Europe

19 July 2020; MEMO: The Israeli government breathed a sigh of relief after a decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to adjourn without opening an investigation against Tel Aviv over possible war crimes committed in the occupied Palestinian territories, according to Israeli media, reports Anadolu Agency.

Brussels, Jul 19 (AP/PTI) European Union leaders on Saturday extended their summit by an extra day, convinced they were finally closing in on a deal for an unprecedented 1.85 trillion euro (USD 2.1 trillion) EU budget and coronavirus recovery fund, an EU official said.

Heading into a balmy summer night, a deal was still far off, but several key nations said negotiations were at least heading in the right direction despite tensions that were running high after months of battling the pandemic.

BERLIN (AP) — The leaders of Germany, France and Italy are calling for nations to “end their increasing interference” in Libya and respect a much-violated arms embargo, saying Saturday that they are ready to consider sanctions if breaches of the embargo continue.

MINSK, July 17. /TASS/: Belarus always was and still is a close and native country for Russia, President Alexander Lukashenko said.

MOSCOW, July 15. /TASS/: The Koronavir drug for the treatment of the novel coronavirus, has been released in Russia, the R-Pharm statement made public on Wednesday said.

The company noted that the drug was produced and labeled at its factory in the city of Yaroslavl.

"To date 7,373 drug packages have been put in civil circulation," the statement said.

MOSCOW, July 18. /TASS/: Russian pharmaceutical company R-Pharm signed an agreement on production of a coronavirus vaccine developed by British-Swedish AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford. The company plans to supply the drug to 30-50 countries, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Russian company Alexey Repik said in an interview with Rossiya 24 TV channel.

GENEVA, July 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The new coronavirus outbreak in hard-hit Brazil has plateaued, the World Health Organization said, urging the country to seize the opportunity to drive down transmission.

“The rise in Brazil is no longer exponential, it has plateaued,” WHO health emergencies chief Michael Ryan told a virtual news conference.

Brazil is the second worst virus affected country in the world after the United States, counting nearly 77,000 deaths and more than two million cases.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte held out against his European Union counterparts on Saturday as negotiations on a massive stimulus fund ran into a second day and officials predicted a rough road ahead.

With the coronavirus pandemic dealing many European economies their worst economic shock since World War Two, leaders say they must agree on a 750 billion euro ($856 billion) recovery fund and a new 1 trillion euro EU budget.

BERLIN, July 17 (Xinhua) -- The Federation of German Industries (BDI) condemned the U.S. sanctions threat against companies involved in the Nord Stream 2 project as a "serious strain on transatlantic relations" on Friday.

The sanctions threatened by the U.S. would "create an increased legal security and investment risk for around 120 large and small companies from 12 countries," said BDI Director General Joachim Lang, who feared that consumer gas prices in Europe could rise as a result.

BRUSSELS, July 17 (Xinhua) -- High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said on Friday he was deeply concerned over the growing use of sanctions, or the threat of sanctions, by the United States against European companies and interests.

"We have witnessed this developing trend in the cases of Iran, Cuba, the International Criminal Court and most recently the Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream projects," Borrell said in a statement.