Europe

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council have agreed to hold a summit, but the date and agenda are still under discussion, the RIA news agency cited Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying.

Russian President Vladimir Putin in January proposed holding a summit between the leaders of Russia, China, the United States, France and Britain this year to discuss the conflict in Libya and other global problems.

Lavrov made the comments on Tuesday, RIA said.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union’s next long-term budget should be used to sponsor economic recovery after the coronavirus pandemic, the heads of the bloc’s Brussels-based institutions said on Wednesday.

EU leaders’ chairman, European Council President Charles Michel, said the bloc’s 27 national heads of states and governments will discuss during a videoconference summit on April 23 reworking their plans for their 2021-27 joint budget.

European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said: “The next European budget has to be the European answer to the corona crisis.”

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia on Wednesday condemned U.S President Donald Trump for cutting funding to the World Health Organisation, saying his decision was selfish and hurt a body that many countries were looking to for leadership amid the coronavirus crisis.

Trump, who has faced criticism for his administration’s response to the coronavirus epidemic, has grown hostile towards the WHO and on Tuesday halted funding to it over its handling of the pandemic.

The United States is the WHO’s biggest overall donor.

GENEVA (Reuters) - Countries that ease restrictions imposed to fight the spread of the coronavirus should wait at least two weeks to evaluate the impact of such changes before easing again, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday.

In its latest Strategy Update, the U.N. agency said that the world stands at a “pivotal juncture” in the pandemic and that “speed, scale, and equity must be our guiding principles” when deciding what measures are necessary.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil fell 4% towards $28 a barrel on Wednesday, pressured by reports of persistent oversupply and collapsing demand due to global coronavirus-related lockdowns and a lack of coordinated oil purchases for strategic storage.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) on Wednesday forecast a 29 million barrel per day (bpd) dive in April oil demand to levels not seen in 25 years and said that no output cut could fully offset the near-term falls facing the market.

PARIS, April 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — International creditors must relieve African countries of debt payments this year to help them deal with the Coronavirus pandemic, French President Emmanuel Macron said.

A moratorium on African countries’ debt payments is “an indispensable step” to help the continent weather the coronavirus crisis, the French president told Radio France Internationale (RFI), FRANCE 24’s sister station, calling for the debt to be eventually written off.

MOSCOW, Apr 15 (NNN-TASS) – Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, urged other countries not to politicise COVID-19, and the activity of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

“I would caution against attempts to politicise COVID-19, regarding, not only the role of WHO, but also accusations against one or another country,” he said, during an online news conference.

“I think, anyone who familiarises oneself with the chronology of WHO’s actions, will find that the organisation has acted effectively,” he added.

ROME, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The COVID-19 has claimed another 602 lives in locked-down Italy over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of infections, fatalities and recoveries to 162,488 since the pandemic began here in late February, the country's Civil Protection Department said Tuesday.

Speaking during a nightly televised press conference, Civil Protection Department Chief Angelo Borrelli confirmed that there were 675 new active coronavirus infections compared to Monday, bringing the nationwide total to 104,291 cases.

ROME, Apr 14 (NNN-XINHUA) – The COVID-19 pandemic claimed 20,465 lives, in locked-down Italy as of Monday, bringing the total number of infections, fatalities and recoveries to 159,516, according to the latest data released by the country’s Civil Protection Department.

Civil Protection Department Chief, Angelo Borrelli, explained that, there were 566 new fatalities, compared with 431 registered on Sunday.

Active infections increased by 1,363 from Sunday to a tally of 103,616.

MOSCOW, April 13. /TASS/: A hacker attack has been detected on the website created for the issuance of travel permits for Moscow residents during the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), Moscow’s anti-coronavirus crisis center informed on Monday.