Europe

MOSCOW, November 30. /TASS/: The number of coronavirus cases in Russia rose by 26,338 to 2,295,654 in the past 24 hours, the anti-coronavirus crisis center said on Monday.

The country reported 26,683 cases on Sunday.

In particular, 6,511 new cases were identified in Moscow in the past day, 3,691 in St. Petersburg, 1,064 in the Moscow region, 458 in the Nizhny Novogorod region, 414 in the Karelia region and 381 in the Sverdlovsk region .

According to data from the crisis center, there are currently 477,055 active coronavirus cases in Russia.

GENEVA, Nov 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Progress in eliminating malaria has stalled in recent years, the World Health Organization said, with more than 400,000 people once again estimated to have died from the disease last year.

In its World Malaria Report 2020, the WHO said progress against the mosquito-borne disease was plateauing, particularly in African countries bearing the brunt of cases and deaths.

In 2019, the global tally of malaria cases was estimated at 229 million — a figure that has been at the same level for the past four years.

London, Nov 29 (PTI) British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged his Conservative Party lawmakers to back the government's tier-based COVID-19 lockdown in a Parliament vote in a letter stressing that there "a sunset" clause or expiry date of February 3 on the latest restrictions.

In an attempt to curb a growing rebellion within his own ranks against the new measures which face a House of Commons vote next Tuesday, Johnson wrote on Saturday evening that the tiers will be reviewed every two weeks, and areas can move down the tiers from mid-December.

ROME (Reuters) - Italy’s antitrust authority said on Monday it had fined Apple 10 million euros ($12 million) for “aggressive and misleading” commercial practices regarding its iPhones.

The regulator said in a statement the company advertised that several iPhone models were water-resistant without clarifying they were only so under certain circumstances.

BERLIN (Reuters) - The number of COVID-19 infections is still much too high in most German regions and people must do more to reduce their contacts to slow the spread of the disease, German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said on Monday.

With ministers due to meet later to discuss further responses to the greatest public health crisis in a century, Altmaier added that pandemic relief aid for companies cannot be extended indefinitely.

LONDON (Reuters) - Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Monday declined to rule out a new vote for Scottish independence next year, saying that she wanted to see a referendum held in the early part of the next Scottish parliament.

“I want to see it in the early part of the next term of the Scottish parliament rather than the later part,” she told Sky News, declining to rule out a possible vote in autumn 2021.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain and the European Union are running out of time to clinch a Brexit trade deal but if good progress is made this week then the talks could be extended, Environment Secretary George Eustice said on Monday.

With just over four weeks left until the United Kingdom finally exits the EU’s orbit on Dec. 31, both sides are demanding concessions from the other on fishing, state aid and how to resolve any future disputes.

“We really are now running out of time, this is the crucial week, we need to get a breakthrough,” Eustice told Sky.

GENEVA, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- The latest round of Syrian constitutional talks, which aim at writing a new constitution so as to pave the way for a political solution for the decade-long conflict in the country, will kick off in Geneva on Monday, the UN said on Sunday.

Geir O. Pedersen, United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, told a press conference here that the Fourth Convening of the Small Body of the Syrian Constitutional Committee will start on Monday morning inside the European headquarters of the UN in Geneva.

LONDON (AP) — Britain said Sunday it has secured 2 million more doses of a promising coronavirus vaccine as it gears up to launch within days the country’s most ambitious inoculation program in decades.

The U.K. has had Europe’s deadliest coronavirus outbreak, with more than 58,000 confirmed virus-related deaths. It now hopes to hit a more positive milestone by becoming one of the first countries in the world to start vaccinating its population against COVID-19.

MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/: A UK expert in virology and epidemiology believes Russia had presented sufficient evidence to prove the efficacy of its Sputnik V vaccine against the novel coronavirus, Canada’s CBC channel reported.

"The data [is] compatible with the vaccine being reasonably effective," the channel quoted Stephen Evans, professor of pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, as saying.

The expert was commenting on the results of the Russian vaccine’s clinical trials, which demonstrated the efficacy of 95%.