Europe

MOSCOW, May 13. /TASS/: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s order to launch an offensive against the Taliban (outlawed in Russia) and the suspension of the release of Taliban prisoners will halt the process of launching intra-Afghan negotiations, Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan and Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second Asia Department Zamir Kabulov told TASS on Wednesday.

"This is regrettable, because by his actions the head of the Kabul administration actually stalls the process of moving towards the launch of intra-Afghan negotiations," he said.

KHABAROVSK, May 13. /TASS/: Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained a labor migrant from a Central Asian country in the Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk over calls for financing terrorism and carrying out terrorist attacks, the FSB press service said.

"The FSB officers have detained a 26-year-old national of a Central Asian republic over public calls in the Internet for committing terrorism-related crimes and justifying terrorism," the statement said. He has been placed in custody.

MOSCOW, May 13. /TASS/: The first vaccines against the novel coronavirus may appear in Russia in late July, Russian Minister of Health Mikhail Murashko stated on Wednesday during a plenary session of the Russian State Duma.

"I hope that in July, most likely in the last ten days of July, the first drugs will arrive," he said in response to a question by Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin. Earlier, Murashko noted that some drugs against the novel coronavirus may enter clinical practice in Russia over the next few weeks, with some of them replacing foreign drugs.

MOSCOW, May 13. /TASS/: Russia has documented 10,028 cases of COVID-19, a disease caused by the novel coronavirus, in the past 24 hours, with the total amount of cases reaching 242,271, the Russian anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Wednesday.

According to the crisis center, the daily increase in cases has gone down to 4.3% compared to 4.9% a day earlier. The officials noted that 4,461 of newly diagnosed patients (44.5%) do not exhibit symptoms of the disease.

13 May 2020; AFP: German Chancellor Angela Merkel voiced frustration Wednesday that Russia was targeting her in hacking attacks, saying she had concrete proof of the "outrageous" spying attempts.

"I can honestly say that it pains me. Every day I try to build a better relationship with Russia and on the other hand there is such hard evidence that Russian forces are doing this," she told parliament.

Calling such cyber attacks "more than uncomfortable," Merkel raised the spectre of sanctions if such rogue activity did not stop.

PRAGUE (Reuters) - The Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria could open their mutual borders as soon as June 8, allowing residents of the three countries to travel between them, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said on Wednesday.

Babis said the neighbours were thinking about how to open their borders at the start of the summer tourist season after making similar progress in controlling the coronavirus pandemic. Measures to stop the virus spreading have stalled economic activity worldwide.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union pushed on Wednesday for a gradual reopening of borders within the bloc shut by the coronavirus, saying it was not too late to salvage some of the summer tourist season while keeping people safe.

The EU’s executive Commission urged a return to “unrestricted free movement” within Europe, with plans that include requiring face masks on airplanes and social distancing on trains.

LONDON (Reuters) - British researchers will study the genes of thousands of ill COVID-19 patients to try to crack one of the most puzzling riddles of the novel coronavirus: why does it kill some people but give others not even a mild headache?

Researchers from across the United Kingdom will sequence the genetic code of people who fell critically ill with COVID-19 and compare their genomes with those who were mildly ill or not ill at all.

LONDON (Reuters) - A total of 33,186 people who tested positive for the new coronavirus have died in the United Kingdom, a rise of 494 in a 24-hour period, the health ministry said on Wednesday.

The figures are as of 5 p.m. (1600 GMT) on May 12. Including deaths due to suspected cases, Britain’s toll is over 40,000.

London, May 13 (PTI) The coronavirus lockdown began easing up in England on Wednesday, with workers unable to work from home able to head to work but advised to avoid public transport and opt for cycling, walking or driving as far as possible.

Under the step by step plan laid out by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Parliament this week, people are now able to spend more time outside, meet one person outside of their own household in the outdoors and move home, as the government began easing some lockdown measures.