Europe

MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/: Moscow has opened coronavirus vaccination appointments for additional categories of residents. The jab can now be administered to workers of industrial, energy, transport and media workers, Deputy Mayor of Moscow Anastasia Rakova told reporters Monday.

MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/: The number of coronavirus infections in Russia went up by record-high 29,350 in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 2,877,727, the national anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters Monday.

According to the crisis center, the increase does not exceed 1%

The slowest infection increases in the past 24 hours are reported from the Nenets Region (0.3%), Tuva, the Yamalo-Nenets Region, the Khanty-Mansi Region, Mari El, the Kemerovo Region and the Novosibirsk Region (0.6%).

21 Dec 2020; MEMO: The European Union yesterday welcomed the formation of a new government in Yemen, describing it as a "positive step towards a comprehensive political solution for the country".

PARIS (Reuters) - France aims to establish Europe-wide sanitary protocol measures “in the coming hours” to allow the resumption of traffic flows with the United Kingdom, transport minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari said on Monday.

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Monday urged Iran not to waste the opportunity offered by the prospect of Joseph Biden’s United States administration returning to the nuclear non-proliferation deal.

Speaking after a video conference of officials from the countries in the JCPOA deal, Maas said that Iran should avoid taking any tactical steps that would make it hard for Biden to reverse President Donald Trump’s decision to quit the deal.

PARIS (Reuters) - France needs to step up its vigilance regarding the COVID-19 situation in the country, given the emergence of a new strain of the virus in the United Kingdom, President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday.

BFM TV broadcast live images of Macron chairing a government ministerial meeting via an audiovisual conference. Macron is working remotely and self-isolating as he recovers after testing positive for COVID-19 last week.

TOKYO/LONDON (Reuters) -Oil prices tumbled by $2 on Monday, as a fast-spreading new coronavirus strain that has shut down much of Britain and led to tighter restrictions in Europe sparked worries about a slower recovery in fuel demand.

Brent crude was down $2.06, or 3.9%, to $50.20 a barrel by 0926 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down $1.95, or 4%, to $47.15 a barrel.

Monday’s declines come after seven weeks of gains in prices amid optimism stemming from the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines.

LISBON/MADRID (Reuters) - In October, Michelle Jones and her husband Gary boarded a ferry in England for a new life in Spain. Had they left it beyond Britain’s period of transition out of the European Union, things would have been much more complicated.

“We haven’t got a choice - it’s now or never,” the former housing association worker said at the hairdressing salon she has taken over in the resort town of Fuengirola in southern Spain.

LISBON, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- At least five people were injured, one in serious condition, in an explosion following a fire on Sunday at a building in central Lisbon.

Potential victims buried in the rubble are still being sought, civil protection authorities in the Portuguese capital said. 

MOSCOW, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday demanded the country's intelligence agencies better safeguard national security.

Putin visited the headquarters of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) in Moscow, laid flowers at the monument erected to mark the 100th anniversary of the SVR, and congratulated the staff and veterans of all special services on the country's Security Agency Worker's Day.