Europe

SKOPJE (Reuters) - North Macedonia’s president on Thursday handed a mandate to pro-Western ex-prime minister Zoran Zaev to form a new government after his party bloc narrowly won a July 15 election.

“I will lead a government that will not ... veer away from the road leading to membership of the European Union after obtaining membership of NATO,” Zaev said.

The Social Democratic leader, who needed time to ensure the support of parties representing Macedonia’s ethnic Albanian minority before getting the green light to form a cabinet, will have 20 days to do so.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union will likely impose new sanctions on Belarus as soon as later this month, diplomats and officials said, after President Alexander Lukashenko cracked down on protests triggered by a disputed election.

Germany, Lithuania, Latvia and Sweden have spoken publicly in favour of sanctions and Austria was another hawk, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of emergency talks between EU foreign ministers on Friday.

MOSCOW, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- A Russian Su-27 fighter jet was scrambled over the Black Sea on Wednesday to intercept two U.S. reconnaissance planes, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"On August 12, Russian airspace control systems have detected two air targets approaching the Russian state border over the neutral waters of the Black Sea," the ministry's Zvezda broadcasting service said.

A Su-27 fighter of the Southern Military District was scrambled to intercept the targets, it said.

LONDON, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- At least 922 healthcare workers in the United States have died of COVID-19, a recent report has found.

According to the report published by Lost on the Frontline, a joint project between U.S. nonprofit Kaiser Health News and UK newspaper the Guardian, 167 of the health workers have been identified, with their profiles published as part of the report.

The tally consists of doctors, nurses and paramedics, as well as crucial support staff such as hospital janitors and administrators.

BRUSSELS, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Brussels-Capital Region Minister-President Rudi Vervoort decided to make mask-wearing compulsory in public places throughout the region starting from Wednesday.

The regulations came as the incidence rate in the region has passed the threshold of 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the last seven days.

Wearing a mask covering the nose and mouth is therefore now obligatory for any person aged 12 and over in public places and private places accessible to the public.

BLED, Slovenia (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in Slovenia making the case for high-speed wireless networks that bar Chinese companies like Huawei.

On the second leg of a four-nation tour of central and eastern Europe, Pompeo met with Slovenian officials in the mountain lake town of Bled on Thursday and signed a joint declaration on “5G Clean Network Security” that aims to keep untrusted telecommunications vendors out of Slovenia.

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Not two months after battling back the coronavirus, Spain’s hospitals are beginning to see patients struggling to breathe returning to their wards.

The deployment of a military emergency brigade to set up a field hospital in Zaragoza this week is a grim reminder that Spain is far from claiming victory over the coronavirus that devastated the European country in March and April.

BONDY, France (AP) — Festering beneath France’s promise of guaranteed health care for all lie deep disparities across economic and racial lines — differences laid painfully bare by the COVID-19 crisis.

Two recent studies have documented these gaps, but government officials haven’t issued new proposals in response. However, as France records a new uptick in virus cases, a health advocacy group called Banlieues Santé — Suburbs Health — is trying to help, offering medical care and guidance in poor and migrant-heavy suburbs and neighborhoods.

LONDON, Aug 11 (APP): Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (UK) Mohammad Nafees Zakaria Tuesday said the Constitution of Pakistan guaranteed fundamental rights for all its citizens irrespective of the religion, caste, colour or creed and thus minorities rights were fully protected in the country.

MOSCOW, August 12. /TASS/: Russia’s Aerospace Force will get the latest Su-57 fifth-generation fighter jets and Il-76MD-90A military transport planes by the end of the year, Aerospace Force Deputy Commander-in-Chief Lieutenant-General Sergei Dronov said on Wednesday.