Europe

ROME, Nov 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The Italian government announced, it issued a new decree, increasing aid to families and businesses stricken by the latest anti-COVID-19 restrictions.

On Nov 4, the government imposed a nationwide curfew, between 10.00 p.m. and 5.00 a.m., as the pandemic surged in Italy.

It also shut down shopping malls on weekends and holidays, curtailed the operating hours of bars and restaurants to 5.00 a.m.-6.00 p.m., and shut down museums, theatres, concert, theatres, and betting venues.

LONDON (Reuters) - Current global uncertainty and anxiety amid the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic could risk another world war, the head of Britain’s armed forces has warned.

In an interview aired to coincide with Remembrance Sunday, the annual commemorations for those who have been killed and wounded in conflict, Nick Carter, Britain’s Chief of the Defence Staff, said an escalation in regional tensions and errors of judgement could ultimately lead to widespread conflict.

LONDON/DUBAI (Reuters) - Key members of OPEC are wary that strains in the OPEC+ alliance could reemerge with Joe Biden as U.S. President, sources close to the organisation said, and would miss President Donald Trump who went from criticising the group to helping bring about a record oil output cut.

Biden could modify U.S. diplomatic relations with three members of OPEC - de facto leader Saudi Arabia, and sanctioned countries Iran and Venezuela, as well as with key non-OPEC producer Russia. Russia is the leader of oil producers allied with OPEC, a group known as OPEC+.

COPENHAGEN, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization's (WHO) Regional Director for Europe, Dr. Hans Kluge, on Saturday calmed concerns that the so-called "cluster 5" mutation of mink-related coronavirus found in Denmark might affect vaccine development.

LONDON, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Negotiators from British and the European Union (EU) will resume talks on a post-Brexit trade deal in London on Monday as "significant differences" remain between the two sides, a Downing Street statement said Saturday.

The statement came after a call between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday "for a stock take on the progress in the negotiations".

PARIS, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- France's cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 cases since the outbreak of the epidemic stood at 1,748,705 and the total number of COVID-19-related fatalities topped 40,000, the Public Health Agency said on Saturday.

A further 306 people had lost their lives to the virus, raising the death toll to 40,169, the agency added.

The total number of confirmed cases went up by a record 86,852 from the 1,661,853 registered on Friday. But French health authorities did not specify whether the massive spike of cases was all confirmed in the past 24 hours.

LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II donned a face mask in public for the first time during the coronavirus pandemic when attending a brief ceremony at Westminster Abbey last week to mark the centenary of the burial of the Unknown Warrior.

While the 94-year-old monarch has been seen in public on several occasions over the past few months, she had not been pictured wearing a face covering until now.

LONDON, Nov 07 (APP): Prime Minister Boris Johnson has appointed the former Secretary of State for International Development, Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP, as the UK’s International Champion on Adaptation and Resilience for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, Presidency.

MINSK, November 7. /TASS/: President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko proposed Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev to create a subsidiary of the Russian state corporation in Belarus, he said on Saturday visiting BelNPP.

"Alexander Lukashenko discussed the prospects for cooperation with the Russian side in the field of nuclear energy with the Director General of Rosatom Alexey Likhachev. The presidnet proposed to create a subsidiary of the Russian state corporation in Belarus," BelTA news agency reported.

GENEVA, November 7. /TASS/: More than 581,000 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus have been recorded globally in the past day, bringing the total number of infections to 48.53 million, which hit a new record-high number of single-day cases in the pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its daily bulletin on Friday.

According to the WHO updates, the coronavirus-related fatalities increased by over 8,000 to climb to 1.23 million.