Europe

YEKATERINBURG, September 7. /TASS/: Combat crews from the Central Military Region's air defense brigade, rearmed with the newest missile systems Buk-M3, have demonstrated 100% accuracy during a live fire exercise at the Kapustin Yar proving ground in the Astrakhan Region, the region's press-service has said.

LONDON, Sept 7 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson set out plans on Tuesday to raise taxes on workers, employers and some investors to try to fix a health and social care funding crisis, angering some in his governing party by breaking an election promise.

After spending huge amounts of money to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, Johnson is returning to an election pledge to address Britain's creaking social care system, where costs are projected to double as the population ages over the next two decades.

MOSCOW, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Russian tech firm Yandex (YNDX.O) said on Tuesday it had removed jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny's tactical voting website from its search engine to comply with a government ban ahead of a parliamentary election this month.

Navalny and his allies want to use the website and a separate app to organise a tactical voting campaign at the Sept. 17-19 contest to land a blow against the ruling United Russia party.

ROME, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Ministers of health from the Group of Twenty (G20) on Monday took a step toward a plan to curb the spread of the coronavirus among vulnerable populations in poor countries.

After two days of talks, the ministers agreed on a broad plan to provide financial assistance and vaccines to slow the spread of the pandemic in the poorest countries, according to Italian Minister of Health Roberto Speranza.

PARIS (AP) — The 2015 attacks in Paris killed 130 people and wounded hundreds of others. A trial begins Wednesday of 20 men accused of having roles in the carnage.

The attacks were carefully planned and simultaneous across the French capital.

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September-November 2015: Two apartments and a house in Belgium are rented under false identities to prepare and coordinate the attacks. Salah Abdeslam rents two cars in Belgium to drive to France.

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Nov. 13, 2015

MADRID (AP) — Wildfires suspected to be arson have burned nearly 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of forest in northwestern Spain over two days, although rainfall was expected to give a respite to firefighting teams.

Two active blazes continued to be out of control Tuesday in a rugged mountainous area of Galicia, the region’s authorities said. The flames have come close to populated areas and forced the closure of roads.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union will request that Europe’s top court impose daily fines on Poland for failing to take action to protect the independence of the country’s justice system, officials said Tuesday.

The move ramps up a long-running battle between Poland’s nationalist government and the European Commission. The EU’s executive branch said that it wants the European Court of Justice to “impose financial penalties on Poland to ensure compliance” with a previous legal ruling.

BERLIN (AP) — Outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel painted a rosy picture of her government’s record on Tuesday and assailed the possibility of a future left-wing administration, seeking to boost her struggling party’s candidate as she addressed what is expected to be the German parliament’s last session before the Sept. 26 election.

Merkel also rebuked her deputy, who is a rival party’s candidate to succeed her and currently leading polls, over a comment in which he jokingly described people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 as “guinea pigs.”

Archanes (Greece), Sep 6 (AP-PTI) Greece has begun administering vaccinations for COVID-19 outside churches in a pilot program recently announced by the government as a means of encouraging more people to get the shots.

Mobile National Health Organization units began administering shots Monday in a church yard in Archanes, a town near the city of Heraklion on the southern island of Crete.

Tokyo, Sep 6 (AP-PTI) Japan's defence minister on Monday welcomed the British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth as it made its first Japanese port call, saying the involvement of European nations in the Indo-Pacific region is key to peace and stability as China's military strength and influence grow.

Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi met the strike group's commander, Commodore Steve Moorhouse, on board the carrier.