Europe

KYIV, Oct 12 (Reuters) - The European Union will give a "firm answer" to a ruling by Poland's top court challenging the primacy of EU law, and will tell Warsaw to "abide by the rules of the club," the EU's top diplomat said on Tuesday.

In comments to Reuters in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell reiterated the executive European Commission's concern about last week's ruling, but did not indicate what steps it might take to bring Poland into line.

MOSCOW, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Russia and the United States failed to make any major progress on Tuesday in resolving a row over the size and functioning of their embassies and there is a risk that relations could worsen further, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.

With ties already at post-Cold War lows, the two countries are in dispute over the number of diplomats they can post to each other's capitals, though Moscow said it was willing to lift restrictions imposed in recent years.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg said Tuesday she will step down as head of a three-party, minority center-right government after a left-leaning bloc won last month’s parliamentary election. The leader of Norway’s Labor Party, Jonas Gahr Stoere, is expected to take over later this week.

ROME (AP) — The European Union warned that humanitarian aid for Afghans won’t suffice in itself to keep hunger at bay as winter approaches after the bloc announced a support package worth 1 billion euros ($1.15 billion) on Tuesday.

The 27-nation bloc made the pledge during a virtual summit of the Group of 20 dedicated to Afghanistan. The Italian government, which holds the G-20 presidency, said the aim of the meeting was to address “urgent” humanitarian support for Afghans, the fight against terrorism and freedom of movement for Afghans inside the country and out.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A strong earthquake jolted the Greek island of Crete on Tuesday, two weeks and a day after another temblor killed a man and damaged hundreds of buildings.

The Geodynamic Institute in Athens said the undersea earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.3 and occurred at 12:24 p.m. local time (9:24 a.m. GMT) off the island’s eastern coast.

It was felt as far as the coast of Turkey and on Cyprus, more than 500 kilometers (310 miles) to the east, authorities said.

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s failure to impose a lockdown in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic cost thousands of unnecessary deaths and ranks among the country’s worst public health blunders, lawmakers concluded Tuesday in the nation’s first comprehensive report on the pandemic.

12 Oct 2021; MEMO: Civil society organisations and activists in the UK and overseas are threatening to organise a mass boycott of the University of Bristol unless it reverses the decision to fire Professor David Miller over his criticism of Israel and its state ideology, Zionism.

The threat was issued yesterday in a letter to the Vice-Chancellor and President of Bristol University which contained the signatures of prominent academics and activists.

12 Oct 2021; MEMO: Several Palestine activist groups and academics working in the field of anti-Semitism studies have issued separate statements raising their concerns on instrumentalising anti-Semitism ahead of tomorrow's International Forum on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Anti-Semitism held in Malmo, Sweden.

12 Oct 2021; MEMO: The European Union yesterday extended sanctions imposed on the Syrian regime for an additional year over the latter's use of chemical weapons against civilians.

In an official statement, the European Council said the sanctions would be placed "until 22 October 2022," adding that they were also imposed on "two Syrian research centres and a Russian chemistry research institute."

Stockholm, Oct 11 (AP-PTI) A US-based economist won the Nobel prize for economics Monday for pioneering research that showed an increase in minimum wage does not lead to less hiring and immigrants do not lower pay for native-born workers, challenging commonly held ideas. Two others shared the award for creating a way to study these types of societal issues.