MOSCOW (TASS) - The U.S. Department of State has confirmed reports that a Russian Minister Counselor in Washington had to cut short his work in the United States due to existing disagreements regarding the work of the two states’ diplomatic missions. “We can confirm that the United States informed the Russian Embassy that we are expelling its Minister Counselor,” a Department of State spokesperson told TASS. In her words, the move was “a direct response to the unprovoked Russian expulsion of our Deputy Chief of Mission”.

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JAKARTA (Reuters) - A magnitude 6.1 earthquake killed at least seven people and injured dozens more when it struck inland near the western coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra island on Friday, with tremors also felt in neighboring Malaysia and Singapore, officials said. The quake caused residents to flee buildings in some areas and triggered evacuations nearly 400km (250 miles) away in Malaysia. “We continue to monitor and advise people to remain on alert,” Dwikorita Karnawati, the head of Indonesia’s geophysics agency BMKG, told MetroTV. The agency initially put the magnitude at 6.2. The disaster mitigation agency said seven were killed and 85 were injured. Its chief said some buildings, including a government office, homes and a bank sustained damage.

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Athens, Greece (AFP) – Greek opposition parties have joined the government in approving the country’s biggest naval modernization in 20 years. Over the next four years, Greece will spend 2.26bn euros ($2.53bn) buying three Belharra frigates built by France’s Naval Group, considered state of the art in the Western arsenal. Over the next year, Greece is expected to increase the order to four frigates and four corvettes to accompany them.

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JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The Omicron BA.2 sub-variant of COVID-19 appears to be more infectious than the original BA.1 sub-variant, but does not cause more severe disease, the head of Africa’s top public health body said on Thursday citing data from South Africa. “South Africa is reporting that it is more transmissible than the BA.1 variant, but interestingly and very encouragingly the severity seems to be the same,” said Dr John Nkengasong, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

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WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) Cars and trucks blocking the streets outside New Zealand’s Parliament on Friday, and more protesters were yet to arrive for the weekend, including some by boat. For more than two weeks, protesters against coronavirus vaccine mandates have been camping outside Parliament, their numbers dropping during the weekdays and then swelling to the thousands over the weekends.