Europe

MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/: Russia confirmed 9,284 COVID-19 cases over the past day and the total case tally hit 4,796,557, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Thursday.

This is a new high since April 17 when 9,321 coronavirus cases were registered.

The growth rate reached 0.19% in relative terms.

The lowest growth rates were recorded over the past day in the Tuva Republic (0.01%) and the Altai Republic (0.02%).

MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/: The Czech drug regulator’s refusal to review documents on Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine is linked to the diplomatic scandal, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

"Most likely, this may and even should [be linked to the diplomatic scandal]," Peskov told reporters, answering a question.

(Reuters) --- Britain's medicine regulator on Thursday said there had been a further 41 reports of rare blood clots after doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, but that the benefits of the shot continued to outweigh the risks for the majority of people.

In a weekly update on side effects from COVID-19 vaccines, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said there were a total of 209 clots with low platelet counts following vaccination with AstraZeneca's shot, compared to a total of 168 reported last week.

(Reuters) --- Bulgaria on Thursday announced the expulsion of a Russian diplomat after prosecutors said they suspected Russian involvement in four explosions at arms depots in Bulgaria.

At a meeting with the Russian ambassador, Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva requested full Russian cooperation with Bulgaria's investigation of the explosions and of attempts to poison Bulgarian arms trader Emilian Gebrev.

Moscow, which has dismissed the Bulgarian probe, said it would respond to the expulsion.

(Reuters) --- Germany must update its climate law by the end of next year to set out how it will bring carbon emissions down to almost zero by 2050, its top court ruled on Thursday, siding with a young woman who argued rising sea levels would engulf her family farm.

The court concluded that a law passed in 2019 had failed to make sufficient provision for cuts beyond 2030, casting a shadow over a signature achievement of Chancellor Angela Merkel's final term in office.

(Reuters) --- Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, looking gaunt and drained after a hunger strike, denounced Russia’s justice system on Thursday as his team said he faced new criminal charges and that it was disbanding a network of regional campaign offices.

In his first appearance since declaring an end to the three-week hunger strike last week, Navalny, his head shaven, remained defiant, though a blurry video link from jail during a legal hearing in a separate case showed he had lost weight.

GENEVA, April 28 (Xinhua) -- As the number of COVID-19 cases worldwide has been on the increase for the ninth consecutive week, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday that India alone accounted for 38 percent of all infections -- or 2,172,063 new cases -- recorded in the seven-day period that ended on April 25.

The surge in India is understood to be fueled by the new COVID-19 variant dubbed as the "double mutant" and scientifically identified as B1617. It was "detected at increasing prevalence" among the new cases in the country, according to the WHO.

LONDON (AP) — Uber plans to recruit 20,000 more drivers in the United Kingdom to help fill swelling demand for rides as the country’s coronavirus lockdown restrictions ease.

The San Francisco-based ride hailing company said Thursday it aims to sign up the additional drivers by the end of the year, adding to the 70,000 it already has in the U.K.

28 Apr 2021; MEMO: As allegations of cronyism continue to bog down the ruling Conservative party, it's now emerged that a co-investors in the Saudi-led consortium behind last year's failed takeover bid of Newcastle United Football Club is a major Tory donor and a friend of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

BERLIN (AP) — German police said Thursday that a 51-year-old woman detained on suspicion of killing four people at a hospital in the eastern city of Potsdam is an employee at the clinic.

Officers called to the Oberlin Clinic shortly before 9 p.m. on Wednesday found the victims and a fifth person who was seriously injured in patient rooms, Brandenburg state police said.

“The victims showed signs of significant external violence,” police spokesman Thorsten Herbst told The Associated Press.