Europe

LONDON (Reuters) - Lawmakers from Britain’s ruling Conservatives Party on Sunday called for the resignation of Dominic Cummings, the senior adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson who travelled 400 km (250 miles) to northern England during the coronavirus lockdown.

Cummings, who masterminded the 2016 campaign to leave the European Union, travelled from London to Durham in late March while his wife showed COVID-19 symptoms, when measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus were in place.

PARIS (Reuters) - Air France (AIRF.PA) will have to “drastically” reduce its domestic air traffic in exchange for state loan guarantees, French Environment Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Sunday.

Domestic routes were served by alternatives in the form of high-speed trains, she noted in an interview with France Inter radio.

The government last month offered the airline a 7 billion euro ($7.6 billion) package made up of state-guaranteed bank loans and loans directly from the state.

(AP) --- Several thousand followers of Spain’s far-right Vox party gathered Saturday in their cars and on motorbikes in the center of Madrid and other Spanish cities to protest the Spanish government’s handling of the nation’s coronavirus crisis.

The party accuses the government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of lying about the impact of the health crisis and of violating Spaniards’ rights by confining people to their homes and closing businesses during the lockdown.

MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/: US President Donald Trump’s administration could allow the 2010 New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) with Russia to expire, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told Bolshaya Igra (Big Game) program on Channel One on Saturday.

"The Trump administration will allow the 2010 New START to expire," Ryabkov said.

The senior diplomat pointed to the role of the Republican Party. "The US Republican Party is spearheading the efforts on destroying the regimes and agreements in the arms control field."

MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/: Moscow is considering various options of responding to Washington’s withdrawal from the Open Skies Treaty, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview with Bolshaya Igra (Big Game) program on Channel One.

"We have delved into analyzing various options, we have a free stance, we are in no hurry," the senior diplomat said.

MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill regarding an experiment on remote online vote in elections of all levels in Moscow. The law, published at the official legal information website Saturday, extends the experiment, initiated in September 2019 and makes it possible to vote remotely in elections of all levels that will take place in the capital in 2020 and 2021.

MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/: In the past 24 hours, 3,190 coronavirus cases were registered in Moscow while 3,831 patients have recovered, coronavirus prevention operational headquarters announced Saturday.

Therefore, the recovery count exceeded the newly registered case count. The daily case growth rate increased to 2% versus 1.9% one day earlier.

A total of 47,413 people have recovered in Moscow so far.

In the past 24 hours, 67 people died; the total death toll in Moscow is 1,934 people.

MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/: The UK, the US, Ukraine and Estonia ignored the UN Security Council meeting on situation in Crimea, which took place on May 21, Russian Permanent Mission to the United Nations announced on its website.

The meeting took place in accordance with the so-called Arria Formula, which makes it possible to invite representatives of non-governmental organizations to the meetings. The Mission reminded that Russia did not ignore the similar meeting on Crimea, organized by a number of the Western powers and Ukraine on March 6.

MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/: Clinical testing of the coronavirus vaccine, developed by the Gamalei National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology may begin in early June, the Center’s director Alexander Ginzburg told journalists Saturday.

MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/: An unknown perpetrator has captured at least five hostages at the Alfa-Bank office on Zemlyanoy Val street in Moscow and threatens to blow up the building, an emergency services source told TASS.

"An unknown perpetrator captured five hostages at the Alfa-Bank office […] and threatens to blow up the building. There are at least five hostages in the building," the source said.