Europe

MOSCOW, April 21. /TASS/: Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy Bart Gorman was handed a note on Wednesday declaring 10 employees of the US Embassy in Moscow persona non grata, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"Bart Gorman, Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy to the Russian Federation, was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on April 21 to be handed a note declaring persona non grata 10 employees of the US Embassy in Moscow. Those individuals are ordered to leave our country by the end of May 21," the Foreign Ministry said.

KIEV, April 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — President Volodymyr Zelensky invited Russian leader Vladimir Putin to meet in war-torn eastern Ukraine, stressing that millions of lives were at stake from fresh fighting in the separatist conflict.

The blunt offer for talks came following a flare-up in clashes between Ukraine’s army and pro-Russian separatists controlling two regions in the country’s east, raising concerns of a major escalation in the simmering war.

BERLIN, April 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The German parliament will vote on Wednesday on a controversial law amendment that would give Angela Merkel’s government power to impose tougher measures including school closures and disputed night-time curfews to curb the coronavirus pandemic.

With the country buckling under a third wave of the pandemic, the new law is intended to end a political tug-of-war between the federal government and Germany’s 16 states over coronavirus measures.

(Reuters) --- Ukraine's state security service said on Wednesday it had detained around 60 people that pro-Russian political forces had sent to stage protests in the eastern city of Kharkiv as a way to "justify possible acts of Russian aggression against Ukraine."

Ukraine, its Western allies and NATO have accused Russia of a provocative build-up of troops on Ukraine's eastern border and in Crimea, while Russia has accused the United States and NATO of provocative activity in the Black Sea region.

(Reuters) --- President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday he wanted Russia's total net greenhouse gas emissions to be less than the European Union's over the next 30 years, agoal he described as tough but doable.

The leader of the vast hydrocarbon-rich nation that is the world's fourth largest greenhouse gas emitter is set to deliver a speech at an online climate change summit hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday.

(Reuters) --- The European Union needs to engage with China despite many differences instead of opting for a more isolationist approach, Germany said on Wednesday.

"In the EU, we have been describing China as a partner, competitor and systemic rival at the same time," German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said ahead of a virtual meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

"In all these three dimensions we need strong, sustainable communication channels with Beijing. De-coupling is the wrong way to go."

(Reuters) --- European countries prepared on Wednesday to resume deliveries of Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ.N) COVID-19 vaccine and speed up the rollout after Europe's drug regulator backed the shot.

Germany's health ministry said it would start deliveries to federal states for use in vaccination centres shortly, and that family doctors should receive the vaccine from week after next.

(Reuters) --- President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Wednesday not to cross Russia's "red lines", saying Moscow would respond swiftly and harshly to any provocations and those responsible would regret it.

At a time of acute crisis in ties with the United States and Europe, with Russian troops massed near Ukraine and opposition leader Alexei Navalny on hunger strike in jail, the Kremlin leader used his state of the nation speech to project a message of Russian strength and defiance in the face of outside threats.

LONDON, April 20 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday announced a new taskforce to find "promising new medicines" to treat coronavirus.

Under the government plans, Britons who test positive for COVID-19 or are exposed to the virus could be sent antiviral tablets or capsules, to take at home as early as autumn this year.

"The success of our vaccination programme has demonstrated what the UK can achieve when we bring together our brightest minds," the prime minister said at a Downing Street press briefing.

LONDON (AP) — European Union officials unveiled proposals Wednesday for reining in high-risk uses of artificial intelligence such as live facial scanning that could threaten people’s safety or rights.

The draft regulations from the EU’s executive commission include rules on the use of the rapidly expanding technology in activities such as choosing school, job or loan applicants. They also would ban artificial intelligence outright in a few situations, such as “social scoring” and systems used to manipulate human behavior.