Europe

MOSCOW, May 20. /TASS/: The effectiveness of blood plasma from patients who have already recovered from the coronavirus infection to be used to treat those who are ill with the infection will be determined during additional research, World Health Organization Representative to the Russian Federation Melita Vujnovic told TASS.

"The value of blood plasma in treatment of the COVID-19 could be determined only in randomized clinical testing," Vujnovic said. "As far as I know, there are observation reports and information on small series of cases. Further research is needed."

MOSCOW, May 20. /TASS/: The Polish leadership demonstrates absence of strategic vision as it continues viewing Russia as the main threat, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on her Facebook on Wednesday.

In this regard, the diplomat drew attention to the comment Nobel Peace Prize laureate, former Polish President Lech Walesa made in an interview with TASS about Poland’s new national security strategy, in which Russia was named as the main threat.

20 May 2020; MEMO: Over 150 well-known personalities from the Arab world have called for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails and political prisoners from jails in Arab states, citing the coronavirus pandemic during imprisonment as a “double punishment”.

The Arab figures consist of diplomats, journalists, artists, academics, human rights activists and intellectuals, all of whom contributed to the call in a column published yesterday on the French-language political site Orient XXI.

20 May 2020; MEMO: British based charity Human Aid, has written to the UK’s police watchdog demanding an investigation into allegations of police harassment of Gaza-bound aid workers and the seizure of cash donations last year, Middle East Eye (MEE) reported.

MOSCOW, May 19 (NNN-TASS) – The World Health Organisation (WHO) should not be used as a puck to settle political accounts, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said Tuesday.

“WHO should not become a puck to be passed back and forth, pursuing goals other than those of building most efficient international cooperation against the pandemic,” Ryabkov was quoted as saying.

LONDON/LAGOS (Reuters) - The coronavirus pandemic has done in a handful of months what even a 27-year civil war did not: it has brought oil drilling to a halt in Angola, Africa’s second-largest oil producer.

The consequences could be grave for a poor country that relies heavily on oil revenues and is saddled with debts that exceed its economic output.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s inflation rate fell sharply in April to its lowest since August 2016 as retailers resorted to discounts in the face of the coronavirus shutdown, global oil prices slumped and regulated water and power tariffs slid.

The consumer price index dropped to an annual rate of 0.8% in April from 1.5% in March, official data showed on Wednesday.

Economists polled by Reuters had mostly thought the CPI would fall to 0.9%.

LONDON (Reuters) - Global growth in new renewable energy capacity will experience its first annual decline in 20 years this year amid the coronavirus pandemic but is expected to pick up next year, the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday.

The world is set to build fewer wind turbines, solar plants and other installations that produce renewable electricity this year as energy demand has been reduced across commercial and industrial sectors and logistics issues delay projects.

LONDON (Reuters) - Expectations for second- and third-quarter corporate profits are deteriorating further in Europe, despite a gradual easing across the continent of lockdowns aimed at curbing the coronavirus pandemic, Refinitiv data showed on Wednesday.

Companies listed on the pan-European STOXX 600 are now expected to report a decline of 48.4% in second-quarter earnings, down from a drop of 46.7% forecast the week before.

For the third quarter, analyst expectations are now set for a 35.3% fall in earnings, versus 35.1% a week ago.

HELSINKI, May 19 (Xinhua) -- The Finnish government on Tuesday announced restrictions on upcoming reopening of restaurants in June to prevent possible further spread of COVID-19.

Restaurants can reopen only at half capacity, between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m., and alcohol service would only be allowed from 9 a.m. until 10 p.m., Finnish Family Affairs and Social Services Minister Krista Kiuru said at a government press conference.