Europe

MOSCOW, October 22. /TASS/: The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can only be resolved by peaceful means with the assistance of the OSCE Minsk Group, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"Consistently pursuing the position of excluding the military settlement of the conflict, we once again emphasize that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can be resolved exclusively by peaceful means, within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship, which holds an international mandate," the statement reads.

LONDON (Reuters) - The number of jobs furloughed as of Aug. 31 could reach 3.7 million, Britain’s tax office said on Thursday, highlighting that the arts and entertainment sector was making heaviest use of the scheme.

The tax authority said preliminary figures showed 3.3 million jobs were furloughed as of August 31, and that this could rise to 3.7 million once all data had been collected.

Use of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has fallen from a peak of 8.9 million job on May 8.

BRUSSELS, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission has signed contract with pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson (J&J), which will enable European Union (EU) member states to purchase COVID-19 vaccines for up to 400 million people, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Spokesperson Stefan de Keersmaecker told a press briefing that the contract with J&J was the third one signed by the commission on behalf of the whole EU.

LONDON, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Britain announced on Wednesday that it will resume talks on future relationship with the European Union (EU) later this week in London, a few days after Downing Street said the post-Brexit negotiations were over.

"We are ready to welcome the EU team to London to resume negotiations later this week. We have jointly agreed a set of principles for handling this intensified phase of talks," Downing Street said in a statement.

It said the initial phase of the negotiations will take place in London from Oct. 22 until Oct. 25.

MOSCOW (AP) — A trio of space travelers safely returned to Earth on Thursday after a six-month mission on the International Space Station.

The Soyuz MS-16 capsule carrying NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, and Roscosmos’ Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner landed on the steppes of Kazakhstan southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan at 7:54 a.m. (2:54 GMT) Thursday. After a brief medical checkup, the three will be taken by helicopters to Dzhezkazgan from where they will depart home.

LONDON (AP) — The parent company of British Airways has cut its fourth-quarter passenger forecast to just 30% of last year’s level as government restrictions imposed to control a new wave of coronavirus infections reduces demand for flights.

International Airlines Group made the announcement Thursday as it posted a third-quarter operating loss of 1.3 billion euros ($1.7 billion), compared with a profit of 1.4 billion euros in the same period last year.

PRAGUE (AP) — Czechs had been assured it wouldn’t happen again.

But amid a record surge of coronavirus infections that’s threatening the entire health system with collapse, the Czech Republic is adopting on Thursday exactly the same massive restrictions it slapped on citizens in the spring. Prime Minister Andrej Babis had repeatedly said these measures would never return.

“We have no time to wait,” Babis explained Wednesday. “The surge is enormous.”

MOSCOW, October 21. / TASS /: Over half (63%) of small and medium-sized business leaders in Moscow and the Moscow region believe that an entrepreneur needs to develop so-called soft skills, while 37% believe that it is more important to work on the development of professional skills, according to the survey of the Moscow regional branch of the Russia's Support made available to TASS on Wednesday.

"37% believe that an entrepreneur needs to develop hard skills in order to be able to keep a business in a crisis, 63% - soft skills," according to the survey.

YEREVAN, October 21. /TASS/: Armenia appreciates relations with Russia and feels its allied support at this stage, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on his Facebook page on Wednesday.

"Today and throughout this period I very much appreciate cooperation between Armenia and Russia. We feel Russia’s allied support as a strategic partner for Armenia and the Armenian people. We maintain continued cooperation at a high level in order to find a way out of the situation," he said.

MOSCOW, October 21. /TASS/: A Sukhoi Su-34 frontline bomber crashed in the Khabarovsk Region in the Russian Far East, with pilots ejecting to safety, the press office of the Eastern Military District reported on Wednesday.

The bomber crashed during a training flight on October 21, the press office said.

"The pilots ejected. There is no threat to their health. The crew members have now been evacuated to their home airfield," the press office specified.