Europe

WARSAW, July 3 (Reuters) - Former European Council President Donald Tusk returned to the fore of Polish politics on Saturday, becoming leader of the main opposition party in a move that many members hope can revive its sagging fortunes.

For many in the liberal Civic Platform (PO) party that Tusk helped to found, the stakes are nothing less than Poland's future in the European Union.

MOSCOW, July 3 (Reuters) - Russian warplanes practiced bombing enemy ships in the Black Sea during training exercises, Russia said on Saturday, amid friction with the West over NATO drills in the region and following a recent incident with a British warship.

Moscow last week challenged the right of HMS Defender to pass through waters near Crimea, something London said it had every right to do. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 but most of the world still recognises it as part of Ukraine.

VATICAN CITY, July 3 (Reuters) - A prominent Italian cardinal was among 10 people sent to trial in the Vatican on Saturday charged with financial crimes including embezzlement, money laundering, fraud, extortion and abuse of office.

Cardinal Angelo Becciu, formerly a senior official in the Vatican administration, as well as two top officials at the Vatican's Financial Intelligence Unit will go on trial on July 27 over a multi-million euro scandal involving the Vatican's purchase of a building in one of London's smartest districts.

03 July 2021; MEMO: The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has rejected a case brought by the widow and daughter of late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat requesting it reopen an investigation into his 2004 death.

United Nations/Geneva, Jul 3 (PTI) The world is in a very "dangerous period" of the COVID-19 pandemic compounded by more transmissible variants like Delta, which is continuing to evolve and mutate, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned.

He said in countries with low vaccination coverage, terrible scenes of hospitals overflowing are again becoming the norm.

KIEV, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine's Ministry of Finance confirmed that Ukraine has received a 350-million-U.S.-dollar loan from the World Bank, Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported on Friday.

In late June, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that the government had signed an agreement on the loan with the World Bank.

The funds will be used to boost Ukraine's economic recovery from the COVID-19 impact, provide social assistance for the vulnerable groups and promote reforms of certain sectors such as the land market, according to Shmyhal.

MINSK, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko ordered the country's border guard to completely close the border with Ukraine, the Belarusian state news agency Belta reported Friday.

"I am astounded by the amount of weapons being smuggled from Ukraine to Belarus," Lukashenko said in his speech dedicated to Belarus Independence Day, according to Belta.

"This is why I've instructed the border guard to fully close the border with Ukraine," he said, adding that only civilians will be able to enter Belarus.

GENEVA, July 2 (Xinhua) -- The latest session of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) aiming at paving the way for the scheduled national elections concluded in Switzerland Friday without reaching an agreement.

Raisedon Zenenga, Assistant UN Secretary-General and Coordinator of UN Support Mission in Libya, said in his closing remarks that it is regrettable the meeting has not succeeded in reaching an agreement.

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Countries across Europe are scrambling to accelerate coronavirus vaccinations and outpace the spread of the more infectious delta variant, in a high-stakes race to prevent hospital wards from filling up again with patients fighting for their lives.

The urgency coincides with Europe’s summer holiday months, with fair weather bringing more social gatherings and governments reluctant to clamp down on them. Social distancing is commonly neglected, especially among the young, and some countries are scrapping the requirement to wear masks outdoors.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Some 130 countries have agreed on a global minimum tax backed by President Joe Biden as part of a worldwide effort to keep multinational firms from dodging taxes by shifting their profits to countries with low rates.

The agreement announced Thursday is an attempt to address challenges presented by a globalized and increasingly digital world economy in which profits can be relocated across borders and companies can earn online profits in places where they have no taxable headquarters.