Europe

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - Germany and France urged their European Union partners on Monday to consider imposing sanctions on Russians suspected of poisoning Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny with a nerve agent.

Berlin and Paris say they have not had a credible explanation from Moscow for what the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said was the presence of the banned Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok in his body.

MADRID (Reuters) - Waving flags from cars and honking horns, supporters of Spain’s far-right Vox party protested on Monday against a partial lockdown imposed on Madrid to contain one of Europe’s worst coronavirus outbreaks.

“Viva España! Government resign!”, cried hundreds of supporters as they filled Madrid’s main thoroughfare and the party staged smaller demonstrations in Barcelona and Seville.

BERLIN (AP) — An icebreaker carrying scientists on a year-long international effort to study the high Arctic has returned to its home port in Germany carrying a wealth of data that will help researchers better predict climate change in the decades to come.

The RV Polarstern arrived Monday in the North Sea port of Bremerhaven, from where she set off more than a year ago prepared for bitter cold and polar bear encounters — but not for the pandemic lockdowns that almost scuttled the mission half-way through.

SEVINGTON, England (AP) — Four years after Britain voted to leave the European Union, Brexit can still seem abstract. But in the county known as the Garden of England, it is literally taking concrete form.

Just beyond the ancient oaks and yews that surround medieval St. Mary’s Church in the village of Sevington, bulldozers, dump trucks and cement mixers swarm noisily over a field. They are chewing up land to create part of Britain’s new border with the European Union — a customs clearance depot with room for up to 2,000 trucks.

MOSCOW, October 11. /TASS/: Russia is cherishing hope to continue cooperation with the United States in the field of cyber security, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin" TV program on Rossiya-1 TV channel on Sunday.

The Russian leader noted that his call on Washington to resume cooperation in the cyber security area remained unanswered.

MOSCOW, October 11. /TASS/: Armenia’s Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan may meet with co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group in Moscow on October 12, Armenian Ambassador to Russia Vardan Toganyan told TASS on Sunday.

"I cannot yet tell for sure because all of this is being prepared in the emergency mode, but yes, indeed, a meeting with the co-chairs in Moscow was planned, now it is being specified. So after some time there may be an understanding whether there will be a separate meeting with the co-chairs or not," he said.

MINSK, October 11. /TASS/: Clashes between protesters and security forces began in the center of the Belarusian capital on Sunday near the Minsk Hero City Obelisk, a TASS correspondent reported.

Several hundred demonstrators gathered outside the obelisk, when police vans arrived at the square. The security forces later started dispersing protesters with billy clubs and detaining them.

The protesters started pelting the security forces with various objects. A sound similar to a stun grenade’s explosion was heard at the scene of the clashes.

MOSCOW, October 11. /TASS/: Russia recorded 13,634 coronavirus cases in the past day, the highest rate since the start of pandemic, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Sunday.

The coronavirus growth rate rose to 1.1% from 1% over the past two days. Russia’s total case tally reached 1,298,718.

The lowest growth rates in the past 24 hours were registered in the Chechen Republic (0.3%), the Chuvash Republic (0.4%), in the Moscow and Tula Regions, the Republics of Tuva, Tatarstan, Bashkiria and the Chukotka Autonomous Region (0.5%).

PARIS, Oct 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — More than 10 million cases of the new coronavirus have been recorded in Latin America and the Caribbean.

A total of 10,001,833 cases have now been recorded, of whom 366,637 people have died and 8,537,563 are considered to be cured. According to official figures, the region is the worst hit by the virus in the world in terms of deaths.

More than half the recorded cases in the region have been registered in Brazil, which officially has 5,055,888 cases and 149,639 deaths. 

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is at a “tipping point” in the coronavirus crisis and the country must act now to stop history repeating itself, the deputy chief medical officer for England said on Sunday, urging people to follow the rules.

With the number of cases rapidly rising particularly in the north of England, ministers are readying a new set of rules to try to tackle the crisis that will include handing more power to local leaders to track the virus’ spread.