Europe

GENEVA, May 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — World leaders past and present insisted that any eventual COVID-19 vaccines and treatments should be made available to everyone, free of charge.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan were among more than 140 signatories of a letter saying any vaccine should not be patented while the science should be shared between nations.

The World Health Assembly, the policy-setting body of the UN’s World Health Organization, holds its annual general meeting next week.

PARIS, May 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The novel coronavirus has killed more than 300,000 people worldwide, mostly in Europe and the United States, since it emerged in China late last year.

A total of 300,140 people have died across the globe from 4,403,714 officially registered cases.

The United States has registered the most deaths at 85,813 followed by Britain with 33,614, Italy at 31,368, France at 27,425 and Spain with 27,321 fatalities.

MOSCOW, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Moscow considers the U.S. accusations against China of spreading COVID-19 groundless, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Thursday.

"There is no reason to blame China for doing something untimely, wrong or inadequate during the entire period of the fight against COVID-19," Ryabkov said at a meeting of the Russian thinktank Valdai International Discussion Club.

ROME, May 14 (Xinhua) -- A further 262 COVID-19 patients had died in the past 24 hours in Italy, bringing the country's toll to 31,368, out of total infection cases of 223,096, according to fresh figures on Thursday.

The number of recoveries rose to 115,288, an increase of 2,747 compared to Wednesday. Nationwide, the number of active infections fell by 2,017 to 76,440, according to the Civil Protection Department.

MOSCOW, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Russia has confirmed 9,974 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, raising its total number of infections to 252,245, its coronavirus response center said in a statement Thursday.

The single-day increase has fallen below 10,000 for the first time over the past 12 days, the center's data showed.

The death toll climbed by 93 to 2,305, while 53,530 people have now recovered, including 5,527 over the last 24 hours, the statement said.

GENEVA (AP) — The head of the World Trade Organization said Thursday that he will leave his post a year early, a “personal decision” that sets the stage for a succession contest at the trade body amid lingering U.S.-China tensions and a coronavirus pandemic that has doused the global economy.

LONDON, May 13 (APP): Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid, President Malaysian Consultative Council of Islamic Organizations ( MAPIM) expressing his deep concern on the current blackout of the internet in India Occupied Kashmir (IOK) and gross violations of human rights by the Indian authorities called upon the United Nations (UN) to play its vital role for the implementation of right of self determination to the people of the occupied valley.

VLADIVOSTOK, May 14. /TASS/: The Pacific Fleet’s naval taskforce comprising the corvettes Sovershenny and Gromky held drills of anti-terror groups during its long-distance deployment to the Pacific, the Fleet’s press office reported on Thursday.

"The personnel of the squad for fighting subversive forces and capabilities who provide the security of ships during their transit by sea practiced the assignment of defending the corvettes against the threat of an attack by a surface fast-speed small-sized target," the press office said in a statement.

NOVO-OGARYOVO, May 14. /TASS/: The domestic coronavirus situation is changing, allowing the country to again focus on other issues of the current and long-term agenda of its development, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a meeting devoted to genetic technologies on Thursday.

The Russian leader stressed that over the past weeks the authorities had focused all efforts mainly on combating the coronavirus pandemic and preparing urgent measures in order to support citizens and national economy.

MOSCOW, May 14. /TASS/: Russian Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova has returned to work after recovering from the coronavirus, as she herself told TASS on Thursday.

"Doctors released me and I have returned to work," she said, adding: "I feel well." "Fortunately, I had a mild form of the disease," she noted.

The culture minister received treatment at home. "It was more difficult to work under quarantine but I maintained contact with all of the ministry’s departments and the expert community," Lyubimova pointed out.