Europe

GENEVA, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said that a WHO team in China is working with producers of the Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines for potential emergency use listings.

"I'm pleased that a WHO team is in China currently working with producers of the Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines to assess compliance with international quality manufacturing practices ahead of potential emergency use listing by WHO," Tedros said at a recent media briefing.

GENEVA, Jan 12 (XINHUA/APP): The World Health Organization (WHO) vowed on Tuesday to speed up rolling out safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines and their equitable allocation across the world.

“A year on, there have been almost 2 million deaths from COVID-19 and while we are hopeful about the safe and effective vaccines that are being rolled out, we want to see this sped up and vaccines allocated equitably in the coming weeks,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a virtual press briefing.

MOSCOW, January 12. /TASS/: The number of coronavirus hospitalizations in Russia dropped by 16% in the first ten days of the year, Head of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing Anna Popova said at a meeting of the presidium of the government’s Anti-Coronavirus Coordination Council on Tuesday.

"We recorded a 16% decline in the number of hospitalized patients in the reporting period. The coronavirus growth rate has dropped to 0.7% in January, while in December, the rate ranged between 0.9% and 1.2%," she pointed out.

MOSCOW, January 12. /TASS/: The ongoing coronavirus pandemic is like war humankind is waging on an unknown enemy, Rector of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) Vladimir Mau told TASS on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, January 12. /TASS/: Russia will keep flights to and from the United Kingdom suspended until February 1, 2021, the anti-coronavirus crisis center said in a statement on Tuesday.

"The anti-coronavirus crisis center has decided to keep flights to and from the United Kingdom suspended. In order to protect public health, the suspension has been extended until 11:59 pm on February 1, 2021," the statement reads.

Russia suspended flights to and from the UK on December 22.

MOSCOW, January 12. /TASS/: The situation with the spread of the coronavirus infection in Russia is stabilizing, Head of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing Anna Popova reported at a session of the presidium of the state coordination council to control the coronavirus incidence in the Russian Federation on Tuesday.

GENEVA, Jan 12 (NNN-Prensa Latina) — Every year over 300,000 women in the world die of cervix cancer, which could be prevented if they received timely health care, WHO warns Tuesday.

This could be the first cancer to be eliminated if 90 percent of girls are vaccinated, 70 percent of women are examined and 90 percent of those suffering from it are treated, the health organisation highlighted on Twitter.

It also indicated that nine in ten of these deaths occur in the poorest countries.

BIHAC, Bosnia (Reuters) - Hundreds of migrants are taking shelter in abandoned buildings in and around the northwestern Bosnian town of Bihac, wrapping up as best they can against the snow and freezing weather and hoping eventually to reach EU member Croatia across the border.

Bosnia has since early 2018 become part of a transit route for thousands of migrants from Asia, the Middle East and North Africa aiming to reach Europe’s wealthier countries.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil hit an 11-month high just below $57 a barrel on Tuesday as tighter supply and expectations of a drop in U.S. inventories offset concerns over rising coronavirus cases globally.

Saudi Arabia plans to cut output by an extra 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in February and March to stop inventories from building up. The latest U.S. supply reports are expected to show crude stocks fell for a fifth straight week. [EIA/S]

ROME (Reuters) - Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte faced a cabinet showdown on Tuesday with a small coalition partner that could bring down his government and unleash political chaos on Italy as it struggles to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

Italia Viva, headed by former premier Matteo Renzi, has threatened to withdraw its two ministers in protest over various issues, including Conte’s plans for spending billions of euros promised by the European Union to relaunch the battered economy.