Europe

MOSCOW, September 13. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and told him that the problems with gas supply to Europe through the Nord Stream-1 pipeline had been caused by Western sanctions on Moscow, the Kremlin said in a statement.

GENEVA, Sept 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Efforts to tackle AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria began to recover last year after being hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, but the world is still not on track to defeat these killer diseases, according to a report.

In its 2022 report, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria said the number of people reached with treatment and prevention efforts rebounded last year after declining for the first time in almost 20 years in 2020.

BERLIN, Sept 13 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call on Tuesday to find a diplomatic solution for the conflict in Ukraine based on a ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Russian troops as soon as possible, a German government spokesperson said.

In the 90-minute call, Scholz emphasized the need to ensure the safety of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine and appealed to Putin to continue to fully implement the United Nations-backed grain agreement, spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit added.

BERLIN, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Germany's economy minister said on Tuesday the government was working on a new trade policy with China to reduce dependence on Chinese raw materials, batteries and semiconductors, promising "no more naivety" in trade dealings with Beijing.

Sources told Reuters last week the economy ministry was considering a raft of new measures to make business with China less attractive. This is the first time the minister has made clear the tougher line was being translated into policy measures. 

KYIV, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Germany on Tuesday of ignoring Kyiv's pleas for Leopard tanks and Marder infantry fighting vehicles, saying Berlin offered only "abstract fears and excuses" for not providing such military hardware.

His comment came after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy made a new appeal to the West to speed up deliveries of weapons systems as Ukrainian forces move to consolidate control over a large swathe of northeastern territory recaptured from Russia. 

Sept 13 (Reuters) - A group of St Petersburg local politicians who called for President Vladimir Putin to be sacked over the war in Ukraine faces the likely dissolution of their district council following a judge's ruling on Tuesday, one of the deputies said.

Nikita Yuferev said the judge decided that a series of past council meetings had been invalid, paving the way for it to be broken up by the regional governor.

MOSCOW, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping will discuss Ukraine and Taiwan at a meeting in Uzbekistan on Thursday which the Kremlin said would hold "special significance" given the geopolitical situation.

Xi will leave China for the first time in more than two years for a trip this week to Central Asia where he will meet Putin, just a month before he is set to cement his place as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong.

TBILISI, Sept 13 (Reuters) - At least 49 Armenian soldiers and 50 Azeri military personnel were killed on Tuesday in the deadliest fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia since a 2020 war, each side said, spurring Russian President Vladimir Putin to appeal for calm.

Armenia and Azerbaijan, neighbouring former Soviet republics, blamed each other for the renewed fighting which began overnight at several points along their border, raising fears of another major armed conflict in the area of the old Soviet Union while Russia's military is tied up in Ukraine.

BUDAPEST, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- A bomb squad of the Hungarian military has defused a 100-kilogram World War II bomb found in the Danube in central Budapest, the Hungarian armed forces said on Monday.

The bomb squad dismantled the ignition mechanism of the explosive device, which was then taken away by a military boat, the bomb squad leader said on Facebook.

Underwater firefighters found the Soviet-made bomb during a practice dive last week in the Danube river's section between the Elizabeth Bridge and the Chain Bridge of central Budapest.

COPENHAGEN, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- At least 17 million people in the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region experienced the post-COVID-19 condition, or long COVID, in the first two years of the pandemic, said a statement from the United Nations health agency on Tuesday.

"Governments and health partners must collaborate to find solutions based on research and evidence," said Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, in the statement.