Europe

ROME, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- The vaccine to prevent the coronavirus disease and the European Union (EU) recovery program will be two crucial tools for Italy's relaunch in 2021, Italian President Sergio Mattarella said Thursday in his New Year speech.

"The pandemic has carved deep scars in our lives and our society. It has worsened old inequalities and created new ones," said Mattarella.

However, he stressed that important and encouraging signals should allow the Italians to turn their fears and worries into positive energies to restart.

MOSCOW, December 31. /TASS/: Speculations of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky about the Minsk Agreements prove that Kiev wants to inflict economic damage on Russia rather than settle the Donbass conflict, Spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said in a statement Thursday.

MOSCOW, December 31. /TASS/: The volume of oil pumped through the Transneft system in January 2021 is planned at 36.4 mln tonnes, official spokesman of the national pipeline operator Igor Dyomin told reporters on Thursday.

In particular, the operator plans to pump 3 mln tonnes of oil via the Druzhba pipeline in January 2021, 2.65 mln tonnes of oil via the ESPO (Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean) to China and another 0.85 mln tonnes in transit to Kazakhstan. The operator plans to supply 1.28 mln tonnes of oil to the refineries of Belarus via the Transneft system in January.

MOSCOW, December 31. /TASS/: The number of coronavirus cases in Russia rose by 27,747 to 3,159,297 in the past 24 hours, the anti-coronavirus crisis center said on Thursday.

A total of 26,513 cases were identified in the country on Wednesday.

In particular, 6,566 cases were recorded in Moscow in the past day (up from 5,105 the day before), 3,758 in St. Petersburg, 1,487 in the Moscow Region (the lowest number since December 18), 501 in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, 394 in the Sverdlovsk Region and 392 in the Pskov Region.

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, December 31. /TASS/: The trials of life are unavoidable, but they urge one and all to turn an attentive ear to the voice of conscience, to brush off vanity and to focus on the matters of the greatest importance, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his customary New Year address to the nation. The residents of the Kamchatka Peninsula were the first audience in Russia to hear his message minutes before midnight.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Thursday its decision to suspend retaliatory tariffs against the United States was already bearing fruit after it was spared in a new round of U.S. tariff increases which hit French and German produce.

Britain said earlier this month it would use its new-found freedom outside the European Union to diverge from common EU trade policy towards the United States, deciding to unilaterally suspend tariffs relating to a 16-year dispute on aircraft subsidies.

PARIS (Reuters) - The U.S. decision to impose additional tariffs on French wines and cognac, which come in addition to a first set of tariffs late last year, will cost the sector a total of over 1 billion euros ($1.23 billion), the French wine exporters’ federation said on Thursday.

The U.S. government on Wednesday said it would raise tariffs on certain European Union products, including wines from France, the latest twist in a 16-year battle over aircraft subsidies between Washington and Brussels.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday the country would hold referendum on constitutional changes, the Belta state news agency reported.

Lukashenko, who has faced weekly protests since claiming victory in an Aug. 9 election his opponents say was rigged, did not say when such a referendum would be held.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission said on Thursday that new U.S. tariffs on EU products disrupted ongoing negotiations with Washington to resolve a 16-year battle over aircraft subsidies and it hoped to find a swift solution with the next U.S. president, Joe Biden.

The Commission, which coordinates trade policy for the 27-nation European Union, said it regretted the U.S. action, which “unilaterally” disrupted ongoing talks about subsidies for European planemaker Airbus and U.S. rival Boeing.

STOCKHOLM, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- Sweden's Public Health Agency has for the first time issued recommendations for wearing face masks on public transport, but only during weekday rush hours.

According to the new guidelines, published on Wednesday, Swedes aged 16 and above should wear face masks on public transport between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays.