Europe

MOSCOW, December 28. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin’s delayed decision to get the coronavirus vaccine does not reflect badly in any way on the Russian vaccine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

MOSCOW, December 28. /TASS/: Russia is expelling the Bulgarian military attache’s aide Lieutenant-Colonel Mitko Borisov in retaliation for the expulsion of a Russian diplomat from Sofia. A note to this effect was handed to Bulgaria’s ambassador in Moscow Atanas Krastin, who was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday.

PARIS (Reuters) - President Emmanuel Macron and some senior cabinet ministers will review the COVID-19 situation on Wednesday, the Elysee said on Monday, amid another surge in cases that has spurred fears of a third lockdown in France.

The European Union rolled out a massive COVID-19 vaccination drive on Sunday to try to rein in a pandemic that has crippled economies worldwide and claimed more than 1.7 million lives.

France reported 8,822 new COVID-19 infections on Sunday, sharply up from Saturday’s 3,093.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil rose to hit $52 a barrel on Monday as U.S. President Donald Trump’s signing of a coronavirus aid package and the start of a European vaccination campaign outweighed concern about weak near-term demand.

After Trump backed down from a threat to block the package, Democrats on Monday will try to push through expanded $2,000 relief payments. Europe, meanwhile, launched a mass vaccination drive on Sunday. [nL1N2J804R]

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Ambassadors of European Union governments in Brussels approved on Monday the provisional application from Jan 1, 2021 of the EU-Britain trade deal struck last week.

“EU Ambassadors have unanimously approved the provisional application of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement as of January 1, 2021,” the spokesman for the German EU Presidency Sebastian Fischer said on Twitter.

The deal, which ended nine months of negotiations, will now be approved by all 27 EU governments in writing by 1400 GMT on Tuesday, Fischer said.

(Reuters) - Email accounts belonging to some Finnish lawmakers were compromised during a cyberattack on parliament, the authorities said on Monday.

Neither the speaker of parliament nor the National Bureau of Investigation gave any details of what information was lost, if any, or when the attack was, other than saying it was in the autumn.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia’s first big international shipment of its coronavirus vaccine -- 300,000 doses sent to Argentina last week -- consisted only of the first dose of the two-shot vaccine, which is easier to make than the second dose, sources told Reuters.

Unlike most other COVID-19 vaccines, which are given as two shots of the same product, the Russian Sputnik V vaccine relies on two doses delivered using different inactive viruses, known as vectors. The Gamaleya Institute that developed the vaccine says it is more than 91% effective after the two-dose course.

BRUSSELS, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- Around Sunday, several European countries launched COVID-19 vaccination as the first batch of vaccines was distributed among European Union (EU) member states, in the hope of defeating the virus.

"Today all Greeks are smiling behind our masks. The vaccine is the only way to be able to permanently leave behind this COVID adventure," said Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who, together with President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, was among the first Greeks vaccinated against COVID-19 on Sunday.

LONDON (AP) — Hurricane-force winds reaching up to 106 mph (170 kph) and heavy rainstorms battered parts of Britain on Sunday, disrupting train services and stranding drivers in floodwaters.

The Isle of Wight saw Storm Bella’s strongest gusts hit 106 mph, while parts of the south coast of England and north Wales also saw gusts of around 80 mph (129 kph). Flooding on the tracks caused train cancellations and delays in southern England, and a main train line into London was blocked by a fallen tree.

LONDON (AP) — The head of drugmaker AstraZeneca, which is developing a coronavirus vaccine widely expected to be approved by U.K. authorities this week, said Sunday that researchers believe the shot will be effective against a new variant of the virus driving a rapid surge in infections in Britain.

AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot also told the Sunday Times that researchers developing its vaccine have figured out a “winning formula” making the jab as effective as rival candidates.