Briefly

GERMANY

Inflation hits 40-year high on costly energy

Consumer prices in Germany rose at their fastest pace in four decades, data published on Thursday showed, as Russia's special military operation in Ukraine spurs energy prices to new heights. Inflation climbed to 7.4 percent in April, up from 7.3 percent in March, according to the federal statistics agency Destatis. The figure was last higher for West Germany in the autumn of 1981.

TURKEY

Visiting Erdogan seeks to mend Saudi ties

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was due to travel to Saudi Arabia on Thursday, marking the culmination of a monthslong drive to repair ties with Riyadh that included dropping a trial over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul. Erdogan's office said he would discuss ways to increase economic and other cooperation with the Gulf kingdom during his two-day visit that came at the invitation of Saudi King Salman. Relations were badly strained after Khashoggi was killed at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul in 2018. A senior Turkish official said there was a "very positive" atmosphere ahead of the trip.

RUSSIA

Landmark stage for cross-border bridge

The construction of the Russian section of the first China-Russia railway bridge across the Amur River, known as the Heilongjiang River in China, was completed on Wednesday. With a designed annual throughput of 21 million metric tons, the bridge connects Tongjiang city in northeast Heilongjiang province and the Russian town of Nizhneleninskoye. The main bridge spans around 2,200 meters, with 1,886 meters of that standing in China and 309 meters in Russia. Construction started in 2014, and the main part of the Chinese section was finished in October 2018.

ETHIOPIA

Unrest kills over 20, says religious body

At least 20 people have been killed in unrest in Gonder city in Ethiopia's northern Amhara region, claimed a religious body on Wednesday. In a statement, the region's Islamic Affairs Council said "a massacre" was committed on Tuesday on Muslims who had congregated in a cemetery to bury the body of a prominent Islamic cleric. Members of the Islamic and Christianity faiths have reportedly long-standing competing claims of land ownership around the Sheikh Elias cemetery.

Xinhua - Agencies