Europe

MOSCOW, September 14. /TASS/: The number of injured in a head-on collision between a PAZ bus and a MAN truck in the Yaroslavl Region raised from 25 to 28 people, the press service of the region’s Interior Ministry told reporters on Saturday.

"Currently, as a result of the accident, seven people died and 28 were injured. Traffic police, the Emergency Situations Ministry and ambulance teams are working at the scene," the press service said.

BERLIN, September 14. /TASS/: OPAL Gastransport GmbH, operator of OPAL pipeline, has restricted the usage of the pipeline’s transit capacities, the operator said on Saturday.

"By 09:00 (10:00 Moscow time), gas supplies through the Greifswald point were reduced to 32.76 mln kW/h from approximately 44 mln kW/h the day before. At the same time, gas supplies from the Nord Stream pipeline via another gas pipeline, NEL, increased.

14 September 2019; AFP: Italy on Saturday agreed to allow rescue ship Ocean Viking to disembark 82 migrants on Lampedusa, in a reversal of the hardline policy under the country's ex-interior minister Matteo Salvini.

Far-right leader Salvini was forced out of office last month after bringing the government down, and the new coalition has been trying to forge its own migrant stance.

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Italy’s economy minister Roberto Gualtieri said on Saturday that privatization targets set by the previous Italian government were “unrealistic”, and warned the sale of government shares in public companies should be handled with caution.

The government of the anti-establishment 5-Star and the far-right League, which quit the coalition in August, had set a target of raising 18 billion euros ($19.93 billion) this year from the sale of public assets.

ORIHUELA, Spain (Reuters) - A 41-year-old man was found dead in southeastern Spain on Saturday, the local government said, bringing to at least six the death toll inflicted over the past two days by record-breaking rain.

More than 1,100 military personnel have been deployed to the regions of Murcia and Valencia to help rescue people isolated by the deluge and evacuate thousands to safety after a river burst its banks and cascades of water submerged highways.

KIEV, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the United States for unblocking the allocation of military assistance to Ukraine at the 16th Yalta European Strategy Summit in Kiev on Friday.

Zelensky said he held several phone conversations with U.S. President Donald Trump.

LONDON, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed Friday that he will hold a crucial meeting in Brussels on Monday in his latest bid to win a Brexit deal.

During a visit on Friday to the county of Yorkshire, Johnson said during a keynote speech that he would be meeting the European Union (EU)'s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Monday.

PARIS, Sept 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) — France and Germany have agreed to block Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency, the French finance ministry said on Friday.

In a joint statement, the two governments affirmed that “no private entity can claim monetary power, which is inherent to the sovereignty of nations”.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday that Facebook’s new cryptocurrency should not be allowed to operate in Europe while concerns persist about sovereignty and persistent financial risks.

GENEVA, Sept 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Venezuela is “ready” to defend itself, Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said Friday, after Washington invoked a regional defence pact that might justify such a move.

“We are ready to protect ourselves, we are ready to react,” Arreaza told a news conference after meeting in Geneva with UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet.

“We will let no one trample sacred Venezuelan soil, we will respond and hope that never happens,” the minister said.

MOSCOW (AP) — A negotiating team from the Taliban arrived Friday in Russia, a representative told The Associated Press, just days after U.S. President Donald Trump declared dead a deal with the insurgent group in Afghanistan.

Russian state news agency Tass cited the Taliban’s Qatar-based spokesman Suhail Shaheen as saying the delegation had held consultations with Zamir Kabulov, President Vladimir Putin’s envoy for Afghanistan. The visit was confirmed to the AP by a Taliban official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.