Europe

HAGUE, November 5. / TASS /: The Dutch Supreme Court has overturned the judgement, ruled by the Hague Court of Appeal, regarding Russia’s payment of more than $50 bln to ex-Yukos shareholders and has ordered to review the case, the court stated on Friday.

"The Supreme Court quashed the appeal court’s final judgement as well as the court’s preceding judgement. The case has been referred to the Amsterdam Court of Appeal for renewed judgement on this ground," the statement reads.

GENEVA, Nov 5 (Reuters) - A group of climate activists convicted for a protest against Swiss bank Credit Suisse applied on Friday for a review by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), in a step their lawyers said could set a precedent for such cases.

A Swiss appeals court last year reversed a ruling that had acquitted the 12 climate activists of trespassing at Credit Suisse on the grounds their actions were necessitated by the "imminent danger" of global warming. That decision was later upheld by Switzerland's top court.

LISBON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Portugal's ruling Socialists lead the race to win an election in January with more votes than they took in 2019, but short of a full majority, according to the first poll of voting intentions taken since parliament rejected their budget last week.

The combined left, including Prime Minister Antonio Costa's former hard-left partners who helped sink the budget bill and trigger the snap election, would retain a majority of seats in parliament, taking 52% of the vote, according to the survey by Aximage pollsters.

GENEVA, Nov 5 (Reuters) - The United Nations human rights council on Friday agreed to a British-led resolution on Sudan condemning the military coup and appointing an expert to monitor alleged rights violations in its aftermath.

The 47-member council agreed to the resolution in an emergency session on Friday without a vote. The new expert is mandated to monitor the rights situation there and report back to the Geneva-based council at a session in mid-2022.

LONDON/BRUSSELS, Nov 5 (Reuters) - The European Union said on Friday that Britain had made no move to seek a compromise on post-Brexit trade with Northern Ireland and cautioned London against triggering emergency unilateral provisions in the Brexit deal.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Brexit negotiator David Frost ruled out immediately triggering such provisions, a move that would sour ties with the EU, concern the United States and anger Ireland.

But Frost made clear he wanted Brussels to offer more.

ZAGREB, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- Croatia plans to introduce new measures to try to curb the surge of COVID-19 cases which reached a record 6,932 cases Friday, the highest daily number since the beginning of the pandemic.

On Thursday, the country with a population of 4.2 million also reported 6,310 new cases and 36 COVID-19 related deaths.

VALLETTA, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- Maltese Health Minister Chris Fearne announced on Friday that the country will offer booster jabs to the entire population, including children aged over 12.

Addressing a press conference, Fearne said that given the steep increase in the number of daily cases, Malta had brought forward its plan by a week to vaccinate people working in schools, healthcare workers, carers and pharmacists.

Malta on Friday registered 40 new cases, the highest daily tally in six weeks, up from the eight cases registered a week ago.

GLASGOW, Britain, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- The British capital welcomes Chinese investment, including in the city's infrastructure, Mayor of London Sadiq Kahn has said.

Asked about the concerns by some British politicians over Chinese investment, Kahn said Thursday that Chinese investment has been contributing to the growth of the city.

London has "invested hugely" in the expansion of its transportation system and "Chinese companies helped us with the electric buses, electric taxis. It is a working partnership", he told reporters in Glasgow, Scotland.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The United Kingdom on Friday rejected European Union proposals to streamline the trade of goods in Northern Ireland as insufficient, further aggravating a standoff between both sides and bringing the prospect of a post-Brexit trade war closer.

The U.K. government said after unsuccessful talks between its negotiator David Frost and his counterpart Maros Sefcovic that the EU offers to revamp the Northern Ireland deal, which the 27-nation bloc saw as far-reaching and unprecedented, “did not currently deal effectively with the fundamental difficulties.”

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine has filed charges of espionage and attempted state overthrow against five people who allegedly were part of a hackers group controlled by Russia.

The Security Service of Ukraine said Friday that the hackers group known as “Armagedon” was responsible for some 5,000 cyberattacks on Ukrainian state agencies since 2014.

The service said it had intercepted and recorded conversations of two group members it claims are agents of Russia’s Federal Security Service, the main descendant of the Soviet KGB, working in Russia-annexed Crimea.