Europe

MINSK, June 4./TASS/: Jumpstarting negotiations on Russia-Belarus integration will play a major role in stabilizing both countries’ economies, Russian Ambassador to Belarus Dmitry Mezentsev told a video session devoted to discussing the future of Russia and Belarus after the pandemic.

MOSCOW, June 4./TASS/: Russia flatly rejects accusations hurled at it for an alleged involvement in a hacker attack on Germany’s Bundestag in 2015, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing on Thursday.

"We strongly reject Germany’s proofless allegations about the involvement of Russian government entities in a hacker attack on the German Bundestag in 2015," she said.

According to the diplomat, Russia is ready to look into the data obtained by Germany from the US regarding a cyberattack on the Bundestag in 2015, if it does exist.

GENEVA, June 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The World Health Organization announced that clinical trials of the drug hydroxychloroquine will resume as it searches for potential coronavirus treatments.

On May 25, the WHO announced it had temporarily suspended the trials to conduct a safety review, which has now concluded there is “no reason” to change the way the trials are conducted.

The UN health agency’s decision came after a study published in The Lancet medical journal suggesting the drug could increase the risk of death among COVID-19 patients.

GENEVA, June 4 (NNN-Xinhua) — The grievances at the heart of the protests that have erupted in hundreds of U.S. cities need to be heard and addressed, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said.

“The voices calling for an end to the killings of unarmed African Americans need to be heard. The voices calling for an end to police violence need to be heard. And the voices calling for an end to the endemic and structural racism that blights U.S. society need to be heard,” Bachelet said in a press statement.

LONDON (Reuters) - People across almost all the world’s leading rich economies have turned more sceptical about their governments’ handling of the coronavirus pandemic with confidence slumping the most in Britain, a survey showed on Thursday.

In May, in the Group of Seven nations as a whole, 48% of respondents approved of how authorities had handled the pandemic, down from 50% in April and 54% in March, the survey published by polling firm Kantar showed.

LONDON (Reuters) - The European Union’s markets watchdog published guidance for the bloc’s national regulators on Thursday to tighten scrutiny of how asset managers charge fees on investors in funds.

“One of the key factors to mobilising investor participation in capital markets is to ensure that their trust in financial markets is improved and costs associated with buying financial products are reduced,” said Steven Maijoor, chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority.

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain’s government has requested an investigation into several airlines for allegedly breaching European Union regulations on compensation for cancelled flights, Consumer Protection Minister Alberto Garzon said on Thursday.

As the coronavirus pandemic grounded planes around the world, airlines routinely offered vouchers for cancelled flights without informing customers of their right to a full cash refund, in contravention of EU rules, Garzon said on state broadcaster TVE.

DUBAI/MOSCOW/LONDON (Reuters) - OPEC+ oil producers could still hold a ministerial video conference this week if Iraq and others which have not fully complied with existing oil supply cuts agree to boost their adherence, three OPEC+ sources told Reuters on Thursday.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries andits allies led by Russia, a group known as OPEC+, are stilldebating when to hold their ministerial talks to discuss a possible extension of the existing cuts.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Under pressure from its European peers for years to spend more, Germany has finally served up a bumper stimulus package financed with new debt, but Berlin’s rediscovered love to splurge is causing fresh unease among its neighbours.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition presented stimulus measures worth 130 billion euros ($146 billion) late on Wednesday to speed up the recovery of Europe’s largest economy from the coronavirus pandemic.

GENEVA, June 3 (Xinhua) -- World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday said that his organization is especially worried about Central and South America, where many countries are witnessing accelerating epidemics.

He said during a virtual press conference that more than 100,000 cases of COVID-19 have been reported to WHO for each of the past five days, and the Americas continues to account for the most cases.