Europe

KYIV, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Ukraine sees no point closing its airspace in response to Moscow's troop build-up, asenior official said on Sunday, as some carriers reviewed their services to the country after the United States warned that Russia could invade at any time. read more

Dutch airline KLM - part of Air France (AIRF.PA) - said it would stop flying to Ukraine and Germany's Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) said it was considering suspending flights, as a local newspaper, Ukrayinska Pravda, said in an unconfirmed report that the government might discuss the air traffic issue on Sunday.

BERLIN, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Benedikt Richter, a 40-year-old teacher in the southwest German city of Kaiserslautern, long held out against getting vaccinated against COVID-19. He felt uneasy about the novelty of the mRNA technology used in two of the most commonly administered shots.

It did not help that his sister-in-law was hospitalised with heart muscle inflammation a day after receiving her second shot, which doctors officially linked to her vaccine, Richter said. Regulators have acknowledged such conditions as a rare and mostly mild side-effect.

PARIS (AP) — He has a full campaign team that’s fanning out around France, meeting with voters. He makes speeches about his plans for the country in the upcoming years. The problem? Emmanuel Macron hasn’t officially declared that he’s a candidate for April’s presidential election yet.

Critics say he’s unfairly using his taxpayer-funded presidential pulpit to campaign for a second term while dragging out his widely expected announcement as long as possible.

ACEREDO, Spain (AP) — Roofs peeking out of the water have become a common sight every summer at the Lindoso reservoir in northwestern Spain. In especially dry years, parts would appear of the old village of Aceredo, submerged three decades ago when a hydropower dam flooded the valley.

But never before has the skeleton of the village emerged in its entirety in the middle of the usually wet winter season.

GENEVA (AP) — It’s a widespread lament: Traditional newspapers, especially small local ones, and other media outlets have seen subscriptions dry up as international internet behemoths have swooped in on the market for advertisements that long helped daily, weekly and monthly publications survive.

In Switzerland, the government has laid out plans to help. Swiss voters get final say Sunday in what polls have suggested is becoming an increasingly tight contest.

BERLIN (AP) — A special parliamentary assembly meets Sunday to elect Germany’s president for the next five years. Incumbent Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who has been endorsed by most mainstream political parties, is seeking a second term as the largely ceremonial head of state.

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is flying to Ukraine and Russia this week in an effort to help defuse escalating tensions as Western intelligence officials warn that a Russian invasion of Ukraine is increasingly imminent and Germany has called on its citizens to leave Ukraine as quickly as possible.

Ahead of his first visits as chancellor to Kyiv on Monday and Moscow on Tuesday for meetings with the Ukrainian and Russian presidents, Scholz has renewed his warning to Russia, as well as his advocacy of continuing diplomacy in multiple formats.

Tehran (ISNA) – Iranian negotiating delegation headed by Ali Bagheri and Russian negotiating delegation headed by Mikhail Ulyanov held a bilateral meeting in Vienna on Saturday.

The meeting was held in continuation of eighth round of talks on removal of the sanctions.  

These days, the representatives of Iran, EU and 4+1 countries are busy with completing the draft of the agreement and making decisions about certain important disputed issues.

12 Feb 2022; MEMO: A young doctor and father of two has condemned how he was racially profiled and humiliated when he turned up to attend a lecture by Israeli Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely at the University of Cambridge last Wednesday.

Dr Zeshan Qureshi, a Cambridge Union member of good standing, said he had acquired a ticket to attend the event through official processes.

MOSCOW, February 12. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during a telephone talk with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday that the US propaganda campaign on Russia’s alleged aggression against Ukraine pursued provocative goals, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.