Europe

MOSCOW, April 24. /TASS/: Russia’s leading institutes are pushing ahead with research into vaccines against the novel coronavirus and their efforts may produce a result by the end of this year, says the deputy director of the Health Ministry’s National Medical Research Center of Phthisiopulmonology and Infectious Diseases, Vladimir Chulanov.

MOSCOW, April 24. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has requested particularly focusing on encouraging import substitution in the industry when developing measures to support the economy, according to the list of instructions released on the Kremlin’s website on Friday.

MOSCOW, April 24. /TASS/: The export version of combat vehicles based on Russia’s latest Bumerang standardized wheeled platform will differ from its configuration for the Russian Army but their design will be unchanged, CEO of the Military Industrial Company (the vehicle’s developer and producer) Alexander Krasovitsky told TASS on Friday.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Friday Iran’s launch of a military satellite using ballistic missile technology this week was “of significant concern” and inconsistent with a United Nations Security Council resolution.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on Wednesday for Iran to be held accountable for the launch, and said he believed it defied the Security Council resolution.

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary’s economic contraction this year is likely to be deeper than the government’s projection last month for 3% and the current budget deficit goal of 3% per GDP is “not carved in stone”, Finance Minister Mihaly Varga told Reuters on Friday.

Varga said the government will revise its GDP and deficit projections at the end of April as the coronavirus pandemic is taking a bigger than expected economic toll on the Central European country.

PARIS/SAO PAULO (Reuters) - A $4.2 billion deal for Boeing (BA.N) to buy the civil jetmaking arm of Brazil’s Embraer (EMBR3.SA) has hit a roadblock over implementation, leaving its fate uncertain unless a breakthrough can be found quickly, people familiar with the talks said.

The companies have been in discussions to assess whether various contractual conditions have been met for the tie-up, including the way a new venture 80%-owned by Boeing would be set up and funded, and have the rest of Friday to resolve the issue.

ROME (Reuters) - Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy climbed by 420 on Friday, the smallest daily tally since March 19, the Civil Protection Agency said, but the number of new infections rose to 3,021 from 2,646 on Thursday.

Friday’s death toll was down from 464 the day before.

The total of fatalities since the outbreak came to light on Feb. 21 now stands at 25,969, the agency said, the second highest in the world after that of the United States.

MADRID, April 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — By the time children under 14 are allowed out of their homes again on Sunday, Spain’s lockdown will have been in place for six weeks.

The government has now given details of how it’ll work under a so-called 1-1-1 rule. Up to three children will be allowed out with one responsible adult for one hour and for up to 1km from their home.

COPENHAGEN, April 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The World Health Organization said Europe was seeing an “unimaginable human tragedy” at its care homes, where deaths from the new coronavirus accounted for up to 50 percent in some countries.

The WHO regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge, called the situation “deeply concerning.”

Speaking at a weekly press conference, Kluge said estimates from some European countries showed that “up to half of those who have died from COVID-19 were residents in long-term care facilities.”

BRUSSELS, April 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A plan for injecting billions of euros of emergency aid into Europe’s battered economies has been agreed by EU heads.

Meeting via video, they agreed to set up a massive recovery fund, closely tied to the bloc’s seven-year budget.

They also confirmed that €540bn of financial support would be released through existing mechanisms from June 1.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the fund would mobilise €1 trillion of investment.