Europe

BERLIN, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Despite the rising number of confirmed infection cases, about 17,000 people turned up here on Saturday rallying against social distancing rules meant to curb the coronavirus pandemic, which was later dispersed by the police.

Protesters marched from the landmark Brandenburg Gate through central Berlin before holding a rally on a wide boulevard. Police then broke up the rally, saying that the organizers were unable to ensure that safety and health regulations were being observed.

BUCHAREST, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Mask-wearing is being made mandatory in crowded outdoor public places in nearly half of Romania starting Saturday, as over 1,000 new COVID-19 cases have been confirmed daily for almost two weeks in the country.

After authorization from the central government on Wednesday, the capital city of Bucharest and 19 of the nation's 41 counties have decided to implement various restrictions, most of which went into effect on Saturday.

Most counties stipulated that masks must be worn in open-air public places such as bazaars or other open-air markets.

BERLIN (AP) — Thousands of protesters against German coronavirus restrictions converged Saturday in Berlin for a demonstration proclaiming “the end of the pandemic” has arrived just as authorities voice increasing concern about an upturn in new infections.

A crowd of people whistling and cheering, and with few masks in sight, marched through downtown Berlin from the Brandenburg Gate ahead of a rally on a wide boulevard that runs through the city’s Tiergarten park.

PARIS, Aug 1 (NNN-XINHUA) – French weather agency, Meteo France, yesterday put 29 regions, including Ile-de-France — the great Paris region, under orange alert on heatwave till this morning.

“A very intense heat peak is currently affecting the country…Temperatures broke records yesterday notably in the south-west with up to 41.9 degrees Celsius in Socoa,” the national meteorological service said.

“Today, temperatures have cooled significantly on the Atlantic coast, but will reach very high values over most of the country,” it added.

ROME, Aug 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Italian-American automaker, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), posted net losses of one billion euros (1.18 billion U.S. dollars), in the second quarter (Q2) this year, the company said, yesterday.

FCA said, it shipped 424,000 vehicles worldwide in Q2, down by 63 percent, compared to the same period last year, due to COVID-19 pandemic-related production stoppages and demand disruptions.

The automaker added, it secured a three-year, 6.3-billion-euro credit facility with Intesa Sanpaolo, one of Italy’s major banking groups.

MOSCOW, July 31. /TASS/: Reports of a number of US media outlets about Russia’s alleged dissemination of fake news regarding the COVID-19 situation in the US are cynical and groundless, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement published Friday.

ROSTOV-ON-DON, July 31. /TASS/: A smuggler who drove his vehicle directly at border control officers in an attempt to ram through them has been detained in Russia’s Rostov Region on the Ukrainian border. He was injured, the border control service of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) told reporters Friday.

KALININGRAD, July 31. /TASS/: Over 500 artillery personnel of the Baltic Fleet’s army corps delivered strikes against a notional enemy’s targets during drills in the westernmost Kaliningrad Region, the Fleet’s press office reported on Friday.

The battalion-level tactical artillery drills took place at the Pravdinsky training range in the Kaliningrad Region. The troops practiced inter-operability of a reconnaissance artillery battalion with a gun battalion and a battery of self-propelled artillery guns, the press office said in a statement.

MOSCOW, July 31. /TASS/: The coronavirus pandemic had no impact on the timeframe of Russia’s defense procurement plan and new defense orders, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov told TASS on Friday.

"Actually, it had no impact. This is because we timely formed all cooperation chains both with regions and with integrated structures in the manual mode so that they could not be destroyed," the minister said, replying to the corresponding question.

In some instances, the timeframe can be only slightly adjusted, he said.

ST. PETERSBURG, July 31. /TASS/: The Army-2020 international military and technical forum will feature 730 items of armament and military hardware, Western Military District Deputy Commander for Logistics Lieutenant-General Andrei Bulyga told reporters on Friday.

"For the purpose of organizing and preparing the dynamic and static show at the Army-2020 military and technical forum, 730 items of military hardware and armament will be involved," he noted.