Europe

MOSCOW, January 9. /TASS/: Aeroflot airline announced that it has stopped selling tickets for flights to Kazakhstan scheduled before January 20.

Sales of tickets for flights scheduled from Kazakhstan to Russia until January 21 have also been halted. The carrier also canceled all its own flights from Moscow to Kazakhstan until January 10, and from Kazakhstan to Russia until January 11.

MOSCOW, January 9./TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to take part in a video conference of the leaders of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) on Monday, January 10, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS on Sunday.

"Yes, we are getting ready for Monday," the spokesman said when asked whether the Kremlin confirmed Putin’s participation in the online summit on January 10.

MOSCOW, January 9./TASS/: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases across Russia grew by 16,246 in the past 24 hours, amounting to 10,650,849 overall, the anti-coronavirus crisis center said on Sunday.

The relative growth rate is 0.15%.

In particular, 3,274 new cases were reported in Moscow, 1,323 in St. Petersburg, 1,124 in the Moscow Region, 374 in the Sverdlovsk Region, 360 in the Krasnodar Region and 349 in the Rostov Region.

MOSCOW, January 9./TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin will take part in an extraordinary online meeting of the CSTO Collective Security Council on January 10, chaired by Armenia, the Kremlin press service reported on Sunday.

"The meeting will discuss the situation in the Republic of Kazakhstan and measures to normalize it," the press service specified.

FRANKFURT, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The European Union plans to legislate in the coming months to require technology companies to do more to tackle child sexual abuse, beefing up current voluntary arrangements, a top official said in a newspaper interview.

EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson told Germany's Welt am Sonntag that internet service providers and social media firms had reported 22 million offences related to child sexual abuse in 2020, up from 17 million in 2019.

But she said that was only a fraction of the real number.

PARIS, Jan 9 (Reuters) - A mandatory order would not be the most efficient way to encourage those not vaccinated against COVID-19 to get the shot and that plans to toughen health pass conditions were already yielding results, government spokesman Gabriel Attal said.

People in France already have to show either proof of vaccination or a negative test to enter restaurants and bars and use inter-regional trains. But with Omicron infections surging, parliament is debating legislation that will drop the test option.

ZURICH, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Former Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who quit his post last year after corruption allegations against him, has been appointed co-chairman of the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation (ECTR), the non-governmental organisation said on Sunday.

The ECTR describes itself as a group of former leaders and other decision-makers committed to fighting extremism, racism, antisemitism and xenophobia. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is also chairman.

MOSCOW, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Russia responded angrily on Saturday to a comment by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Kazakhstan might have a hard time getting rid of Russian troops, saying he should reflect instead on U.S. military meddling around the world.

Blinken on Friday challenged Russia's justification for sending forces into Kazakhstan after days of violent unrest in the Central Asian country.

"One lesson of recent history is that once Russians are in your house, it's sometimes very difficult to get them to leave," Blinken said. 

LONDON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The United Kingdom is ready to take unilateral action that would suspend customs checks on goods moving to Northern Ireland, foreign minister Liz Truss said ahead of talks with the European Union.

Truss is due to hold talks with EU Vice President Maros Sefcovic this week to resolve disagreements over post-Brexit trade arrangements for Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom which shares a land border with EU member Ireland.

MOSCOW, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Russia said on Sunday it would not make any concessions under U.S. pressure at talks this week on the Ukraine crisis and its demands for Western security guarantees, and that there was a risk they might end quickly.

The hard line from Moscow underscored the fragile prospects for negotiations that Washington hopes will avert the danger of a new Russian invasion of Ukraine, at the tensest point in U.S.-Russia relations since the Cold War ended three decades ago.