Europe

ATHENS, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- Greece's borders will remain secure in wake of developments in Afghanistan, said a Greek minister during a visit Friday to the Evros region near the border with Turkey, according to the country's national news agency AMNA.

"The crisis in Afghanistan has changed the geopolitical sphere and increased the possibility of migration flows," said Citizen Protection Minister Michalis Chrisochoidis.

KIEV, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- The decision of the European Commission on the equal status of digital COVID-19 vaccination certificates between the European Union and Ukraine entered into force on Friday, Ukraine's Health Ministry reported on its official website Friday.

"Today is a historic moment ... because we became one of the first countries in the world to join the EU's single digital market regarding the COVID-19 certificates," said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov during a press briefing in Kiev.

LONDON, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Friday that Britain will work with the Taliban "if necessary," as the group has regained the control of Afghanistan.

"What I want to assure people is that our political and diplomatic efforts to find a solution for Afghanistan -- working with the Taliban, of course, if necessary -- will go on," Johnson told reporters.

He said the situation at the Kabul airport, where thousands of Afghans gathered in hopes of boarding an evacuation flight, was getting "slightly better" and he saw "stabilization."

MOSCOW, August 20. /TASS/: The war on corruption is important, but it must not be used as an instrument of political struggle. Russia will be doing its utmost to uproot corruption, President Vladimir Putin told a news conference following talks with Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel in the Kremlin on Friday. 

MOSCOW, August 20. / TASS /: Foreign students will be permitted to enter Russia to continue their education, the Ministry of Education and Science stated on Friday noting that the entry rules had already been formulated and would be approved shortly.

MOSCOW, August 20. /TASS/: Russia has registered 20,992 new confirmed COVID-19 infections over the past 24 hours. The total number of infections has reached 6,705,523 cases, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told journalists on Friday.

According to the crisis center, the relative increase of new infections is at the level of 0.31%.

KAZAN, August 20. /TASS/: Remdizel, a leading Russian defense enterprise, will feature wheeled armor at the Army 2021 international military-technical forum, including the latest modifications of K-4386 Taifun-VDV airborne infantry fighting vehicles, the Industry and Trade Ministry of the Republic of Tatarstan announced on Friday.

MOSCOW, August 20. /TASS/: Germany remains one of the main trade and economic partners of Russia in Europe and worldwide, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday before beginning talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the Kremlin.

MADRID, Aug 20 (NNN-Xinhua) — An unidentified person from southern Spain has been admitted to hospital with a brain disease caused by the mosquito-borne West Nile virus, said local health authorities.

The person, from the small town of Coria del Rio close to Seville, capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia, was diagnosed with meningoencephalitis.

It is the first case of the mosquito-borne virus that has been detected in the region in 2021, after seven people lost their lives in an outbreak in the provinces of Seville and Cadiz in 2020.

BONN (Germany), Aug 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Criminals in Italy and Germany are increasingly making use of cryptocurrencies, according to the customs directorate in Bonn.

“The use of cryptocurrencies for online payment in the context of criminal offences is clearly on the rise,” the directorate said in a statement.

According to investigators’ findings, in most cases, the perpetrators use Bitcoin and the currency Monero.