Europe

LONDON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Britain's Prince Charles led tributes to his mother, Queen Elizabeth, on the 70-year anniversary of her accession to the throne on Sunday, saying it was an opportunity for the country to unite and celebrate her service to the nation.

Charles also thanked the queen for her statement on Saturday that she hoped the heir to the throne's wife, Camilla, would become Queen Consort when he becomes king. 

LONDON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Two senior members of Boris Johnson's Conservative Party urged challengers to the British prime minister to temper their ambitions on Sunday and focus instead on helping the poorest through the biggest plunge in living standards in a generation.

Johnson is fighting for his political career after his government became engulfed in a three-month state of crisis, with an increasing number of lawmakers calling publicly for a change in leadership to rebuild trust with the electorate.

VIENNA, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Eight people were killed in three separate avalanches in western Austria within 24 hours, the Austrian news agency APA reported Saturday.

Police said the incidents happened in the states of Vorarlberg and Tyrol on Friday and Saturday. In one avalanche near the Austrian-Swiss border, four Swedish skiers and their Austrian guide were killed.

Authorities have issued warnings of more avalanches on Saturday and Sunday. 

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is flying to Washington this week on a mission to reassure Americans that his country stands alongside the United States and other NATO partners in opposing any Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Scholz has said that Moscow would pay a “high price” in the event of an attack, but his government’s refusal to supply lethal weapons to Ukraine, bolster its troop presence in eastern Europe or spell out which sanctions it would support against Russia has drawn criticism abroad and at home.

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is flying to Washington this week on a mission to reassure Americans that his country stands alongside the United States and other NATO partners in opposing any Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Scholz has said that Moscow would pay a “high price” in the event of an attack, but his government’s refusal to supply lethal weapons to Ukraine, bolster its troop presence in eastern Europe or spell out which sanctions it would support against Russia has drawn criticism abroad and at home.

MINSK, February 5. /TASS/: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko will be ready to step down if the situation in the country stabilizes, as he himself said in an interview with Vladimir Soloviev for the Soloviev Live YouTube channel.

MOSCOW, February 5. /TASS/: A spacecraft launched in the interests of the Russian Defense Ministry has been delivered to orbit by the Fregat booster, the ministry said in a statement.

"The Soyuz-2.1a medium-class carrier rocket that was launched from the Plesetsk spaceport in the Arkhangelsk region at 10:00 am Moscow time on February 5, has successfully delivered a spacecraft to the designated orbit in the interests of the Russian Defense Ministry," the statement reads.

MOSCOW, February 5. /TASS/: Russia’s coronavirus cases rose by 177,282 to 12,630,047 in the past 24 hours, the anti-coronavirus crisis center said on Saturday.

Russia’s coronavirus growth rate was 1.4%.

MOSCOW, February 2. /TASS/: A Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket has been launched from the Plesetsk spaceport in Russia’s Arkhangelsk region, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

"A combat crew of the Space Forces of the Aerospace Forces successfully launched a medium-class Soyuz-2.1a rocket carrying a spacecraft in the interests of the Russian Defense Ministry from Launchpad 4 at Site 43 at the Defense Ministry’s test spaceport in the Arkhangelsk region at 10:00 am Moscow time on Saturday, February 5," the statement reads.

MOSCOW, February 5. /TASS/: The Bloomberg news agency’s publishing error about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine makes it clear how dangerous West-triggered tensions are, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS on Saturday.

"It hardly was a provocation, there is no need to exaggerate it," he said, adding that the agency had apologized for the error.