Europe

LONDON, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Iran restarted exports of gasoline and gasoil to Afghanistan a few days ago, following a request from the Taliban, Iran's Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters' Union said on Monday.

The Sunni Muslim group seized power in Afghanistan last week as the United States and its allies withdrew troops after a 20-year war.

STOCKHOLM, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Sweden's Social Democrats will pick a new leader in November to replace Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, needing to find a flag-bearer who can convince voters the party can stop a tide of gang violence and restore the welfare state after the pandemic.

Lofven, who leads a minority government, will step down less than a year ahead of a election due in September 2022. Polls so far show an even split between a broadly leftish grouping and a right-wing opposition alliance of parties including the far-right, populist Sweden Democrats.

BERLIN, Aug 23 (Reuters) - With just five weeks to go before Germany holds an election that decides who succeeds Chancellor Angela Merkel, Syrians on asylum visas are concerned that an Afghan migrant crisis could fuel an anti-immigrant vote and block their path to citizenship.

Some leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party are warning about a possible influx of Afghan refugees, seeking to draw voters fearing a repeat of the 2015 migrant crisis when Merkel opened Germany's borders to almost one million asylum seekers.

WARSAW, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Belarusian lawyer Mikhail Kirilyuk says he received an unsettling text message in October from an acquaintance linked to the country’s security services.

The acquaintance urged Kirilyuk, who had defended anti-government protesters and publicly criticised President Alexander Lukashenko’s rule, to leave the country. According to Kirilyuk, who said the text was sent via an encrypted messaging app and described its content to Reuters, the message also contained a warning: The attorney faced arrest and revocation of his license to practice law.

23 Aug 2021; MEMO: The Greek government on Friday announced that it has finished building a 40-kilometre long wall along its border with Turkey, CNN International reported.

Greece took the decision amid concerns that NATO's withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of occupation could cause an influx of people seeking asylum in Europe making their way through Iran, Turkey, and then onto Greece.

LONDON, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Wuhan lab leak theory is more about politics than science, The Guardian newspaper reported Sunday.

Whatever this week's Biden review on the virus' origins finds, the cause of the pandemic lies in the destruction of animal habitats. As for the "lab leak" theory of the disease, scientists refuted the idea in the paper.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s fire department sent helicopters and firefighters to the country’s second-largest island of Evia on Monday, while the coast guard readied boats in case a sea evacuation became necessary as yet another forest fire broke out that was fanned by strong winds.

This month, which began with Greece’s most severe heat wave in about three decades, is quickly turning into one of the country’s most destructive fire seasons, with dozens of wildfires breaking out every day across the country.

LONDON, August 21. /TASS/: The British government needs to abandon the line of confrontation towards Russia, otherwise the UK will face Moscow’s tit-for-tat measures, the Russian embassy to London said in a statement released on Saturday, following the new round of anti-Russian sanctions imposed by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

"We urge, yet again, the British leadership to relinquish unjustified confrontational stance towards our country. There will be adequate and proportionate response to any hostile act," the embassy said.

MOSCOW, August 22. /TASS/: The Gamaleya Center can start clinical trials of a vaccine containing proteins of several coronavirus strains early next year, Director of the Center Alexander Gintsburg told TASS.

"We are doing this also. It is not excluded it will pass to the first phase of clinical trials early next year. The pharmaceutical will contain three, four or five different genetic variations of the S-protein in a single vaccine," the Director said.

MOSCOW, August 22. /TASS/: The Soyuz-2.1b carrier vehicle with the Frigate upper stage and 34 UK’s OneWeb communication satellites was launched from the Baikonur site, according to the live stream of the Russian state space corporation Roscosmos on its website.

The Frigate upper stage separated from the third rocket stage later. Satellites will be separated during several phases.

This is the first launch of OneWeb satellites from Baikonur in this year. It should increase the number of spacecraft of the UK-based company on the orbit to 288.