Europe

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — The Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein was widely expected to become the largest group in the Northern Ireland Assembly for the first time, giving it the right to the post of first minister in Belfast, as vote-counting in this week’s local election resumed Saturday.

06 May 2022; MEMO: A mosque affiliated with Turkiye's Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB) in France's north-eastern province of Metz was attacked on Thursday night, Anadolu News Agency reports.

The mosque was damaged in a fire that broke out after unknown persons lobbed three Molotov cocktails on the walls of the mosque.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Ali Durak, President of the Mosque Association, said the mosque was saved from being completely burned down at the last moment.

07 May 2022; MEMO: The European Union (EU) on Friday criticised the Israeli Supreme Court's ruling for evicting more than 1,300 Palestinians from Masafer Yatta, south of the occupied West Bank city of Hebron.

"Under international law, individual or mass forcible transfers and deportation of protected persons from occupied territories are prohibited, regardless of their motive," the EU tweeted. "As the occupying power, Israel has the obligation to protect the Palestinian population and not displace it."

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — U.S. first lady Jill Biden on Saturday praised the Romanian government and relief organizations for the range of humanitarian aid they are providing to Ukrainians who are fleeing Russia’s war against their country. She called the show of solidary “amazing” but also “just the beginning.”

Biden delivered her sober assessment at the conclusion of a nearly hourlong briefing at the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest on the massive relief effort.

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (AP) — Rescuers were seeking to evacuate more civilians from tunnels beneath a sprawling steel mill in Mariupol as Ukrainian fighters make their last stand to prevent Moscow’s complete takeover of the strategically important port city.

Dozens of people were evacuated Friday from the Azovstal plant and handed over to representatives of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, Russian and Ukrainian officials said. The Russian military said the group of 50 included 11 children.

05 May 2022; MEMO: A group of British activists have unfurled a Palestinian flag on top of the town hall in Bishop's Castle on the English side of the border with Wales. Activist Sarah Wilkinson climbed the building on Monday — the Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Fitr — and called out the double standards of the town for raising the Ukraine flag following Russia's invasion but not doing the same for Palestine despite it suffering under 74 years of Israeli occupation.

CHISINAU, May 6. /TASS/: Transnistria will seek international recognition through negotiations rather than war, Vadim Krasnoselsky, the leader of the unrecognized republic, said on Friday.

He has called on reporters to refrain from fueling the conflict in the region that had been recently rocked by a number of terrorist attacks, with the official websites of local government agencies repeatedly blocked by DDoS-attacks.

MOSCOW, May 6. /TASS/: Peace talks between Russia and Ukraine are stagnant, Alexey Zaitsev, deputy director of the information and press department at the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

"Russian-Ukrainian talks are in a state of stagnation," he said.

Zaitsev said that NATO countries, while advocating for a prompt cessation of hostilities, are doing everything to prevent that.

"The supply of arms to Ukraine, which are valued at billions of dollars, are increasing," he said. "Washington alone sent military products worth $3.8 billion."

MOSCOW, May 6. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 case tally rose by 5,541 over the past day to 18,216,719, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Friday.

In relative terms, the growth rate reached 0.03%.

As many as 2,845 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Russia over the past day, down 12.4% from a day earlier. The number of hospitalized patients decreased in 46 regions, while in 32 regions the figure increased. The situation remained unchanged in seven regions. A day earlier, 3,248 people were rushed to hospitals.

VIENNA, May 6. /TASS/: Austria has no plans to pay for Russian gas in rubles, Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Schallenberg told Al Jazeera in an interview.

"Our position is clear. We are committed to the already existing agreements [with Russia] and will not pay in rubles, we have no such intention," Schallenberg said.