Europe

KIEV, August 12. /TASS/: Ukrainian authorities have sent over 38 tonnes of barbed wire to Lithuania as humanitarian aid to help equip Lithuania’s state border amid an influx of illegal migrants from Belarus, the Ukrainian State Emergencies Service reported on Thursday.

"Over 38 tonnes of humanitarian aid has been dispatched today, August 12, from Ukraine to Lithuania. This is the first of three stages of aid, which Ukraine is sending in accordance with a decree by President Vladimir Zelensky and a resolution by the Cabinet of Ministers," it said.

MOSCOW, August 12. /TASS/: Moscow’s Lefortovo Court has issued a warrant to remand in custody for two months the CEO and chief designer of the Scientific Research Enterprise of Hypersonic Systems Alexander Kuranov detained in a high treason criminal case, the court told TASS on Thursday.

"The Lefortovo Court of Moscow has ruled to choose custody for a term of one month and 28 days, i.e. until October 9, 2021 as a measure of restraint for Kuranov suspected of committing a crime stipulated under Article 275 of Russia’s Criminal Code," the court’s spokeswoman said.

MOSCOW, Aug 12 (NNN-TASS) – Russian Defence Minister, Sergei Shoigu, and U.S. Secretary of Defence, Lloyd Austin, discussed results of recent bilateral consultations on strategic stability, during a phone call yesterday.

The officials also exchanged views on issues of global and regional security, the Russian Defence Ministry said in a brief statement.

MOSCOW, Aug 12 (NNN-TASS) – Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, and his Japanese counterpart, Toshimitsu Motegi, discussed the expansion of cooperation in the trade and economic field, in a phone conversation yesterday.

Lavrov and Motegi paid particular attention to the implementation of joint projects, in the field of hydrogen energy in the Russian Far East, as well as, plans for joint economic activities on the four disputed islands, called the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan.

BERLIN, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Germany urged its citizens on Thursday to leave Afghanistan on scheduled flights as soon as they can due to the deteriorating security situation.

Taliban fighters captured the strategic city of Ghazni on Thursday, taking them to within 150 km (90 miles) of Kabul following days of fierce clashes as the Islamist group ruled out sharing power with the government based there. 

ATHENS, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis defended his government on Thursday as public anger grew over the response to wildfires that have ripped through thousands of hectares of forest over the past 10 days.

On Evia, Greece's second-largest island, where some of the worst fires have occurred, rain provided some relief to exhausted firefighters. But with the entire forest covering the northern part of the island destroyed, residents were bereft.

12 Aug 2021; MEMO: Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said yesterday that the EU should offer more support to help Turkey mitigate the pressures of more migrant arrivals from Afghanistan as the bloc could not absorb another crisis such as the one faced in 2015, Reuters reports.

Mitarachi said the EU is not ready and does not have the capacity to handle another major migration crisis.

"It would lead to more people trying to leave and come to the EU," Mitarachi said.

12 Aug 2021; MEMO: The Polish parliament passed a bill on Wednesday that closed the window of opportunity for Poles, including Holocaust survivors and their descendants, from regaining ownership of property expropriated during the communist era, AP and other news agencies have reported. President Andrzej Duda now has 21 days in which to sign the bill into law. He could, however, veto the proposed legislation.

GENEVA, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- The number of countries, areas or territories reporting various variants of COVID-19 continues to increase after the global number of coronavirus cases surpassed 200 million last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday.

BERLIN (AP) — Striking railway workers in Germany kept much of the country’s train service suspended Thursday as they continued their nationwide work stoppage for a second day.

Only one-quarter of long-distance trains were running and about 40 % of regional and local commuter trains, German news agency dpa reported. The strike also put many cargo trains out of action.