Europe

LONDON (AP) — The British economy grew by 4.8% in the second quarter of 2021 as lockdown restrictions were lifted but remains 4.4% below the level it was just before the start of coronavirus pandemic, official figures showed Thursday.

The Office for National Statistics also said the British economy grew by 1% in June alone, the fifth straight month of growth. June was the first full month that many sectors of the economy such as pubs and restaurants were fully open inside and out, following the lifting of restrictions.

MOSCOW (AP) — A helicopter carrying tourists plunged into a deep volcanic crater lake on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia’s Far East early Thursday, and rescue workers were searching in the lake for up to eight people missing, officials said. At least eight others reportedly survived.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Thursday that the devastating wildfires that burned across the country for more than a week were the greatest ecological catastrophe Greece had seen in decades.

MOSCOW, August 11. /TASS/: Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu held telephone talks with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Wednesday.

"The sides discussed the results of bilateral consultations on strategic stability and the issues of global and regional security," the statement says.

MOSCOW, August 11. /TASS/: Secretary of Russia’s Security Council Nikolai Patrushev held a telephone talk with Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran Ali Shamkhani to discuss security interaction and the situation in Afghanistan, the press office of the Russian Security Council reported on Wednesday.

"Nikolai Patrushev and Ali Shamkhani discussed the issues of continuing Russian-Iranian security interaction, and also the situation in Afghanistan," the statement says.

The talk was held at the initiative of the Iranian side, the press office specified.

MINSK, August 11. /TASS/: The Belarusian Foreign Ministry has proposed that the United States should cut the staff numbers at its embassy in Minsk to five people, Belarusian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Anatoly Glaz said in a statement on Wednesday.

GENEVA, August 11. /TASS/: Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine is currently going through legal procedures to secure an approval of the World Health Organization (WHO), WHO Assistant Director General Mariangela Simao told a briefing on Wednesday.

"As for Sputnik, the process is ongoing, we have some legal procedures undergoing at the moment." she noted.

BERLIN, August 11. /TASS/: The British national who was detained in Germany on suspicion of cooperating with Russian intelligence services has been placed under arrest, the German Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The investigating judge of the Federal Court of Justice today (August 11, 2021) issued the arrest warrant against British national David S.," the statement notes. It is added that the suspect was brought before an investigator on Wednesday.

ATHENS, Aug 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Hundreds of firefighters were battling to control two massive wildfires in Greece on Wednesday, one raging for nine straight days, that have left hundreds homeless and caused incalculable damage.

   With the assistance of a huge multinational force, Greek fire crews were fighting to beat back blazes on the island of Evia and in the Peloponnese peninsula in rugged terrain.

BRUSSELS, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Baby food, vegetables, fruit, cereals, meat, fish and other foodstuffs will have to meet stricter limits of cadmium and lead content before they can be sold in the European Union, according to new rules that will be applicable from the end of August.

Cadmium and lead are toxic metals present in many foodstuffs, but below certain limits they are not considered dangerous for human health.