Europe

LONDON, Aug 06 (APP): Pakistan High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Mohammad Nafees Zakaria has said the ultimate objective of India was to alter the demography of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), which it has been illegally occupying against the wishes of Kashmiri people, in contravention of Geneva Convention IV and UNSC resolutions.

He said this while speaking at a Virtual Parliamentary Seminar on Kashmir on August 5 to observe Youm-e-Istehsal to mark one year of military siege over 8 million Kashmiris by India.

MOSCOW, August 7. /TASS/: Mass influenza vaccination will help diagnose the novel coronavirus, because doctors can immediately rule out flu viruses as a cause of an acute respiratory disease, Russia’s former chief sanitary doctor Gennady Onishchenko, who is now first deputy chairman of the State Duma (lower house) Education and Science Committee, told TASS.

MOSCOW, August 7. /TASS/: The Nauka multi-functional laboratory module planned for launch to the International Space Station (ISS) in April 2021 will be sent to the Baikonur spaceport from the Khrunichev Space Center (the module’s producer) on August 10, the press office of Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos told TASS on Friday.

"Russian Railways confirmed the dispatch window for bringing out the especially valuable non-standard cargo [the Nauka module] from the territory of the Khrunichev Space Center for August 10, 2020," Roscosmos said.

MOSCOW, August 7. /TASS/: Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom reported about the start of fueling at the first unit of the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant (NPP).

"Fueling has begun at power unit No. 1 of the Belarusian NPP," Rosatom reported on Twitter.

Rosatom added that the first reactor fuel assembly was loaded with fuel at 11:45 am. By the end of the month, 163 fuel assemblies will sequentially be loaded.

MOSCOW, August 7. /TASS/: The Radio-Electronic Technologies Concern (KRET, part of Rostec) plans to produce more than 14,000 artificial lung ventilators branded Aventa-M, a source in KRET’s press service told TASS.

"The orders portfolio for supply of Aventa-M artificial lung ventilators includes a state contract with the Industry and Trade Ministry and direct contracts with medical establishments and organizations in Russia and other countries. All in all, those are over 14,000 ventilators," press service said.

MOSCOW, August 7. /TASS/: Twitter needs to label Deutsche Welle, BBC World News and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty as state-affiliated media, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Twitter on Friday, commenting on the social network’s decision to label the accounts of state-controlled media outlets.

"We realize that labelling media accounts as 'government affiliated' is a tough job. There are so many of them. While some Russian outlets have been given the tag, other state-owned media still do not enjoy the privilege. So here are some hints," the tweet reads.

BRUSSELS, Aug 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The European Union announced that it had released 33 million euros to finance emergency aid for Lebanon and mobilized material resources, including an Italian hospital ship, to help relief efforts in Beirut after this week’s devastating explosions.

A donor conference is also planned to mobilise additional funding for reconstruction after an assessment of what is required, said a EU source.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil dipped below $45 a barrel on Friday on worries that a demand recovery would slow due to a resurgence of coronavirus cases, although a pledge from OPEC member Iraq to cut oil output further in August provided support.

The resurgence of infections remains a key issue for the market and demand outlook. Tallies show cases in the United States are rising in a number of states. India reported on Friday a record daily jump in infections.

MADRID/DUBAI (Reuters) - Former Spanish king Juan Carlos has been staying at Abu Dhabi’s exclusive Emirates Palace Hotel since leaving Spain aboard a private jet on Monday under a cloud of financial scandal involving Saudi Arabia, newspaper ABC said on Friday.

United Arab Emirates officials and the Emirates Palace Hotel did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia boasts that it’s about to become the first country to approve a COVID-19 vaccine, with mass vaccinations planned as early as October using shots that are yet to complete clinical trials -- and scientists worldwide are sounding the alarm that the headlong rush could backfire.