Europe

LONDON (AP) — Companies linked to hospitality and travel in Britain have announced thousands of more job cuts as the longer term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic take hold, choosing to slim down for survival rather than await potential government handouts.

The owner of sandwich and coffee shop chain Upper Crust was the latest business that caters to travelers to announce cuts Wednesday. Some 5,000 jobs are under threat as travelers stay home amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

MOSCOW (AP) — A vote on amendments to Russia’s constitution that could allow President Vladimir Putin to hold power until 2036 entered its final day Wednesday amid widespread reports of pressure on voters and other irregularities.

For the first time in Russia, polls were open for a week to bolster turnout without increasing crowds casting ballots amid the coronavirus pandemic — a provision that Kremlin critics denounced as an extra tool to manipulate the outcome.

BRUSSELS, July 1 (Xinhua) -- A pan-European poll has found that the majority of respondents hold an "increasingly" negative view of the United States amid the coronavirus outbreak, U.S. media CNBC reported on Monday.

The survey, commissioned by the European Council on Foreign Relations, a pan-European think tank, interviewed 11,000 people from nine European countries from the last week of April this year to early May, reported CNBC.

01 July 2020; MEMO: The UK is facing fresh calls to end its arms sale to Israel amidst international outrage over the Zionist state’s planned annexation of Palestinian territory which is considered a war crime under international law.

TRIPOLI, July 1 (NNN-Xinhua) — The European Union (EU) Delegation to Libya on Wednesday condemned the presence of foreign mercenaries in Libya and called on all Libyan and regional players to make efforts to lift oil blockade.

“We call on all Libyan and regional actors to constructively engage in efforts to lift the blockade. We strongly condemn the presence of foreign mercenaries in Libya, including the Sharara oilfield and any other oil infrastructure,” the Delegation said in a statement.

BERLIN, July 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Chancellor Angela Merkel aims to strengthen a divided European Union and help its hard-hit economy recover from the coronavirus pandemic when Germany takes over the rotating presidency of the 27-member bloc on Wednesday (July 1).

Critics have in the last three months raised questions about the future of the bloc as national borders shut and each state resorted, at least initially, to national policies to tackle COVID-19, which has killed more than 100,000 people in the EU.

MOSCOW, June 30. /TASS/: Experts at the Sechenov University have not observed any adverse side effects on volunteers injected with the domestically-made vaccine against the coronavirus. All the subjects are in good health, the main researcher, Yelena Smolyarchuk, who heads the Sechenov University Center for Expert Evaluation of Medicinal Products told TASS.

MOSCOW, June 30. /TASS/: Nord Stream 2 investors will be able to estimate the completion time for the pipeline after the introduction of new US sanctions against the project, CEO of Austria’s OMV Rainer Seele (one of European partners of the project) said at the press conference on Tuesday.

SEVASTOPOL, June 30. /TASS/. The team of the Bal coastal defense missile system successfully struck a naval target during tactical drills at the Opuk practice range in Crimea, the press office of the Black Sea Fleet reported on Tuesday.

"The team of the Bal coastal defense missile system of the Black Sea Fleet’s large unit held a tactical exercise with missile firing against a naval target at the Opuk multiservice combat training range in Crimea. The target was destroyed by an accurate hit," the press office said in a statement.

GENEVA, June 30. /TASS/: Russia is against foreign interference in China’s domestic affairs, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva Gennady Gatilov said on Tuesday, noting that the discussion of the human rights aspect of the Hong Kong national security law within the United Nations Human Rights Council (UN HRC) is "biased and politicized."