Europe

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Western countries on Monday began imposing a $60-per-barrel price cap and ban on some types of Russian oil, part of new measures aimed at stepping up pressure against Moscow over its war on Ukraine.

The European Union, along with Australia, Britain, Canada, Japan and the United States agreed to the price cap on Friday. The move has prompted a rejection from Kremlin and also criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — whose government wants the cap to be half as high.

ATLANTA (AP) — Raphael Warnock is the first Black U.S. senator from Georgia, having broken the color barrier for one of the original 13 states with a special election victory in January 2021, almost 245 years after the nation’s founding.

Now he hopes to add another distinction by winning a full six-year term in a Tuesday runoff. Standing in the way is another Black man, Republican challenger Herschel Walker.

05 Dec 2022; MEMO: UNHCR has criticised a report issued by the Centre for Policy Studies on UK asylum reform, which includes a blanket ban on anyone arriving on a small boat from claiming asylum, with the UN agency stating that access to asylum should not be dependent on how people arrive, or their nationality.

Among the report's recommendations is that the Modern Slavery Act should be reformed to include a ban on entire nationalities such as Albania using the act to claim asylum.

KHERSON, Ukraine (AP) — Hours after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, health staff at a children’s hospital in the south started secretly planning how to save the babies.

Russians were suspected of seizing orphan children and sending them to Russia, so staff at the children’s regional hospital in Kherson city began fabricating orphans’ medical records to make it appear like they were too ill to move.

MOSCOW, December 4. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will hold talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov in Moscow on Monday on normalizing relations between Baku and Yerevan, according to a statement published by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Sunday.

"It is planned to discuss the state and prospects of bilateral cooperation as well as exchange opinions on the most pertinent aspects of the regional and international agenda, including the issues of normalizing the Azerbaijani-Armenian relations," the diplomatic agency specified.

MOSCOW, December 4. /TASS/: Russian troops are gaining ground in the vicinity of Artyomovsk on the Donetsk front, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov told journalists on Sunday.

"On the Donetsk front, Russian troops are successfully advancing in the vicinity of the town of Artyomovsk in the Donetsk People’s Republic," he said. According to the spokesman, the adversary’s manpower and equipment were eliminated.

Ukrainian Su-25

Russia's Aerospace Forces shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 over the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Konashenkov told.

MOSCOW, December 4. /TASS/: The global oil market is currently in a better state than it was two months ago, but it still has many uncertainties, including because of the coronavirus situation in China, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Sunday.

MOSCOW, December 4. /TASS/: The death toll from the partial collapse of an apartment block in Nizhnevartovsk has risen to six, a source in the local medical services told TASS on Sunday.

"Two more bodies have been found. In all, the death toll is six," he said, adding that clear-up operations continue and there could be more people under the debris.

Earlier, the Russian emergencies ministry reported four deaths.

Dec 3 (Reuters) - Russia "will not accept" a price cap on its oil and is analysing how to respond, the Kremlin said in comments reported on Saturday, in response to a deal by Western powers aimed at limiting a key source of funding for its war in Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow had made preparations for Friday's price cap announcement by the Group of Seven nations, the European Union and Australia, the Russian state news agency TASS reported.

ROME, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Sunday that she may water down plans to make it easier to settle small payments with cash rather than cards, following talks with the European Commission over the issue.

Meloni's right-wing government has presented a 2023 budget that scraps fines for retailers who refuse cards for payments under 60 euros ($63.23), in a move seen as going against the spirit of commitments taken with the EU.