Europe

03 Feb 2021; MEMO: The EU yesterday warned Kosovo against opening its embassy to Israel in Jerusalem, Shehab news agency reported Israeli media saying.

According to the news site, the Times of Israel reported that the EU had asked Kosovo not to open an embassy in Jerusalem and to commit to the EU stance and UN Security Council Resolution 478 which states that foreign embassies to Israel should be located in Tel Aviv.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain has asked for an extension until 2023 of a grace period on checks that would be conducted on trade moving between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom to soften the Brexit impact on the province, the BBC reported.

Political editor Laura Kuenssberg said Cabinet Office Secretary Michael Gove had written to the European Commission’s vice president, Maros Sefcovic, to ask for urgent political solutions.

ROME (Reuters) - Italian President Sergio Mattarella looks set to ask former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi to form a government of national unity to tackle the twin coronavirus and economic crises battering the country.

The head of state will receive Draghi at noon (1100 GMT) and will almost certainly give him a mandate to put together a high-profile administration that he hopes will win the backing of a broad sweep of parties in the fractured parliament.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil hit an 11-month high on Wednesday, boosted by a draw in U.S. crude and gasoline stocks, which fuelled demand recovery hopes as OPEC+ has forecast that the market will be in deficit in 2021.

Brent crude futures were up 48 cents, or 0.8%, to $57.94 a barrel at 0839 GMT, their highest since late February 2020.

The contract’s “backwardation” structure, where oil for nearby delivery is more expensive than further forward, was near a one-year high at more than $2, indicating expectations of tighter supply.

Mumbai, Feb 2 (PTI) International pop star Rihanna on Tuesday became the first global name to voice her support to the ongoing farmers agitation while criticising the internet shutdown at the protest site.

The 32-year-old singer, who has over 100 million followers on Twitter, took to the microblogging site and shared a CNN news article headlined, "India cuts internet around New Delhi as protesting farmers clash with police."

"Why aren't we talking about this? #FarmersProtest," Rihanna wrote.

MOSCOW, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- A Moscow court on Tuesday sentenced Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to 3.5 years in real jail time in defiance of pressure from domestic protesters and Western countries.

Navalny got a suspended sentence of 3.5 years behind bars in December 2014 for a fraud case concerning French cosmetics company Yves Rocher, and he was required to show up at Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) regularly during the probation period until the end of 2020.

LONDON (AP) — Senior politicians from Britain, Northern Ireland and the European Union are meeting Wednesday in a bid to defuse post-Brexit trade tensions that have shaken Northern Ireland’s delicate political balance.

British Cabinet minister Michael Gove, European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic and the leaders of Northern Ireland’s Catholic-Protestant power-sharing government will hold a video conference to discuss problems that have erupted barely a month after the U.K. made an economic split from the 27-nation EU.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Denmark’s government said Wednesday it is joining forces with businesses to develop a digital passport that would show whether people have been vaccinated against the coronavirus, allowing them to travel and help ease restrictions on public life.

Finance Minister Morten Boedskov told a news conference that “in three, four months, a digital corona passport will be ready for use in, for example, business travel.”

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s health chief says a new study showing that a single dose of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca provides a high level of protection for 12 weeks supports the government’s strategy of delaying the second shot so more doses can be delivered to more people.

MOSCOW, February 2. /TASS/: Saudi Arabia, which promised early in January to further reduce oil production by 1 mln barrels per day more in February - March 2021, has initiated implementation of its plan, an OPEC delegate told TASS on Tuesday.

"That’s right, Saudi Arabia has started the reduction by 1 mln barrels daily since February start," the delegate said. The Saudi Ministry of Energy has not yet commented on this piece of information.

Oil production by Saudi Arabia will therefore go down to 8.1 mln barrels per day in February - March of this year.