Europe

MOSCOW, June 7. /TASS/: Although travel packages for inoculating foreigners in Russia are ready, it is necessary to resolve the entry issue for such tourists into the country, the President of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (RUTI) Andrei Ignatyev told TASS.

"Travel agencies were ready to organize vaccination tours at the beginning of the year since they regularly received such requests from all over the world. The product is ready, but the issues of visa support and legal entry for foreigners wishing to receive the Russian vaccine are yet to be resolved," Ignatiev said.

MOSCOW, June 7. /TASS/: Russia is preparing for additional sanctions, and serious work has been initiated into dealing with the country’s potential disconnection from international payment systems, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin said at parliamentary hearings in the State Duma.

MOSCOW, June 7. /TASS/: Sanctions against Russia have been enshrined in the legal acts of Western states and will last forever, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin told the parliamentary hearings in the State Duma (lower house) on Monday.

"The sanctions regime has always been in place. And it will remain so forever, let us be realistic. Sanctions have been enshrined in many legal acts, in the US and other states, and it is impossible to roll them back," the diplomat stated.

MÁLAGA, Spain, June 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Spain opens its borders to vaccinated travellers from all over the world on Monday, hoping an influx of visitors will revitalise its all-important tourism sector which has been battered by the coronavirus pandemic.

“Spain is a safe destination,” Health Minister Carolina Darias insisted, adding that the country was “in the process of reclaiming its global leadership in tourism”.

(Reuters) --- The most prominent of Catalonia's jailed separatist leaders on Monday said his camp had made mistakes and needed to adapt its strategy, a move that could help the Spanish government's efforts to ease tensions over the region.

Oriol Junqueras is in prison over his role in organising an unauthorised referendum in 2017 and for the short-lived declaration of independence that followed it.

(Reuters) --- Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been returned to the original correctional facility where he had been serving out a sentence after he recovered from a hunger strike at a hospital in a different prison, the TASS news agency reported on Monday.

The 45-year-old opposition politician had declared a hunger strike in late March to demand better medical care in prison after experiencing acute leg and back pain. He halted his hunger strike in April after receiving medical attention.

(Reuters) --- The U.N. atomic watchdog has seen indications in North Korea of possible reprocessing work to separate plutonium from spent reactor fuel that could be used in nuclear weapons, the head of the agency said on Monday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has not had access to the secretive state since Pyongyang expelled its inspectors in 2009. The country then pressed ahead with its nuclear weapons programme and soon resumed nuclear testing. Its last detonation of a nuclear weapon was in 2017.

(Reuters) --- Germany's foreign minister said on Monday the European Union should abolish the right of individual member states to veto foreign policy measures as the 27-nation bloc could not allow itself to be "held hostage".

His comments, which came days after a more junior official criticised Hungary by name, reflect growing frustration in Berlin at the way in which EU member countries can prevent the bloc from acting in matters on which almost all members agree.

LONDON, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The so-called "Uyghur Tribunal" is neither legal nor credible, but just another anti-China farce concocted by a few individuals with the end goal of using Xinjiang to contain China, the Chinese embassy in Britain has said.

The Chinese side is firmly opposed to it, the embassy said in a statement released on Sunday.

A four-day hearing scheduled to end on Monday is conducted by the "Uyghur Tribunal" in London and claims to gather evidence on whether the Chinese government committed "genocide" in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

SCHIPHOL, Netherlands (AP) — Nearly seven years after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine, the trial in a Dutch court of three Russians and a Ukrainian accused of involvement in the downing moved Monday to the crucial merits phase, when evidence will be discussed by lawyers and judges.

Families of some of the victims were present in court to watch the latest hearing in the long-running case.