Europe

MOSCOW, July 20. /TASS/: Russia has received information about cooperation between the US-led foreign contingent and the Islamic State (IS) terror group (outlawed in Russia) in Afghanistan, Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan and Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second Asian Department Zamir Kabulov said on Tuesday at an online discussion of the Valdai international discussion club.

MOSCOW, August 29. /TASS/: Police officers, using a DNA database from January to July of 2021, identified those people involved in committing more than 3,000 crimes, the press center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs told TASS.

"For 7 months of 2021, using the federal database of genomic information, information was obtained on the possible involvement of persons in committing more than 3 thousand crimes," the agency's interlocutor said.

MOSCOW, August 29. /TASS/: Confirmed coronavirus cases in Russia grew by 19,286 in the past day to 6,882,827, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Sunday. The relative coronavirus growth rate equaled 0.28%, the crisis center said.

In particular, 1,318 new coronavirus cases were registered in the past day in St. Petersburg, 914 in the Moscow Region, 523 in the Sverdlovsk Region, 485 in the Rostov Region and 470 in the Perm Region, the latest figures suggest.

PARIS, Aug 29 (Reuters) - France and Britain will submit a resolution to an emergency United Nations meeting due Monday proposing a safe zone in Kabul to try and protect people trying to leave Afghanistan, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday.

"Our resolution proposal aims to define a safe zone in Kabul, under U.N. control, which would allow humanitarian operations to continue," Macron told French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD) in an interview published on Sunday.

BERLIN, Aug 29 (Reuters) - The campaign over who will replace German Chancellor Angela Merkel heated up on Sunday after an opinion poll showed the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) opening up a bigger lead over Merkel's conservatives.

Support for the SPD rose two points from last week to 24%, their highest result in four years according to the INSA poll conducted for the Bild am Sonntag newspaper. The conservatives slipped one point to 21%, their lowest ever polled by INSA.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday praised the “colossal” effort to airlift civilians from Kabul, as U.K. troops and diplomats flew home after the two-week mission, ending 20 years of British military involvement in Afghanistan.

In a video message, Johnson praised the “colossal exertions” of British troops engaged in “a mission unlike anything we’ve seen in our lifetimes.”

But his government is facing criticism for leaving behind hundreds, or even thousands, of vulnerable Afghans whom the U.K. had promised to protect.

DUBROVNIK, Croatia (AP) — Beaches along Croatia’s Adriatic Sea coastline are swarming with people. Guided tours are fully booked, restaurants are packed and sailboats were chartered well in advance.

Summer tourism has exceeded even the most optimistic expectations in Croatia this year. Once fearful that the coronavirus pandemic would discourage people from traveling, Croatia’s tourism industry was caught by surprise.

29 Aug 2021; MEMO: England's military presence in Afghanistan came to an end after 20 years as the remaining UK troops have left, Britain's defense chief said late Saturday, reports Anadolu Agency.

"At 21.25hrs tonight the last RAF plane left Kabul Airport ending the evacuation of military and Afghan personnel," Ben Wallace wrote on Twitter.

28 Aug 2021; MEMO: Senior Hamas leader Dr Musa Abu Marzouq met with Special Presidential Representative on the Middle East Mikhail Bogdanov on Friday.

The two officials met at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters in Moscow and discussed several issues related to the Middle East.

MOSCOW, August 27. /TASS/: The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project is at the final implementation stage, the Russian gas holding Gazprom said on Friday. The project status was reviewed by the CEO of Gazprom Alexei Miller and the CEO of Austria’s OMV Rainer Seele. 

"More than 50-year history of reliable export of Russian gas to Austria was noted. Total supplies since 1968 are over 260 bln cubic meters. Particular attention was paid to the Nord Stream 2 project that is at the final implementation stage," the company said.