Europe

ST. PETERSBURG, June 11. /TASS/: Achilles, St. Petersburg’s Hermitage oracle cat, has prophesied that Italy will win over Turkey in the opening match of Euro 2020. The cat delivered the first prediction on Friday in the St. Petersburg championship press center.

"The match outcome has been predicted, Italians will win in a blowout," the ceremony presenter said.

Bowls with cat food were traditionally placed before Achilles next to flags of Italy and Turkey, and the cat made his choice.

MOSCOW, June 11. /TASS/: Children who are born by surrogate mothers for foreigners or stateless persons in Russia will be granted Russian citizenship by birth, reads the draft bill banning surrogacy for foreigners in Russia, which was submitted to the lower house of parliament by a group of lawmakers headed by Deputy Speaker Pyotr Tolstoy on Friday.

"A child both in Russia by a surrogate mother receives Russian citizenship by birth if both potential parents or a single woman are not Russian citizens," the bill notes.

GENEVA, June 11. /TASS/: More than 1,000 journalists have applied for credentials for a meeting between Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Joe Biden of the United States that will take place in Geneva on June 16, Swiss Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Pierre-Alain Eltschinger told TASS on Friday.

"More than 1,000 journalists have filed applications," he pointed out.

The Swiss Foreign Ministry’s information service continues to check the information provided in order to complete the accreditation process as soon as possible, Eltschinger emphasized.

VALLETTA, Jun 11 (NNN-XINHUA) – Maltese Prime Minister, Robert Abela, yesterday launched the public consultation document, outlining Malta’s economic vision from 2021 to 2031.

“The last 10 years saw us bridge the gap with the European average, when it comes to GDP per capita and the employment rate,” he said, “The next decade will now see us become a centre of excellence, worthy of being with the best in Europe and the world.”

11 June 2021; MEMO: China's far western region of Xinjiang has become a "dystopian hellscape" where Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities face systematic and state-organised "mass internment and torture amounting to crimes against humanity", human rights group Amnesty says.

(Reuters) --- Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny's health has improved, and he is keeping in touch with measures being taken against his campaigning group, his ally Ivan Zhdanov said on Friday.

Navalny's allies said in April his health was dire, and he was moved to a prison hospital for treatment.

"Alexei Navalny is in a much better condition now and every time he is told some news he says he is shocked," Zhdanov told the Ekho Moskvy radio station, referring to the banning of Navalny's anti-corruption foundation. 

(Reuters) --- European Union countries agreed on Friday to an easing of travel restrictions over summer that will allow fully vaccinated tourists to avoid tests or quarantines and broaden the list of EU regions from which it is safe to travel.

Ambassadors from the 27 EU member states approved a modified European Commission proposal that people who have been fully vaccinated for 14 days should be able to travel freely from one EU country to another, current EU president Portugal said.

(Reuters) --- British foreign minister Dominic Raab said on Friday there was no doubt some countries were using vaccines as diplomatic tool to secure influence, and that Britain did not support so called ‘vaccine diplomacy.

Asked in a Reuters interview whether he was concerned that China and Russia could use vaccines in exchange for influence in parts of the world, he said: "There's no doubt there's some of this is going about, and we don't support vaccine diplomacy, let alone blackmail.

MOSCOW, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has signed an order to nullify the Russian-U.S. memorandum of understanding (MOU) on "open ground" that facilitated travels for diplomats in their host country.

Mishustin asked the Russian Foreign Ministry to inform the U.S. side of the termination, according to the order published on Thursday on the country's official legal information website.

FRANKFURT, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The European Central Bank (ECB) said on Thursday that it will keep the euro area key interest rates unchanged and will continue buying bonds under its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) at a "significantly higher pace" over the coming quarter than in the first months of this year.

Eurozone key interest rates will remain at record low levels, with the base interest rate, marginal lending rate and deposit rate unchanged at 0.00 percent, 0.25 percent and minus 0.50 percent, respectively, the ECB said in a statement.