Europe

MOSCOW, July 23. /TASS/: Russia will open its borders with other countries on a reciprocal basis, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday, noting that these issues are being discussed with the foreign partners but no specific decisions have been made yet.

GENEVA, July 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Researchers are making “good progress” in developing vaccines against COVID-19, with a handful in late-stage trials, but their first use cannot be expected until early 2021, a World Health Organization (WHO) expert said.

WHO is working to ensure fair vaccine distribution, but in the meantime it is key to suppress the virus’ spread, said Dr Mike Ryan, head of WHO’s emergencies programme, as daily new cases around the globe are at near-record levels.

GENEVA, July 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Researchers are making “good progress” in developing vaccines against COVID-19, with a handful in late-stage trials, but their first use cannot be expected until early 2021, a World Health Organization (WHO) expert said.

WHO is working to ensure fair vaccine distribution, but in the meantime it is key to suppress the virus’ spread, said Dr Mike Ryan, head of WHO’s emergencies programme, as daily new cases around the globe are at near-record levels.

PARIS (Reuters) - France’s president on Thursday said it would be a serious error by the European Union to not respond to provocations in the Eastern Mediterranean and said he wanted more sanctions on those who violated Greek and Cypriot maritime space.

Emmanuel Macron’s comments come after Turkey’s navy on Tuesday issued an advisory for seismic surveys in an area of sea between Cyprus and Crete, a move Greece said was an attempt by Ankara to encroach on its continental shelf.

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will seek to play down tensions with Scotland during a visit on Thursday, saying the COVID-19 crisis has shown the collective power of the United Kingdom.

The ties that bind the kingdom’s constituent parts - England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - have been badly strained by Brexit and the coronavirus outbreak. Scotland’s pro-independence government opposes leaving the European Union and accuses Johnson of mistakes in responding to COVID-19.

KYIV (Reuters) - A man armed with a grenade escaped arrest on Thursday and took a senior Ukrainian policeman hostage in the central city of Poltava, a government minister said.

It was the second hostage-taking in Ukraine in three days. On Tuesday, an armed man held 13 people captive on a bus for hours before releasing them.

Police on Thursday were trying to arrest a man suspected of hijacking a vehicle when he took out a grenade and threatened to kill one of the officers, Deputy Interior Minister Anton Gerashchenko said on Facebook.

BRUSSELS, July 22 (Xinhua) -- European Parliament President David Sassoli said Wednesday he welcomed the agreement reached by European Union (EU) leaders on the recovery fund, but deemed cuts in the next seven-year EU budget "unjustified".

He said the European Parliament will make "certain corrections" to the budget when it meets to discuss it in a plenary session to be held on Thursday. European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will also attend.

LONDON, July 22 (Xinhua) -- A renowned British expert on global health has said he did not recognize the remarks made by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who attacked the World Health Organization (WHO) during his visit to Britain.

According to British media reports Tuesday, Pompeo launched an extraordinary attack on the WHO during a private meeting with MPs in London, claiming it "is a political, not a science-based organisation" and its Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was "bought" by the Chinese government.

BERLIN (AP) — As a 17-year-old SS private, Bruno Dey could hear the screams of Jews dying in the gas chamber of Nazi Germany’s Stutthof concentration camp from his post in a guard tower, and watched daily as their bodies were carted to the crematorium to be turned into ash.

A Hamburg state court is set to decide Thursday whether Dey’s role as a camp guard more than 75 years ago is enough to convict him of 5,230 counts of accessory to murder, equal to the number of people believed to have been killed in Stutthof during his service there.

MOSCOW, July 22. /TASS/: Russia’s arms exports exceeded $15 bln in 2019, while the portfolio of orders exceeded $55 bln as of early 2020, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said when delivering an annual report in the State Duma (lower house) on Wednesday.

"The defense industry is working successfully," he said. "Russian arms exports amounted to over $15 bln in 2019. The portfolio of orders as of the beginning of this year exceeded $55 bln. More than one hundred countries cooperate with Russia in that field," PM noted.