Europe

MOSCOW, March 17. /TASS/: Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine is not aimed at ruining that country’s statehood or ousting its president, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing on Thursday.

"Let me stress once again what both the Western mass media and the Western establishment refuse to see: this operation is not targeted at the civilian population. It does not pursue the aim of seizing the country’s territory, ruining its statehood or ousting the current president. We keep saying this again and again."

MOSCOW, March 17. /TASS/: Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin presented cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev with the TASS special International Space Station reporter card Thursday. Artemtyev is the second TASS reported to work in the orbit.

The identity card was presented during the state commission on approval of the Expedition 67 crew.

Artemyev will go to the orbit together with young cosmonauts Denis Matveyev and Sergey Korsakov. They were presented with cosmonaut identity cards by Rogozin.

GENEVA, March 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The World Trade Organization chief hailed a breakthrough between the EU, the United States, India and South Africa on waiving intellectual property rights on Covid-19 vaccines.

   Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said the compromise was a big step forward in a bid to end the logjam at the global trade body.

   However, she cautioned that some of the details on waiving WTO rules on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) still needed to be fleshed out — and it would need the backing of all WTO members to come
into force.

LONDON, March 17 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Thursday that many people in Russia were showing themselves to be "traitors" and pointed to those who were resigning from their jobs and leaving the country.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov made the comments a day after President Vladimir Putin delivered a stark warning to Russian "traitors" who he said the West wanted to use as a "fifth column" to destroy the country. 

GENEVA, March 17 (Reuters) - The U.N. human rights chief said on Thursday that nearly 1,100 activists, opposition members and journalists are being detained on "politically motivated charges" in Belarus and called for their release.

Michelle Bachelet said the government of President Alexander Lukashenko was carrying out violations of a "widespread and systematic nature" since large-scale protests against his contested victory in 2020's elections.

BRUSSELS, March 17 (Reuters) - Belgium may extend the life of its nuclear sector, deferring an exit planned for 2025 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine forced a rethink by the governing coalition.

Energy minister Tinne Van der Straeten presented a note to core cabinet members on Wednesday, which broadcaster RTBF said referred to a bill to be approved by the end of March extending the lives of the two newest reactors by up to 10 years.

PRISTINA, March 17 (Reuters) - Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani has asked U.S. President Joe Biden to use Washington's influence within NATO member states to help her country join the military alliance.

In a letter sent to Biden dated March 10th and seen by Reuters on Thursday, Osmani said that in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, joining NATO was her main national security priority.

"Kosovo's membership in NATO has become an imperative," Osmani said in her letter.

KIEV, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky may hold talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the coming days, the Ukrainian government-run Ukrinform news agency reported on Wednesday, citing Ukrainian Presidential Advisor Mykhailo Podolyak.

"Obviously, the only way to end this war is direct talks between the two presidents, and this is what we are working on in the current talks," Podolyak, also a member of the Ukrainian delegation to the peace talks with Russia, was quoted as saying.

GENEVA, March 16 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) sounded the alarm on Wednesday over a global spike in COVID-19 cases, despite reduced testing and several weeks of declining infections.

WHO said cases are especially on the rise in parts of Asia, urging for vaccination coverage to be extended and caution to be exercised in lifting pandemic response measures.

17 March 2022; MEMO: British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, held talks about energy security on Wednesday with the de facto leaders of Gulf oil exporters, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, but secured no public pledge to ramp up production, Reuters reports.

Johnson's trip to Abu Dhabi and Riyadh was aimed at securing oil supplies and raising pressure on President Vladimir Putin over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which led to sweeping Western sanctions on Moscow and soaring world energy prices.