Europe

London, Oct 31 (PTI) Legendary Scottish star Sean Connery, who became a global sensation as the first James Bond and featured in a string of cult hits in his five-decade-long career, has died. He was 90.

According to BBC, the actor passed away overnight in his sleep while in the Bahamas. He had been unwell for quite some time.

LYON, France (AP) — A Greek Orthodox priest was shot Saturday while he was closing his church in the French city of Lyon, and authorities locked down part of the city to hunt for the assailant, authorities said.

The priest, a Greek citizen, is in a local hospital with life-threatening injuries after being shot twice in the abdomen, a police official told The Associated Press. The attacker was alone and fired from a hunting rifle, said the official, who was not authorized to be publicly named.

MOSCOW, October 31. /TASS/: The second test launch of the Angara-A5 heavy rocket from the Plesetsk space center in northwestern Russia was tentatively postponed from November 24 to November 28, a rocket and space industry source told TASS.

"The launch is tentatively scheduled for November 28," the source said.

At the same time, the source added that the launch window has been set for November 20-29, and "the final decision about the date of the blastoff will be made later."

MOSCOW, October 31. /TASS/: The number of novel coronavirus cases in Russia will peak in the first half of November, depending on the region, Deputy Director of Russia’s Central Research Institute of Epidemiology of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing Alexander Gorelov told TASS.

TBILISI, October 31. /TASS/: Polling stations for a parliamentary vote opened in Georgia at 8:00 local time on Saturday (7:00 Moscow time), a TASS correspondent reported.

Georgian citizens can cast their ballot until 20:00 local time (19:00 Moscow time) at 3,847 polling stations, including 52 abroad.

The 150-seat parliament of Georgia will be elected via a mixed system: 30 seats via the majority system, and 120 - via the proportional system. In order to dominate the government, a political party needs to secure at least 40.54% of votes.

MOSCOW, October 31. /TASS/: A man attacked two police officers at the entrance to the building of the Russian Interior Ministry’s department for Moscow on Saturday, but was later apprehended, a law enforcement source told TASS.

"A man attacked two police officers at the entrance to the building of the Interior Ministry’s Main Department for Moscow. They sustained light injuries. The assailant was immediately detained. According to preliminary information, he is a native of Dagestan. This offense was not related to extremism," the source said.

BRUSSELS, Oct 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Belgium, the country with by some measures the world’s worst coronavirus outbreak, will impose tighter lockdown rules from Monday, closing non-essential businesses and restricting household visits.

“These are last-chance measures if we want to get the figures down,” said Prime Minister Alexander de Croo, warning that the new rules would stay in place for at least a month and a half.

31 Oct 2020; MEMO: The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan met international mediators in Geneva on Friday in the latest round of talks to resolve conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, where hundreds have been killed in more than a month of fighting, Reuters reported.

The ministers are meeting envoys from France, Russia and the United States, co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group created to mediate a conflict that has escalated in recent days, a diplomat in the Swiss city told Reuters.

PARIS (Reuters) - A third person was taken into custody in France in connection with a knife attack which left three dead in Nice on Thursday, a police source said on Saturday, as the government ramps up security efforts against possible militant attacks.

An assailant shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest) beheaded a woman and killed two other people in a church in Nice, in France’s second deadly knife attack in two weeks.

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is considering imposing a new month-long national lockdown in England next week after scientists said the coronavirus was spreading faster than their worst predictions, a government official said.

The pandemic is spreading in most parts of Britain, where the official death toll of 46,299 is the highest in Europe.