Europe

MOSCOW, November 27. /TASS/: Some doses of the Russian EpiVacCorona coronavirus vaccine, developed by the Vector center, will enter civil circulation on December 10, while mass vaccination will start in 2021, Vector center division head Aleander Ryzhikov said Friday.

"I think that in 2021 it [the vaccine] will be available in almost every Russian region. The closest date when it will enter civil circulation is December 10. Later, mass vaccination will start in 2021," he told an online press conference in TASS.

MOSCOW, November 27. /TASS/: Russia will complete its work on the most advanced S-500 anti-aircraft missile system in 2021, Aerospace Force Deputy Commander-in-Chief Lieutenant-General Andrei Yudin said in an interview with the Defense Ministry’s Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper on Friday.

"It should be noted that the work on developing the S-500 mobile air defense and anti-ballistic missile system is scheduled to be completed in 2021," the general said.

MOSCOW, November 27. /TASS/: The number of confirmed COVID-19 infections in Russia over the past 24 hours has increased by 27,543, a record high nationwide since the beginning of the pandemic. The total number of the coronavirus infections has risen to 2,215,533, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told journalists on Friday.

The previous record high of 25,487 detected daily cases was documented on Thursday. According to the crisis center, the relative growth increased from 1.2% to 1.3%.

ANTWERP, Belgium (Reuters) - An Iranian diplomat and three other Iranians went on trial in Belgium on Friday accused of planning to bomb a meeting of an exiled opposition group in France in 2018, the first time an EU country has put an Iranian official on trial for terrorism.

Belgian prosecutors charged Vienna-based diplomat Assadolah Assadi and the three others with plotting an attack on a rally of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). The rally’s keynote address was given by U.S. President Donald Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices were mixed on Friday but remained on course for a fourth straight week of gains ahead of an OPEC+ meeting early next week.

Brent crude for January rose 28 cents, or 0.6%, to $48.08 a barrel by 0913 GMT and the more active February contract gained 32 cents to $48.11.

West Texas Intermediate, meanwhile, was down 40 cents, or 0.9%, at $45.31.

BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - The European Union and Britain said on Friday there were still substantial differences over a Brexit trade deal as the EU chief negotiator prepared to travel to London in a last-ditch attempt to avoid a tumultuous finale to the five-year Brexit crisis.

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

27 Nov 2020; MEMO: The European Parliament urged the EU on Thursday to impose sanctions on Turkey after President Tayyip Erdogan this month paid a visit to the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north of Cyprus, Reuters reports.

With 631 votes in favour, three against and 59 abstentions, the parliament agreed a non-binding resolution in support of EU member Cyprus urging EU leaders to "take action and impose tough sanctions in response to Turkey's illegal actions".

London, Nov 27 (AP-PTI) The British government on Friday said it has formally asked the country's medicines regulator to assess whether a coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University should be authorised for use.

The step comes amid questions about preliminary results from trials of the jab, after the company and the university acknowledged that the most encouraging part of their findings stemmed from a dosing error.

WARSAW, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced a new economic stimulus package on Thursday for businesses that have suffered during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

LONDON, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday warned of a potential third strict lockdown in the new year if Britain eased off restrictions.

"If we ease off now, we risk losing control over this virus all over again, casting aside our hard-won gains and forcing us back into a new year national lockdown with all the damage that would mean," Johnson said during a press conference.