Europe

VILNIUS, May 28. /TASS/: The employees of the Belarusian Embassy being expelled from Lithuania have been involved in intelligence activities, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis wrote on his Twitter page on Friday.

"Two BY intelligence officers working under diplomatic cover were asked to leave Lithuania," he wrote.

MOSCOW, May 28. /TASS/: Cases where Moscow has refused to accept flights from the European Union bypassing the territory of Belarus are due to technical issues related to the coordination of points of entry into Russia’s airspace, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"I am convinced that the aviation authorities will provide the necessary clarifications, but these are technical issues," Peskov specified. He noted that "there are certain points of departure and arrival in the airspace of each country".

MOSCOW, May 28 (NNN-SPUTNIK) — Russia is ready to supply military equipment to Gabon, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

“We are ready to supply military products in the interests of increasing the defense capability of Gabon,” Lavrov said after a meeting with his Gabonese counterpart, Pacome Moubelet Boubeya.

The Gabonese foreign minister, on his part, highlighted the ongoing military and technical cooperation between the two countries.

BERLIN, May 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Germany will start offering coronavirus jabs to children over the age of 12 from June 7, Chancellor Angela Merkel said.

But she stressed that vaccination would not be compulsory and would have no bearing on whether children can attend school or go on holiday.

The European Medicines Agency is expected to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid jab for 12- to 15-year-olds on Friday. It is already authorised in the EU for those over 16.

28 May 2021; MEMO: Amnesty International has called on Israel to cancel plans to forcibly displace two Palestinian families from their homes in the Batn al-Hawa area of the Silwan neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Saleh Higazi, said: "For years Israel has sought to expand illegal settlements in the area of Silwan, forcibly displacing more than 200 Palestinians from their homes."

(Reuters) --- The Kremlin said on Friday it regretted Washington's decision not to rejoin the Open Skies arms control pact, which allows unarmed surveillance flights over member countries.

The original U.S. decision to quit the pact was taken by the administration of U.S. president Donald Trump last year, but Moscow had hoped that Joe Biden would reverse it.

But on Thursday the United States informed Russia it would not rejoin the pact, accusing Russia of violating it, something Moscow denied. 

28 May 2021; MEMO: The UN Human Rights Council yesterday agreed to launch an open-ended international investigation into violations and "systematic" abuses in the occupied Palestinian territories following 11 days of Israeli bombardment on the blockaded Gaza Strip.

(Reuters) --- A man who stabbed and badly wounded a policewoman on Friday in the town of La Chapelle-sur-Erdre in western France was reported by prison staff to have been radicalised in jail, a source close to the investigation said.

The source also said the man, who was released from jail in March following a conviction for violence, had psychological disorders.

(Reuters) --- A $20 billion plan to give NATO more flexibility in facing military threats, climate change and China's rise has hit firm resistance from France, which fears the move could undermine its defence priorities, four diplomats and a French defence source said.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg proposed in February that allies put more money directly into existing, albeit small common budgets, rather than rely on the current system that each government pays for its own military operations.

28 May 2021; MEMO: The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said yesterday that her organisation has not seen any evidence that the civilian buildings bombed by Israel in the besieged Gaza Strip had been used for military purposes.