Europe

SOLNECHNOGORSK /Moscow Region/, September 7./TASS/: The vaccination of first volunteers as part of Phase 3 clinical trials of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine will begin as early as this week, Russian Minister of Health Mikhail Murashko told journalists on Monday.

Concurrently, first supplies of the coronavirus vaccine to Russian regions are planned for the next week, Murashko said.

BERLIN, September 7. /TASS/: The condition of Alexei Navalny has improved, he has been taken out of a medically induced coma and is responding to verbal stimuli, Berlin’s Charite hospital said in a statement on Monday.

"The condition of Alexei Navalny, who has been receiving treatment at Charite - Universitaetsmedizin Berlin since August 22, 2020, has improved," it said.

"The patient has been removed from his medically induced coma and is being weaned off mechanical ventilation. He is responding to verbal stimuli," the press release reads.

LONDON (Reuters) - Julian Assange resumed his battle in a London court on Monday to avoid extradition to the United States to face criminal charges over the activities of his WikiLeaks website, after months of delay due to the coronavirus lockdown.

The U.S. authorities accuse Australian-born Assange, 49, of conspiring to hack government computers and of violating an espionage law in connection with the release of confidential cables by WikiLeaks in 2010-2011.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union aims to impose economic sanctions on 31 senior Belarus officials including the country’s interior minister by mid-September, three EU diplomats said, in response to an Aug. 9 election that the West says was rigged.

Almost a month into mass demonstrations against the outcome of the contest, in which President Alexander Lukashenko claimed victory to prolong his 26-year-old rule, the EU aims to punish the government crackdown and support calls for fresh elections.

07 Sep 2020; MEMO: A member of the Greek parliament has criticised the government for allying with and placing its trust in France. Communist MP Liana Kanelli said that France is only showing support for Greece because of its own interests in the Eastern Mediterranean.

“Nobody is coming to Greece because they love us,” said Kanelli during a television talk show. “They are not dying for Greek interests.”

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel does not rule out imposing sanctions on a pipeline set to bring Russian gas to Germany in response to the suspected poisoning of a Kremlin critic with a Soviet-style nerve agent, her chief spokesman said on Monday.

Merkel is under mounting pressure from members of her conservative party to suspend the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, a huge project to double Russian gas exports to Germany that is more than 90% complete and due to start operating from early 2021.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates is planning to make its first official visit to Israel on Sept. 22 to build up the countries’ agreement to normalize relations, a source familiar with the provisional itinerary said on Monday.

Israeli officials declined to comment and UAE officials did not respond to calls seeking comment.

The two countries announced on Aug. 13 they would normalize diplomatic relations in a U.S.-brokered deal that was hailed as a breakthrough by Washington and Israel but spurned by the Palestinians.

OSLO (Reuters) - The wreckage of a major German warship has been discovered off the coast of Norway some 80 years after it was sunk in a World War Two battle, Norwegian power grid operator Statnett and a maritime archaeologist said.

Identified this year from images and sonar scans of its hull and of details such as the position of gun turrets, the cruiser Karlsruhe was first detected in 2017 just 15 meters (50 feet) from a subsea power cable that has been operating since 1977.

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland’s foreign minister said Dublin should not overreact to reports that Britain may seek to undermine its Brexit withdrawal agreement but warned that such a move would be a very serious breach of trust and fundamentally undermine ongoing talks.

London is reportedly planning new legislation to override parts of the agreement and create frictions in British-ruled Northern Ireland where special arrangements had been made to avoid a hard border with Ireland to the south that could be detrimental to a peace agreement.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Monday as Saudi Arabia made its deepest monthly price cuts to supply for Asia in five months and uncertainty over Chinese demand clouds the market’s recovery.

Brent crude LCOc1 was trading at $42.00 a barrel, down 66 cents or 1.5%, by 1208 GMT, after earlier sliding to $41.51, its lowest since July 30.

West Texas Intermediate U.S. crude CLc1 skidded 59 cents, or 1.5%, to $39.18 per barrel after hitting $38.55, its lowest since July 10.