Europe

BRUSSELS, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Apple may be fined and forced to open its mobile payment system to competitors after the European Commission has charged the company of abusing its dominant position by limiting access to technologies allowing contactless payment.

"Apple has built a closed ecosystem around its devices and its operating system, iOS. And Apple controls the gates to this ecosystem, setting the rules of the game for anyone who wants to reach consumers using Apple devices," EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said Monday.

03 May 2022; MEMO: At least 20 graves belonging to Muslims and Orthodox Christians were vandalised in a cemetery in the southern Swedish city of Malmo, local media reported Monday, says Anadolu Agency.

Many tombstones were also scrawled with red paint by unidentified people at Ostra Cemetery, reported Swedish public broadcaster SVT, citing police spokesperson Nils Norling.

03 May 2022; MEMO: Russia's foreign ministry accused Israel on Tuesday of supporting neo-Nazis in Ukraine, further escalating a row which began when Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed Adolf Hitler had Jewish origins, reports Reuters.

Israel lambasted Lavrov on Monday, saying his claim – made when talking about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy who is Jewish – was an "unforgivable" falsehood that debased the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust.

02 May 2022; MEMO: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Sunday denied reports claiming that Moscow will end its war on Ukraine on May 9, the anniversary of Russia's victory over the Nazis in World War II, reports Anadolu Agency.

"Russia does not intend to accelerate the completion of the special operation in Ukraine until the Victory Day over Nazism, May 9," said Lavrov, speaking to Italian television channel Rete 4.

02 May 2022; MEMO: An unidentified attacker opened fire Sunday on the house of the director of a Turkish NGO in Sweden, reports Anadolu Agency.

Three bullets hit the house of Mehmet Ozer, the head of the Jonkoping branch of the Germany-based Union of International Democrats.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Ozer said the incident took place around midnight when he was out for Tarawih or special night prayers during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Berlin, May 2 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here on Monday on the first leg of his three-nation Europe trip during which he will hold detailed bilateral discussions with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and co-chair the India-Germany inter-governmental consultations.

Landed in Berlin. Today, I will be holding talks with Chancellor @OlafScholz, interacting with business leaders and addressing a community programme. I am confident this visit will boost the friendship between India and Germany, Modi tweeted soon after his arrival here.

Xinhua: Zahony, a town that locates within 100 km to five borders with five countries in northeastern Hungary, has become an important hub for China-Europe freight trains to enter the EU.

Norbert Csomos, managing director of MAV-REC Railway Engineering Cooperation Ltd., has witnessed the development in Zahony, where the first container train from China arrived in July 2017.

WASHINGTON, May 1. /TASS/. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba held a phone conversation on Saturday to discuss the return of US diplomats to Ukraine and the US government’s request to Congress to authorize additional aid to Kiev totaling $33 billion.

US Department of State Spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement after the talks: "The Secretary provided an update on plans for U.S. diplomats to return to Ukraine, including initial visits to Lviv this week and plans to return to Kyiv as soon as possible."

MOSCOW, May 1. /TASS/. Aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces destroyed two S-300 missile systems and damaged two warehouses with ammunition and fuel on Ukrainian territory, spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry Major General Igor Konashenkov told reporters on Sunday.

NEW DELHI, May 2. /TASS/. The European Union will stop importing Russian coal in summer and will do away with Russian oil by the end of 2022, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in an interview with The Indian Express newspaper published on Monday.

The European Union has adopted, along with its transatlantic partners, "unprecedented sanctions against the Russian Federation," the Chancellor said. "Many countries have joined these sanctions, even if this necessarily implies economic costs for ourselves," he noted.