Europe

MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/: It will be possible to talk about easing lockdown restrictions in Moscow in the middle of next week, Head of Moscow’s Department of Trade and Services Alexei Nemeryuk told the Ekho Moskvy (Echo of Moscow) radio station.

"We discuss that with the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor). They have some plans, of course, but still, it is probably premature to talk about easing restrictions until [May] 21-22," he said.

MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/: The Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos has invited the top officials of NASA to visit Russia to discuss a wide range of projects and is looking forward to a positive response, Russia’s space agency said citing its Deputy Director General for International Cooperation Sergey Savelyev.

MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/: If it were not for well-developed fundamental science in Russia, there would be no modern types of weapons, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Russian Journalist Pavel Zarubin for Moscow. Kremlin program, a fragment of which was published on Instagram.

"We would never have modern, high-tech types of weapons that no country in the world yet has - how could we have done this if there were no fundamental science, scientific schools, engineering personnel? That would be absolutely impossible," Putin said.

16 May 2020; AFP: As the World Health Organization prepares to host its main annual meeting next week, fears abound that US-China tensions could hamper the strong action needed to address the COVID-19 crisis.

The UN health agency, which for months has been consumed by the towering task of trying to coordinate a global response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, will for the first time invite health ministers and other dignitaries to participate virtually in its annual meet.

SOFIA (Reuters) - Some two thousand supporters of a fringe ultra-nationalist and pro-Russian party marched through central Sofia on Thursday accusing the government of imposing confusing restrictions aimed at combating the coronavirus.

Protesters waved party and national flags and chanted “resignation” and “mafia”, to express their frustration that the centre-right government of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov extended restrictions until June 14.

PARIS (Reuters) - Rwanda genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga was arrested on Saturday in the Paris region, the French Justice Ministry said.

Kabuga, 84, who was living under a false identity in a flat in Asnieres-Sur-Seine, near Paris, had been pursued by international justice for 25 years, the ministry said in a statement.

French gendarmes arrested him at 0530 GMT on Saturday, the ministry said.

VILNIUS (Lithuania), May 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) —The Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have opened their borders to one another, creating a coronavirus “travel bubble”.

From midnight on Thursday, citizens and residents can move freely between the three EU nations.

Anybody arriving from outside the zone however must self-isolate for 14 days.

This is the first “travel bubble” in Europe since nations began shutting their borders earlier this year in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

LONDON, May 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Cars will be banished from miles of streets in central London to encourage more walking and cycling and help public transport cope with social distancing restrictions, the city’s mayor said. 

Sadiq Khan said the plan, which covers major cross-town routes, would transform parts of central London into one of the largest car-free zones in any capital city.

“COVID-19 poses the biggest challenge to London’s public transport network in TfL’s (Transport for London) history,” he said.

BRUSSELS/JERUSALEM, May 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The EU has indicated that it will try to stop Israel’s proposed annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank.

Foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the bloc would use its diplomatic clout to prevent unilateral action.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the new unity government could press ahead with annexing some West Bank settlements and the Jordan Valley as early as in July.

The Palestinians bitterly oppose the idea.

BRUSSELS, May 15 (Xinhua) -- The following are the latest developments of the COVID-19 pandemic in European countries.

LONDON -- Another 348 COVID-19 patients have died in Britain as of Thursday afternoon, bringing the total coronavirus-related death toll in the country to 33,998, the Department of Health and Social Care said Friday.

The figures include deaths in all settings, including hospitals, care homes and the wider community.

As of Friday morning, 236,711 have tested positive for the virus, said the department.