Europe

BERLIN (AP) — Germany will soon drop a mask mandate on long-distance trains and buses, one of the country’s last remaining COVID-19 restrictions, the health minister said Friday.

The mandate will be dropped on Feb. 2, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach announced in Berlin.

Other European countries already have scrapped mask mandates in public transport, and Lauterbach faced increasing pressure to follow suit in recent weeks. Masks remain mandatory in doctors’ practices, while masks and negative tests are still required to enter hospitals and nursing homes.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia claimed Friday that its forces captured a fiercely contested salt mining town, in what would mark a rare victory for the Kremlin after a series of setbacks in its invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities said the fight for Soledar continued.

There have repeatedly been conflicting reports over who controls the town, the site of a monthslong bloody battle in the grinding fight for Ukraine’s eastern regions. The Associated Press could not independently confirm either side’s claim.

LONDON (AP) — U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged Friday to work constructively with Scotland’s leader despite tensions over her administration’s wish for a new independence referendum.

Sunak held private talks with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon during his first visit to Scotland since taking power, saying that while they are “not going to agree on everything,” he believes there is scope for cooperation. Sturgeon’s relationship with Sunak’s two predecessors, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, had been frosty in light of Sturgeon’s demand for Scottish independence.

12 Jan 2023; MEMO: The European Union yesterday reaffirmed its opposition to Israeli settlements and demolitions of Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank, a statement said.

The EU's Crisis Management Commissioner, Janiz Lenarcic, said that the body constantly reiterates its strong opposition to the Israeli settlement policy and the illegal measures taken in this context.

12 Jan 2023; MEMO: Ukrainian and Russian human rights envoys met in Turkiye for the first time and asked for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's mediation to set up a humanitarian corridor between their countries, Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported yesterday.

Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian parliament commissioner for human rights, and Tatyana Moskalkova, Russia's commissioner for human rights, met as part of an international conference on the future of human rights in the 21st century.

As Russian troops wage a ferocious house-to-house fight for control of strongholds in eastern Ukraine, a parallel battle is unfolding in the top echelons of military power in Moscow, with President Vladimir Putin reshuffling his top generals while rival camps try to win his favor.

12 Jan 2023; MEMO: The French Football Federation's executive committee has suspended Noel Le Graet, president of France's football federation, following accusations of sexual misconduct.

A statement published by the French Federation yesterday said Le Graet, in agreement with the federation's executive body, had decided to step down until the results of an investigation ordered by Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera are published.

MOSCOW, January 12. /TASS/: The plans of unfriendly countries, including Estonia, to use Russia’s frozen assets for their purposes will meet with an adequate response from Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Thursday.

MOSCOW, January 12. /TASS/: Former NSA (National Security Agency) employee and whistleblower Edward Snowden said on Thursday that US President Joe Biden (during his tenure as vice president) "absconded" with more classified documents than many whistleblowers.

"Worth noting that the President seems to have absconded with more classified documents than many whistleblowers. For comparison, Reality Winner was sentenced to 5 YEARS for just one document," Snowden tweeted, commenting on the news that documents marked as classified had been found in Biden’s namesake think tank.

BUDAPEST, January 12. /TASS/: Europe may not be able to cope with another wave of illegal migration triggered by the food crisis in the poorest countries of Asia and Africa, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in Beirut on Thursday.