Europe

LONDON, June 25 (Reuters) - British Health Secretary Matt Hancock apologised on Friday for breaching social distancing guidelines after pictures appeared of him embracing his top aide, and the prime minister said he believed the matter was now closed.

Photographs published on the front page of the Sun showed Hancock kissing the woman - a friend hired for a taxpayer-funded role - in his office.

"I accept that I breached the social distancing guidance in these circumstances," Hancock said.

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union countries bordering Russia rejected a Franco-German plan to resume official meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin, with one leader likening the move to an attempt to talk a bear out of stealing honey.

In a statement in the early hours of Friday morning, EU leaders said only that they “will explore formats and conditionalities of dialogue with Russia.” There was no mention of any high-level meetings or plans for a summit with Putin.

LONDON (AP) — U.K. regulators said on Friday that they’re investigating Google and Amazon over concerns the online giants aren’t doing enough to stop fake reviews of products and services on their platforms.

The Competition and Markets Authority said it opened a formal investigation into whether the two companies broke U.K. consumer law by failing to protect shoppers. The watchdog started looking into phony reviews on some big websites last year - without identifying any specific ones - amid the pandemic-fueled boom in online shopping.

PRAGUE (AP) — A rare tornado believed to be the most devastating twister in the Czech Republic’s modern history has torn through country’s southeast, killing at least five people and injured hundreds, rescue services and police said on Friday.

The tornado touched down late Thursday as strong thunderstorms hit the entire country. Seven towns and villages sustained heavy damage that included buildings turned to rubble and overturned cars. The storms were accompanied by hail which in some cases was as big as tennis balls.

VENICE, Italy (AP) — Away from the once-maddening crowds of St. Mark’s Square, tiny Certosa island could be a template for building a sustainable future in Venice as it tries to relaunch its tourism industry without boomeranging back to pre-pandemic day-tripping hordes.

Private investment has converted the forgotten public island just a 15-minute waterbus ride from St. Mark’s Square into a multi-faceted urban park where Venetians and Venice conoscenti can mix, free from the tensions inherent to the lagoon city’s perennial plague of mass tourism.

MOSCOW (AP) — They tried grocery giveaways and lotteries for new cars and apartments. But an ambitious plan of vaccinating 30 million Russians by mid-June still has fallen short by a third.

So now, many regional governments across the vast country are obligating some workers to get vaccinated and requiring the shots to enter certain businesses, like restaurants.

23 June 2021; MEMO: The CEO of Axel Springer, a Berlin-based agency, told the company's 16,000 employees to find another job if they have a problem with an Israeli flag being posted outside the largest digital publishing house of Europe.

MOSCOW, June 24. /TASS/: Moscow is shocked by the hypocritical calls of NATO and the EU against dismantling the Treaty on Open Skies in response to Russia’s decision to pull out from the treaty after Washington did the same, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during the Moscow Conference on International Security.

MOSCOW, June 24. /TASS/: Nord Stream 2 AG, the operator of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline construction project, has applied for a precautionary certification as an independent transmission system operator, the company reported on Thursday.

The application has been submitted in accordance with the German Energy Industry Act (EnWG) following the request of the country’s Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur - BNetzA).

SOCHI, June 24. /TASS/: Consultations between Russia and the United States on strategic stability can take place in July, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Thursday.

"I very much hope for that. We do not conceal that we are interested in this event to take place without delays," the senior Russian diplomat said, responding to a question about whether the first round of consultations with the United States on strategic stability could take place in July.