Europe

MELITOPOL, August 15. /TASS/: More than 30,000 people have applied for Russian citizenship in the Zaporozhye region, Yevgeny Balitsky, head of the region’s military civilian administration, said on Monday.

OSLO, Aug 15 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said while there was room for a European-level debate on banning Russian tourists, it was important not to make life harder for Kremlin opponents to flee Russia.

"What is important for us is that we understand there are a lot of people fleeing from Russia because they disagree with the Russian regime," he said following a meeting with leaders of the Nordic countries in Oslo on Monday.

LONDON, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Britain, the first country to approve a coronavirus vaccine in late 2020, has now also given the first green light to a variant-adapted shot that targets both the original and Omicron version of the virus.

The UK medicines regulator (MHRA) gave the so-called bivalent vaccine made by U.S. drug company Moderna (MRNA.O) conditional approval as a booster for adults on Monday.

Britain's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is now expected to issue a recommendation soon on how the vaccine should be deployed in the country.

BERLIN, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Germany is sending 13 military aircraft to joint exercises in Australia, the air force's largest peacetime deployment, underlining Berlin's increased focus on the Indo-Pacific amid rising tensions with China in the region.

Last year, a German warship sailed into the South China Sea for the first time in almost 20 years, a move that saw Berlin joining other Western nations in expanding its military presence in the region amid growing alarm over Beijing's territorial ambitions.

Aug 15 (Reuters) - Russia says it will do "everything necessary" to allow specialists from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to visit the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine amid fears over the plant's safety due to shelling.

Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the biggest in Europe, was captured by Russia in March shortly after its invasion of Ukraine. The plant has come under fire in recent days, with Moscow and Kyiv blaming each other for the shelling, which they both say risks a nuclear accident.

Aug 15 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Moscow values its ties with countries in Latin American, Asia and Africa and that it is ready to offer modern weapons to its allies.

"(We) are ready to offer our allies the most modern types of weapons, from small arms to armored vehicles and artillery to combat aviation and unmanned aerial vehicles," Putin said at the opening ceremony of the "Army-2022" forum near Moscow.

LONDON, Aug 15 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russia was ready to sell advanced weapons to allies globally and cooperate in developing military technology, nearly six months into the Ukraine war in which his army has performed worse than expected.

With its forces beaten back from Ukraine's two biggest cities and making slow headway at heavy cost in eastern provinces, the war has so far proved an unconvincing showcase for Russia's arms industry.

LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, will visit the U.K. next month for the first time since they returned for Queen Elizabeth II ’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

A spokesperson for the couple said Monday that they will “visit with several charities close to their hearts” in the U.K. and Germany.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A wooden bridge over a river in southern Norway collapsed early Monday, with a car plunging into the water and a truck getting stuck on a raised section. The drivers of both vehicles were rescued and doing well, police said.

Police were alerted shortly after 7:30 a.m. (0530 GMT; 1:30 a.m. EDT) that the bridge had collapsed as a truck and a car were crossing over it. The cause wasn’t immediately known.

LONDON (AP) — British drug regulators have become the first in the world to authorize an updated version of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine that aims to protect against the original virus and the omicron variant.

In a statement on Monday, the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency said it had given the green light to Moderna’s combination “bivalent” vaccine, which will be used as an adult booster shot.