Europe

London, Sep 3 (AP/PTI) E-commerce giant Amazon is adding 7,000 more permanent jobs in the U.K. by the end of the year, in the latest sign that demand for online shopping and services is booming amid the pandemic.

The company said Thursday that the jobs will be created at Amazon warehouses, sorting centers and delivery stations across the United Kingdom as well as its corporate offices.

GENEVA (Reuters) - U.N. human rights experts have told China a new security law for Hong Kong “infringes on certain fundamental rights” and voiced concerns that it could be used to prosecute political activists in the former British colony.

In a rare joint letter made public on Friday, 48 hours after it was sent to the Chinese government, they also said provisions of the new law appear to undermine the independence of Hong Kong’s judges and lawyers, and the right to freedom of expression.

LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The chances of Britain leaving the European Union without a trade deal have risen sharply as negotiations have been threatened by London’s insistence that it have full autonomy over its state aid plans, negotiators and diplomats said.

The United Kingdom left the EU on Jan. 31, turning its back after 47 years on the post-World War Two project that sought to build the ruined nations of Europe into a global power.

BERLIN (Reuters) - The poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who is in intensive care in a Berlin hospital, is damaging to Russia’s leadership and makes it harder for Germany to cooperate with Moscow, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday Navalny was poisoned with a Soviet-style Novichok nerve agent in an attempt to murder him and that Berlin would consult its NATO allies about how to respond.

LONDON (AP) — A prominent British human rights lawyer is convening an independent tribunal in London to investigate whether the Chinese government’s alleged rights abuses against Uighur Muslims in the far western Xinjiang region constitute genocide or crimes against humanity.

MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman brushed off allegations Thursday that the Kremlin was involved in poisoning the Russian leader’s most determined critic, accusing Germany of not providing Moscow with any evidence about the condition of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny.

Navalny, a politician and corruption investigator, fell ill on a flight to Moscow on Aug. 20 and was taken to a hospital in the Siberian city of Omsk. He has been in an induced coma in a Berlin hospital after being flown from Siberia to Germany for treatment more than a week ago.

03 Sep 2020; MEMO: Arms sales to Saudi Arabia may have continued – and even increased – after they were ruled unlawful, MPs have been told, reported the Mirror.

MOSCOW, September 3. /TASS/: There is no reason to blame Russia for what happened to blogger Alexei Navalny, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

"I would choose words carefully when speaking about accusations against the Russian state because there are no accusations at the moment and there is no reason to accuse the Russian state," he pointed out. "We aren’t inclined to accept any accusations in this regard," the Russian presidential spokesman added.

YEKATERINBURG, September 3. /TASS/: The teams of Msta-B towed howitzers eliminated a notional enemy’s armor at a maximum range during drills in the Kemerovo Region, the press office of the Central Military District reported on Thursday.

MINSK, September 3. /TASS/: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko appointed new head of the State Security Committee (KGB) and the state secretary of the republic’s Security Council.

According to BelTA news agency, Valery Vakulchuk, who until recently chaired the Belarusian KGB, was appointed as the security chief. Ivan Tertel, who headed the State Control Committee, will head the KGB. He will be succeeded by Valery Gerasimov, who earlier served as the first deputy chief of this agency.