Europe

MOSCOW, February 13. /TASS/: Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a decree expanding the list of Ukrainian companies that have economic sanctions imposed on them in connection with unfriendly actions of Ukraine. The document was published on the official portal of legal information on Friday.

The document introduces amendments to Appendix No. 2 to the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of November 1, 2018 No. 1300 on Measures to implement the decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 592 of October 22, 2018.

MOSCOW, February 13. /TASS/: The situation with the coronavirus infection spread in Russian schools is challenging overall, but under control, Education Minister Sergey Kravtsov told Sergey Brilev’s news show on Rossiya-1 on Saturday.

"Overall, the situation is challenging, of course, but under control," he said.

The switch to remote learning in 2020 was a forced measure, the minister emphasized.

First Deputy Education Minister Dmitry Glushko said earlier that over 97% of Russian pupils, meaning 16.3 mln people, returned to in-person learning on January 18.

MOSCOW, February 13. /TASS/: Russia’s coronavirus cases rose by 14,861 in the past day to 4,057,698, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Saturday.

The coronavirus growth rate is 0.37%, according to the data from the crisis center.

Particularly, 1,130 new coronavirus cases were registered in St. Petersburg in the past 24 hours, 884 in the Moscow Region, 441 in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, 356 in the Voronezh Region, and 342 in the Rostov Region.

The number of active cases currently stands at 400,095 in Russia.

MOSCOW, February 13. /TASS/: Moscow has submitted a request to Twitter due to blocking of the official account in that social network of the Russian delegation at the talks on military security and arms control in Vienna, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS on Saturday.

"A request has already been submitted to the company. Hopefully that is a technical issue," she said.

ATHENS, Feb 13 (NNN-SANA) – Foreign ministers of Egypt, Greece and Cyprus, reiterated the necessity to find a political solution to the crisis in Syria, which preserves its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

In a statement, following talks in the Greek capital, Athens, published yesterday, the ministers affirmed their commitment to unity, independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria.

The statement affirmed support for a permanent political settlement to the crisis in the country, in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolution no. 2254.

ROME (Reuters) - The Italian president swore in the former chief of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, as prime minister on Saturday at the head of a unity government called on to confront the coronavirus crisis and economic slump.

All but one of Italy’s major parties have rallied to his side and his cabinet includes lawmakers from across the political spectrum, as well as technocrats in key posts, including the finance ministry and a new green transition portfolio.

Much now rests on Draghi’s shoulders.

(Reuters) - The European Union called on China to reverse its ban on the BBC World News television, the Associated Press reported here on Saturday.

China barred Britain’s BBC World News from its television networks on Friday and Hong Kong’s public broadcaster said it would stop relaying BBC World Service radio, a week after Britain revoked Chinese state television’s broadcast licence.

LONDON, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- The British economy shrunk faster than at any point in 100 years in 2020, as headline gross domestic product (GDP) dropped by 9.9 percent, according to new data from the British Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Friday.

The last quarter of 2020 saw a rise of 1.0 percent in GDP but was sharply down on the 16.1 percent growth seen in the previous three months, said the ONS.

GENEVA, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- An independent expert team to study the origins of the COVID-19 virus is working on a summary report expected to be published next week, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), on Friday.

The WHO chief told a virtual press conference that the team has completed its trip to China, and their full final report will be published in the coming weeks.

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N.’s top human rights body passed a consensus resolution Friday urging military leaders in Myanmar to immediately release Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian government leaders detained after a military coup, while watering down an initial draft text amid pressure led by China and Russia.

In a special session at the Human Rights Council, the original resolution presented by Britain and the European Union was revised to remove calls to bolster the ability of a U.N. rights expert to scrutinize Myanmar and for restraint from the country’s military.