Europe

GENEVA (Reuters) - U.N. Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths will visit Yemen and Saudi Arabia in the next few days to meet with the Yemeni president and senior Saudi officials following an attack on Aden airport last week, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

Attacks on the southern port city of Aden on Dec. 30 killed at least 22 people as officials in a government backed by Riyadh arrived there. Saudi-led coalition warplanes then retaliated by striking targets in Yemen’s Houthi-held capital Sanaa the next day.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices inched up on Tuesday as tension around Iran’s seizure of a South Korean vessel simmered and after it emerged that the OPEC+ group is studying a possible production cut in February, according to a document.

Brent crude futures for March rose 35 cents to $51.44 a barrel by 0947 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for February was at $48.04 a barrel, up 42 cents.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission said on Tuesday it regretted that Iran has resumed 20% uranium enrichment at an underground nuclear facility, breaching a 2015 nuclear pact, but believed that the accord was worth saving.

“We are highly concerned by the measures taken by Iran. This action is in breach of Iran’s nuclear commitments and will have serious implications,” a spokesman for the Commission told a regular briefing. “It is regrettable but it is also highly important and ... that we maintain the agreement,” he said.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will set out plans for the next package of COVID-19 economic support at the time of its March budget, finance minister Rishi Sunak said on Tuesday in response to suggestions businesses faced a “cliff edge” when current measures ended.

“I think the budget in early March is an excellent opportunity to take stock of the range of support that we’ve put in place, and to set out the next stage of our economic response to coronavirus at that particular time,” he told reporters.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s disease control center on Tuesday reported 944 more COVID-19 deaths, fueling expectations that Chancellor Angela Merkel and the country’s 16 state governors will extend the country’s lockdown until the end of the month.

Germany’s latest lockdown took effect Dec. 16 after a partial shutdown starting in early November failed to reduce the number of daily new coronavirus infections. It was initially set to expire Jan. 10.

LONDON (AP) — England is facing a third national lockdown that will last at least six weeks, as authorities struggle to stem a surge in COVID-19 infections that threatens to overwhelm hospitals around the U.K.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday announced a tough new stay-at-home order for England that won’t be reviewed until at least mid-February to combat a fast-spreading variant of the coronavirus. It takes effect at midnight Tuesday. Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon imposed a lockdown that began Tuesday.

MOSCOW, January 4. /TASS/: Russian engineer units have conducted a mine clearing effort on more than 414 ha of land since the start of their work in Nagorno-Karabakh, defusing nearly 19,000 explosives, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday.

"During the operation engineer units of Russia’s peacekeeping forces in Nagorno-Karabakh cleared mines on more than 414 ha of land, nearly 160 km of roads, 617 buildings, including 22 socially significant facilities. They have discovered and defused nearly 19,000 explosives," the ministry said in a statement.

MOSCOW, January 4. /TASS/: The number of detected coronavirus cases exceeded 85 mln on Monday, according to data from the Johns Hopkins University, which calculates based on information from international organizations, federal and local authorities.

MOSCOW, January 4. /TASS/: The Russian consumer safety watchdog follows the information about outbreaks of new infectious diseases, and particularly monitors the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo after reports on Disease X, the Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare told TASS on Sunday.

MOSCOW, January 4. /TASS/: US sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline are blatant protectionism aimed at advancing its liquefied natural gas on the European market, but the EU countries understand this and support the project, and thanks to this it will be completed, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told RBC TV.

"Certainly, this is blatant protectionism. The key idea why our colleagues from overseas are opposing Nord Stream 2 is linked first of all to the need to promote their own product, their LNG," Novak said.