Europe

MOSCOW, August 15./TASS/: The Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia) guarantees the safety of the Russian Embassy in Kabul, Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Taliban’s political office told TASS on Sunday.

"Yes, we have good relations with Russia and our policy in general is to ensure the safe conditions for the functioning of the Russian and other embassies," he said in reply to a query.

MOSCOW, August 15. /TASS/: The Taliban radical militant group (outlawed in Russia) announced on Sunday it was controlling the entire territory of Afghanistan, the Al Arabiya TV Channel reported.

The Taliban said in a statement cited by the TV Channel that "no combat operations are underway in the capital of the country and the group has established control of the whole of Afghanistan".

MOSCOW, August 15. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called "utter nonsense" attempts to connect not renewing work visa to BBC correspondent Sarah Rainsford with her questions about Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko at his recent press conference.

MOSCOW, August 15./TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree awarding the Order of Courage to five servicemen killed in the crash of a Be-200 plane in Turkey on Saturday, the Kremlin press service reported on Sunday.

Lieutenant Colonel Vladislav Berkutov, Lieutenant Colonel Vadim Karasev, Colonel Yevgeny Kuznetsov, Senior Lieutenant Nikolai Omelchenko, Senior Sergeant Yuri Chubarov were awarded for the courage and dedication displayed in putting out fires in the Republic of Turkey, the report said.

MOSCOW, August 15. /TASS/: Russia confirmed 21,624 COVID-19 cases over the past day, bringing the total caseload to 6,600,836, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Sunday.

In relative terms, the incidence grew by 0.33%.

In particular, Moscow reported 1,954 new coronavirus cases, St. Petersburg recorded 1,668 new cases. The Moscow region reported 1,359 new cases, the Nizhny Novgorod Region - 539, while the Sverdlovsk Region - 526.

The number of active cases, the patients who currently undergo medical treatment, has grown to 546,021.

LONDON, Aug 15 (Reuters) - The British parliament will be recalled from its summer recess next week to discuss the situation in Afghanistan, a source at Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Downing Street office said on Sunday, as Taliban insurgents entered Kabul.

The entry into the capital caps a lightning advance by the Islamist militants, who were ousted 20 years ago by the United States after the Sept. 11 attacks. 

Britain's interior ministry said earlier that it was working to protect its citizens and help other eligible former UK staff to leave Afghanistan.

BERLIN, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Germany's army is sending A400M transport aircraft to Kabul with 30 paratroopers each on board to evacuate embassy staff and their Afghan helpers as Taliban fighters surround the Afghan capital, Bild am Sonntag reported.

The Sunday paper cited unspecified sources as saying the planes would shuttle to a nearby hub, likely the Uzbek capital Tashkent, for onward charter flights.

PRISTINA, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Albania has accepted a U.S. request to temporarily take in Afghan refugees seeking visas to enter the United States, Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Sunday, as Taliban forces entered the Afghan capital Kabul.

Rama said U.S. President Joe Biden's administration had recently asked fellow NATO member Albania to assess whether it could serve as a transit country for a number of Afghan refugees whose final destination is the United States.

BUDAPEST, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- A bus accident near Hungary's capital left eight people dead and 48 people wounded, local authorities said Sunday.

"Eight people died at the scene, two were seriously injured and forty-six lightly injured in a bus crash that occurred Sunday morning on the M7 motorway near Szabadbattyan," said a statement from the Fejer County Police Headquarters.

According to the police, the accident happened on early Sunday morning local time at the edge of the M7 motorway leading to Budapest. The bus had a Hungarian license plate.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Israel on Saturday condemned Poland’s approval of a law that restricts the rights of Holocaust survivors or their descendants to reclaim property seized by the country’s former communist regime and announced it was recalling its top diplomat in protest.