Category: Світ

The coronavirus pandemic has dominated the news this year, and it’s no different this holiday season. Despite public health warnings not to travel, many Americans boarded planes to celebrate Christmas with loved ones in other cities. Meanwhile, Europe is receiving its first shipments of a vaccine against the virus and the disease it causes, COVID-19. …

A fast-food eatery at Pompeii has been excavated, helping to reveal dishes that were popular for the citizens of the ancient Roman city who were partial to eating out.Pompeii Archaeological Park’s longtime chief, Massimo Osanna, said Saturday that while about 80 such fast-foods spots have been found at Pompeii, it is the first time such …

A wave of COVID-19 has engulfed prisons in Belarus that are packed with people in custody for demonstrating against the nation’s authoritarian president, and some of the protesters who contracted the coronavirus while incarcerated accuse authorities of neglecting or even encouraging infections.Activists who spoke to The Associated Press after their release described massively overcrowded cells …

Hundreds of migrants were stranded Saturday in a squalid, burned-out tent camp in Bosnia as heavy snow fell in the country and winter temperatures suddenly dropped.Migrants at the Lipa camp in northwest Bosnia wrapped themselves in blankets and sleeping bags to protect against the biting winds in the region, which borders European Union member Croatia.A …

The new variant of the coronavirus circulating in Britain has been detected in Sweden after a traveler from Britain fell ill on arrival and tested positive for it, the Swedish Health Agency said on Saturday. Health Agency official Sara Byfors told a news conference the traveler, who was not identified, had kept isolated after arrival to …

Italy reported 261 coronavirus-related deaths Saturday against 459 the day before, the health ministry said.The daily tally of new infections increased by 10,407 from 19,037 the day before, taking the total number of cases since Italy’s epidemic began to 2,010,037. Heath Agency: British Coronavirus Variant Found in Traveler to SwedenHealth Agency official Sara Byfors told a …

France on Saturday received its first batches of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, which were delivered to the Paris hospital pharmacy network.Inoculations are planned to begin in two nursing homes Sunday, the same day the rest of Europe is set to begin vaccinations.France has reported more than 2.6 million COVID-19 infections and over 62,500 deaths. French …

George Blake, who died Saturday in Moscow aged 98, was a British Cold War spy and Soviet double agent who spent half his life in Russia after dramatically escaping jail in London.The last surviving member of a notorious generation of British defectors, Blake was seen as one of the West’s most damaging traitors and claimed …

The European Union agreement with Britain on how to handle affairs post-Brexit has been widely celebrated, yet another of the bloc’s tentative deals – that of a comprehensive investment agreement with China – is creating new headaches for European leaders.The negotiations between the EU and China are being closely watched in Washington, as elsewhere.The EU …

French health officials say the country has recorded its first case of the new COVID-19 variant that has led to new lockdowns in Britain and global travel restrictions on British residents.The French health ministry said a Frenchman who had been living in England and returned to France tested positive for the new variant in the …

More than 4,500 lorries, among a huge backlog of trucks stranded for days in the British port of Dover, crossed the Channel on Friday after extra troops were deployed to step up coronavirus testing, a minister said.Ferry services between Dover and the French port of Calais resumed on Thursday, ending a blockade France had imposed …

The fast-track ratification of the post-Brexit trade deal between the U.K. and the European Union got underway on Christmas Day as ambassadors from the bloc’s 27 nations started assessing the accord that takes effect in a week.At Friday’s exceptional meeting, the ambassadors were briefed about the details of the draft treaty by the EU’s chief …

About 1,000 British soldiers were spending Christmas Day trying to clear a huge backlog of truck drivers stuck in southeast England after France briefly closed its border to Britain, then demanded coronavirus tests from all amid fears of a new, apparently more contagious, virus variant. Even as 4,000 international truck drivers spent yet another day …

The United States will require airline passengers from Britain to get a negative COVID-19 test before their flight, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced late Thursday. The U.S. is the latest country to announce new travel restrictions because of a new variant of the coronavirus that is spreading in Britain and elsewhere. Airline …

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his supporters said that police raided the apartment of an associate Friday morning and detained her for questioning.”Today, police came to Lyubov Sobol’s apartment at 7 am,” Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Fund chairman Ivan Zhdanov said in a tweet.Zhdanov and Navalny’s spokesperson, Kira Yarmyash, said that the phone of Sobol was …

Britain and the European Union finally agreed to a free trade deal Thursday, just days before the Brexit transition period comes to an end. As Henry Ridgwell reports, the deal is yet to be ratified – and there could be more surprises ahead. Camera: Henry Ridgwell  …

For the first time since a fire that nearly destroyed it, the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris played host to a Christmas Eve choral concert, an annual tradition in France.In a concession to the fact that the Gothic cathedral is still being rebuilt, the choristers wore construction hard hats and boiler suits, and there was …

Pope Francis celebrated a low-key Christmas Eve Mass made somber by the coronavirus pandemic and said people should feel obliged to help the needy because Jesus himself was born a poor outcast.The Mass was celebrated Thursday in a rear section of St. Peter’s Basilica with fewer than 100 participants and only small number of cardinals …

Aside from the occasional miniature tree and paper chains hung from cabs, there was little festive cheer for the thousands of truckers stuck on an old airfield in southeast England on Christmas Eve.Several thousand cargo trucks have been trapped for days around the southern English port of Dover since France closed borders with Britain in …

When Britons voted in 2016 to leave the European Union after 47 years of membership, Brexiters said striking a free trade deal with the Eu would be simple and “one of the easiest in human history.” It didn’t turn out that way. But Thursday, after four years of talks marked by fractiousness and ill-temper and amid accusations …

Stella Tennant, the aristocratic British model who was a muse to designers such as Karl Lagerfeld and Gianni Versace, died suddenly at the age of 50, her family said Wednesday. Tennant, the granddaughter of a duke, rose to fame in the 1990s while walking the runway for Versace, Alexander McQueen and other designers. FILE – Model Stella …

European Union and British negotiators are nearing a trade deal as Britain’s New Year’s Day exit from the 27-nation bloc approaches, EU officials said Wednesday.Two officials said negotiators are working to resolve as early as midnight Wednesday a fishing rights issue in British waters in hopes of avoiding a messy economic break between the two …

The U.S. departments of Treasury and State on Wednesday announced sanctions and visa restrictions on dozens of Belarusian citizens and several entities for their alleged roles in what the U.S. calls a fraudulent Aug. 9 election and the violent crackdowns on pro-democracy protesters that followed.   “The election included a myriad of irregularities that made …

The Russian parliament’s lower chamber has approved several controversial bills that human rights watchdogs and the opposition have said undermine democratic processes. Among the legislation approved by the State Duma on December 23 was a series of amendments to the controversial law on “foreign agents” that requires organizations that have received the designation to report their …

A Turkish court has convicted journalist Can Dundar on espionage and terror-related charges for a news report. The court in Istanbul on Wednesday found Dundar guilty of “obtaining secret documents for espionage” and “knowingly and willingly aiding a terrorist organization without being a member,” sentencing him to a total of 27 1/2 years in prison. …

Police in Canada have declared the death of a dissident Pakistani human rights activist a “non-criminal” incident.     Thirty-seven-year-old Karima Mehrab, also known as Karima Baloch from Pakistan’s troubled Baluchistan province, was found dead Monday, a day after she went missing in Toronto’s downtown area.      “The circumstances have been investigated and officers have …