Europe

GENEVA (Reuters) - International agencies including the World Health Organization urged countries on Tuesday to suspend the sale of live wild mammals in food markets, warning they may be the source of more than 70% of emerging infectious diseases in humans.

The guidance, aimed at ensuring the global food system is safe and sustainable, follows a WHO-led mission to Wuhan, China to investigate the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday she was keeping out of a debate in her conservative bloc over whether Christian Democrat party chairman Armin Laschet or Bavarian premier Markus Soeder should be the candidate to succeed her.

“I wanted to, want to and will stay out of it,” Merkel told reporters when asked if she feared the struggle between Laschet and Soeder could damage their conservative alliance so much that they lose the chancellery after a Sept. 26 federal election.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia on Tuesday warned the United States to ensure its warships stayed well away from Crimea “for their own good”, calling their deployment in the Black Sea a provocation designed to test Russian nerves.

Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and two U.S. warships are due to arrive in the Black Sea this week amid an escalation in fighting in eastern Ukraine where government forces have battled Russian-backed troops in a conflict Kyiv says has killed 14,000 people.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called on Russia on Tuesday to withdraw troops from Ukraine’s eastern border in what the alliance says is Moscow’s biggest build-up since 2014, ahead of an emergency meeting of allied foreign and defence ministers.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba flew to Brussels for talks with Stoltenberg a day after Kyiv accused the Kremlin of ignoring its request for talks between the two countries’ presidents over a build-up of Russian troops near its border.

BRUSSELS, April 12 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) on Monday strongly rejected any attempts to derail diplomatic efforts to revive the Iran nuclear deal currently under way in Vienna, the capital of Austria.

EU foreign affairs spokesman Peter Stano told an online press conference that the reported incident in Natanz "could have been an act of sabotage," but insisted that there had been no official attribution over who was responsible.

LONDON (AP) — The U.K. economy grew 0.4% in February, rebounding from a sharp drop the previous month, as the rapid rollout of COVID-19 vaccines boosted confidence in a recovery from the pandemic.

The Office for National Statistics said Tuesday that the expansion was led by a 1.3% increase in manufacturing output and a 1.6% boost in construction as most nonessential shops remained closed due to a nationwide lockdown.

BERLIN (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced on Tuesday that he is expanding the U.S. military presence in Germany by 500 troops, suggesting he will not carry out a Trump administration order to withdraw thousands of them.

“This planned increase in U.S. personnel underscores our commitment to Germany and the entire NATO alliance,” Austin said in a notable counterpoint to the Trump administration’s repeated complaints that Germany is a weak partner on defense and security.

12 Apr 2021; MEMO: Russia is temporarily suspending regular and charter flights with Turkey, Moscow announced Monday, Anadolu Agency reported.

The suspension over COVID-19 concerns will last from April 15 to June 1, said Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova.

Flights will resume if developments in the pandemic show a positive trend, she added, speaking at a video conference with other members of the government,

BERLIN (AP) — Nearly a year after President Donald Trump ordered thousands of troops to leave Germany, capping a series of setbacks for U.S. relations with major allies, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin began an inaugural tour of Europe to shore up partnerships that are a cornerstone of the post-World War II order.

MOSCOW, April 12. /TASS/: The Rubin Central Design Bureau (part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation) has developed the first Russian patrol ship with a diving capability for foreign customers, the Rubin press office told TASS on Monday.

"Rubin presents the first modification of a submergible patrol vessel that combines the advantages of a submarine and a surface patrol ship," the press office said.

The project has been dubbed ‘Strazh (‘Guard’) and will be promoted on the world market under the name of BOSS (Border and Offshore Submersible Sentry), Rubin said.