Europe

MOSCOW, January 6. /TASS/: The first two spans of the left side of the Crimean Bridge’s automobile part leading from the peninsula will be installed in this year’s January, with two more to be installed in February, the Federal Road Agency (Rosavtodor) said in a message.

MOSCOW, January 6. /TASS/: The first two spans of the left side of the Crimean Bridge’s automobile part leading from the peninsula will be installed in this year’s January, with two more to be installed in February, the Federal Road Agency (Rosavtodor) said in a message.

MOSCOW, January 6. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 case tally rose by 3,439 over the past day to 21,820,552, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Friday.

A day earlier, 3,274 daily cases were recorded.

As many as 673 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Russia over the past day, down 6.7% from a day earlier. The number of hospitalized patients decreased in 38 regions, while in 30 regions the figure increased. The situation remained unchanged in 17 regions. A day earlier, 721 people were rushed to hospitals.

BELGRADE, Jan 6 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — The president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, claimed that nine more nations withdrew their recognition of Kosovo’s independence.    

According to Vucic, the new ones are: Somalia, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Eswatini, Libya, Guinea, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Lucia and Maldives.

We are small, but as things stand in the world, up to 106 countries do not recognize Kosovo’s independence.

OMMEREN, the Netherlands, Jan 6 (Reuters) - An old map believed to mark the spot where German soldiers hid treasure worth millions of euros during World War Two sparked the imagination of amateur treasure hunters in the Netherlands this week.

Armed with metal detectors and shovels, groups wandered through the fields surrounding rural Ommeren in the east of the country after the map was made public by the Dutch National Archive on Tuesday.

KYIV/KRAMATORSK, Ukraine, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Russian and Ukrainian forces exchanged artillery fire at the front line in Ukraine on Friday, even after Moscow said it had ordered its troops to stop shooting for a unilateral truce that was firmly rejected by Kyiv.

President Vladimir Putin ordered the 36-hour ceasefire from midday on Friday to observe Orthodox Christmas. Kyiv has said it has no intention to stop fighting, rejecting the purported truce as a stunt by Moscow to buy time to reinforce troops that have taken heavy losses this week.

ZAGREB, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Further improving ties between Croatia and Serbia is a primary interest of both countries, visiting Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said after meeting Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic here on Friday.

"My presence here represents a strong message about the need to talk and redefine the current relations between Belgrade and Zagreb. We do not think alike on many issues, but we must talk and come to an agreement," Dacic said, adding that he visited Zagreb at the initiative of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A Belarusian court on Thursday opened the trial of jailed human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, one of the winners of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize.

Bialiatski and two other top figures of the Viasna human rights center he founded face up to 12 years in prison if convicted of financing anti-government protests.

ROME (AP) — Global prices for food commodities like grain and vegetable oils were the highest on record last year even after falling for nine months in a row, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said, as Russia’s war in Ukraine, drought and other factors drove up inflation and worsened hunger worldwide.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Ukrainian government has taken the main cathedral of the revered historic monastery from the church previously affiliated with Moscow’s patriarchate and allowed its Ukrainian rival to use it for Orthodox Christmas services.

The move comes as the long-running tensions between the two churches exacerbated amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.