Europe

MADRID, April 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) —Spain, which has been one of the countries worst hit in the coronavirus pandemic, has reported its lowest daily death toll in more than a month.

Its health ministry said that 288 more people had died of the virus, the lowest number since March 20.

The figure is a steep drop from the 378 deaths recorded on Saturday.

On Sunday, children under the age of 14 were allowed to leave their homes for the first time in six weeks. They are now allowed outside for one hour a day.

Kochi, Apr 26 (PTI) As many as 226 Swiss nationals stranded in India following the nationwide lockdown have left for Zurich by a Swiss International Airlines, an airport spokesperson said here on Sunday.

The flight departed for Zurich at 11.20 PM on Saturday from Cochin airport, he said.

The aircraft had arrived here after picking up 62 Swiss nationals stranded in Kolkotta and 164 of them boarded the flight from here

Earlier, the UK and Oman had evacuated their citizens stranded in Kerala due to lockdown by operating special flights.

MOSCOW, April 25. /TASS/: Some European and NATO countries cannot turn to Russia for help in the fight against coronavirus, because their "big brothers" are against it, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with Bolshaya Igra ("Big Game") program on Russia’s Channel One.

VIENNA, April 26. /TASS/: The fact that most members of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Investigation and Identification Team come from NATO countries violates the United Nations Charter, Russian Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov wrote on Twitter.

MOSCOW, April 26. /TASS/: A dialogue between Russia and the United States on activities in space is hardly possible, Research Director of the Valdai Discussion Club Foundation for Development and Support Fyodor Lukyanov told TASS on Saturday.

"I don’t see what the US interest in negotiating with Russia on space could be," he said. "It seems to me that meaningful talks on strategically important directions are ruled out at the moment. At this point and in the foreseeable future, the entire agenda will shift in another direction."

FRANKFURT, April 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A 37-year-old man suspected of being a member of Daesh militant group has gone on trial in Frankfurt accused of genocide and murdering a young Yazidi girl.

Taha al-J is accused of enslaving the five year old, chaining her up and leaving her to die of thirst.

He is alleged to have held several roles in the militants’ so-called capital in Raqqa in Syria and in Iraq.

Detained in Greece last year, he was then extradited to Germany.

MOSCOW, April 26. /TASS/: More than 1.7 million people, living in Russia, have been exposed to radiation as a result of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the Russian emergencies ministry’s press service told TASS.

"Out of the 1.7 million residents of Russia, exposed to radiation as a result of the disaster at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, 1.5 million are residents of radiation-polluted territories in 14 regions of the country or those who resettled from those areas to other zones. Other 125,000 people took part in the post-disaster relief effort," the ministry said.

MADRID, April 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Spaniards will be allowed out for exercise and to take walks from next weekend, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said, in the latest move to ease one of the world’s tightest coronavirus lockdowns.

And the government will on Tuesday unveil its broader lockdown exit plan that will likely be put into action in the second half of May, he said.

“If the pandemic keeps evolving positively as it has been doing until now, from May 2, individual physical activity will be permitted and walks with the people you live with,” he said.

AMSTERDAM, April 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Netherlands rose by 655 to 37,190, health authorities said, with 120 new deaths.

The country’s death toll stands at 4,409, the Netherlands Institute for Public Health (RIVM) said in its daily update.

The actual numbers are likely higher, as not all suspected cases are tested, the RIVM said.

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has warned against reopening tourism destinations too quickly, saying Europe should agree on a common path back to freedom of travel, a newspaper quoted him as saying on Sunday.

“A European race to see who will allow tourist travel first will lead to unacceptable risks,” Maas told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

Maas referred to the high infection rate in the Austrian ski resort of Ischgl, where many German tourists are believed to have been infected.