Europe

Rome, Jun 26 (AP/PTI) Pope Francis has ordered a Polish bishop to leave his central diocese and let someone else run it while he is under investigation for covering up cases of sexual abuse that were featured in a second clergy abuse documentary that has rocked Poland's Catholic Church.

Francis on Thursday named the archbishop of Lodz, Grzegorz Rys, to temporarily take over as head of the Kalisz diocese.

BOURNEMOUTH, June 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — An English seaside resort declared a major incident Thursday after thousands of people flocked to the beach on the hottest day of the year so far, despite the threat of coronavirus.

Temperatures rose to a record 33.3 degrees Celsius at Heathrow Airport in west London, the Met Office said, a day after highs of 32.6 degrees Celsius saw huge crowds flock to the coast.

LONDON, June 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Twenty-two police officers were hurt during trouble at an unauthorised music event in London overnight where crowds attacked some patrol cars, British authorities said.

Parties have been banned during Britain’s COVID-19 lockdown, though some people have been defying that.

“These are utterly vile scenes,” said Home Secretary Priti Patel of the disorder in the capital’s Brixton area.

PRISTINA, June 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — As Kosovo President Hashim Thaci rushed home on Thursday  to face accusations of war crimes from the 1990s conflict with Serbia, Kosovars defended the “just war” that paved their path to independence.

Thaci was the former political leader of the ethnic Albanian guerilla group, the KLA, which launched a rebellion against Belgrade more than 20 years ago when Kosovo was a southern province of Serbia.

BRUSSELS, June 26. /TASS/: The European Union will not be able to include Russia in the list of countries cleared to enter the area on July 1, a TASS source in one of the EU delegations informed, clarifying that the Russian coronavirus outbreak is to blame.

MOSCOW, June 26. /TASS/: Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has commented on Japan’s dissatisfaction with Russia’s research near the Kuril Islands, noting that Moscow has the right to do this in its territory.

"Russia has the absolute sovereign right to conduct any kind of research in its territory," he pointed out.

Earlier, the Japanese government rebuked Russia for performing geological research in the Sea of Okhotsk which particularly is planned in the waters near the southern Kuril Islands. The Russian embassy in Tokyo confirmed that it had received the note from Japan.

MOSCOW, June 26. /TASS/: Russia’s Defense Ministry has placed an order for developing multirole medical robots for evacuating the wounded from the battlefield. The order for the relevant experimental design work was posted on the government procurement website on Friday.

"The Defense Ministry of Russia notifies about holding a closed tender for fulfilling the experimental design work: ‘Developing Multi-Functional Robotized Medical Systems for Evacuating the Wounded and Incapacitated Personnel on Advanced Ground Carriers (codenamed ‘Evacuation-R’)," the document says.

VIENNA, June 26. /TASS/: Russia is prepared to discuss with the United States mutual grievances in compliance with the mechanisms of the Treaty on Open Skies, provided that the dialogue is based on mutual respect, the acting chief Russian delegate at the Vienna negotiations on military security and arms control, Andrei Vorobyov, told the OSCE Annual Security Review Conference. TASS obtained a transcript of his statement from Russia’s mission at the OSCE.

MOSCOW, June 26. /TASS/: Kiev remains unwilling to find a comprehensive resolution of the Donbass conflict, Russia’s Permanent Envoy to the Contact Group for settlement in Donbass Boris Gryzlov stated on the outcomes of the group’s video session on Thursday.

MOSCOW, June 25./TASS/: Moscow notes attempts by Tbilisi to politicize the issue of the novel coronavirus, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday after a video conference of Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko and the co-chairs of the Geneva discussions on security and stability in Transcaucasia.