown up in East Germany near the Polish border, Merkel, 67, was seen by some observers as a chancellor who could relate to the post-communist states of central Europe.

SOFIA, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Bulgaria will hold its third parliamentary election this year on Nov. 14, President Rumen Radev said on Saturday, after parliament approved changes to the 2021 state budget.

The Balkan country will also hold the first round of the regular presidential election on the same date.

Radev, who is running for re-election, said holding the two votes together will save time and taxpayer money in the European Union's poorest member state.

MOSCOW, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Russia sent Tajikistan 12 armoured vehicles and an array of military equipment, its defence ministry said on Saturday, as Moscow looks to shore up its Central Asian ally that neighbours Afghanistan.

Moscow has held military exercises in Tajikistan and expanded hardware at its military base there, its biggest in a foreign country, since the U.S. withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and the Taliban's lightning takeover.

VIENNA Sept 11 (Reuters) - U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi will fly to Tehran this weekend for talks that may ease a standoff between Iran and the West just as it risks escalating and scuppering negotiations on reviving the Iran nuclear deal, diplomats said on Saturday.

Three diplomats who follow the International Atomic Energy Agency closely said Grossi's trip before next week's meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors was confirmed.

Others said they had yet to receive word of confirmation.

The IAEA was not immediately available for comment.

BERLIN, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Armin Laschet, the conservative candidate to succeed Angela Merkel as Germany's chancellor in this month's election, demanded an apology from his Social Democrat rival on Saturday for criticising a money-laundering probe which included raids on his ministry.

Prosecutors raided the finance and justice ministries on Thursday as part of an investigation into the government's anti-money laundering agency, shining a spotlight on Germany's failings in tackling financial crime. 

ORENBURG, Russia, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- All Chinese troops participating in the "Peace Mission 2021," a counter-terrorism military exercise for Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states, arrived at the training range in Orenburg, Russia on Friday.

The drill is set to be held in Orenburg from Sept. 11 to 25. The participants are from eight SCO member states, including China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan.

The participating troops consist of around 4,000 military personnel, among which 558 are from China.