Europe

LONDON, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Tuesday that Britain is looking at "bespoke" resettlement scheme for Afghan refugees following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

Raab told the BBC that details of the new resettlement scheme would be set out by the British home secretary and prime minister "in due course".

Britain had already admitted more than 3,300 Afghan interpreters, staff and their families for resettlement, according to the British Home Office.

MOSCOW, August 16. /TASS/: The Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia) took the Russian embassy in Kabul under protection on Monday and confirmed that Russian diplomats could continue their work safely, Russian Ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitry Zhirnov told the Rossiya-24 TV channel. 

"Taliban members are already guarding our embassy as Afghan security forces that used to protect us left earlier today. The Taliban confirmed once again that no one will harm a hair on the heads of Russian diplomats, saying that ‘you can work undisturbed," the ambassador said.

MOSCOW, August 16. /TASS/: Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) approved the order of placement of the political parties’ names and emblems on a federal ballot for the State Duma election at a meeting on Monday.

MOSCOW, August 16. /TASS/: Two Soyuz-2 rockets have been sent from the Progress Space Rocket Center to the Baikonur spaceport and one of the carriers is set to deliver Russia’s new Prichal module to the International Space Station (ISS), the State Space Corporation Roscosmos announced on Monday.

MOSCOW, August 16. /TASS/: The Russian anti-coronavirus crisis center is lifting restrictions imposed on regular and charter air travel from Russia to the Dominican Republic, the Czech Republic and South Korea on August 27, the crisis center said in a statement on Monday.

MOSCOW, August 16. /TASS/: The US leadership has been shrugging off responsibility for its geopolitical experiments for decades, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on her Telegram channel on Monday.

MADRID, Aug 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Fires in Spain’s central Avila province forced hundreds of people to flee their homes on Sunday, as parts of the country sweltered under crushing temperatures.

The fire, which has been burning in the city Navalcruz since Saturday morning, has been fed by winds of up to 70km an hour across the Iberian peninsula.

It now has a perimeter of more than 40km and may already have burned more than 5,000 hectares, said Jose Angel Arranz, forestry director of the Castilla y Leon region.

MOSCOW, Aug 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russia said its ambassador to Afghanistan will meet with the Taliban in Kabul on Tuesday and that it will decide on whether to recognise the new government based on its conduct.

  “Our ambassador is in contact with the Taliban leadership, tomorrow he will meet with the Taliban security coordinator,” foreign ministry official Zamir Kabulov said in an interview with the Ekho Moskvy radio station on Monday.

Aug 16 (Reuters) - A Belarusian man who tried to cut his own throat during a court hearing in June was sentenced to 8-1/2 years in prison after his trial resumed on Monday, the human rights group Viasna-96 and Belarusian media reported.

Stepan Latypov, 41, was arrested last September during an intensifying crackdown on protests by security forces loyal to President Alexander Lukashenko after a contested election.

LONDON, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- British Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace said on Monday that British forces going back to Afghanistan is "not on the cards", after the Taliban entered the Afghan capital city of Kabul.

Asked by Sky News if Britain and NATO forces would return to Afghanistan, Wallace said: "That's not on the cards that we're going to go back."