Europe

MINSK, August 20. /TASS/: The strike committee of Belaruskali did not cancel the strike, despite the fact that the company’s management earlier announced the resumption of work of all its divisions, Chairman of the Belarusian Independent Trade Union Maxim Poznyakov told TASS.

"The strike committee extended the strike and adjusted its demands, including the demand to abolish the contract system," the head of the trade union said. He admitted that some of the staff had resumed work though.

MOSCOW, August 20. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has discussed the outcome of the EU summit on Belarus with European Council President Charles Michel, the Kremlin press service said in a statement on Thursday.

"Michel briefed [Putin] on the outcome of the August 19 summit of the European Union, dedicated to events in Belarus. Russia pointed out that any pressure on the leadership of the sovereign Belarusian state and foreign interference in domestic processes taking place in the country were counterproductive," the statement reads.

LONDON, Aug 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people, aged 50 to 70, are more likely to be in the poorest 20 percent of the population in England, a new study revealed yesterday.

Carried out by the Centre for Ageing Better, with the Institute for Public Policy Research and the University College London, the study said, with the proportion of people from BAME in this age group doubling in a generation, action is needed now to prevent inequalities from deepening.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Mass testing of Russia’s first potential COVID-19 vaccine to get domestic regulatory approval will involve more than 40,000 people, the TASS news agency cited the vaccine’s developer as saying on Thursday.

The vaccine, called “Sputnik V” in homage to the world’s first satellite launched by the Soviet Union, has been hailed as safe and effective by Russian authorities and scientists following two months of small-scale human trials, the results of which have not been made public yet.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Swedish activist Greta Thunberg urged German Chancellor Angela Merkel “to be brave enough to think long-term” in a meeting on Thursday where they discussed the climate crisis and measures to fight global warming.

During a 90-minute conversation in the chancellery, Merkel explained her climate policy priorities for Germany’s European Union presidency, the goal of achieving EU climate neutrality by 2050 and interim targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, a government spokesman said.

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government was facing fresh criticism on Thursday over its handling of grading for school exams after results for hundreds of thousands of students were pulled.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has been accused of overseeing a fiasco over how grades have been awarded to teenagers who were unable to take their exams because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

(Reuters) - No more parties and events in homes listed on Airbnb, the short-term home rental company said on Thursday as it tries to enforce strict social-distancing norms to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new rules include a cap on occupancy at 16, with hosts or guests who try to skirt the rules facing a ban from Airbnb’s community and even legal action, the company said on Thursday.

“Instituting a global ban on parties and events is in the best interest of public health,” Airbnb said in a statement, adding that the ban applies to all future bookings.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Belarusian general prosecutor’s office said on Thursday it had opened a criminal case into a council launched by members of the opposition who disputed an Aug. 9 presidential election, the RIA news agency reported.

The general prosecutor said the body was designed to seize power and undermine national security, RIA reported.

President Alexander Lukashenko faces the biggest challenge to his 26-year rule following the election that triggered mass protests. He has described the opposition council as “an attempt to seize power.”

BERLIN (Reuters) - German federal police said on Thursday they had arrested a 55-year old former Yugoslavian man who was sentenced 23 years ago in Croatia for crimes against humanity but who never served his prison term.

In 1997, the man, now a U.S. citizen, was sentenced to 10 years behind bars for killing a civilian in 1993 during the war in Croatia when he was part of the army of the self-proclaimed Republic of Serb Krajina (RSK), said the police.

Since then the man, unnamed by German authorities for privacy reasons, has escaped justice.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission and German biotech firm CureVac said on Thursday they had concluded a first round of talks for the supply of at least 225 million doses of a potential COVID-19 vaccine to EU states.

The European Union’s executive arm is also in talks with Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi for their vaccines under development, and agreed last week an advanced purchase deal with AstraZeneca for at least 300 million doses of the shot it is developing with Oxford University.