Europe

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will introduce new rules for companies to try to prevent goods from China’s Xinjiang region entering the supply chain, foreign minister Dominic Raab said on Tuesday, toughening London’s response to allegations of forced labour.

He told parliament Britain would create more robust guidance for due diligence on sourcing, toughen the Modern Slavery Act to include fines, bar from government contracts any companies which do not comply to procurement rules and launch a Xinjian-specific review of export controls.

BRUSSELS, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Lawmakers of the European Union (EU) on Monday demanded to be involved in the implementation and monitoring of the trade agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom (UK).

At their first discussion of the EU-UK trade deal, concluded on Dec. 24, the MEPs sitting on the International Trade Committee welcomed that the deal had avoided a no-deal scenario which would have spelt disaster for citizens and companies.

LISBON, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Monday called for European COVID-19 recovery funds to be made available to the European Union (EU) member states "as soon as possible."

"We spent several nights awake in July, the (European) Council lasted five days, and it was a great European success, a great step forward for the EU to guarantee loans and grants to the states in need," Mitsotakis was quoted by the Portuguese Lusa News Agency as saying.

LONDON (AP) — The U.K. opened seven mass vaccination centers Monday as it moved into the most perilous moment of the COVID-19 pandemic, with exhausted medical staff reeling under the pressure of packed hospitals and increasing admissions.

England’s chief medical officer, Dr. Chris Whitty, warned people to strictly follow measures to prevent the spread of the virus while they wait their turn for a vaccine shot. The government is trying to vaccinate some 15 million people by Feb. 15 — but Britain’s National Health Service is struggling to treat those who are ill now.

MOSCOW, January 11. /TASS/: Nearly 30 avalanches have been documented in Russia during the New Year holidays, the Russian Emergencies Ministry’s press service informed TASS on Monday.

"During the New Year holidays, we have managed to avoid incidents with tourists who registered their route. So far currently, there are over 230 groups registered on routes coming up to the total of over 2,200 people. In the stipulated period, 27 snow avalanches have been documented, nine of them were forced," the press service informed.

MOSCOW, January 11. /TASS/: Four people died, at least six were injured after a dump truck driver reportedly lost control of his vehicle and rammed a Ministry of Defense bus convoy on Novorizhskoye Highway in the Moscow Region Monday, a source in the law enforcement told TASS.

"According to the preliminary information, the truck driver lost control and rammed the bus convoy," the source said.

MOSCOW, January 11: The Russian Health Ministry has given the approval to the Gamaleya Federal Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology for the clinical trials of a "light vaccine" against COVID-19, dubbed "Sputnik Light," the website of the state register containing research approvals of the Russian Health Ministry informed on Monday.

MOSCOW, January 11. /TASS/: The number of confirmed COVID-19 infections in Russia over the past 24 hours has increased by 23,315, bringing the total to 3,425,269, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told journalists on Monday.

According to the crisis center, the relative growth of new cases has not surpassed 0.7% for three days.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, said he expects U.S. President-elect Joe Biden to extend the last major nuclear arms control treaty between Moscow and Washington when it expires next month, but that the two countries have much more to do.

In an interview with Russia’s RIA news agency published on Monday, Gorbachev, 89, said he was counting on Biden, whom he said he had met many times, to extend the New START treaty.

GENEVA (Reuters) - Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz went on trial in a Geneva court on Monday on corruption and forgery charges linked to mining concessions in the West African nation of Guinea.

Steinmetz was indicted in August 2019 by a Geneva prosecutor who accused him and two aides of paying or having $10 million in bribes paid to obtain exploration permits for some of the world’s richest iron-ore deposits.

Steinmetz and his aides deny the charges. If convicted he could face up to 10 years in prison.