Europe

GENEVA (Reuters) - Hong Kong has launched a trade dispute against the United States over what it says is a U.S. requirement that goods from Hong Kong be marked as coming from China, a World Trade Organization (WTO) document showed on Tuesday.

Hong Kong had made a “request for consultations”, the first step in a WTO dispute on Oct. 30, the document showed.

LONDON, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday defended his decision to impose a new lockdown on England, the second of its kind since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, saying that Britain could face a "medical and moral disaster" if nothing changes.

In a statement to the House of Commons (lower house of parliament), Johnson said there was "no alternative" but to impose national restrictions in the face of the grave situation.

PARIS, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday evening that the French share the shock and sorrow of the Austrian people following the shootings in Vienna, pledging that "our enemies must know who they are dealing with. We will not give in."

"After France, it is a friendly country that is attacked. This is our Europe. Our enemies must know who they are dealing with. We will not give in," said Macron on Twitter.

VIENNA, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- At least two civilians have been killed and several others seriously injured in multiple shootings Monday evening in central Vienna, said local authorities.

A second civilian, who was among those wounded in the attack, has died, said Vienna Mayor Michael Ludwig on Austrian public television ORF.

The attack broke out near the Seitenstettengasse Temple, or City Prayer House, the main synagogue of Vienna, the police tweeted earlier.

One perpetrator was shot dead by the police, while an officer is among the seriously injured, it said.

Geneva, Nov 3 (AP/PTI) An independent human rights expert working with the United Nations is calling on Myanmar's government and military leadership to stop persecuting supporters of the opposition ahead of Sunday's general election.

Thomas Andrews, a former US congressman from Maine who is the UN special investigator on Myanmar, called for free and fair elections but expressed concerns about the denial of the vote to Rohingya Muslims and others based on race, ethnicity or religion.

BERLIN (AP) — Several European countries are tightening restrictions this week, starting with a partial shutdown Monday in Germany, as authorities across the continent scramble to slow a rapid rise in coronavirus infections that threatens to overwhelm their health care systems.

VIENNA (AP) — Gunmen opened fire on people enjoying a last night out at Vienna’s cafes and restaurants before a coronavirus lockdown Monday in what authorities said was a terrorist attack that left at least two dead — including one of the assailants — and 15 wounded.

“We are victims of a despicable terror attack in the federal capital that is still ongoing,” Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said hours after the gunfire erupted.

MOSCOW, November 2. /TASS/: Russia will complete rearming its Strategic Missile Force with Yars silo-based and mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) by 2024, Chief Designer of the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology (the Yars developer) Yuri Solomonov told TASS on Monday.

Solomonov who is also an Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences will mark his 75th birthday on November 3.

"I believe everything is moving towards the situation that the old grouping will be fully rearmed with Yars missile systems by 2024," the chief designer said.

MOSCOW, November 2. /TASS/: Russia’s Defense Ministry will get the first serial-produced Su-57 fifth-generation fighter in December, a source in the defense industry told TASS on Monday.

"The Defense Ministry will get the first serial-produced Su-57 with the operational first-stage engine on the single military output day in December this year and four more such planes in 2021," the source said.

The new fighter’s delivery rate will eventually grow to 15 aircraft a year, the source said.

PARIS, November 2. /TASS/: French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin is due to pay a visit to Russia in the near future, the minister told BFM TV channel on Monday.

"Several days ago I had a meeting with Russia’s Ambassador to France [Alexey Meshkov] and in the coming days I will arrive in Russia for a visit," Darmanin said.

Russia is among the countries, whose natives have radical views, the minister noted. "Russia is a country affected by this problem, there are individuals coming to France from Chechnya, which is part of Russia," Darmanin said.