Europe

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis said on Sunday he was hurt by Turkey’s decision to make Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia museum a mosque, the latest religious leader to condemn the move.

“My thoughts go to Istanbul. I think of Santa Sophia and I am very pained,” he said during his weekly blessing in St. Peter’s Square.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has said the first prayers would be held in Hagia Sophia on July 24, after declaring the ancient monument was once again a mosque following a court ruling revoking its status as a museum.

LONDON (AP) — Only five years ago, then-British Prime Minister David Cameron was celebrating a “golden era” in U.K.-China relations, bonding with President Xi Jinping over a pint of beer at the pub and signing off on trade deals worth billions.

Those friendly scenes now seem like a distant memory.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Voting started Sunday in Poland’s razor-blade-close presidential election runoff between the conservative incumbent Andrzej Duda and liberal, pro-European Union Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski.

Duda is backed by the ruling right-wing party and the government, as he seeks a second 5-year term. Trzaskowski, a former European Parliament lawmaker, runs for the main opposition Civic Platform party. Both candidates are aged 48.

BAYONNE, France (AP) — The wife of a French bus driver who was beaten to death after he asked four passengers to wear face masks aboard his vehicle called Saturday for “exemplary punishment” for his killers.

The assault on Philippe Monguillot has scandalized France. President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday dispatched the interior minister to meet the driver’s widow after his death was announced Friday. He had been hospitalized in critical condition after the July 5 attack.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbian police detained 71 people after clashes during the fourth night of anti-government protests against the Serbian president that were initially sparked by his plans to reintroduce a coronavirus lockdown.

Fourteen policemen were injured in the rioting Friday evening when hundreds of right-wing demonstrators tried to storm the parliament building in downtown Belgrade, police director Vladimir Rebic said Saturday. Many demonstrators and several reporters were also injured in the protests.

MOSCOW, July 10. /TASS/: The Russian government will consider resuming international flights after July 15, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said at a briefing on Friday.

"As for the date when we could restart international air travel, we suggest July 15, 2020 and we suppose that, based on the air authorities’ negotiating position, the Transport Ministry and the Federal Air Transport Agency will be informing the government of the Russian Federation about the negotiation," she said.

MOSCOW, July 11. /TASS/: Five people were injured in a gas explosion followed by a fire in a residential building in Nizhny Novgorod, press service of the city’s government administration told reporters on Saturday.

"Currently, five people have been injured in a gas explosion, three of them were slightly injured, doctors examined them on the spot, hospitalization was not required. Two more people, a man and a woman, were taken to a hospital. Their condition does not cause any concerns," the press service said.

MOSCOW, July 10. /TASS/: After withdrawing from the Treaty on Open Skies, the United States might persuade their allies to pull out, and then the treaty will collapse, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in a televised interview on Friday.

"Having withdrawn from the Treaty, the United States is likely, due to their recent conduct, to try to lure some of their allies out. Should this happen, the treaty will certainly be doomed and will collapse," he said.

SREBRENICA, July 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Bosnian Muslims on Saturday mark 25 years since the Srebrenica massacre, the worst atrocity on European soil since World War II, with the memorial ceremony sharply reduced as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Organisers said the number of people attending the anniversary – usually in the tens of thousands – is likely to be lower than usual because of lockdown measures aimed at stemming the spread of COVID-19.

Proceedings are scheduled to start in the morning.

VIENNA, July 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The illegal global trade in ivory has shrunk while the trafficking of pangolins has soared, a UN report on wildlife crime based on four years’ data said.

National bans on selling ivory, particularly China’s in 2017, appear to have helped further erode ivory trafficking after it peaked around 2011-2013, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in its World Wildlife Crime Report, which was last published in 2016.