Europe

LONDON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Russia has no moral right to sit at the Group of 20 nations while it presses on with its invasion of Ukraine, a spokesperson for Britain's foreign ministry said on Friday.

"Russia has no moral right to sit at the G20 while its aggression in Ukraine persists," the spokesperson said.

"We welcome Indonesia's efforts to ensure that the impacts of Russia's war are considered in G20 meetings, as well as indications that Ukraine may be represented by President (Volodymyr) Zelenskiy at the G20 Leaders Summit."

MOSCOW, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- Washington has doomed Europe to hunger, cold and isolation, said Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of Russia's lower parliament house, the State Duma, on Friday.

The United States sells gas to Europe, which is already hit by record inflation, at much higher prices than in the domestic market, thus weakening the competitiveness of the European Union economies, Volodin wrote on Telegram.

MOSCOW, August 18./TASS/: Helsinki’s decision to restrict issuing visas to Russians will evoke a reaction from Moscow, Deputy Spokesman of the Russian Foreign Ministry Ivan Nechayev told a briefing on Thursday.

The decision by the Finnish authorities to put a cap on applications by Russian citizens for visas to Finland is fully in line with yet another Russophobic crusade in place in some European Union countries, initiated by the Baltic States," the diplomat specified.

PATRIOT PARK /Moscow Region/, August 18. /TASS/: Russia’s state arms seller Rosoboronexport rolled out the export version of its cutting-edge Armata main battle tank at the Army 2022 international military-technical forum, a TASS correspondent reported from the scene on Thursday.

The tank is on the company’s display stand among other export-oriented armaments. The Russian state arms exporter has never demonstrated the T-14 Armata tank before. The tank’s export version was unveiled as a scale model at the IDEX arms show in Abu Dhabi in February 2021.

MOSCOW, August 18. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 case tally rose by 35,809 over the past day to 19,000,055, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Thursday.

In absolute terms, the growth rate has been the highest since March 16, when 36,519 daily cases were recorded.

GENEVA, Aug 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Monkeypox infections continue to rise globally, with more than 35,000 cases across 92 countries and territories, and 12 deaths, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Wednesday.

“Almost 7,500 cases were reported last week, a 20 per cent increase over the previous week, which was also 20 per cent more than the week before,” said WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, speaking during his regular press briefing from Geneva.

GENEVA, Aug 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The World Health Organisation called for people infected with monkeypox to avoid exposing animals to the virus following a first reported case of human-to-dog transmission.

A first case of human-to-dog transmission of monkeypox — between two men and their Italian greyhound living together in Paris — was reported last week in the medical journal The Lancet.

LONDON, Aug 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Argentina and Australia are the best places on earth in case of a nuclear war between the United States and Russia, according to a scientific report carried by London’s Daily Mail.

“Want to survive a nuclear war? Go to Argentina!,” read a headline earlier this week. It is the “best place to get through ten years of fallout, scientists say.”

BRUSSELS, Aug 18 (Reuters) - The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo failed to resolve differences fuelling tension between the estranged Balkan neighbours during talks on Thursday, but they agreed to resume discussions ahead of a Sept. 1 deadline that could stoke further unrest.

"Unhappily, we did not yet (come) to an agreement today," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters after several hours of closed-door talks in Brussels between Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti.

LVIV, Ukraine, Aug 18 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Russia and Ukraine on Thursday to show a "spirit of compromise" to ensure the continued success of a U.N. brokered deal that enabled Ukraine to resume grain exports from its Black Sea ports.

Guterres said after talks in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv that 21 ships had departed from Ukrainian ports under the deal in less than a month, and 15 vessels had left Istanbul for Ukraine to load up with grain and other food supplies.