Europe

(Reuters) --- The German Greens' candidate for chancellor Annalena Baerbock on Wednesday criticised Finance Minister Olaf Scholz's plan to return to strict borrowing limits from 2023, saying Berlin had to invest more in climate protection, health care and education.

The Greens are currently riding high in the polls ahead of Germany's Sept. 26 election, with a very good chance of joining the next coalition government or even taking over the chancellery.

(Reuters) --- Britain said on Wednesday it would invest 22 million pounds ($31 million) to help vulnerable countries in Africa and the Indo-Pacific build up their cyber defences to prevent China, Russia and others from filling a cyberspace vacuum.

British foreign minister Dominic Raab said Britain and its partners needed to take action to ensure there was a cyberspace that was free, open and peaceful in the face of hostile states seeking to undermine democratic elections and turn the internet into a lawless space.

12 May 2021; MEMO: The UK government has announced measures to disrupt the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against the state of Israel by banning public bodies from launching their own boycotting campaigns.

(Reuters) --- Bulgaria's new caretaker prime minister said on Wednesday his government's priority would be upholding the rule of law in the European Union's poorest member state.

President Rumen Radev appointed Stefan Yanev, a former defence minister, to lead the government until a snap election in July after an inconclusive election last month resulted in a deadlocked parliament that failed to produce a government.

(Reuters) --- Paris has said it will delay a European Union financial services deal with Britain until Prime Minister Boris Johnson grants European fishermen fair access to UK waters, a source familiar with the French move said on Wednesday.

"We've made a link between the two," the source said.

The post-Brexit dispute over access to the UK's rich fishing grounds last week saw France and Britain send patrol vessels to the Channel island of Jersey as French trawlers protested there. 

(Reuters) --- The European Union must recognise that Balkan countries seeking membership are losing faith in Brussels' long accession strategy, worsened by its initial failure to provide COVID-19 vaccines, according to an internal EU document seen by Reuters.

Europe and the United States say that Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia will one day become members of the club of 27 states, following the ethnic wars of the 1990s that led to the disintegration of Yugoslavia.

(Reuters) --- More clinical and real-world data is needed on how well and for how long COVID-19 vaccines are protective before any decisions should be made on offering third or booster doses, Europe's drug regulators said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the first of planned regular fortnightly media briefings on the coronavirus pandemic, the European Medicines Agency's head of biological health threats and vaccines strategy Marco Cavaleri cautioned against making "premature" moves to deploy booster COVID-19 shots.

GENEVA, May 12 (Xinhua) -- A COVID-19 variant first identified in India has been found in 44 countries with a possible presence in five more, and is believed to be resistant to certain antibodies, including from vaccines, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday.

The variant, named B1617 and informally dubbed the "double mutant," has three different sub-lineages, B1617.1, B1617.2 and B1617.3, which were being found increasingly in other countries, especially in Europe and North America, the WHO said in its weekly update.

MOSCOW, May 11. /TASS/: Over 800,000 people have been inoculated against the coronavirus infection in the Russian Armed Forces, the vaccination plan has been completed, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said during a conference call on Tuesday.

"To date, the Defense Ministry has obtained 850,000 doses of the Sputnik V jab, more than 800,000 people have been inoculated. The vaccination plan has been completed but active work in this direction in the armed forces continues," he said.

BAKU, May 11. /TASS/: The decision to grant the observer status in the Non-Aligned Movement to Russia is almost ready and will soon be made, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday following talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov.

"Russia applied for the observer status in the Non-Aligned Movement under the Azerbaijani chairmanship, this decision is practically ready. It will be made when possible. We are sincerely grateful to our Azerbaijani friends for this support," the minister stressed.