Europe

11 May 2022; MEMO: British Home Secretary Priti Patel has served the first group of refugees crossing the English Channel with an official notice that they are "under consideration" for relocation to Rwanda to claim asylum.

The Home Office has said that any migrants arriving in Britain after Monday will be prioritised for the scheme.

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — It’s easy to tell the delivery room from the rest of the main maternity hospital in Ukraine’s western city of Lviv, even from the outside. Its exterior wall is piled high with sandbags.

In the dim basement, where heavily pregnant women must bend low to avoid the water pipes, there is a delivery table in case the baby comes amid the air raid sirens.

Stress is part of childbirth, but it’s not meant to be like this.

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s natural gas pipeline operator said Wednesday it would stop Russian shipments through a key hub in the east of the country, while its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Kyiv’s military had made small gains, pushing Russian forces out of four villages near Kharkiv.

MOSCOW, May 10. /TASS/: Russia’s coronavirus cases rose by 4,531 to 18,237,227 in the past 24 hours, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Tuesday.

Russia’s coronavirus growth rate was 0.02%, or the lowest since April 20, 2020.

As many as 1,000 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, down 17.9% from the previous day. Hospitalizations declined in 47 regions of the country and rose in 27 regions.

MOSCOW, May 10. /TASS/: The Russian Emergencies Ministry has reported 4,000 wildfires in the country so far this year, Acting Emergencies Minister Alexander Chupriyan said at a meeting with the Russian president on Tuesday.

"About 4,000 wildfires have been reported in Russia since the start of this year," Chupriyan said.

MOSCOW, May 10. /TASS/:MOSCOW Russia and Algeria plan to sign a treaty confirming a new quality of bilateral relations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.

"All these years we have been actively developing trade and economic cooperation," Lavrov said at a meeting with his Algerian counterpart Ramtane Lamamra.

Lavrov noted that given "the rapidly developing friendly ties" in order to maintain the high level of cooperation the countries plan to sign "a new inter-state strategic document, which will reflect the new quality of our relations."

MOSCOW, May 10. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has appointed five acting governors in the Tomsk, Saratov, Ryazan, Kirov Regions and in the Mari El republic, according to decrees published on the Kremlin website on Tuesday.

In the Tomsk Region, Vladimir Mazur, deputy head of the Russian Presidential Department for Domestic Policy, will succeed Sergey Zhvachkin, who has been in office for two terms since 2012 and resigned earlier in the day, as acting governor.

LONDON, May 10 (Reuters) - Asked if Russia would rule out a preemptive tactical nuclear strike on Ukraine, Russia's deputy foreign minister said on Tuesday that a decision on the possible use of nuclear weapons was clearly set out in Russia's military doctrine, RIA reported.

"We have a military doctrine - everything is written there," Alexander Grushko was quoted by state news agency RIA as saying.

May 10 (Reuters) - Four Russian regional governors resigned on Tuesday as the country braces for the impact of economic sanctions.

The heads of the Tomsk, Saratov, Kirov and Mari El regions announced their immediate departures from office, while the head of Ryazan region said he would not run for another term.

Elections are scheduled to take place in all five regions in September.

May 10 (Reuters) - Belarus will deploy special operations troops in three areas near its southern border with Ukraine, the armed forces said on Tuesday as President Alexander Lukashenko talked up the role of Russian-made missiles in boosting the country's defences.

A close ally of Russia, Belarus said in March that its armed forces were not taking part in what Moscow calls its "special operation" in Ukraine, but it did serve as a launchpad for Russia to send thousands of troops across the border on Feb. 24.