Europe

LONDON/BRUSSELS, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Britain and Ireland traded barbs on Twitter on Sunday after British Brexit negotiator David Frost restated his view that the EU must agree "significant change" to the Northern Ireland protocol that governs trade and border rules in the province.

The protocol was part of the Brexit settlement Prime Minister Boris Johnson negotiated with the EU, but London has repeatedly said it must be rewritten less than a year after taking force due to the barriers businesses face when importing British goods into Northern Ireland.

LONDON (AP) — Ireland’s foreign minister has warned that British demands risk a “further breakdown in relations” with the European Union ahead of talks this week aimed at resolving the impasse over the Brexit agreement.

Simon Coveney posted the remarks on Twitter after the U.K.’s Brexit minister reiterated his insistence that the European Court of Justice must not be allowed to oversee implementation of the deal. Coveney described this as a new “red line” that will impede progress in the negotiations.

BRUSSELS (AP) — Thousands of people young and old marched through Brussels on Sunday to push world leaders to take bolder action to fight climate change at the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow starting this month.

Some 80 organizations took part in the protest, aiming for the biggest such event in the European Union’s capital since the start of the coronavirus crisis, which stopped the climate movement’s weekly marches in its tracks.

PRAGUE (AP) — Czech President Milos Zeman was rushed to the hospital on Sunday, a day after the country held parliamentary election in which populist Prime Minister Andrej Babis’ party surprisingly came in second and Zeman has a key role in establishing a new government.

The Czech presidency is a largely ceremonial post but the president has the right to choose what political leader can try to form the next government. Earlier Sunday, Zeman met with Babis, his close ally, but the prime minister made no comment as he left the presidential chateau in Lany, near Prague.

10 Oct 2021; MEMO: Russia and the EU had misunderstandings on mutual recognition of vaccines, but now work is going on positively, Kremlin spokesman said on Friday.

Moscow considers the negotiations on vaccines recognition "extremely important" as the freedom of movement depends on it, Dmitry Peskov said at a press briefing in Moscow.

BERLIN (AP) — Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Saturday that he will step down in a bid to defuse a government crisis triggered by prosecutors’ announcement that he is a target of a corruption investigation.

Kurz, 35, said he has proposed to Austria’s president that Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg become chancellor. But Kurz himself will remain in a key political position: he said he will become the head of his conservative Austrian People’s Party’s parliamentary group.

MOSCOW, October 6. /TASS/: Americans handed over messages to Iranian representatives on US President Joe Biden’s intentions of implementing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear program during the UN General Assembly in New York, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said at a press conference following talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/: In the past 24 hours, 968 people died from COVID-19 versus 936 one day earlier, bringing the total death toll to 215,392, the federal coronavirus combating anti-crisis center told journalists Saturday.

This grim figure is the highest since the onset of the pandemic. Saturday marks the fourth day in a row with over 900 Covid-related deaths registered.

The relative lethality remains at 2.78%, according to the statistics.

LISBON, Oct 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The COVID-19 pandemic and the situation in Afghanistan, top the agenda of the 67th annual session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), which is hosted by the Parliament of Portugal, between Oct 8 and Oct 11.

The event is attended by Portuguese government officials, NATO representatives, defence experts, legislators from the 30 NATO member states, and representatives of the alliance’s partner countries.

TBILISI, Oct 9 (NNN-XINHUA) – A multi-block residential building collapsed yesterday, in Georgia’s western coastal city of Batumi, leaving several people trapped under the ruins.

A woman and a child have been rescued from the rubbles, according to local media reports.

Georgian Prime Minister, Irakli Garibashvili, who arrived in Batumi soon after the incident, announced that, about 300 rescuers were searching for 10-15 people trapped in the ruins.