Europe

MOSCOW, April 23. /TASS/: American entry visas were never issued to Russian media representatives, who were set to travel with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for the UN Security Council meeting in New York, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated on her Telegram channel on Sunday.

"Speaking about the US real treatment of journalists. There are 40 minutes left before their departure. They [journalists] are all at the airport. They have no visas. The US Embassy replied to a our relevant request that ‘they work on it’."

LISBON, April 23 (Reuters) - Brazil hopes the Mercosur trade deal with the European Union (EU) will be concluded this year, a government official said on Sunday, ending years of delay and opening the way to increased trade between the two regions.

The EU and the Mercosur bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay completed negotiations in 2019 but the deal has been on hold due to concerns, particularly in France, about Amazon deforestation and Brazil's commitment to climate change action.

April 23 (Reuters) - Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday that if the G7 moved to ban exports to Russia, Moscow would respond by terminating the Black Sea Grain deal that enables vital exports of grain from Ukraine.

The Group of Seven (G7) countries are considering a near-total ban on exports to Russia, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported last week, citing Japanese government sources. Russia has repeatedly threatened to scrap its participation in the grain deal, which is due to expire on May 18.

LONDON, April 23 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Sunday the country's armed forces evacuated diplomatic staff and their family members from Sudan.

Sunak paid tribute to what he called a "complex and rapid" evacuation after he said there had been a significant escalation in violence and threats to embassy staff. But British nationals living in Sudan were not rescued.

"I pay tribute to the commitment of our diplomats and bravery of the military personnel who carried out this difficult operation," Sunak said on Twitter.

April 23 (Reuters) - Russia's defence ministry on Sunday said its forces had captured more territory in Bakhmut as they pursue their bid to seize full control of the city.

The battle for Bakhmut has turned into one of the bloodiest of the 14-month war, with the Eastern Ukrainian city almost completely destroyed by artillery shelling and urban combat.

Russia says capturing Bakhmut will allow it to mount further offensives into eastern Ukraine. If they succeed, Moscow's forces are likely to face even larger urban battles for the nearby towns of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

LONDON, April 23 (Reuters) - Britain's main opposition Labour Party has suspended high-profile lawmaker Diane Abbott over a letter she wrote in which she said the prejudice experienced by Jewish people was similar to, but not the same as, racism.

Labour, which polls indicate is likely to form Britain's next government after an election expected next year, faced accusations of discrimination and harassment against Jews under its former leader Jeremy Corbyn.

PARIS, April 23 (Reuters) - France, Ukraine and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania expressed dismay after China's ambassador in Paris questioned the sovereignty of former Soviet countries like Ukraine.

Asked about his position on whether Crimea is part of Ukraine or not, Chinese ambassador Lu Shaye said in an interview aired on French television on Friday that historically it was part of Russia and had been offered to Ukraine by former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.

LISBON, April 22 (Xinhua) -- On his visit to Portugal, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Saturday that it is necessary to "choose a third way" to build peace for the conflict in Ukraine.

"I don't want to please anyone. I want to build a way to bring the two (Russia and Ukraine) to the table," Lula said.

STOCKHOLM, April 22 (Xinhua) -- "NATO is nothing but the war machine of the United States," Nellie Puig, a Swede protesting his country joining the military alliance, told Xinhua in central Stockholm on Saturday.

"It is not a defensive alliance as they claim. It is an organization that runs the errands of the United States," said Puig.

Protests against Sweden hosting a large international military exercise and the country striving to become a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) were held in 17 cities across the country on Saturday.

MOSCOW, April 22 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that it decided to "mirror" Germany's "hostile" actions and expel German diplomats from Russia.

"The German authorities have decided on another mass expulsion of employees of Russian diplomatic missions in Germany. We strongly condemn these actions of Berlin, which continues to defiantly destroy the entire array of Russian-German relations," the ministry said in a statement.