Europe

PARIS, May 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The number of coronavirus deaths registered in France over the last 24 hours dipped to 83 on Thursday, as a top doctor said he was not seeing a second wave of infections despite the country easing its lockdown.

The latest deaths in hospitals and nursing homes brought France’s total toll from the pandemic to 28,215, the health ministry said in a statement.

PARIS, May 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Global infections from the novel coronavirus passed five million as the pandemic played out unevenly across the planet, with China eager to declare a victory, Europe tentatively emerging from its shell and deaths still rising in hotspots in Latin America.

The grim milestone comes after known cases of COVID-19 doubled in just one month, with the death toll now topping 328,000 worldwide.

RENNES (France), May 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — More than 100 people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus at a slaughterhouse in western France, the regional health authorities said.

The cases follow coronavirus outbreaks at meat plants not only in France but also in Germany, Spain, Australia, the United States and Brazil — where people tend to work in close proximity.

PARIS, May 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) —The party of French President Emmanuel Macron has lost its outright majority in parliament, after a group of MPs broke away to form a new party.

Ecology, Democracy, Solidarity will be largely formed of seven MPs from La République en Marche (On the Move) and other ex-supporters of the president.

The defecting MPs want to focus on green issues and social inequality.

ATHENS, May 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) —The Greek tourist season will kick off next month, with international charter flights to popular locations resuming in July, the prime minister says.

“The tourism period begins on 15 June, when seasonal hotels can reopen,” Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a televised address.

“Let us make this summer the epilogue of the [Covid-19] crisis,” he added.

The coronavirus pandemic threatens to ruin Greece’s tourism industry, which is vital to the country’s economy.

MOSCOW, May 20. /TASS/: Ukraine’s President Vladimir Zelensky and business tycoon Igor Kolomoisky are keen to persuade the public they have different interests, the director of the Kiev Center of Political Studies and Conflictology, Mikhail Pogrebinsky, told a TASS news conference.

MOSCOW, May 21. /TASS/: A handover certificate for the Project 955A (Borei-A) first upgraded strategic nuclear-powered submarine Knyaz Vladimir will be signed on May 25, a source in Russia’s defense sector told TASS on Thursday.

MOSCOW, May 21. /TASS/: The current optimization of the federal budget expenditures due to the coronavirus pandemic will have no serious impact on the implementation of state programs for the development of the Arctic and the Far East, with all key plans for 2020 being realized, the press service of the Russian ministry for the development of the Far East told TASS on Thursday.

MOSCOW, May 20. /TASS/: The Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) made the decision to grant derogation to Nord Stream 2 from norms of the EU Gas Directive on the country’s territory for the term of 20 years, Nord Stream AG (the gas pipeline operator) said on Wednesday.

The relevant application was filed on December 19, 2019.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Airline Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) said on Thursday it is in advanced talks with the German government’s economic stabilisation fund over a rescue deal worth up to 9 billion euros ($9.9 billion), including the state taking a 20% stake in the company.

Lufthansa said in a statement that the deal would involve the government taking two seats on its supervisory board, but it would only exercise its voting rights as a whole in exceptional cases such as protection against a takeover.