Europe

NOVO-OGAREVO, December 15. /TASS/: Russian authorities will maintain the responsible financial and macroeconomic policy, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday at the meeting of the Strategic Development and National Projects Council.

"We will keep the responsible financial and macroeconomic policy, which guarantees in three years to come not merely full financing of social commitments but also the resolution of new tasks the country is facing," Putin said.

GENEVA, Dec 15 (NNN-XINHUA) – The chief of the World Health Organisation (WHO), said, he hopes that COVID-19 will no longer be a global health emergency sometime next year.

Addressing a press briefing in Geneva, WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said, the WHO COVID-19 Emergency Committee will discuss next month, the criteria for declaring an end to the COVID-19 emergency.

“We’re hopeful that at some point next year, we will be able to say that COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency,” he said.

BRUSSELS, Dec 15 (NNN-XINHUA) – The European Union (EU), pledged to mobilise 10 billion euros (10.6 billion U.S. dollars) by 2027, to accelerate infrastructure investments in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

At the EU-ASEAN Commemorative Summit, held here yesterday, the EU and its member states offered the financial support that will focus on the green transition and sustainable connectivity in South-East Asia, underpinned by the Sustainable Connectivity Initiative and the Green Team Europe Initiative.

MOSCOW, Dec 15 (NNN-TASS) – A fire at an oil plant in the city of Angarsk, in the Russian region of Irkutsk, killed two people and injured four others, Sputnik quoted authorities in the Irkutsk region as saying, today.

The fire broke out at a processing unit of the Angarsk Petrochemical Company industrial plant, covering an area of 2,500 square metres, earlier today, said Igor Kobzev, governor of Irkutsk.

The committee said, an investigation is underway.

BRUSSELS, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Poland was on Thursday holding up the European Union's formal adoption of a minimum corporate tax for large companies which, as part of a whole package of deals, also holds up financing for Ukraine, diplomats said.

The minimum tax, along with 18 billion euros ($19 billion) of funds for Ukraine next year, the approval of Hungary's recovery plan and the suspension of some EU budget funds for Budapest were all part of a complex deal reached by EU governments on Monday.

LONDON/BELFAST, Dec 15 (Reuters) - National Health Service nurses in Britain staged a strike on Thursday, their first ever national walkout, as a bitter dispute with the government over pay ramps up pressure on already-stretched hospitals at one of the busiest times of year.

An estimated 100,000 nurses are striking at 76 hospitals and health centres, cancelling an estimated 70,000 appointments, procedures and surgeries in Britain's state-funded NHS.

GENEVA, Dec 14 (Reuters) - COVID-19 infections were exploding in China well before the government's decision to abandon its strict "zero-COVID" policy, a World Health Organization director said on Wednesday, quashing suggestions that the sudden reversal caused a spike in cases.

The comments by the WHO's emergencies director Mike Ryan came as he warned of the need to ramp up vaccinations in the world's No. 2 economy.

Speaking at a briefing with media, he said the virus was spreading "intensively" in the nation long before the lifting of restrictions.

Dec 15 (Reuters) - The hundreds of Russian drones hovering ominously over the Ukrainian battlefield owe their existence to an elastic, sanctions-evading supply chain that often runs through a shabby office above a Hong Kong marketplace, and sometimes through a yellow stucco home in suburban Florida.

The "Sea Eagle" Orlan 10 UAV is a deceptive, relatively low-tech and cheap killer that has directed many of the up to 20,000 artillery shells that Russia has fired daily on Ukrainian positions in 2022, killing up to 100 soldiers per day, according to Ukrainian commanders.

GENEVA, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- Members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) criticized U.S. trade policies on Wednesday here at the ongoing 15th Trade Policy Review of the United States.

China, the European Union (EU), Canada, Türkiye and many other WTO members strongly urged the United States to fulfill its obligations as a WTO member and avoid unilateralism and protectionism.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia’s Foreign Ministry warned Thursday that if the United States confirms reports that it plans to deliver sophisticated air defense missiles to Ukraine, it would be “another provocative move by the U.S.” that could prompt a response from Moscow.