Europe

AMSTERDAM (AP) — The European Medicines Agency is meeting Monday to consider approving a coronavirus vaccine developed by BioNTech and Pfizer that would be the first to be authorized for use in the European Union.

The closed-doors meeting comes weeks after the shot was granted permission under emergency provisions by regulators in Britain and the United States.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to chair a meeting of the government’s emergency committee later Monday after France closed its borders to the U.K. to stem the spread of a new strain of the coronavirus circulating in London and the southeast of England.

The meeting of the COBRA civil contingencies committee comes amid warnings of “significant disruption” around the ports in the English Channel, with tailbacks going back miles into Kent, a county in southeastern England.

MOSTAR, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Long-entrenched ethno-nationalists were projected to win the first local election in Bosnia’s southern city of Mostar in 12 years, but early results of Sunday’s vote also indicated multiethnic parties and alliances would be a strong part of the future city council.

BERLIN (AP) — A growing list of European Union nations and Canada barred travel from the U.K. on Sunday and others were considering similar action, in a bid to block a new strain of coronavirus sweeping across southern England from spreading to the continent.

MOSCOW, December 19. /TASS/: Russian Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov will hold a meeting with Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh on Sunday, the Russian Energy Ministry told TASS on Saturday.

"Yes, the meeting is taking place on Monday," the ministry confirmed.

Shulginov was appointed Russia’s energy minister in November, when his predecessor Alexander Novak became a deputy prime minister.

A source at the ministry told TASS that the meeting was arranged to introduce the ministers to each other.

BELGRADE, December 20. /TASS/: The Serbian Cabinet of Ministers has restricted the entry into the country for New Year and Christmas holidays in view of the coronavirus pandemic. The measure will come into force on December 21 and will last until January 10, the government told Tanjug news agency on Saturday.

19 Dec 2020; MEMO: Thousands of migrants in France on Friday staged demonstrations demanding permission to stay, Anadolu Agency reports.

Coinciding the International Day of Migrants on Dec. 18, activists had gathered in Richelieu-Drouot Square in the capital Paris and marched to the perimeter of the city's municipal building.

Police, who placed intensive security measures, did not allow the crowd to approach the municipality.

MOSCOW, December 20. /TASS/: Russia’s coronavirus cases rose by 28,948 in the past day, the highest number since December 6, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Sunday.

Since the start of the pandemic the total case tally has reached 2,848,377 or more than 1.9% of citizens. The highest daily caseload in the country was registered two weeks ago when the crisis center reported as many as 29,039 cases.

LONDON (Reuters) - British health minister Matt Hancock repeated Britain’s calls for the European Union to shift its position on Sunday and withdraw its “unreasonable demands” for the two sides to be able to seal a post-Brexit trade deal.

LONDON, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday announced new stricter coronavirus restrictions for London and parts of England to combat an alarming surge in infections linked to a new virulent strain.

The planned relaxation of coronavirus rules for Christmas is scrapped for a large part of southeast England and cuts to one day for rest of the region, Johnson said at a virtual press conference from Downing Street.