Europe

BRUSSELS, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Cases of Omicron BA2, a COVID-19 subvariant, are rising across the European Union (EU), the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Thursday.

"While many EU countries are lifting restrictions, we notice that the infection rates are increasing again in some member states, partly because of the circulation of Omicron BA2, which seems to be more transmissible than other variants," Marco Cavalieri, head of the EMA's strategy on biological health threats and vaccines, told journalists here.

LONDON (AP) — Unions protested at British ports Friday, demanding the government step in to save jobs and protect key trade routes after major ferry operator P&O Ferries fired 800 U.K. crew members to replace them with cheaper contract staff.

P&O has canceled all its ferry crossings between Britain and continental Europe, threatening to disrupt the movement of travelers and goods across the English Channel and North Sea for days.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre wants an extra allocation of 3.5 billion kroner ($400 million) for 2022 to strengthen NATO member Norway’s Armed Forces and civil preparedness.

Gahr Støre told Norway’s parliament that the money will be used to “strengthen our ability to prevent, deter and deal with digital attacks.”

17 March 2022; MEMO: UK intelligence services who allegedly provided the CIA with questions to put to detainees being tortured at "black sites" are subject to the law of England and Wales and not that of the countries in which the prisoner was being held, British judges have ruled.

17 March 2022; MEMO: The United Arab Emirates is keen to cooperate with Russia on improving global energy security, UAE Foreign Minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said in Moscow on Thursday and Reuters reports.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has drawn a raft of Western sanctions and disrupted global energy markets, putting a spotlight on Gulf energy exporters, such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia, as consumers look for supplies to replace Russian oil.

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s communications regulator on Friday revoked the license of the state-funded Russian broadcaster RT amid concern that its coverage of the war in Ukraine was biased.

The decision comes as the regulator, Ofcom, conducts 29 investigations into the impartiality of RT’s coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The volume and nature of the issues raised by these inquiries are of “great concern,” the regulator said, particularly because RT had been fined 200,000 pounds for previous violations of impartiality standards.

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces pressed their assault on Ukrainian cities Friday, with new missile strikes and shelling on the edges of the capital Kyiv and the western city of Lviv, as world leaders pushed for an investigation of the Kremlin’s repeated attacks on civilian targets, including schools, hospitals and residential areas.

The early morning barrage of missiles on the outskirts of Lviv were the closest strike yet to the center of the city, which has become a crossroads for people fleeing from other parts of Ukraine and for others entering to deliver aid or fight.

MINSK, March 17./TASS/: Russia offers Ukraine an absolutely acceptable option for a treaty, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said in an interview with Japanese TBS TV channel, cited in part by BelTA news agency.

"Russia offers Ukraine an absolutely acceptable version of a treaty, I know this for sure. And it is still possible now to see Ukraine and Russia agree and [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky sign this treaty with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin," the Belarusian leader said.

MOSCOW, November 1. /TASS/: The USS Mount Whitney flagship command ship went to the Black Sea for joint operations with NATO, the US Sixth Fleet stated on its Twitter page on Monday.

"The Sixth Fleet flagship USS Mount Whitney has begun its northbound transit to the Black Sea to operate with our NATO allies and partners in the region," the statement reads.

MOSCOW, March 17. /TASS/: The Russian army has obtained documentary evidence confirming the Pentagon was involved in financing military biological projects in Ukraine, the chief of Russia’s radiation, chemical and biological protection force, Igor Kirillov, has said.

"We believe that components of biological weapons were being created in Ukraine," Kirillov said. He demonstrated a document dated March 6, 2015 confirming "the Pentagon’s direct involvement in financing military biological experiments in Ukraine."