Europe

ROME, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Seventy-five more COVID-19 patients had died in the past 24 hours in Italy, bringing the country's toll to 33,415, out of total infection cases of 233,019, according to fresh figures on Sunday.

Nationwide, the number of active infections dropped by 1,616 to 42,075, according to the Civil Protection Department.

Of those who tested positive for the new coronavirus, 435 are in intensive care, 15 fewer compared to Saturday, and 6,387 are hospitalized with symptoms, down by 293 patients from the previous day.

LONDON (AP) — Nations around the world have watched in horror at the civil unrest in the United States following the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white police officer pressed his knee on his neck until he stopped breathing.

Racism-tinged events no longer startle even America’s closest allies, though many have watched coverage of the often-violent protests with growing unease. Burning cars and riot police in the U.S. featured on newspaper front pages around the globe Sunday — bumping news of the COVID-19 pandemic to second-tier status in some places.

MOSCOW, May 30. /TASS/: The statements released by the US Department of State about the production of "counterfeit" Libyan dinars by the Russian Goznak printing factory are untenable, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

MOSCOW, May 31. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin will announce the date of voting on the constitutional amendments when he deems it right, depending on the coronavirus situation, Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday.

MOSCOW, May 31. /TASS/: The only minus for Russia in connection with the launch of the Crew Dragon spacecraft is that the country will not receive money from NASA for delivery of US astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station (ISS), Academician of the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics named after Tsiolkovsky Igor Marinin told TASS.

The Crew Dragon spacecraft with Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken on board was launched using the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 22.22 pm Moscow time on May 30 from the Cape Canaveral, Florida. Docking with ISS is scheduled on May 31.

MOSCOW, May 31. /TASS/: Deliveries of the Russian drug Avifavir for treatment of coronavirus infection cases may start on June 11, the Izvestiya newspaper reports, citing the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). The pharmaceutical will not be released for free sale and it will only be used under the supervision by medical workers, the newspaper said.

"It will be supposedly supplied to Russian hospitals on June 11, 2020, RDIF noted," the newspaper reported.

MOSCOW, May 30. /TASS/: The number of the novel coronavirus cases has surpassed six million worldwide, according to TASS estimates based on the governments’ official statements along with the conclusions made by experts and the media in the affected countries.

According to the latest data, as many as 6,002,403 people have been infected. Of those, 366,674 (or 6.11%) died. The cases have doubled approximately for a month, as the threshold of three million was passed on April 27.

MOSCOW, May 31. /TASS/: Some 9,268 coronavirus cases were confirmed in Russia in the past day, taking the total case tally in the country to 405,843, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Sunday.

For the first time since May 23, the daily number of coronavirus cases surpassed 9,000. The daily growth rate reached 2.3%.

The number of recovered COVID-19 patients grew by 4,414 in the past day to 171,883. The daily number of recoveries was the lowest since May 18.

31 May 2020; AFP: Russian oil giant Rosneft, run by a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, is wielding growing influence over Russia's remaining independent media outlets, already squeezed by tightening press freedoms and pressure from the Kremlin.

Now, reporters at the country's top liberal business daily Vedomosti -- shaken in March by an announcement from owner Demyan Kudryavtsev that he planned to sell the newspaper -- have denounced censorship under its new acting editor-in-chief.

(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) said it was removing certain images after messages using extremely strong racist abuse appeared on some listings on its UK website when users searched for Apple’s (AAPL.O) AirPods and other similar products.

The message sparked outrage on Twitter, with the topic “AirPods” trending in the United Kingdom.

“We are removing the images in question and have taken action on the bad actor,” an Amazon spokeswoman told Reuters on Sunday. She did not elaborate more on the “bad actor”.