Europe

LONDON (AP) — With daily coronavirus infections surging as a result of a new virus variant, the British government faced mounting pressure Saturday from teachers’ unions to keep schools in England closed for at least another two weeks.

The government, which oversees schools in England, has already decided to keep all schools in London closed next week to try to stem new infections. Unions want the policy extended across the whole of England, expressing fears about the health of both teachers and children.

PARIS (AP) — The French presidency announced that two French soldiers were killed Saturday in Mali when an improvised explosive device hit their armored vehicle, five days after three others died in similar circumstances.

The soldiers were participating in an intelligence mission in the Menaka region of northeastern Mali, as part of a larger operation aiming at fighting Islamist extremists in Africa’s Sahel region.

A third soldier has been injured and is in a stable condition, the French military said.

LONDON (AP) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will find out Monday whether he can be extradited from the U.K. to the U.S. to face espionage charges over the publication of secret American military documents.

District Judge Vanessa Baraitser is due to deliver her decision at London’s Old Bailey courthouse at 10 a.m. Monday. If she grants the request, then Britain’s home secretary, Priti Patel, would make the final decision.

Whichever side loses is expected to appeal, which could lead to years more legal wrangling.

HELSINKI (AP) — Rescue teams searching for survivors four days after a landslide carried away homes in a Norwegian village found no signs of life Saturday amid the ruined buildings and debris.

Three bodies have been recovered but searchers are still looking for seven more people believed to be missing. The landslide in the village of Ask is the worst in modern Norwegian history and has shocked citizens in the Nordic nation.

MOSCOW, January 2. /TASS/: The Zapad-2021 (or West-2021) Russian-Belarusian military exercise will focus on countering cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, Russia’s Western Military District said in a statement.

"The Zapad-2021 drills will focus on combating cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as on fire and electronic warfare activities against enemy formations, ways to train airborne troops’ vertical envelopment capability and rapidly shift between military activities," the statement reads.

MOSCOW, January 2. /TASS/: The US has gone haywire with the idea of its exceptionalism, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday in an interview with the Youtube channel "Izolenta live."

GENEVA, January 1. /TASS/: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases around the world has surpassed 81.94 million, rising by more than 470,000 in the past 24 hours. The World Health Organization (WHO) data also shows that the number of fatalities rose by more than 9,900 to exceed 1.8 million globally.

The WHO statistics only take into account the officially confirmed cases of infection and deaths provided by countries.

KIEV, January 2. /TASS/: Ukraine’s Biolek pharmaceutical company has applied for the registration of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, Chairman of the Political Council of Ukraine’s Opposition Platform - For Life party Viktor Medvedchuk said.

MOSCOW, January 2. /TASS/: Russia’s coronavirus cases rose by 26,301 to 3,212,637 in the past 24 hours, the anti-coronavirus crisis center said on Saturday. As many as 27,039 cases were confirmed on Friday.

According to data from the crisis center, the coronavirus growth rate has dropped to 0.8%.

Calais (France), Jan 1 (AP-PTI) France's government cast a favourable light on Friday on a reported bid by the father of Britain's prime minister to take up French nationality, saying it shows how attached Britons are to the European Union that they're no longer part of.