Europe

LONDON, July 22. /TASS/: Russia is not interested in disintegration of any European country, including in Scotland’s possible secession from the United Kingdom, Russian Ambassador to UK Anrei Kelin said in an interview with Sky News.

Commenting on the report, published by the British Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee on Tuesday, Kelin said the document mentions Russia’s alleged attempt to meddle with the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, but "don’t provide any facts."

MOSCOW, July 22. /TASS/: Four vaccines against the coronavirus have proven to be safe and tests on two more vaccines are at their final stage, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin told the parliament, the State Duma, on Wednesday reporting on the government’s work.

MOSCOW, July 22. /TASS/: A Mil Mi-8AMTSh-VN new helicopter for Special Operations Forces has entered flight tests, CEO of Russian Helicopters Group (part of the state hi-tech corporation Rostec) Andrei Boginsky said on Wednesday.

"The construction of helicopters [Mi-8AMTSh-VN] is proceeding along with the R&D work. The national helicopter-building center has already started flights," the chief executive said.

MOSCOW, July 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russia still believes there is hope of rescuing the nuclear deal with Iran, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

“We are convinced that there is still a chance to return the (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) into a stable situation,” Russia’s top diplomat said as he met with Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif in Moscow.

“In any case, we will do everything to make it happen, just like our Iranian friends,” he said.

The Hague, Jul 21 (AP/PTI) A Dutch government auction of frequencies that can be used by mobile telecom companies to provide new, high-speed 5G communications raised 1.23 billion euros (USD 1.4 billion), the minister responsible for the sale said Tuesday.

Three companies, KPN, T-Mobile and VodafoneZiggo, bought bandwidth, said State Secretary for Economic Affairs Mona Keijzer said.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Wednesday as industry data showed a bigger than expected inventory build in the United States, where a surge in coronavirus cases could further dent fuel demand in the world’s biggest oil consumer.

Brent crude fell 60 cents, or 1.4%, to $43.72 a barrel by 0912 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude dropped 70 cents, or 1.7%, to $41.22.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) industry group reported U.S. crude inventories rose last week by 7.5 million barrels, against expectations for a draw of 2.1 million barrels. [API/S]

LONDON (Reuters) - Anglo-Australian miner BHP has dismissed as pointless and wasteful a 5 billion pound ($6.3 billion) English lawsuit by 200,000 Brazilian people and groups over the 2015 collapse of a dam that led to Brazil’s worst environmental disaster.

Kicking off an eight-day hearing in Manchester, northern England, BHP on Wednesday called for the record group action to be struck out or suspended, alleging it duplicated Brazilian proceedings and victims were already receiving redress.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Proposed cuts in the EU’s long-term budget for research and the Erasmus programme to support education are not acceptable, European Parliament President David Sassoli said on Wednesday.

“There is a proposal on the table, but we would like to improve that, above all by trying to give answers to some of the cuts that we’ve deemed unjustified,” he told a news conference a day after European Union leaders agreed on 1.1 trillion euro ($1.27 trillion) budget for the bloc from 2021-27.

MILAN (Reuters) - Italy’s antitrust authority said on Wednesday it had opened an investigation into whether Apple Inc and Amazon Inc had engaged in anti-competitive cooperation in the sale of Apple products and Beats headphones.

It said the investigation was aimed at establishing whether Apple and Amazon had reached an anti-competitive agreement to prevent electronics reailers not included in Apple’s official programme to sell the products.

It added that Antitrust officials searched Amazon and Apple offices in Italy on Wednesday.

LONDON, July 21 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday raised the case of the death of a British teenager killed in an accident with a car driven by the wife of a U.S. diplomat during a meeting with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

"The Prime Minister reiterated the need for justice to be done for Harry Dunn and his family. He said there was a strong feeling among the people of the UK that justice must be delivered," said Johnson's official spokesperson.