Category: Світ

Pressure is growing on the European Union to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine after regulators in Britain, the United States and Canada gave the green light in recent days. Coronavirus cases are soaring across the continent, with extended lockdowns announced in Germany and the Netherlands. Henry Ridgwell reports. Camera: Henry Ridgwell    …

An elite Russian intelligence chemical weapons unit trailed opposition figure Alexei Navalny for the past three years, right up until his near-fatal poisoning in August, according to the investigative website Bellingcat. The squad from the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), according to Bellingcat, started shadowing Navalny in 2017, shortly after he announced he would stand against …

Britain and the European Union are still apart in Brexit trade talks but Prime Minister Boris Johnson does not want to walk away yet, Business Secretary Alok Sharma said on Monday.Britain and the EU agreed on Sunday to “go the extra mile” in coming days to try to reach an elusive trade agreement despite missing …

Italy’s Mount Etna, Europe’s most active volcano, lit up the sky overnight Sunday into the predawn hours Monday with bursts of hot lava, some going as high as 100 meters into the air. Etna is on the Mediterranean island of Sicily. Scientists with Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, report there were two eruptive fissures …

John le Carre, the spy-turned-novelist whose elegant and intricate narratives defined the Cold War espionage thriller and brought acclaim to a genre critics had once ignored, has died. He was 89.Le Carre died Saturday in Cornwall, southwest England, Saturday after a short illness, his literary agency, Curtis Brown, said Sunday. The death was not related …

The Trump administration acknowledged Sunday that several U.S. institutions were hacked on behalf of a foreign government.   Experts believe Russia is likely behind the attack on the U.S. Treasury and Commerce departments in what U.S. media is calling one of the most sophisticated attacks on U.S. government systems in years.   Both the FBI …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has ordered a Christmas lockdown amid an alarming rise in coronavirus cases in the country.Under new emergency measures, which will last from December 16 until January 10, all schools and non-essential shops across Germany are to close and bars and restaurants will remain shut.In a bid to deter outside gatherings during …

Security forces in Belarus have detained dozens of people as opposition demonstrators staged scattered marches and rallies in Minsk and other cities to pressure strongman leader Alexander  Lukashenko to make political concessions. Human rights group Vyasna said that nearly 180 people were detained during the protests on December 13, with most of the arrests reported in …

Chief negotiators of the European Union and Britain are meeting in Brussels Sunday in a last-ditch attempt to overcome the differences and reach a post-Brexit trade deal. With Britain’s end-of-year departure from the EU quickly approaching, the EU’s Michel Barnier and Britain’s David Frost have until the evening to hammer out a framework governing trade between …

A soft snow fell as a clutch of visitors equipped with a Geiger counter wandered through the ghostly Ukrainian town of Pripyat, frozen in time since the world’s worst nuclear accident in 1986.More than three decades after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster forced thousands to evacuate, there is an influx of visitors to the area that …

Trade talks between Britain and the European Union continued into the night Saturday ahead of the latest make-or-break deadline, as the Royal Navy readied armed ships to patrol U.K. fishing waters in case of a no-deal Brexit.Negotiations in Brussels were to continue Sunday, the day that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and EU chief Ursula …

Russia resumed construction on a gas pipeline to Germany on Friday, one year after the United States opposed the joint international project because of possible threats to Europe’s energy security, project managers said. Work on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was suspended in December 2019 after it became a source of conflict between Russia and the …

The World Health Organization (WHO) says action and money are needed to ensure coronavirus vaccines are available around the world as Western nations approve them. During Friday’s COVID-19 briefing at WHO headquarters in Geneva, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus applauded the fact Britain was already vaccinating its citizens and that Canada, the United states and others …

Turkish exporters say they have become a casualty of what analysts describe as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s aggressive foreign policy. Turkey’s relations with its Saudi partners suffer as a result of Ankara’s push to exert its influence in the Mediterranean and in Africa. Exporters say they are being shut out of Middle Eastern markets — …

Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, announced Friday that beginning Monday, the self-isolation period after contact with confirmed COVID-19 carriers will be shortened from 14 to 10 days in the nation. At her COVID-19 news briefing in Edinburgh, Sturgeon also said that the four-day reduction in the self-isolation period would apply to travelers returning from high-risk …

British health officials are warning that people with a “significant history” of allergic reactions should not receive the new coronavirus vaccine that was rolled out in a mass vaccination program Tuesday, pending investigation of two adverse reactions.  Britian is the first western country to begin the mass vaccinations, as Henry Ridgwell reports from London.Camera: Henry Ridgwell …

European Union leaders reached a hard-fought deal Friday to cut the bloc’s greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by the end of the decade compared with 1990 levels, avoiding a hugely embarrassing deadlock ahead of a U.N. climate meeting this weekend.Following night-long discussions at their two-day summit in Brussels, the 27 member states approved …

Turkish exporters are being shut out of Middle Eastern markets because of growing pushback by Saudi Arabia and Egypt in response to what some describe as Turkey’s aggressive foreign policy. But with a COVID-ravaged economy, Ankara is looking for a diplomatic reset, as Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul. …

With a chaotic and costly no-deal Brexit three weeks away, leaders of both the European Union and United Kingdom saw an ever liklier collapse of trade talks Thursday, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson even spoke of a “strong possibility” of failure. Both sides told their citizens to brace for a New Year’s shock, as trade …

Spanish officials say at least two people are dead and 17 others injured after a fire broke out in an abandoned warehouse believed to be occupied by squatters just north of Barcelona.Firefighters and emergency services officials in the city of Badalona say the fire broke out late Wednesday in the warehouse in an industrial area. …

European Union members gathered in Brussels Thursday for an ambitious summit that includes solving an impasse regarding a $2.1 trillion budget and COVID-19 pandemic relief, as well as setting new CO2 admissions standards to fight climate change.   The leaders of the 27 EU member states will also discuss COVID-19 vaccines, resetting relations with Washington …

Britain’s foreign minister said Thursday that negotiations on a trade deal with the European Union will reach a “moment of finality” this weekend, with both sides assessing chances of an agreement as slim.Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the Sunday deadline set by Britain and the EU for a decision was final, though he added, “You …

Scientists are watching a giant iceberg in the southern Atlantic Ocean saying it appears to be on a collision course with South Georgia Island and could devastate wildlife there, including penguins, seals and albatross.      Britain’s Royal Air Force, or RAF, Tuesday released video taken by an aircraft that flew last week over the …

British health officials are warning that people with a “significant history” of allergic reactions should not receive the new coronavirus vaccine that was rolled out in a mass vaccination program Tuesday, pending investigation of two adverse reactions. Britain is the first western country to begin the mass vaccinations, as Henry Ridgwell reports from London. Camera: …

Scientists and doctors say the mass coronavirus vaccination campaign that started in Britain this week represents a major milestone in the fight against COVID-19, although big challenges remain in producing and distributing enough vaccines to end the global pandemic.   Britain was the first country in the world to start coronavirus vaccinations after regulators approved …

The European Union had hoped to have been finished with Brexit months ago. But when leaders of the 27 member countries meet Thursday for a summit, they will have to once again consider what kind of future trade and security relationship they are prepared to have with Britain. After four years and five months of often …